Stylus finally gets Fiery Furnaces BB right on their "second look" THANK YOU STYLUS!

Matt F: our songwriting sucks and is boring

Radio host: No! No! you're songs are great!!

Matt F: well, thanks, but we just don't have ideas.

Radio host: What! you have TONS of GREAT IDEAS!

Matt F: Well I'm certainly no musical genius.

Radio host: No, you ARE a MUSICAL GENIUS.

you get the idea.

*precious*

I know when it comes to criticism, there's a whole tricky game juggling objectivity and subjectivity in one's tone, but this piece just has that awful "look, look, do you see, if I say this is overrated in enough detail, people will slap their foreheads and come to their senses" thing going on. People who love Blueberry Boat won't come to their senses. They have listened to the album at least as often as this guy has and think the things he thinks are lame are not at all lame.

Something like this illustrates what I mean:

Some of the songs are plain lifeless: “Paw-Paw Tree,” “Mason City,” and “Spaniolated” are basically forgettable, and given the length of the album, their inclusion borders either on pure antagonism or careless insult.

I mean, yeah, like if only we could sit the Friedbergers down with a beer and give them a friendly nudge, they'd fess up that this is just why they put those tracks on the album. Criticism like that works if its rhetoric is angry and funny, but this isn't.

What can I say - 'Mason City' is so far from being lifeless to my ears. 'Spaniolated' is one of my favourite tracks too, and I was surprised to read Matthew Perpetua put it down as one of the weaker tracks. It's got this by turns urgent and dazed, dizzy and elegaic feel to it that feels like a totally right diversion at that point in the album.

It's easy, as a fan, to take all the attacks on something one loves very smugly, in a "methinks they do protest too much" way, attributing critics' constant carping to a frustration at just not getting it. I can't deny I do that when it comes to Blueberry Boat. But even if it's not that, I get things out of it that you don't. Your loss, my gain.

Arular, on the other hand, will make me defensive when people start badmouthing it later on.

This is where our paths split, breezy.

If I had read these reviews that praise Blueberry Boat by comparing it to The Who, then maybe it would make more sense to me.

They said they were influenced by "A Quick One While He's Away" and "Rael" in the promo materials that came with the album. I find songs like "Mason City" to be good realizations of that (and I said so in my Voice review).

The jury will be out on this album for quite a while. I have a feeling it's going to stick around. It has enough enthusiasts at this point to keep it from going away.

Well, how 'bout Arcade Fire, Alba?

ARCADE FIRE

Two such albums in the same year -- lucky us!

Even though I personally am not fond of BB, Alba OTM.

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I don't think I'll buy another. It was OK, good even, just that it seems the things I like are the things they don't do on album.

Nowhere did I ever claim it was "terrible," because I don't think it is.

Maybe I'm missing it, but why the quote marks? Where did anyone claim that you called it terrible?

This is true for Joanna Newsom as well. When I first saw her, she was a complete unknown, and her style and quirks seemed refreshing and fun. Now, when the bartender at my local insists that she is better than Bob Dylan ever was (!), those positive qualities can become obscured by the white noise of the public discourse.

Hopefully, in five years, when things have died down, we'll just be able to listen to the records again.

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Blueberry Boat, without any doubt in my mind, would’ve made a much better 45 minute record if they had someone there (I think they’re called “producers”) to cut out, at the expense of their precious yet sometimes irritating “artistry,” some of the weaker, more pointless stretches. Or maybe even a really, really good EP (something the band can do, as evidenced by this year’s EP).
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I mean E.P. is really a budget price 10-track, 50 minute compilation of non-album single tracks (and some bonus ones?) so how does its release prove they can make a really good E.P.?

That Tonic show does look interesting, but the last FF show I saw was one of the better rock shows I've seen in a while, so I'll gladly shell out the $15 and keep my fingers crossed that lightning will strike twice.