Robert Christgau's Music Criticism Blog - Expert Witness - MSN Music

Deerhunter/Best Coast

Amerindie Atmospheres

By Xgau Jan 14, 2011 9:29AM

 

Deerhunter: Halcyon Digest (4AD)

Smart young people have been telling me about this band since 2007, and I've been shrugging just as long. Give their big breakthrouygh a few plays and, unless you're the right kind of smart young person, you'll shrug too. Though you'll notice some tunes and also toward the end some committed tenor sax, and though there are those who praise its OK lyrics, it's still an arty indie-rock texturama. Only then give it more time than seems altogether fair and you'll find that this texturama has sufficient structure to assure that eventually the tunes and then the saxophone and then even the sound effects will signify and lift you up. Conceive it as DJ electronica that makes its point, starting all partial and halting before gathering itself to a properly modest climax. Except that it's played by a live band. And has OK lyrics. Smart, nothing‑-pretty darned intelligent. A MINUS

 

Best Coast: Crazy for You (Mexican Summer)

Bethany Cosentino believes romance is a myth‑-not a lie, a myth, like Sisyphus. That's why she decks her deliberately simple tunes in echo effects that also obscure the specificity of her already multi-tracked singing voice, why "weed" is damn near the only concrete noun on the entire record unless that burning ball of gas in the sky counts. Musically, the idea is to recreate the Beach Boys' aura 50 years later. Thematically, it's to prove that she's a postmodern girl who knows better. The catch is that through all her generalizations it soon becomes clear that she needs that guy much more than a postmodern girl is supposed to. Too bad she can't pin it down and also can't pin him down. I blame the weed. A MINUS

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Cam Patterson
Jan 14, 2011 10:18PM
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It's nice to hear folks in this thread talk about incorporating CG into their music appreciation. I made my choice by comparing the first Rolling Stone Record Guide (the red one, released in 1979) with the 1970s CG. I comparison-shopped the music that I didn't know in 1981, and Pere Ubu records received no stars in the Rolling Stone guide (Dave Marsh, I believe, reviewed, wish I still had it to check) and we all know how Mr. Christgau graded them. So I followed that pathway and never was ever deeply disappointed. Plus, Mr. Christgau was kind enough to photocopy some early Dean's lists that I couldn't track down in the library (I sent him a dollar to cover copy costs, but he sent it back-- "Keep yer buck"). 

I admit to being obsessive, and I've probably got over 90% of the A- or above records that he has reviewed in some form, which accounts for over half of my music collection. I don't like all of the As, and sometimes it takes me years to understand records or bands that I now adore-- sometimes it takes me 2 or 3 records to "get" an artist (hello, Belle and Sebastian, Ladysmith Black Mambazo), and I'd never have gotten there without recurrent favorable reviews from Mr. Christgau. I wonder how he nails them the first time through, I guess that's why he's the one that makes a living listening to music.

I can't imagine that anyone would like every recording that someone else likes, but I probably really enjoy immediately about 70% of the A- or better records that Mr. Christgau rates, and over half of the rest at some point in time. It's not fruitful to quibble about differences in taste at the level of the individual recording (Glasvegas is probably the last full A that didn't do it for me)-- nor does it mean much that I'm still not all that into the Arcade Fire. Like most of us, I struggle to keep up with his mastery of African music, and I probably have 10 or fewer CDs from that continent that he didn't recommend. There are a few areas that I dig deeper into than he has, but these are mostly niche areas-- New Zealand rock, fair amounts of "alternative" and reggae, some soul and lots of southern rock-- some of which reflect who I am and where I came from rather than anything else. I like it that I can obsess over the Verlaines or the Allman Brothers or Superchunk even though I don't have approval from the Dean. 
richbogich
Jan 14, 2011 9:57PM
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John, welcome to the club! Isn't it a bummer when your mentor doesn't agree with your likes! It feels like you've failed and you need to reevaluate your whole life. When the Dean shot me down for liking 'Outertainment' (Stampfel ) too much, it took me days to recover. It's a strange kind of relationship we develop with our heroes. However, 'Apollo Kids'  was released the last week of the year, and maybe the Dean hasn't had time to properly digest it, and will count towards 2011.

      As for 'Halcyon Digest', yes,  I have to admit, it is likeable. Its musical sounds do fit together well in many places, and in some parts, the repetition actually works up a nice groove! But at other times, the artiness just bogs it down. I hate to praise something those narrow-minded Pitchfork reviewers gushed over(isn't it irresponsible to their music lovers to casually dismiss the 2010 albums of Eminem, Tricky, Liz Phair, and MIA, which they did), but, I know, you got to respond to just the music. It worries me, because Pitchfork has become a powerful influence on young peoples musical minds.


   

John
Jan 14, 2011 8:38PM
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So I've had something on my mind which happens to be apropos to this thread. I've been playing "Apollo Kids" a lot for the past few weeks, and loving it. I suppose I'm guilty of fetishizing the grades a bit, as I was hoping to see it on Robert's A-list. I should mention that Robert has been my chief guide through hip-hop, and led me to Ghostface with the "Fishscale" review.

Later, I was a little irked to see that the album wasn't on the Dean's List at all. But after stewing for a day or two, I just kind of let it go. I've learned enough about my personal tastes at this point that I'm comfortable making my own judgements. Had it not been for Robert, I probably wouldn't have found this album, since he introduced me to Ghostface to begin with. So thank you for that, Robert.  
Allen B.
Jan 14, 2011 12:42PM
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GM, somewhere in the last decade I reached a similar point - still very much wanting new music to continue flowing into my life but also wanting to savor the stuff that's already there, and fully facing that that meant procuring and sampling fewer of Xgau's recommendations than I have since 1978 or so.   As with all such letting-go moments, sad at first, then a substantial amount of relief.    Which is in no way to say that I'm not still so glad he's continuing on with his finger-in-every-genr​e-that-grabs-him 80-or-so-A-records a year ways.  Quite the contrary.

Funny...on my Best Coast download the "genre" category of all the songs is listed as "Surf Pop."   Except for tracks 4-6, which are designated "Oceanic Lo-Fi"

Greg Morton (GMort)
Jan 14, 2011 12:23PM
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Robert: Thanks.  Very helpful.

 

I think many of us are fascinated by your working strategies.  The volume of work is incredible; four a week seems like nothing until you realize it's four next week too and the week after that and and the week after that and so on.  I'm nearly in the "I've fallen behind and I can't keep up" category already.  And all I do is listen while I go about my day.  You listen, read, think, sort, rank, conceptualize, analyze, write, edit, think some more, listen some more, analyze some more, re-write . . .  I'm just relieved that the process is also rewarding for you.

 

And let it be said from some of us, we notice that every single word is carefully chosen.

 

Thanks again.

 

GM

 

Robert Christgau (Xgau)
Jan 14, 2011 11:27AM
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Generally I put the best one top because I think the posts read better and are more functional that way, but I don't feel obliged to, and won't be held to that inference. When I do the Dean's List I relisten and recalibrate extensively. But a year later I might change my mind some more--my tastes and judgments are more examined than most critics', and hence more enduring, but they're not set in stone, and even stone wears away eventually. The grades and rankings are a useful tool. I get nervous and sometimes irritated when readers fetishize them. And I hate being asked to grade stuff I've written about in a non-CG/EW context. Grading is work, and not always fun work either.
Greg Morton (GMort)
Jan 14, 2011 11:08AM
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Robert:  This is to clarify a formatting wrinkle – Historically your lists have either been alphabetical or in order of preference.  And I’ve wondered if that strategy carries over to your Expert Witness reviews, even though there are only two albums each time.  Since neither the band names nor album titles are in alphabetical order today, and since Deerhunter is 16 slots higher than Best Coast on the 2010 Dean’s List, I conclude that the order of the two "Expert Witness" reviews does amount to an initial “ranking” of the two albums from top to bottom each time, that is, when the grades for the two are identical.

 

Accurate conclusion?

 

Thanks.

 

GM

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about the blogger

Robert Christgau

Starting in 1967, Robert Christgau has covered popular music for The Village Voice, Esquire, Blender, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and many other publications. He teaches in New York University's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, maintains a comprehensive website at robertchristgau.com, and has published five books based on his journalism. He has written for MSN Music since 2006.

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