I thought I would be, but no, I’m really not at all. By Golly, I think I like ’em!
Reading about music is like a box of chocolates: You never know what you’re going to get until you bite down. Fortunately, no one can make you swallow. Against Me! first came to my attention in a fawning Spin profile about the best bunch of emo brats to emerge from FLA, USA since Scott Stapp ruined Sunshine State Rock for the rest of us. Spin has spilled a lot of ink over the last few years on the likes of My Chemical Confessional and Fall Out Charlotte and a bunch of other high-schoolers tarted up with eyeliner and Feelings, Feelings, Feelings, oh, nothing more than Feelings.
I expected the same from these guys.
Despite some over-earnest adolescence in the lyrics and a vocal style that is too often Roger Daltrey at his most histrionic (think of the timbre of WE WON’T BE FOOLED AGAIN!! repeated for 3:35, maybe a little much…) these boys put together a very tight package of power-punked rock ‘n roll. Like many of the greatest Rock Bands, they’re capable of both the simple/effective (“Stop”) and the epic (“Ocean”) using the simple tools of the medium. I have a hunch they’ll still be with us after many of the current crop of state-side startups have faded away to a flashback show on MTV8.
gw
haven’t heard these guys, but glad to know you’re out there discovering new music.
mg
hey, somebody’s got to do it! They were Spin’s #1 Band Of the Year (or album of the year) for 2007, that made me give them a try. Weird year for #1’s… Paste had The National as their Dark Horse pick.
Though “The Boxer” is a more, shall we say, artistic endeavor than “New Wave” when I need to get my rock on, I know which one I’ll pick.
I like “New Wave” a lot as well. Paste drives me crazy. Every year they publish a “Top 100” list that is not my list, and therefore they get it wrong. The National? Bah. “Boxer” isn’t a bad album, but it’s nowhere close to the best album of the year.
My favorite “rock” album of 2007 was probably the new Brooooce. I say “probably” because my opinion changes almost hourly, and the award could also go to Arctic Monkeys or Art Brut or Radiohead. About the only thing I can say for certain is that when the new Hold Steady album is released, it will probably be the best rock album of 2008.
And if you’re looking for a new Paul Simon/Simon & Garfunkel fix, check out Jacob Golden’s new album “Revenge Songs.” It’s a great breakup album, and you’d swear that you were listening to Paul Simon in 1967.
Hi Andy —
First of all, great column in the month’s Paste — simply, wonderfully crafted. Deeply personal (the hypochondriac fear of the Nuclear Apocalypse coming back years later in unexpected ways, etc.) without beating anyone over the head. Not the most pleasant way to research your material, but the old adage “write what you know” has never been wrong. Just incomplete. Thanks for writing it.
Secondly, and far less importantly, I’m still working on my Top 10, but it’s percolating to the stop of the To Do stack. Thanks for the Jacob Golden recommendation — I will look him up.
Thanks, Grant. I appreciate your kind words. And I look forward to seeing your Top 10 list.