Colin Newman's Desert Island Discs on Pitchfork: Whaddayathink?

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here ya go. [minor quibble]Doesn't "Ghent" have an "h?"[/minor quibble]

― hstencil, Friday, 18 October 2002 19:59 (twenty-three years ago)

i think he's wearing a leather vest.

― dk, Friday, 18 October 2002 20:01 (twenty-three years ago)

Naw it's one o' those L.L. Bean-type thingies.

― hstencil, Friday, 18 October 2002 20:25 (twenty-three years ago)

Loveless? 80's?

― A.V. Alexandre (Keiko), Friday, 18 October 2002 20:28 (twenty-three years ago)

thanks - reminds me of a funny moment I had recently listening to a comp and hearing a track - "haha! he's totally ripping off Colin Newman". of course it was Colin Newman - haha!

― Paul (scifisoul), Friday, 18 October 2002 20:32 (twenty-three years ago)

*suddenly remembers* it's called a fleece.

― hstencil, Friday, 18 October 2002 20:52 (twenty-three years ago)

"Loveless? 80's?"

Yes I noticed that also. Do u think he meant Isn't Anything? Who cares, anyway!

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 18 October 2002 21:04 (twenty-three years ago)

I was intrigued by this statement:

Otherwise, the most culturally significant act of the past two years has been The Strokes (not the saviors of Western Civilization but not entirely crap because they aren't).

Do you agree or disagree? And if it's not the Strokes, who is it? Also, have we had a thread about about McLusky here yet, and if we have, why can't I find it? I imagine that the album is old hat to people across the Atlantic, but since I just heard it a few days ago I'm still pretty excited about it. Possibly my favorite of the hyped rock bands (not completely sure yet). So if anyone could direct me to an old thread, start a new one, or talk about them here, I'd appreciate it.

― Miranda, Friday, 18 October 2002 21:14 (twenty-three years ago)

he kind of loses me after the 70s. hey but who doesnt.

― unknown or illegal user (doorag), Friday, 18 October 2002 23:56 (twenty-three years ago)

He sounds disappointingly like a Pitchfork-type writer (or really any relatively young music critic writing about the past) - although you'd never see No-U-Turn get props normally - in that he writes like he wasn't around for any of the music he ascribes importance to. Even when he's relating personal anecotes it's like looking through glass caked with the dust of "standing the test of time" etc. ad nauseum.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 19 October 2002 00:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Naw it's one o' those L.L. Bean-type thingies

That photo makes me understand why he picked Tortoise

― brg30 (brg30), Saturday, 19 October 2002 00:35 (twenty-three years ago)

it all goes well enough until he gets to tortoise actually. , but as usual with this kind of thing he's just too northern hemisphere about it all. Anyone with any sense knows Australians invented grunge.

― threemetalinsects (threemetalinsects), Saturday, 19 October 2002 23:42 (twenty-three years ago)

There was a thread about Mclusky and the Walkmen but pretty much everyone else on it talked about the Walkmen. I also rambled about them on a thread about Albini or Beachbuggy, but that really was just me. I don't think they've had their own thread but I might be wrong.

Which side of the Atlantic are you on (for some reason I suspect the .at address is a red herring; perhaps I'm wrong)? I'm in the UK and it's not old hat to me or anyone else I know yet, although when I got the first album and saw them live for all of fifteen minutes before their equipment broke and they had to come offstage I felt like they could be very exciting indeed given a bit more time, and the new album and the last time I saw them I felt like they were a lot more confident and better at writing but not in quite the way I'd hoped they would be, if that makes any sense.

I still like the album, though, and I'd like to believe that it wasn't their fault that I didn't enjoy the gig. I felt all smug when lyrics from it turned up on the How Indie Are You? quiz that was linked to on here a while ago and everything. You may hate me now. ;)

Oh, and Gent is the actual Flemish spelling, Ghent the usual English spelling, despite looking less English (but being more obviously with a hard G), and I agree with Tim about the article, both in terms of the writing and in that I was hoping for something a little more, well, controversial, I suppose. Not that I particularly disagree with the choices, in fact that's the problem, I already own most of them and I'm well aware that by ILM standards my record collection is nothing worth writing about.

I wonder what the Blow Up article's premise was, since it kind of reads like he was listing the ten most influential or important instead of ten favourites. Maybe all this says is that I'm a pretentious fool for thinking that there should necessarily be an obvious difference or that anyone should feel obliged to throw in deliberately obscure things.

Sorry, another of my occasional but invariably overlong posts.

― Rebecca (reb), Sunday, 20 October 2002 00:44 (twenty-three years ago)

"Loveless? 80's?"
I guess to his ears, it has a more 80-ish feel to it, despite it being released in the beginning of the 90s.

― Lord Custos Omega (Lord Custos Omega), Sunday, 20 October 2002 02:14 (twenty-three years ago)

Perhaps he considers _Loveless_ a definitive summation of a lot of stuff that was in the air in the mid- to late-80s.

I think he comes across as sort of distant from the music, too, like he gleaned all this appreciation from Trouser Press guides and such. Some of his choices are pretty unorthodox and surprising, but the commentary feels a bit stiff.

― Clarke B. (emily), Sunday, 20 October 2002 02:38 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, I'm in the US. Sorry if the email address caused confusion, it's just something I use to post here. Anyway, thanks for digging up the McLusky thread. I'm kind of surprised there hasn't been more here about them. I thought they were the big hype for a while, but maybe I'm wrong. Too Pure just released the album domestically a few weeks ago. I'm a sucker for drumsguitarsandscreaming, but I think it may wear thin after a while.

Loveless? 80's?

Didn't Digeridoo actually come out in the 90's as well (AMG says yes, but may be wrong). Seems Mr. Newman holds the 80's in low esteem.

― Miranda, Sunday, 20 October 2002 13:33 (twenty-three years ago)

Somewhat similar situation from Perfect Sound Forever. (Loveless is filed in the '80s.)

― Andy K (Andy K), Sunday, 20 October 2002 14:24 (twenty-three years ago)

"The 80's is a bit light because I didn't listen to Western music at all for most of it!"

― Andy K (Andy K), Sunday, 20 October 2002 14:26 (twenty-three years ago)

hehe...I suppose they were a late eighties band and didn't they begin recording in 89 (ned to thread).

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 20 October 2002 14:28 (twenty-three years ago)

hah obv julio is not familiar with the horrid early-mid 80s valentines recordings.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 20 October 2002 14:41 (twenty-three years ago)

oh yeah forgot abt them. unfortunately sean carruthers played one of those things. and yes it was horrible.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 20 October 2002 14:45 (twenty-three years ago)

There's a reason I don't have that stuff in the collection. This is Your Bloody Valentine needs to be taken out and shot.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 20 October 2002 16:07 (twenty-three years ago)

eight years pass...

Interesting record selection in this Fact piece:
http://www.factmag.com/2011/06/14/five-records-wire/

― NickB, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 11:00 (fourteen years ago)

two years pass...

What did he pick? Original link no longer exists

― Kornblud (admrl), Sunday, 16 February 2014 00:15 (eleven years ago)

Web Archive is your friend: http://web.archive.org/web/20021022174104/http://pitchforkmedia.com/watw/02-10/colin-newman.shtml

― Austin, Sunday, 16 February 2014 00:22 (eleven years ago)

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