Medialoper

We're Not Who You Think We Are

Archives for December 1996

Imperial Teen – Seasick

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(Slash/London)

Finally, a band that took to heart the pop seminar that was the Breeders’ Last Splash. On one hand, it’s so weird that it’s pop music in context only, and on the other, you suddenly that they created their own context, and revel in the pop. This all goes hand in hand with the words, all full of boy/boy lust and smack and regret yet often ending with the whole band chanting things “I like you I like you I like you . . .” or better yet, this offer: “Let’s stop and order pancakes/I don’t mind sitting down.”

. . .

Written for the 1996 Village Voice Pazz & Jop Poll

R.E.M. – New Adventures in Hi-Fi

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(Warner Bros.)

In the old days, it was easier — R.E.M. put out an album, we all went “ooooh” and “ahhhhh,” and played it constantly. Or so it seems. Nowadays, R.E.M. (or Bob Mould) (or Paul Westerberg) puts out an album and we all compare it to the old days, when their music was everything to us, and then wonder why, now, when we are all older, it doesn’t have as much emotional resonance. As if it’s their fault, not ours. Hardly. They’ve figured out how to deal with age, ennui and commercial success as smartly as any band in rock history, now, it’s our turn.

. . .

Written for the 1996 Village Voice Pazz & Jop Poll

Wilco – Being There

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(Reprise)

I was gonna say that I loved Wilco for many of the same reasons that I worshipped The Replacements, but really, it’s only one: the way Jeff Tweedy understands how much can fit, really, under the umbrella of rock ‘n’ roll. That he lives for it, needs it, loves it, is of course a cliché. That it never sounds like a cliché when he sings about it is why he’s so special.

. . .

Written for the 1996 Village Voice Pazz & Jop Poll