but hey, whoINTERPOL - ANTICS (2004)

fuck

nooooooooooooo00000OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

ok accidentally pressed enter messed up the title but u get the idea i voted for evil

"Evil," which has the most in(s)ane lyrics this side of Seven and the Ragged Tiger.

it's about a serial killer who gets away with it!

NARC - that one's about a guy wearing a wire!

I think I listened to this two times in 2004 and never again since. I'm just voting for a track at random.

It's Length of Love. It's so fucking obviously Length of Love. It's the only Interpol song with a bassline that doesn't totally suck. (So of course he didn't write it.)

Also agree that this is their "Best" album. (It's not my favourite, though, actually.)

https://24.media.tumblr.com/cd51f49baeb6ef662816fcbeb3ab1c10/tumblr_n4uxysHgkx1rd1g7mo1_400.jpg

"Go on, Kessler, put them on..."

I'll go off the beaten path and say "C'mere." There's something about that opening guitar riff that captures the sadness of the first album.

the first album is sad?

(Serious question. Their charm was their being committed poseurs)

Can we just pre-emptively ban Alfred from this thread?

^^ heaven restores you in life

FWIW, I don't actually think the first album is sad. It's frustrated, it's full of *longing*, it's occasionally wistful, and occasionally a kind of tempestuous, bratty shade of disappointed? But sad? No.

Antics is triumphant and strutting, and I think that kind of jubilation, and "nyeah, see, I told you so" really suits them. It's also definitely the most polished, with production and songwriting and guitar tone and everything just completely in balance, it's the most confident "we know what we're doing" album.

Our Love To Admire is totally their Seven And The Ragged Tiger, but that's a *compliment*. It's not sad either, so much as angry. Not jaded so much as disillusioned. It's also the funniest - but by the same token *meanest*, lyrically. The production is admittedly terrible, though, they do not work as RAWK! band.

But my favourite is actually the S/T album, because that is such a fucking relentless landscape of *despair*. (It's probably my favourite because it's matched mine own mood so closely this year.) But it's one of those albums that, it's not actually a monochromatic black, there is such a beautiful textural pallet if you take the time to get to know it. It reminds me a lot of Pornography, in that every time I listen to it, it reveals something else. Like, in amidst all that despair, there are some beautiful little landscapes. Both the production and the songwriting on that album are fucking gorgeous. It's so detailed and all those interlocking parts are just so... *perfectly* orchestrated. I love the arrangements on this album, like, the piano figures and the subtle symphonic bits, the use of noise and electronics and squiggles of sound (that's probably Alan Moulder as much as them, but his work really suits them here! Kessler rediscovered his reverb unit, and Moulder was like "yup, this goes to 11".) It's the sound of someone trapped in a cage, going over the same piece of ground over and over obsessively, because they know it's not working, but they can't figure out what else to do. I get the little Philip Glass piano riffs stuck in my head like crazy, but they capture a sense of futility so perfectly.

"Narc"

ban polls that last more than a week

i was into this four years after it came out, in 2008. i bet you i would still like it a lot if i listened to it all the way through.

^DITTO re being SUPER into this and bright lights in 2008. fell in love with a girl unrequited etc v important record for me (strings, tiny violins)

harp

It's so consistent I'd feel comfortable picking any as my favorite except Length of Love. But "Combat salacious removal" is a great fucking line/chorus. "A Time to Be So Small" is amazing too, actually i should've voted for that since it got 0 last time fuck. "When the cadaverous mob saves its doors for the dead man, you cannot leave" is another amazing line, one of my all time favorites.

How can you not like Length of Love. Come on, that is the most ferocious rhythm section ever! My favourite tracks are always the ones where they let Fogarino loose! He is seriously the most musically talented member of the band.

I don't listen to lyrics in general, but I *really* don't listen to Interpol lyrics. They do have the occasional wonderful bon mot ("'Right' will take you places; yeah, maybe to the beach" is brilliant) but for the most part... yeah, I enjoy them so much more when I don't pay attention to the lyrics.

Longing is a great way to describe it, better than sad.

wow I don't remember anything about this record

It is totally the sound of a band that have been desperately wanting something and chasing it for five years. While Antics is much more "having it".

I listened to Antics again, and though there are many wonderful choices, Length Of Love is just the one that makes me so happy. And my favourite thing about it isn't even the octave-hopping Duran bassline or the one-note drone guitar solos or the Stereolab organ. It is The Clap. That clap (no, an actual handclap, not talking about their STD statuses) that single clap during the breakdown, it just makes me so happy, like, what is the story with that clap, honestly, was there a fly in the studio while they were recording? (Got Yer!) Its being on the off-beat just pleases me so much. The amount of swagger on that song is just unbelievable. Coruscating levels of sexy.

Other moments that really please me:

Take You On A Cruise - obviously, I'm a sucker for some eBow.
Not Even Jail - That "I Am The Resurrection" drumbeat is just catnip to me. Especially on those bits where the drums break loose from the motorik and go into this more jazzy accented Jenny Ondioline thing.
C'Mere - this is indeed a great guitar riff. However it was quite blatantly Johnny Marr's guitar riff first and that is a bit too obvious a pilfer.

The only song I'm kind of mystified as to the appeal of is NARC. Which is weird, because that won the poll last time, right? It's such a frustrating song because it just shows up the shortcomings of their bass player to such an embarrassing degree. That bit in the middle with the two staccato accent on the off-beat guitars drift in and out of synch with each other should be something amazing. But it's really just let down by how ham-fisted and wooden the bassline is, when the drums go into that skittering pseudo-reggae thing, and the bass should go off on a dub adventure - that bit, to me, reminds me of Bauhaus (cue Kessler insisting "It's not Bauhaus, it's Fugazi!") but it's just so wooden and lumbering because of shitty bass playing where it should be playful.

definitely their best album (though I'm one of the few people on earth who likes our love to admire, torn between "take you on a cruise," "not even jail," and "length of love"

I know there are a bunch of songs I like on here, but I can never keep the titles straight. My first guess is that "Not Even Jail" is the one I like the most here because it has this nice triumphant crescendo to it, but I need to check out some of the other tracks to be sure. I definitely enjoy Interpol more when they are energetic rather than despairing.

"Our Love to Admire" has its moments -- "No I in Threesome" (terrible song title notwithstanding), "Mammoth," "Pace Is the Trick," "Heinrich Maneuver." But a lot of it feels so hermetic and exacting, doesn't breathe with that same sense of LONGING like the first two records. IMO, the self-titled is unlistenable. Only "Lights" gradually morphs into classic Interpol by the end.

man I had so much fun destroying that thing

Alfred, go away. *shakes feather duster at him until he shoos*

There are some wonderful songs on OLTA - I absolutely adore Mammoth and Rest My Chemistry and that last suite of Wrecking Ball -> The Lighthouse. And sorry, but "No I In Threesome" is the most hilarious song title and ever and possibly one of the best lyrics of the album. Paul Banks is a terrible, terrible lyricist, but "No I in threesome" is a straight-up twist of genius.

I know; I am the only person that rates the S/T. I think even the band hate it at this point (they played one song from it on the whole last tour!) But there are so many hidden gems on it. Summer Well is fantastic; Always Malaise gets me every time, the transition from the Philip Glass piano figure to where the New Order drums come in and kick up another gear is just so beautifully executed. I love Try It On, and just really like the flow of the second half of the album. The arrangements are just gorgeous, even though it takes a long time for the songs to worm their way into your head. Repeated listens really did reveal so much more depth to this. It is not an album that will give much away on one or two listens, but it's one of those ones that was really "I don't really like this... but I've *got* to hear it again" gave way to "actually, this is strangely compelling" to "no, actually, that was great, I wanna hear it again."

i like parts of the self-titled, though i trashed it on some blog after my first listen

Bands that people boast about trashing. IDGI.

why not?

You don't think there's anything weird about the fact that you need to come in every single Interpol thread to tell us all about how trashing one of their albums 10 years ago was some defining moment if your life?

Like, I know I talk about Kessler a lot, but I got quite serious OCD; that's my excuse.

I mean there's ~comedy hating a band~ as a trope, and then there's a point where it just seems excessive? There are tons of bands I dislike but I feel no need to say so on their threads for the umpteenth time.

it's about a serial killer who gets away with it!

― i also enjoy in line skateing (spazzmatazz), Wednesday, April 30, 2014

lol. this is a band that constructs lyrics using a mad libs flip-book. i love their first two records but ...

I get it, Branwell. Interpol inspires a special hate because I love to hate them, in large part because when they hit in 2002 I couldn't believe the terms in which friends and some music writers described them. I mean, Duran Duran weren't taken so seriously.

Kessler is hot and probably doesn't have the clap so there's that!

In contrast to Branwell one of the reasons I remember liking this record is because of the complete absurdity of the lyrics in combination with that pompous straight faced singing - it was an irresistable and hilarious combination to me. I guess only heightened by the songs which are eminently catchy and filled with a self confidence which is completely engaging.

It just seems a lot more like love-love than hate-love? Because I admit, I went back through the archives during my listening project and read every thread about every album in order, to see what contemporary reactions were. And like, *every single thread*, there's Alfred popping up to shake his fist at them? And come on, you post more than any of the people that genuinely loved them! That's a long time to love a band, let alone to hate them with that kind of passion and dedication. Like, even I have not posted on every single Spacemen 3 thread in the history of ILX. Yet there you are, on every Interpol thread!

And y'know, I get it. Like I totally agree with all of the things you say when you slag them off - but all of those things are the reasons I love them for (OLTA being their 7&TRT is a huge compliment!) But I just really think the lady doth protest a bit too much for this to be hate-hate!

Hey don't get me wrong! I think Banks is an appallingly bad lyricist but I actually find it quite endearing these days. He's somewhere between Sumner and LeBon*, but I couldn't imagine the music *working* with straight lyrics.

*He's definitely better than "sold the Renoir and the TV set" but nowhere close to "I think you are a pig; you should be in a zoo."

The difference is Sumner laughed through that performance!

But Banks' poker face is what makes his lyrics even more funny?

Wait. Stop! When did I become Captain-Save-a-Banks? I'm just a Secret Machines fan! What am I even doing on this thread? I blame Brandon Curtis!

Yes his poker face but particularly the deeply serious tone to.his voice like he is actually proclaiming the words of god or at least Ian Curtis. It just sounds so objective and grand it becomes great when you realise the words are so ridiculously silly.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/afb2d47e5f3986be7cb0281c3a06246b/tumblr_mkybgy3tkn1rjusguo1_500.gif

@ Branwell Bell, i totally agree about "'Right' will take you places; yeah, maybe to the beach" , but what do you think it means / what makes it brilliant for you? just curious, i can't really figure that one out, want to though

the "yeah" is the best part.

I love "Evil." That line reminds me of Bryan Ferry's good line: "Where do we go from here?/Your place or mine?"

btw I think PB is a brilliant lyricist for all the reasons described above - bizarre, hilarious, touching, they all scan well - i don't think he's written a bad line. I mean, christ, think about "Leif Erikson" - that's one of his best lyrics. "She says brief things, her love's a pony, my love's subliminal" wtf? yet it works. that song is full of amazing lines "it's like learning a new language, helps me catch up on my mime, " fuck it ill just post the whole song

She says It helps with the lights out
Her rabid glow is like braille to the night.
She swears I'm a slave to the details
But if your life is such a big joke, why should I care?

The clock is set for nine but you know you're gonna make it eight.
So that you two can take some time, teach each other to reciprocate.

She feels that my sentimental side should be held with kid gloves
But she doesn't know that I left my urge in the icebox
She swears I'm just prey to the female,
Well then hook me up and throw me, baby cakes, cuz I like to get hooked.

The clock is set for nine but you know you're gonna make it eight.
All the people that you've loved they're all bound to leave some keepsakes.
I've been swinging all the time, think it's time to learn your way.
I picture you and me together in the jungle it will be ok.

I'll bring you when my lifeboat sails through the night
That is supposing you don't sleep tonight

It's like learning a new language
Helps me catch up on my mime
If you don't bring up those lonely parts
This could be a good time
You come here to me.
We'll collect those lonely parts and set them down
You come here to me...

She says brief things, her love's a pony
My love's subliminal

also I'll nominate "Sleep tight, grim rite / we have 200 couches where you can sleep tight, grim rite" as one of the best chorus lyrics ever

Exactly.

Come on, that one's completely obvious. The seductive power of being evil. Being good; being "right" is supposed to take you places, ("going places" being a metaphor for succeeding) but really it doesn't go very far. Kinda like "good girls go to heaven (i.e. the beach), bad girls go everywhere" - and therefore have more fun. It's just really funny, especially his delivery of it.

Look, I'm being really restrained and not spamming up this thread with a billion Kessler gifs so behave yourself, Lord Sotosyn!

"leif erikson" is great

I just think his best lines are almost always not the ones that sound portentous or deep, his best lines are the ones that are just completely throwaway, but when you think about them, they are hilarious. (I've already gone on at length about the pissy hilarity of "she's always calling my bluff, her stories are boring... and stuff.")

I've talked about this song before on other threads, I'm pretty sure? From his solo album.

It's just perfect, the way the song builds up to this triumphant chorus of "I feel young again..." followed by this deadpan, droll, totally unexcited "yeah, thanks a lot" and the video just really highlights his perfectly sad little poker face to perfect effect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va2fqBjwBGg

^^^this was the moment that I realised that the humour was probably intentional?

Watching interviews with them, too. Carlos might have been a terrible, terrible bass player, but he was comedy gold in interviews.

I remember thinking "the subway she is a porno" was simultaneously the most brilliant and pretentious lyric I had heard up to that point.

"Next Exit" is about encouraging a friend/lover addicted to heroin to quit, yeah?

We 'aint goin' to the town
We're going to the city
Gonna trek this shit around
We'll make this place a heart
To be a part of

We 'aint goin' to the town
We're going to the city
Gonna trek this shit around
We'll make this place a heart
To be a part of again

We'll go in, we'll go in, we'll go into the town
We'll go in, we'll go in, we'll go into the town

So, baby make it with me
In preperation for tonight
We've got so much to leave
But that's not what makes this right

We've been building up steam
Oh, Inginited by this fight
So, do this thing with me
Instead of tying on a tight one tonight

We'll go in, we'll go in, we'll go in and we're gonna

We 'aint goin' to the town
We're going to the city
Gonna trek this shit around
We'll make this place a heart
To be a part of again

or at least do this thing with him

also, "I'm timeless like a broken watch" is so fucking brilliant

The worst thing about his lyrics is the horrible way they fit into the melodies. 'her stories are BO-ring and stuuuuff / she's always CALL-ing my bluuuuff' It always sounds so written. 'San-DY why can't we LOOK the other way' in Evil might be the worse instance, but it's everywhere. I'll probably vote for Evil anyways, it's an insanely catchy tune.

Like, the lyrics were meant to be read and chuckled at, were never made to fit into what else is going on.

aw man, "Sandy, why can't we look the other way?" is one of my absolute favorites, it's a beautiful phrase, imo it fits perfectly.

Most of the time, I don't actually *want* to know what their songs are about. Because people come up with so many different interpretations, all of which seem to work, and yet none of which align with mine own impressions. And I kinda like it that way. I actually appreciate the fact that they never, ever will elaborate on what the songs are supposed to mean. That would completely ruin it for me.

Actually, that's not even true. They did once, and I think it was for Antics, it was in the NME, I think? But Banks' explanations were so obtuse that they made the lyrics make less sense rather than more. Now it's gonna drive me insane and I'm going to have to dig it out.

(Also, I find his acc-ENTS on the wrong syl-AH-ble pronunciation really kinda adorable? He grew up all over the world, English is only one of his languages, and his ESL intonation totally makes sense in that context.)

As someone for whom english is second language, and who has lived in the US, I don't think that makes sense. There would be a lot more was/were mistakes if that were the case ;) It sounds more to me like the Richey Edwards-penned lyrics for MSP, where you could always here that they were written independently of the songs. But as it made them sound like, well, raving people ranting in the street, it worked for them. To me, it often sounds aloof and uninvolved when Banks does it, as if he doesn't care about fitting in.

Here we go. Good luck!

http://visualinfidelity.tumblr.com/image/24656314113

"possibly the first song to be written from the point of view of a crustacean"

OK, Paul, sure, whatever you're smoking, please share with the class.

"leif erikson" is great

― markers, Thursday, May 1, 2014

otm. maybe the high-water mark for this band.

I wasn't bragging about trashing the s/t, I mostly discovered I was wrong to trash it!

Slow Hands is a downer but I like it.

it's kind of an epic pop song, actually.

I've ignored many a lousy lyric in favour of a decent tune over the years, but none worse than "You make me want to pick up a guitar
And celebrate the myriad ways that I love you."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRqCYddPYTQ&feature=kp

damn dude that line in slow hands is so good

thats classic banks! hes hilarious !

you are weightless
semi-erotic

i love those explanations in the NME

when the cadaverous mob saves its doors for the dead man, you cannot leave

That was really fascinating about the crab under the boat. Reading the lyrics now it totally sounds like that. At the same time I wish I didn't know -- I had envisioned it in my head a little differently.

Those lyrics are so terrible! And not even "haha so ridiculous they're actually funny and therefore good" terrible, they're just overloaded and trying-to-be-deep and just failing, and the whole "written from the point of view of a crab" is just ... come on. it's like he never outgrew his sophomore creative writing class. But I get it; everything that's terrible about them is also everything that's great about them. The same way that the things which irritate the shit out of you in "love to hate" phase will be the things that are most endearing when you're in "hate to love" phase.

Or maybe I'm just feeling bummed because this thread has like 75 new answers and my Secret Machines poll got 8. When I do just think that Secret Machines were by far the superior band, and that Now Here Is Nowhere is by far the superior album, and yet, why do Interpol still have a career (and not only having a career, but having a career which involved vulturing the last remnants of Secret Machines.) When you see two bands kind of come up together, get signed around the same time, tour together, and the one that was amazing just vanishes and the one that wasn't really as good just carries on going forever. Why.

Today, I can't work out why Interpol are so popular, and why they're that kind of *cult* popular that lasts for so long with such intensity. I can't even work out why *I* like them so much right now. (Well, that's obvious. Because it's not my ears or my brain or my hips that likes them, it's totally my vagina. I would not have persisted with trying to like this band if I didn't find them so attractive.) And it feels dishonest and I'm just annoyed with them, and disappointed with myself.

So I guess when I'm shouting at other people for trashing them, I guess what I am is jealous, that they could keep hold of their disdain, while I just feel seduced by Kessler's guitar licks and dance moves into liking a band against my will.

Meanwhile can't we look the other way?

This is that band that sounds like Joy Division right

carbon copies.

(early on, at least)

Don't hear much Joy Division other than Banks' vocal on "Obstacle 2." Closer to Chameleons.

Fugazi, guys. They sound like Fugazi. Not Joy Division. FUUUU-GAH-ZIIII.

How many times does Kessler have to say it before the message gets through?

omg

joy. division.

http://www.interpolspain.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Daniel-Kessler.jpg

DANIEL KESSLER JUST WANTS TO TAKE A PORTION OF EVERY INTERVIEW HE EVER DOES TO LET YOU KNOW HOW MUCH HE LOVES FUGAZI, OK?!?!?

http://www.google.co.uk/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=_5RjU-zjDc6KOuf5gbAP#q=daniel+kessler+fugazi

"You should be in my space, you should be in MY SPAAAAACCCEEEE!!!!"

^^^like, how much more "2004" can a set of lyrics scream?

Sad Daniel is Sad that you don't understand his love of Fugazi

https://24.media.tumblr.com/42a0f7783bca3a18e96f5fff906d76cd/tumblr_n4y13g3Tvk1rd1g7mo1_500.jpg

(Also, his trousers.)

he really has aged the best

He still looks 12. He shaved his beard for the last tour, and got proofed to buy beer. I don't know if it's just good genetics, or the whole not smoking thing, when compared to his bandmates at least.

This whole exchange is actually quite adorable:

http://warmblackrooster.tumblr.com/post/84407577093/i-hate-them-so-much

(I have no idea what they're saying. Probably "Fugazi?" "Fugazi.")

I'm timeless like a broken watch. And make money like Fred Astaire.

I thought PDA was Joy Division when I first heard it.

I thought PDA was Minor Threat when I first heard it.

I thought PDA meant public display of affection when I first heard it

EVIL

PDA is clearly an ode to his Palm Pilot

Siri, why can't we look the other way?

http://www.matadorrecords.com/img/52782737a606e.jpg

this is my favorite group photo ever probably- so fucking cool

Hahahahahah Daniel Kessler hahaha

So hott.

(Suzy just hit me over the head with something, ouch)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

where's Branwell

"length of love" i decided

no wait i was wrong! "public pervert"

the drum fill before the chorus!

"Not Even Jail" for me, but I was surprised to discover how much I still enjoy this record.

"length of love" i decided

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Sunday, September 28, 2014 8:23 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no wait i was wrong! "public pervert"

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson)

stop exposing yourself

the antics version of Song Seven is one of their best songs

Branwell was laying down some home truths about the S/T album to whatever mung-bean OWOB let do Interpol.

*shakes head despairingly*

Still Length of Love for me, but Not Even Jail has crept up after seeing it live so many times. (Cracking snark, of course, about how Daniel always prances about the stage, jumping up on the monitors, the drum riser, showing off his guitar faces, bending over backwards... while playing the rhythm riff as Paul stands stolidly stock still in the middle of the stage, playing the actual guitar solo.)

Even the songs I was a bit "meh" about on the record (NARC, Slow Hands) really come alive when they're played live.

Cmere -- the heartbreaking centerpiece of the album.

anybody have any clue as to the vocal filters on Banks' voice? silvery, water, but not chorus...

http://38.media.tumblr.com/8999d37c548ff4fdd2841cc39590d414/tumblr_nco9e1jHxA1qcugeio1_400.gif

Not Even Jail

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Voted for 'Take You on a Cruise' and not sorry. This one and their debut slay me.

So stupidly warped by the singles. :(

Really want to do an "Interpoll without the singles" but I think I've posted enough about this band recently.

http://33.media.tumblr.com/c9df819fc331108cd5f7d2cd7a369ea8/tumblr_n9um99LoOa1solh11o3_r1_500.gif

I'm glad Evil won. It really is a brilliant, brilliant song.

I guess you chose the black pin.

(You chose wrong.)