Pitchfork Reviews 6/12/08

Lukestar
Lake Toba
Ailanthus
[Phone Me / Metronomicon Audio; 2008]

Pitchfork gave them a 7.0 and 7.4.

How is this any different from this? I get that one has keyboards and is cutefromnow and one is more guitar-y and emofromthen, but the emotional content is the same: zero. It's hooks for hits.


Lil Wayne
Tha Carter III
[Cash Money; 2008]

Pitchfork gave it an 8.7 and named it the 11th best album of 2008.

Lil Wayne is the Brett Favre of hip hop. He's great, probably not the greatest despite what the press constantly says, although there is an undeniable joy in his playing that justifiably gets "he's just having fun out there" accolades, but on the downside he's probably not winning any more championships, and either way you're tired of hearing about him. Also: huge pill popper.


Sloan
Parallel Play
[Yep Roc; 2008]

Pitchfork gave it a 7.6.

Sloan are like Canadian Weezer without as good of a sense of humor. Seeing as how Weezer is basically a joke band right now, that's not so good for Sloan. They're basically ONLY Canadian. I've met people from Canada. They honestly like Sloan. Like a new Sloan album will come out, and these people I know from Canada will get all excited about it, like "have you heard the new Sloan album yet?" It's crazy.

Sloan should be nationalized and become the official rock band of the whole country. They can play at state dinners and stuff. They should have played at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. I don't want to ruffle any feathers, but K.D. Lang in high definition television was not a good idea. I understand that's beside the point, and that Canadian production values should by all rights be charmingly amateurish, and that she has a beautiful voice and etc. But: come on. Shoulda been Sloan. They're the national rock band. Like they should required to play the halftime show every year at the Canadian Super Bowl or whatever thing there is that they have up there that is kind of like that.



D. Charles Speer and the Helix
After Hours
[Black Dirt; 2008]

Pitchfork gave it a 7.6.

Alt-country is what happens when somebody who's not particularly great decides, "you know what, I love Willie Nelson." I love Willie Nelson too. What the fuck do I need you for?


Mixel Pixel
Let's Be Friends
[Mental Monkey; 2008]

Pitchfork gave it a 4.9.

I was just in Columbus, Ohio last weekend. Every time I go there, I like it more. People there are so friendly, they'll talk your ear off if you make eye contact. I seriously had a ten minute conversation with the guy who sweeps the floor at Wendy's. I know this is not unusual or anything, and it's maybe even kind of sad that I count this behavior as being notable, but there you go. The guy who sweeps the floor at the Wendy's on High Street is about as friendly as it gets without exchanging bodily fluids or personal information, and he's by no means remarkably friendly for Columbus. People were talking my ear off all weekend. About weird stuff, too. I don't know why, either.

And everybody there is doing something, and they're doing it just to do it because they're bored. Nobody was like "I'm gonna move to Columbus and put out a zine about boogers." They just do it. And then if you hang out alone in a place for longer than 20 seconds, they tell you about it. And you tell them about the stuff that you know about, and they're like "right on, sounds fun." This was my experience of Columbus, at least. It was my fifth time being there.

Mixel Pixel seem like they should be from Columbus instead of Brooklyn. Moving to Brooklyn was a bad move. I mean, it was probably good career-wise, but who out there really gives a shit about Mixel Pixel's career anyway? Might as well live in a fun, friendly city that smells like hot garbage in the summer time and looks run down but is full of friendly people who make zines about boogers. (Nobody actually did that, by the way, it's just a guess.)

And then instead of being some Brooklyn band that makes goofy little songs on a casio and presents them as some kind of anti-art anti-rock artrock, they'd just be friendly people who are doing this thing for fun, and they wouldn't each have to find a way to afford $800 a month (bare minimum) in rent. Come on, guys. You can rent a house for less than that in Columbus. Think about it. I am.