I think I'm going to stop coming to /mu/. I just listened to this because you guys talk about it all the time, and the only good song on it is the title track. All the other songs are just edgy songs about sex - which is probably why so many heavily-bearded, thick-rimmed-glasses wearing coffee drinking college kids obsess over the album. (Sung to basic bitch acoustic guitar strumming I might add.)
I'll give the guy that he's a decent lyricist, and the wording was clever and all, but how about a little variety to the lyrics? Also, I found his voice to be pretty shrill and irritating to listen to for about 50% of the album.
Overall it was a very unmemorable, at times painful to listen to album and I won't be listening to anything on it again except for the title track maybe a year from now.
here's your reply
Basically fuck you
>>60357426
i dont really give a shit either way but you ought to know that your hipster stereotype is quite outdated, you should get out more
great post op
>>60357426
This place is shit and it's because of people like you
Goodbye and please don't come back.
>>60357455
>>60357460
>>60357483
>>60357528
>>60357533
>>60357559
Wow, 5 repliers and not one of them was able to tell me how or why I was wrong with an intelligent counterargument, or any counterargument whatsoever.
Thanks for confirming that I'm right, now just about this incredibly overrated album, but also /mu/. I'm a little embarrassed to admit I wasted 40 minutes of my life listening to this album based on /mu/'s endorsement of an album, but rest assured it won't happen again and I've learned my lesson.
>>60357426
literal meme trash album that a bunch of idiots here think is "deep"
I always thought this album was /mu/'s special meme.
>>60357572
I mean no one told you you had to.
You are ignorant and you are a fool! Good day to you sir!!
>>60357572
Well there's a 99.9% chance of you being a complete newfag to this board and having no background or knowledge about music whatsoever because of the way you worded your post. All this does is looking a bait/troll so go fuck yourself and don't come back ever again.
>>60357572
I feel no obligation to if you really think all the other songs that have lyrics besides ITAOTS are "just edgy songs about sex" and >>60357483.
>>60357572
>2015
>listening to this album for the first time
Either you're 16 or just started paying attention. Or both
>>60357572
You never gave any real criticism in the first place. You don't like his voice? congrats. Here's an explanation of some of his lyrics. Most people like him because he leaves all his feelings in the music, he exposes himself and his weakness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk6IiuRTe1Q
>>60357572
Based on what you said there's nothing we can really offer that'll change your perspective on the album. It's pretty entry level indie and yet you don't even seem open minded enough to handle that. What do you want us to do?
>>60357807
Upvoted
>>60357572
>Fedora.png
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_K1Vju0r6Q
>>60357845
Epic
>>60357572
Reply to what? Your opinion of his voice isn't something we can change. As for varied lyrics, Im sure noone knows what the fuck you're talking about. This album is mostly about chasing Anne Frank through time and jeff's own relationship to his own life, its kind of a concept album, conceptualizing Jeff's quirky feelings of feeling and depression. The fact that Jeff can make such a sad sounding album with basic mahor chords is impressive. Its really kinda stupid that you have a problem with the fact that he uses acoustic guitar, like REALLY retarded actually.
>>60357572
Seems to me like you're just a kiddie stuck in his Top 40s or his dad-rock phase.
You want a response? Here's your fucking response:
ITAOTS is definitely a meme in some part, there's no denying that. The fact that Jeff Mangum is basically a basket case who hides from the public these days gives the album/band the whole "mystery keeps people interested" appeal.
However, listen to the album again. You can hear the raw emotion in Mangum's voice and in the composition. This album was very influential because it had an incredibly interesting blend of instruments that were mostly unheard of at the time. These days, using brass instruments in indie music isn't special. Back then, it was fresh and people liked that. So they started to do it too. People stopped being hesitant to use different instruments in their music and started to experiment a lot more.
>edgy songs about sex
>Hurr durr SEMEN STAINS THE MOUNTAINTOPS and mentioning ovaries in a lyric makes the whole album sex related
Sounds like you can't interpret lyrics right. There's some mention of sex in a few songs, that's it. Most of the album isn't even about sex. Also, edgy? Seriously? Fuck outta here bud.
this is pretty shit b8
>>60357920
>>60357426
This is either b8 or you are retarded. Go read one if its hundreds of reviews, we don't have to baby every retard who posts "i dont get it waaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
IM MAD BECAUSE I CANNOT CONNECT EMOTIONALLY TO AN ALBUM THAT OTHERS CAN :(
>>60358008
>>60357920
im on ur side moron
>>60358142
I meant to reply to
>>60357426
>>60357572
not >>60357920
Same boat.
Listened to it solely because of how much hype it gets on here, literally the biggest pile of shit I've ever heard in comparison to it's hype.
>>60358521
Listen to it louder.
>>60358521
Alright everybody pack it up, this guy doesn't like the album. It's over.
>>60357975
why did you bother
>>60358521
I've listened to Kid A at least 10 times and still don't "get" it, but at least I try and don't trash it like a retard.
if you don't like it wait a couple of months and then try again
Hey, OP, I agree with you! This album is old as shit anyways
Should I takeaway mcdonald, burger king or kfc?
dubs decides which place and the orders, not too much please, i'm broke
>>60358682
chipotle
>>60358637
Honestly you're dumber than he is. What made you think it would click on the 10th time if it didn't on the 9th, or the 5th, or whatever? Why do you think it is important that you enjoy and understand Kid A? You're basically bragging about wasting your time
>>60358682
McDonald's and get 4 mcmuffins with a small root bear
>>60358739
Re rolling for the root bear
>>60358682
Burger King, buy a hundred nuggets
>>60358780
Dis roll
If OP is a troll, this was one of the best trolls I've ever seen
...otherwise he's just a faggot
>>60358682
go to your local mexican place and order a burrito with just lettuce
>>60358619
I was mad. I didn't bother with these dubs though.
>>60357426
Where can I subscribe to your blog?
>>60358682
mcdonalds, get a mcgriddle with hashbrown
>assuming your mcds isn't Plebian
>>60358780
roll
>>60358649
>>60357975
>listen to it again
Haha, nope, nice try though. Fool me once, shame on /mu/, fool me twice...
>>60359365
>>60359365
I didn't find it that good on my first listen,but now it's in my favorite albums after the 2nd or 3rd time.
>>60357613
Yeah but I believe in power in numbers. Surely if so many people think a non-mainstream album is really fantastic, it must be, right? Unfortunately in this case it wasn't.
>>60357677
Not a newfag, been here since 2012. And don't even go there with the "background or knowledge" in music pal, we're on fucking /mu/.
>>60357721
I can't tell you how many verses there were about sex, and it was all so obvious. From the very beginning to the very end.
>>60357740
23. I just never got around to this album... for a good reason apparently.
>>60357742
Yes I did; the lyrics are incredibly sexually oriented. Again, no problem with this, and some of it was worded quite cleverly. However song after song, verse after verse, clearly about sex? Give me a god damn break!
And yes, this is a music album, not a book of poetry or literature, I think criticizing a singer's voice is pretty fair. As is criticizing the largely unmemorable song structures and guitar strumming and stuff.
>>60357807
>entry level
More like exit level. This is not the first album I would recommend for someone wanting to get into indie, at all. Unless they look like they're a super hipster.
>>60357880
Not even going to watch that.
>>60357920
Yeah, no. The album is mostly about sex. Even the Urban Outfitters description for the vinyl says the same thing. And making a sad album really isn't that hard, emo kids do it all the time.
I don't have a problem with the acoustic guitar per se, just that his playing is nothing special.
>>60357975
>Seems to me like you're just a kiddie stuck in his Top 40s or his dad-rock phase.
You couldn't be more wrong, way to make assumptions though. But it's not going to make my opinion any less valid or yours any more valid, FYI.
>Sounds like you can't interpret lyrics right. There's some mention of sex in a few songs, that's it. Most of the album isn't even about sex. Also, edgy? Seriously? Fuck outta here bud.
You're delusional, that's all I have to say.
>>60357975
>However, listen to the album again. You can hear the raw emotion in Mangum's voice and in the composition. This album was very influential because it had an incredibly interesting blend of instruments that were mostly unheard of at the time. These days, using brass instruments in indie music isn't special. Back then, it was fresh and people liked that. So they started to do it too. People stopped being hesitant to use different instruments in their music and started to experiment a lot more.
You've gotta be fucking kidding me, this is the most pretentious delusional garbage (pronounced gar-bazghe) I think I've ever read.
The album came out in 1998 bro. Not 1958. 1998. Any influence it may have had in the areas you speak of would be minimal at best.
Scared of blending instruments until this album came out in 19 fucking 98. Jesus Fucking Christ.
>>60357426
good riddance desu senpai
>>60359508
>>60359536
You're pretty pretentious
>>60359508
I don't even like ITAOTS, but I do get the impression that you don't "get it." what music do you listen to and like?
>>60357426
Even edgy enough to name a song "Untitled"
Yeah this album is nothing new. Just some fucker singing and playing the guitar with some middle school trombone kid.
What were you expecting, OP? composition? craft? that shit is dead buddy. All hail Katy Perry.
>>60357426
>All the other songs are just edgy songs about sex
[citation needed]
>>60359536
>The album came out in 1998 bro. Not 1958. 1998
Name 30 albums that sound exactly like it before 1998.
You know how when a singer is singing popular music he or she usually isn't directly on the beat but is slightly out of step with the accompaniment's rhythm? In OAI, if I remember accurately, Mangum tends to hang a little behind the beat on many of the songs ("Blistering pree..." and so on). Contrast with much of ITAOTS, where on the fast-paced numbers like "Two Headed Boy" he's bearing down so heavily that he's almost outrunning his own accompanying, and even on slow tunes like "Oh Comely" the tenseness of the delivery is unwavering and he's hitting the rhythms with militant precision.
In "Two Headed Boy", for instance, he makes extensive use of blues turnarounds and other methods to prolong the resolution so that the first time we hear an authentic V-I cadence isn't until the end of the B section, which is something like 2 full minutes into the song! The effect of such a harmonic structure is to make this resolution uncommonly satisfying and cathartic, since we as listeners to tonal music aren't accustomed to waiting that long, and certainly not in a pop song. This is to say nothing of the modal mixture (a B major chord in a G major key being an example) and other points of interest.
>>60359852
The B chord in "Two Headed Boy" isn't native to the song's key of G major, but that sense of wrongness or strangeness we get upon hearing the non-diatonic chord is part of what makes the harmony expressive and distinctive. Songwriters/composers do that kind of thing all the time; what makes "Oh Comely" worth noting is the decision to begin the song not on the tonic chord, but in the midst of an extended prolongation of the predominant C major, and to top it all off, on a non-diatonic chord. That's the reason "Oh Comely" sounds so anxious and tense, and why the D-G cadence is like a weight off our shoulders when we eventually hear it, because this harmonic framework is incredibly unstable.
An E major chord opens the song, strummed on acoustic guitar in 3/4 with a vaguely menacing swing. E major will become the dominant key for much of the rest of the album. The song is mostly a single-take guitar and vocal performance, with the exception of some doubled vocals and horns that enter later on. In fact, the recording on the album preserves what was meant to be only a test of microphone levels with a few bars (ibid). Instead, Mangum, apparently swept up with the power of the song, plows through its entire duration with a remarkable, emotionally-wrought performance. His voice assumes the timbre of a sorrowful, pained moan. The chord progression consists of E major alternating with C major, but the melody of the first section superimposes E natural minor over the E major chord. Here Mangum’s loud, deep voice dominates the guitar’s tonality, which buries its major thirds by emphasizing the low fifth. Though the major tonality is clear during the instrumental breaks, as he sings the minor vocal melody all but obliterates the major key. This domination reflects the song’s subject matter, which laments the imposition of one force upon another, the invasion of suffering where it does not belong.
>>60359874
At the outset, the speaker seems to be anticipating the death of a loved one: “Oh comely / I will be with you when you lose your breath.” This foreboding is akin to the feelings Mangum experienced as he read Anne Frank’s diary. In an interview shortly after the album’s release, he recalled, “I pretty much knew what was going to happen. But that’s the thing: you love people because you know their story” (McGonigal, 1998, pp. 21-22). He expressed frustration that he could feel so close to someone who eventually “gets disposed of like a piece of trash” (ibid). Here, the word “comely” is surrounded by ugliness and decay, just as Anne was a beautiful presence amidst an abhorrent tragedy. Next, the key shifts to G major as the speaker briefly reflects on the contentment of the past: “Chasing the only meaningful memory you thought you had left / [...] It isn’t as pretty as you’d like to guess / In your memory.” The G major key is reminiscent of the relative happiness of the previous few songs—the joy of the title track, the comforting pathos of “Two-Headed Boy,” the celebration of “Holland, 1945,” and the explorative, escapist fantasy of “Communist Daughter”—which are themselves already fading into vaguely pleasant memories under the weight of “Oh Comely.” Likewise, Anne often used nostalgia as a crutch, but her memories only produced temporary relief, which in turn quickly subsided into melancholy. As the key shifts back to the E major/minor hybrid, Mangum proclaims, “It doesn’t mean anything at all,” as if to say that the unrequited longing Anne endured as she suffered to prolong her life was pointless since she died before it could be satisfied.
>>60359828
horns have always been pretty common in pop music senpai. although I will admit it probably is a direct ancestor of stuff like mumford and sons
>>60359894
It's the flowering of a truly original artist's voice, with Mangum's text, composition, and performances surpassing all preceding efforts; it is the first true rock "concept album" to succeed holistically - and not merely succeed, but flourish - prompting a reexamination of that idiom by many; it's one of the rock music's most artistically significant statements from the 1990s, perhaps even ever.
>>60359907
I'm sorry that's not a list of 30 albums. Try again?
>>60359920
i love this album, but i hope you're aware that this board is gonna give you shit for delving this far into the details b/c it's "pretentious"
you don't have to like it but at least let us like it without being an ass
>>60359508
>he's really trying this hard
>>60360018
I wasn't the guy you were responding to, I was just pointing out something obvious about horns and about M&S. There aren't 30 albums I can think of that sound like it, before or after it was released. The same could be said for almost every album I can think of. What a terrible metric to judge an album by.
Okay, so you don't like Two Headed Boy? Or the title track? Or Communist Daughter? Or Holland, 1945? I think you're full of shit.
There's no hope for you if you cannot appreciate two headed boy pt.2
>>60357677
>having no background or knowledge about music whatsoever
This describes a large portion of this board.
IMO it's a wonderful album that reflects on so many parts of being a human being. Death, time, innocence, sex, nature, family, the body, dreaming & the subconscious...it makes up for its relative musical simplicity (though arguments could be made for its complexity) with its wild thematic and emotional complexity
you're allowed to think it's pretentious, but it came from one of the more genuine, heartfelt, and sentimental groups in indie music
>>60360073
>There aren't 30 albums I can think of that sound like it
Let me know when you can properly refute an argument.
>The same could be said for almost every album I can think of.
Well obviously if you don't know much about music, then you shouldn't try discussing it.
>>60358705
Sometimes you have to listen to an album multiple times before you like it. I want to know why radiohead is everyone's wet dream. When I don't "get" it like seemingly everyone else does, it makes me feel stupid. Plus, agreeing with Robert Christgau is something I dont want to happen
>>60360239
I was like you. Listen to Amnesiac, and think about the world in the early 2000s. You might get it, or at least understand why people like Radiohead.
>>60357975
I wouldn't say he's a basket case recluse at all, that's just the myth hipsters cooked up in the years he was "inactive."
"Inactive" sure ain't the right word to use given how I kept hearing him on all these different E6-related releases throughout the years. Maybe "not in p4k every day" sure.
That's not even the case anymore
>olivia tremor control was always better
>>60359508
>>60357742
>>60357920
There are only a handful of lines about sex, even the ones where hes talking about being naked and "notches in your spine" hes isn't talking about sex. You're just retarded
>urban outfitters
now i know this is b8
>>60360239
i'm not OP but you shouldn't feel stupid if you don't like a popular album. sometimes things just don't work for everyone. it's cool that you're open-minded enough to give it a few chances though; there are plenty of albums i love now that i didn't like on first listen, OK computer being one of them
>>60357426
>you guys talk about it all the time
I didn't realize it was 2012
>>60357572
why do you have to make such a big fuss because you don't like something everyone else likes? nobody cares
>>60360094
Or Ghost + the instrumental after it
k
>>60358682
kfc go sure my man tbhonest smhead family
>>60360261
Amnesiac is the only album I've been able to get into, the last track, in a glass house, holy shit the clarinet gets me every time, its so beautiful, Kid A is a different story
>>60360306
Its not that I dont like it, its that I dont get why people think its great/brilliant/important. I dont understand where people are coming from. I don't like Dark Side of the Moon, but I understand why people like it, that isn't the case for Kid A for me
>>60359508
Oh shit Urban Outfitters said it was about sex, gg you win. Confirmed troll
Hey are there any black people in this thread?
>>60360411
Maybe try The Bends? I kind of like that album too. Also, just try listening to Kid A and OK Computer in the background, quietly, while doing other stuff. I did that for Astrobrite, and now I really like them.
>>60360487
nah, ill just get high with my friends and listen to it
>>60360583
good idea
>>60360583
Whatever you like man, Radiohead is good for a dim room while you're not sober.
>>60357426
>I just listened to this because you guys talk about it all the time
It literally never gets mentioned, besides the sticky.
>>60360282
What the fuck. Sex is a theme of album. Of course it's going to be mentioned a lot. It is one of the most human elements of life.
>>60360840
>Sex is a theme of album
[citation needed]
