Indie Rock Baseball's Happy Recap '07: Arctic Monkeys vs. The White Stripes
Hey there! For the remainder of ‘07, IndieRockBaseball.com will be taking a look back at the ‘07 releases that all the list-makers are talking about, but we haven’t actually heard yet. You know, because we didn’t start this column until half-way through the year, and we want to experience for ourselves what all the renewed hype is about. Play ball!
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| Arctic Monkeys Favourite Worst Nightmare Domino / Warner Bros. |
The White Stripes Icky Thump Warner Bros. |
Scouting Report: The White Stripes‘ Icky Thump, aside from having 2007’s most grotesque album title, and being available for sale at Starbucks, has been hailed as the Stripes' return to form, thus gracing plenty of premature Top 10/50/800 lists. The way I see it, it’s bound to be better than the Raconteurs (right?). As for Arctic Monkeys, they have up to this point been the exact sort of buzz band i would have previously strenuously avoided, until I started doing this column. Thus, I confess, I have absolutely no idea who they are or what they sound like. Obviously, I’m anticipating something British and punky.
Plus, admit it: it’s refreshing to read a blogger who isn’t pretending to be a life long fan of every band publicists pitchfork their way. I’m more like your granddad trying to order something at his first trip to Taco Bell.
First Up: Favourite Worst Nightmare
- Brianstorm (2:50) | Fun! “Fun” meaning a flurry of fast notes. It’s a start. | BALL, 1-0
- Teddy Picker (2:43) | Not much in headphones, but i bet i’d dance to it. | HIT, one on
- D Is for Dangerous (2:16) | Or for ‘Dippy.’ | STRIKE, 0-1
- Balaclava (2:49) | BALL, 1-1
- Fluorescent Adolescent (2:57) | STRIKE, 1-2
- Only Ones Who Know (3:02) | Wow! Range! A very pretty song. I bet at least two dudes in the band objected. | DOUBLE, one in, runner on 2nd
- Do Me a Favour (3:27) | BALL, 1-0
- This House Is a Circus (3:09) | A refreshing angle on the ol’ “young adult debauchery” song, but, seriously, somebody get these guys less coffee. | HIT, one in, one on
- If You Were There, Beware (4:34) | STRIKE, 0-1
- The Bad Thing (2:23) | BALL, 1-1
- Old Yellow Bricks (3:11) | STRIKE, 1-2
- 505 (4:13) | This cinches it: i have no idea what this band is singing about. | STRIKE 3, out.
Hyper in that uniquely British way, but pleasant, with a few surprises, and ultimately accomplished. Look at it this way: i’d have a hard time coming up with 37 or 38 records that came out in 2007 better than this one. So, if your year-end list is running deep, you might as well chuck this one on it. I doubt i’ll be giving it another spin anytime soon, but hey, no acoustic guitars! For Arctic Monkeys, 1 run on 3 hits, none left on.
Next up: Icky Thump
- Icky Thump (4:14) | Why shell out $1500 for Led Zeppelin tickets when you can see these guys for, like, $50? | STRIKE, 0-1
- You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You’re Told) (3:54) | Why shell out $20 for Bad Company tickets when … | BALL, 1-1
- 300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues (5:28) | Ah, more like it. | DOUBLE, one on
- Conquest (2:48) | A Patty Page cover, better in theory. | STRIKE, 0-1
- Bone Broke (3:14) | BALL, 1-1
- Prickly Thorn, but Sweetly Worn (3:05) | By the way, mandolins are an instant strike here at IRB. | STRIKE, 1-2
- St. Andrew (This Battle Is in the Air) (1:49) | STRIKE 3, OUT.
Saints alive, is this shrill. Jack White seems increasingly desperate to branch out, in anyway possible, but little of it clicks, and most of it is mind-searingly annoying. Hey, it’s the White Stripes, so it’s not gonna be completely terrible, and it’s also gonna end up on year end lists by default. But, casual fans needn’t bother. For The White Stripes, no runs on 1 hit, 6 left on.
Yeah, i’m surprised too, but this is why the games are played. Your final today: Arctic Monkeys 1, The White Stripes 0. Stay tuned for more Indie Rock Baseball.
Comments
Perhaps I'm not as current with the latest blogging trends as some, but I don't quite understand the point of Indie Rock Baseball.
Perhaps IRB is trying to be some sort of postmodern art; if so, continue on. But as a means for critiquing others' work, it seems lacking. It tells me a little bit about what you enjoy in an album, but it doesn't offer any insights into why I (or anyone else, for that matter) would enjoy it. Suppose music review sites featured nothing but top-10 lists; what value would they offer readers?Say what you will about PFM's sensationalism, they at least offer some entertaining writing about the record. When a song is reduced to "DOUBLE", it doesn't make me want to go out and listen to that song. I kind of assumed that the goal of a music reviewer was to listen to an album all the way through and tell me why it's a great album or why it isn't. They're the ones that listen to that song a third or fouth time and tell me about the hidden gem they've found. I certainly don't love Pitchfork, but I doubt I would have made it to the last track of Emergency and I without their review--neither would IRB. What would Dark Side of the Moon score?
Maybe this is what music reviewing is evolving into in this age of Twitter and Tumblr, but I hope not. Interestingly, Last.fm is on the same path as IRB, by letting people know exactly what music their friends listen to.
I don't think thes reviews are bad, per se - the writing is good and the musical taste is similar to my own. I just think the baseball metaphor has been stretched too far.
Hola, Miguel. Post-modern? You are too kind. Feel free to call it a gimmick; that's precisely what it is. And, i have no problem with Pitchfork, actually. Instead, using "Pitchfork" is lazy (but convenient) short hand on my part for music blogging in general, sites that share Pitchfork's questionable tastes and complicity in the music publicity machine, without having the writing skills or flair. Thus, sadly, a gimmick is what is needed for us to even have a voice in the whole thing, accidental as its invention was. And thus, the point? Not much of one not afforded every other music critic. What, in my opinion, we managed to do - once again, primarily accidentally - is relay *how* people listen to and evaluate new music. You know, see who the hell the band is, listen in sequence, occasionally pontifficate to their friends, then evaluate afterward. And, most importantly, toss the disc when it's starting to seem irredeemably sucky. And therein lies our disagreement: i don't think it's incumbent upon the reviewer to listen to the whole disk at all! As long as they aren't trying to pass off otherwise, that is, and if nothing else, IRB is pretty specific about how far we're able to go. If you need Pitchfork's help getting to the end of "Emergency and I", the fault lies with the band, and perhaps Pitchfork. As for the baseball metaphor, well, i just like baseball a lot. Sure, it withers under a certain amount of scrutiny ... what metaphor doesn't? Replace "double" with "album highlight" or "really good song" and you have a more accurate, and (in my opinion) a lot less scintillating, evaluation. Besides, i stand by the scores. Almost down the line, the albums that have earned 3+ runs happen to be the ones i continue to listen to, and one i tell my friends about. Again, the web is already filled with thousands of sites plainly agreeing on how good Iron & Wine is (for example). IRB may be not be perfect, but it got your attention.