Yeasayer - Odd Blood

some talk in the 'all hour cymbals' thread, but i have a hunch that this one is gonna outgrow that thread

so, they got the NYT feature treatment earlier this week http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/arts/music/31yeasayer.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

& the album is really great -- delivers on the stadium anthem qualities of '2080' and 'sunrise' across a whole album. in the pfork.tv video of them working on "ambling alp" there was talk of the song getting "too queen" but it appears as if that was where they wanted to go

in any event, this is probably gonna be the 'bitte orca' of '10, so let's rope it all in here

Eh, I'm only sold on about half the album. When it works, its really really good... but there are some huge clunkers.

the first song & the last two songs definitely pale to the rest of the album, but i think everything in between makes up for it. and i really only find the first song to be skippable in so far as i might as well just start at "madder red"

something about their last album was off-putting for me. curious about the new one, tho.

(otoh, two killer songs from the debut, iirc)

this one is way better, daniel -- it's much more coherent and rooted in song structure

I still think they sound like they're wearing some serious Mental Jewelry.

2080 is such a terrific song, if this album is as good as that im in

That old-fashioned-sounding filter/distortion on the first track = lo-tech.

Specifically, lo-techno?

so this is a weird album

songwriting is way more solid than on the last one--but it feels like its missing something

Didn't care for these guys at album #1 but I've been spinning a few songs from their next one and the much-discussed addition of all things synth/dance to their sound makes it... actually really awesome so far.

Will have to see how the album holds up when I hear it, though.

Btw I predict a Pfork Best New Music and, let's say... 9.1 by next week's end, depending when they run the review.

The vocals on part of 2080 sound like Wolf Parade. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"2080" is sorta lame, these new songs are much better!

2080 is good but in a way that you dont really think abt or anything

the first track is great! i dunno about the rest yet

This is such a spotty album. Giving it another shot right now and the first half, outside of the opener, is growing on me. Seems to start to fall apart a bit starting with "Love Me Girl" though.

wtf guys 2080 is amazing

2080 is amazing but this album sounds like a band who know what they're doing as opposed to having stumbled on two/three really good songs

yeah the rest of that first album, like i enjoy it while i'm listening to it, but never remember much about it after the fact

i only vaguely recall two songs from the debut

Seems to start to fall apart a bit starting with "Love Me Girl" though.

b-b-b-but...Rome! and Mondegreen!

"mondegreen" is great, yeah

wtf mondegreen was the dictionary.com word of the day today; i had never seen it before in my life

I predict no "best new music" for Yeasayer. I think this album is hella corny. I think most reviewers will feel the same, except for maybe the UK which has generally shit music press

"hella corny"

I've listened to Odd Blood at least 15 times front to back since it leaked, and never once did that descriptor come to mind.

Did you just happen to skip the song ROME?

Lou Bega via Hipster

your radar for what is derivative and cheesy is clearly out of wack

Your tolerance for boring music has tricked you into thinking Grizzly Bear isn't just that.

^^you seem to believe Yeasayer is good? Johnny Fever needs to take his temperature, I think the heat is getting to you. YUK YUK

I win, go away

Btw I predict a Pfork Best New Music and, let's say... 9.1 by next week's end, depending when they run the review.

Raising my prediction to 9.2, this is exactly the type of album that Pfork will go nuts over next week. Also predicting a year-end top 10 Pfork finish and top 25 or so here on ILM. It's a great album, perhaps a bit of a grower. J0rdan, that first track is perfect when you loop the album on repeat; helps it transition, slowly, into another solid song cycle all over again. Kindly excuse the AnCo comparison (it's a good one, though, because plenty of people know MPP by now), but it's a bit like "In the Flowers" in that it's a transitional track before the album hits full-on pop song mode for the next few tracks.

this album is pretty mor, huh?

Raising my prediction to 9.2, this is exactly the type of album that Pfork will go nuts over next week.

no way jose

arrrrgh we do we need to predict what pitchfork will give this?

i'm trying not to be that guy but SERIOUSLY

otm

btw I PREDICT AN 8.1

Predictions are fun, it's like Vegas stakes on ILM. If you get the rating on point you get made fun of, if you predict the rating at all you get made fun of -- everyone wins! Er...

predictions are as fun as zing attempts from poster "emily's cheese"

predictions are as fun as zing attempts from poster "emily's cheese" call all destroyer

(Emily's Cheese posts are clearly in a lower circle of hell all their own.)

Cover connection:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_WtT-4WauMl4/SyZhL0kMWFI/AAAAAAAABj0/cAD8DYopo_I/s400/YEASAYER-+ODD+BLOOD.JPG http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/New_Order_Technique.jpg

Yeasayer in the Wall Street Journal today:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704259304575043153075091186.html?mod=djemLifeStyle_h

if i was in an indie band getting wsj coverage would be goal #1

Especially to point out that your guitar tones "sound like pickaxes striking rock, or speeding motorcycles."

dance music is the REAL world music

This is the WSJ quote that baffles me:

"Bands are no longer trying to re-create that feeling they had when they were 15, listening to music on the radio," says Mr. Tuton.

REALLY???

this thread title reminds me of this thread

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=77&threadid=67976

in that pic i wld only say guy on right but that is a bad pic

the bassist is second from left, he's cleaned up a bit now

yeah im basing this mainly on the vid that jordan said upthread

koala gut

If you want the guy on the right come to Australia. Every man and his dog looks like that here (though usually they are neither clutching nor standing proximate to koalas).

that sounds like an empty promise i have seen home and away u liar

hot cowbell playing from the one time i saw them play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyRbmotB3P4

kinda enjoying the recent trend of explicit nudity in p4k band videos

yah, the yelawolf is pretty good; need to check out the j.stalin

Man, these guys are throwing some *major* copper.

(I like this album so far)

Someone played me "Ambling Alp" way back in '09 and I remember thinking, "This is not what I remember Yeasayer as. This is great! They have given into the synth-pop God! I tend to be predisposed toward groups that make that move." I revisited the song today. Several times. Bridge is enormous. Losing control of the language. Will check album.

Man, these guys are throwing some *major* copper.

― Shannon Whirry and the Bad Brains, Friday, February 12, 2010 5:24 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark

haha oh god ouch!!!

some neat sounds, but the lyrics are bland enough for dance music.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/TikiS/Funny%20Stuff/ohnoyoudidnt7pt.gif

I really love these guys live. Perhaps I should give the album(s) a proper try, though I'm pretty sure the first one is Not My Thing.

Love this album. Liked the last one plenty, love this one. Lots of big '80s influence—Talk Talk; Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon—done in a natural way.

It is kinda funny to see the ILX split on this, mostly because I loathe the vast majority of schmindie these days and try to stick to the punk and metal threads.

It's kind of weird seeing "Mondegreen" shit on in multiple reviews- yes, the lyrics are stupid, that seems to be the entire point! It sounds manic and uncomfortable and completely unsexy, and it works.

I feel like MGMT fans will really like this

^this is otm

It is kinda funny to see the ILX split on this, mostly because I loathe the vast majority of schmindie these days

^

Loving this album so much. It would be a shame if lots of people ignored what is effectively a Lindsay Buckingham album produced by Basement Jaxx on account of it being baltimore/brooklyn indie.

Interesting how balanced the songwriting talent of the two main dudes is.

a Lindsay Buckingham album produced by Basement Jaxx

<3 this description!

a Lindsay Buckingham album produced by Basement Jaxx

ILM shark-bait gussying up a very poor album.

Yeah this is pretty good once you get past the singer. I like them a lot more when they put him through the electronic blender.

There are two separate singers. I assume you're referring to the guy on "Ambling Alp" / "I Remember" / "Rome" / "Love Me Girl" / "Mondegreen".

It's the guy on O.N.E I'm not keen on.

Ha! He seems more standard indie vocalist to me (maybe that's yr problem?)

Not sure which of the dudes' songs I like more, though the Ambling Alp guy is a bit more fun I think.

He reminds me a bit of a sharper version of the Cut Copy guy. They're kinda the most Australian sounding American band ever.

!!! Perhaps unsurprisingly I don't see it really. But I'm intrigued by this notion.

(I assume you're referring to the O.N.E. singer there btw)

I can see the Lyndsey Buckingham comparison but for some reason the band reminds me more of Depeche Mode.

And I get Duran Duran wafts, for some reason.

I like O.N.E. a lot but have not heard the album.
Hearing a lot of culture club? and yeah, cut copy.

Have only heard "O.N.E." and LOVE it!

just heard o.n.e. for the first time and thought it sounded just like level 42.

ONE video looks cool, don't like the edit of the song though. The second vocalist's part that comes in near the end is my favorite part of the song and it is handled kind of strangely

http://vimeo.com/10044003

holy hell these guys are the real deal live

They really, truly are. Even the stuff that I was meh on on the album (see: Grizelda) were pretty awesome live. The reworked versions of All Hour Cymbals tracks were good as well.

Really not into the vocal stylings of the I Remember guy in general, but it's pretty damn powerful on that song. Took me seeing them live to really get into it though.

I should add that when I say "in general" I mean in other bands (reminds me of Maynard from Tool a bit), but I love him all over this album.

Video for 'Madder Red' stars Kristen Bell and a really creepy pulsating blob of flesh. Wierd

http://pitchfork.com/news/39750-kristen-bell-stars-in-new-yeasayer-video/

haha that was kind of great

I haven't heard these guys I don't think but I was just now writing a song about Primo Carnera and I went to do some research and it turns out they already wrote a song about Primo this year, so they are on my shit list now

lol

all the good song subjects have been taken.

New one is all over the place in a good way

Have only heard the singles so far, but the album sounds promising. I Am Chemistry made my favourite 25 songs of the quarter.

I'm listening to this song. This isn't Yeasayer, right? This is like when The Horrors put out Sea Within A Sea, right? I hate this band! This isn't real!

I had forgotten how hard this album goes