Geogaddi ranked #30 - Pitchfork's top albums of the decade

Skytree · Post by **Skytree** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 8:14 pm

Love or hate Pitchfork, at least they pegged Geogaddi in the right context...here's the full text, in case the link changes or you just want to read it here:

I love this record even though it creeps me the hell out. Or: I love this record because it creeps me the hell out? Or: I love this record out of a deeply embedded respect and admiration for things I do not understand and which also, incidentally, creep me the hell out? On this, Boards of Canada's toothy second full-length, the Scottish duo mottled their trademark loping hip-hop rhythms and decaying synth patches with more urgent, craggly, sweaty sounds, and in turn revealed just how fine a distinction it is between childlike/naïve and paranoid/schizophrenic. With its gnarly rhythmic patters and sinister atmospherics bouncing around a tightly packed soundstage, this conjured fear, longing, and creeping unease better than anything since Tricky's Maxinquaye. It is a black forest of a record, full of psychedelia and psychosis and gauzy National Film Board samples of Leslie Nielsen talking about nature; I look forward to never untangling it.

"Craggly" and "gnarly" are two great ways to describe some of the best percussion ever recorded, IMO.

Chuck Beckles · Post by **Chuck Beckles** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 10:54 pm

I go there to see if there's any new releases worth checking out and for the music news, which is pretty well updated.

As for their reviews... Christ on crutches they must be joking!

(parenthesis) · Post by **(parenthesis)** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 2:27 am

look at 28. how can something a crappy album by Kanye West be considered better than a masterpiece such as geogaddi.

kyriakos · Post by **kyriakos** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 2:29 am

oh my gadssssssss

Joebot Kill · Post by **Joebot Kill** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 2:10 pm

yeah their reviews suck. giving music has the right to children a 10/10 was so DUMB of them!

Moebius · Post by **Moebius** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 3:09 pm

Their last 20 are up.

A bit surprised to see Ágætis byrjun ranked above ( ).

oscillik · Post by **oscillik** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 3:13 pm

oh wow, who'd have guessed that Radiohead would be the top?

The Friendly Stranger · Fri Oct 02, 2009 3:24 pm

oscillik wrote:oh wow, who'd have guessed that Radiohead would be the top?

Kid A is is a masterpiece.

oscillik · Post by **oscillik** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 3:26 pm

The Friendly Stranger wrote:
oscillik wrote:oh wow, who'd have guessed that Radiohead would be the top?
Kid A is is a masterpiece.

what a fucking pretentious line:

Pitchfork pretentious pontification wrote:but when I slide Kid A into the CD player (how's that for a retro image?)

what the fuck?

iec · Post by **iec** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 5:15 pm

um... i think it is a retro image when you think of it in today's terms. my mp3 player was on the fritz last month and I brought my portable CD player around campus with me one day, with a little stack of 4 CDs or so, and I got looks for it, people don't use them anymore regularly.

pitchfork can be slightly pretentious, but so what? they cover music that other people don't cover, and not only that but they have some knowledge about it. they described geogaddi very well, and they draw good references and comparisons between bands when doing reviews. reading pitchfork doesn't mean you agree with their ratings or remarks. it's just.. reading what they have to put out.

as one of my professors has said, a recording engineer from many years back who's now teaching, if someone uses the word 'pretentious' he just stops and says "remember, there is a little bit of pretension involved in this business". he says it with no shame and he keeps on talking about whatever was the subject before.

oscillik · Post by **oscillik** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 5:23 pm

iec wrote:um... i think it is a retro image when you think of it in today's terms. my mp3 player was on the fritz last month and I brought my portable CD player around campus with me one day, with a little stack of 4 CDs or so, and I got looks for it, people don't use them anymore regularly.

pitchfork can be slightly pretentious, but so what? they cover music that other people don't cover, and not only that but they have some knowledge about it. they described geogaddi very well, and they draw good references and comparisons between bands when doing reviews. reading pitchfork doesn't mean you agree with their ratings or remarks. it's just.. reading what they have to put out.

as one of my professors has said, a recording engineer from many years back who's now teaching, if someone uses the word 'pretentious' he just stops and says "remember, there is a little bit of pretension involved in this business". he says it with no shame and he keeps on talking about whatever was the subject before.

i know, i've already admitted that i'm pretentious...it's just that line reeks of "oh looks at us, we're so modern and we're so trendy that CDs are the modern equivalent of 8-track tapes"

:-/

iec · Post by **iec** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 5:26 pm

maybe they are?

Numerator · Post by **Numerator** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 8:31 pm

to the majority of my peers, actually going and, like, buying an actual CD is a laughable idea

"lul dood uuse bittorrent"

Skytree · Post by **Skytree** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 8:40 pm

Just as long as there's no cult-like, nostalga-waxing group of mp3-listening irono-trendsters in the year 2040, I'm happy.

"Dude, you're listening to fuckin' pure energy? What a tool. This old Zune belonged to my great-uncle, and it has an actual circuit in it somewhere. It has a battery, man. Do you even know what that means? Probably not...fuckin' don't have a clue. It can only store half a million tracks, so they've got like this special uniqueness, you know? The low bitrate really brings out the mid-tones like you fuckin' wouldn't believe."

"Whoa dude!"

...

In the year 2040, idiot youth will still say "dude".

Tekmosis · Post by **Tekmosis** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 8:56 pm

(parenthesis) wrote:look at 28. how can something a crappy album by Kanye West be considered better than a masterpiece such as geogaddi.

that's life.

Neccy60 · Post by **Neccy60** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 9:34 pm

Numerator wrote:to the majority of my peers, actually going and, like, buying an actual CD is a laughable idea

"lul dood uuse bittorrent"

I fully support and encourage the use of BitTorrent as a means of getting music one wouldn't be able to afford or otherwise listen to. However, I also buy the CDs of bands I like a lot. I originally stole BoC music off BitTorrent, now I own Music Has The Right To Children.

(parenthesis) · Post by **(parenthesis)** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 10:38 pm

Tekmosis wrote:
(parenthesis) wrote:look at 28. how can something a crappy album by Kanye West be considered better than a masterpiece such as geogaddi.

that's life.

Life isn't fair

Skytree · Post by **Skytree** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 10:49 pm

(parenthesis) wrote:Life isn't fair

Anyone who says otherwise is selling something.

thedisavowed · Post by **thedisavowed** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 10:58 pm

I read Pitchfork Daily. I've developed an allergy to long strings of adjectives so I don't often read reviews in depth - but I have found a helluva lot of good records through them:

The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
Basic Channel (everything)
Stars of the Lid (pretty sure I picked them up via their recommendation)
Joanna Newsom
John Martyn
The Knife
Burial

The list could go on and on. So - I don't get caught up in the hipster thing.

And FYI - top 10 or 100 or 1000 lists are designed specifically to get record nerds to discuss them. That's the point. They're not true - they're just opinions. And in my experience PFork has a lot of good ones. I've been combing through their best of the 70's list with some great success.

thedisavowed · Post by **thedisavowed** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 10:59 pm

Skytree wrote:
(parenthesis) wrote:Life isn't fair
Anyone who says otherwise is selling something.

Big Trouble in Little China?