Pitchfork Reviews 4/24/08

Air
Moon Safari - 10th Anniversary Edition
[Astralwerks / Virgin; 1998/2008]

Pitchfork gave it a 5.6.

It's strange for Pitchfork to nail this reissue for being an irrelevant cash-grab less than two weeks after crawling all the way up M83's ass. Don't they see the irony? Do they think nobody's paying attention to them? Is this slam motivated by tastemaker's remorse? Or is it just fashionable to take the piss out of Air (alternate gagline: "Air out of their tires") in 2008?

I can see the logic. It's certainly an irrelevant cash-grab if you operate under the assumption that everybody alive either already has Moon Safari or would download it illegally for free if they ever got a hankerin' for it. Which is valid enough if maybe a little shortsighted. We don't all work at tech-savvy dot coms in big cities that purport to know everything about everything. Some people, not many, still actually buy CDs. Most of those people probably don't read Pitchfork, but still. I could see this 10th Anniversary Edition falling into the hands of some 14 year old kid in Assfuck, Ohio who's spending his allowance in the music section of Borders during a family-shopping-errand layover, and I could see it rocking his world and fueling all of his future makeouts. And if not, if this truly is useless: so what if it doesn't sell? That's a good old fashioned ah-ha-ha. No need to warn anybody off unless you hate the music.

And it's not like other music-for-sale products somehow have more "integrity" simply because they're being released right now instead of ten years later, or because they're on an "indie" label (or because every square inch of them has been picked over and turned into a commercial over the last ten years). Let's forget about "indie" labels being the good guys; they're in business too, and they're just as susceptible to the temptation of foisting a bunch of crap on you. Even if they do an admirable job of not succumbing, they're still essentially just moving product. If they weren't, why wouldn't they just put out stuff by every band they ever thought was good? It's not like it'd be all that expensive. For that matter, why not just be a crappy download-only label and sign up any old piece of shit band that comes along? Why bother being discerning? I think I know why ($$$).

Record labels all want your money equally. Some might need it more than others, but they all want it at about the same level. Maybe some people want to put out records that only some people like, but nobody wants to put out a record that nobody likes. Operating under this assumption, it's hard to tell what makes this particular cash-grab so worthy of scorn. Especially since Moon Safari is the direct predecessor of the kind of stuff that's officially the 8th best album of the year, 2008.

But of course none of this, not my thoughts on the subject nor Pitchfork's, is actually about the music. Whether it's their point or mine, that seems about right. There's no sense in getting caught up in a discussion of the 1998 album Moon Safari by French electroambientdreampop duo Air. Adjunct discussions are necessary because the music is too languid and perfect to require an opinion. If you listen to it and like it, you probably either already own it, could borrow-and-rip from somebody who does, or could download it illegally for free if you ever get a hankerin'. Or else you could just watch ten years of youth-marketed commercials and get the idea by accident.

Maybe that's the real bone to pick here. This album is already a legendary whore. It's like re-releasing something Moby did. Ok, Pitchfork, you get a pass. Even though that kid I imagined is totally going to make out with Carlie on Friday now, thanks to this.


The Prodigy
H.N.I.C. Pt. 2
[Voxonic; 2008]

Pitchfork gave it a 7.8.

Do you have Return of the Mac? Get it. Play it until you're tired of it. Then get this too, if you still want more and this guy hasn't gotten out of jail yet and made something better by then.

Oh, and apparently there's a track on here where he raps about supporting Ron Paul for president, which is awesome.


Billy Bragg
Mr. Love & Justice
[Anti-; 2008]

Pitchfork gave it a 6.5.

It's funny how aging works.

I'm 30. Ten years ago, if you had asked me why I'm not a Billy Bragg fan, I would have told you, "Billy Bragg? Yuck, what am I, 30?" Now I'm like, "Billy Bragg? Yuck, what am I, 40?"

But: at the same time I will proudly stand up to any "old man" questioning I get from the younger sect in a self-effacing, non-proselytizing manner. Yes, I did and do actually like Tortoise (I'm imagining Tortoise might be a "30+ only" point of ridicule, I don't know). Or: The Sea and Cake. The Sea and Cake is a very yesteryear 30+ only fans kind of band. Right? I don't know. I know my prepared response: if you remembered anything from the 90's except for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, you'd understand. We just needed a break from "song" music.

Wait a minute. Am I actually trying to be hip by guessing the ways in which I'm no longer hip? Man, being 30 is a fucking trip.

At least I'm not all into Billy Bragg, though. Suck it, Billy Bragg, with your "important" lyrics and even, assured voice. I might be old, but I'll never be THAT old. Fuck you, old guys! Right, young dudes? Right? Hello? Shit.


Ellen Allien
Boogybytes Vol. 04
[BPitch Control; 2008]

Pitchfork gave it a 6.1.

Wait a minute. DO I REALLY STILL LIKE TORTOISE? Like is it just a nostalgia thing, or do I really still like Tortoise? I don't have their most recent album, I feel like that's probably a step in the right direction toward not really liking Tortoise, although I usually get their albums on a lark two or three years after the fact and then like them ok, so I don't know there. I definitely don't still really like Tortoise, but maybe I do really still like Tortoise.

Is that ok? Can I cut it off there, or do also I have to like this Ellen Allien stuff? I feel like this is creeping onto the Pandora station of my life and trying to insinuate something about the choices I've made thus far. Sure, I might still like Tortoise. I don't "give me things like this because this is what I'm into" like it, though. And now here's Ellen Allien: not awful, but not doing much for me. Can I skip it, or is that going to break the engine that brought it to me? Am I out of ZZZZs and Thumbs Downs? Does real life work like that?

Oh, it doesn't? ZZZZ this then. Phew.


Toumast
Ishumar
[Real World / Rykodisc / Village Vert; 2008]

Pitchfork gave it an 8.0.

I don't know anything about the musical or cultural tradition of the Saharan desert. There, I've said it, and I feel better. This is good, though. I'd put this on. It's got a soulful rawness to it that puts it far ahead of overproduced Starbucks-style culture-gawking World Music and onto its own plain as an accomplishment.

(Possible sidebar: do I like world music the most when it's the result of active assimilation of jazz/blues/rock/soul/rap into another culture's folk tradition? I think so. I'm just an American boy that way. You can call me a musical colonialist if you want. My response to that is it's not my fault we invented all the good stuff, and also: everybody's welcome. America, U.S.A., and whoever else wants to hop on board 4-EVA. Whatever. This "Tuareg Rock" stuff is great.)

I'm not going to go overboard and fetishize it or anything, though, because these guys are from now and there's no rule that says their next project won't be some We Are The World monstrosity that they're working with Paul McCartney on. I'll just cross my fingers against it, if you don't mind.