If Music Could Talk

The alienation of guilt or being the family from Get Out? Your choice. (*kidding*)

Remember, VOTE FOR THE SONG YOU LIKE LEAST.

Really tough. Voting BB here in support of the exquisite Bummed Out City. Joe wrote a personal masterpiece with the latter, something that feels deeply personal but universal at the same time, and set it to a perfectly atmospheric song that displays the Meskies powers at full strength. A crowning achievement.

Flex wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 12:29pm

Really tough. Voting BB here in support of the exquisite Bummed Out City. Joe wrote a personal masterpiece with the latter, something that feels deeply personal but universal at the same time, and set it to a perfectly atmospheric song that displays the Meskies powers at full strength. A crowning achievement.

I could flip a coin. I went BÖC, despite the Pearlman connection.

Oh god, I forgot about the second verse of Bhindi. Your music taste is SOOOOOOOO diverse Joe.

matedog wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 12:52pm

Oh god, I forgot about the second verse of Bhindi. Your music taste is SOOOOOOOO diverse Joe.

I disagree, but, again, your position is damned entertaining.

Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 1:02pm

matedog wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 12:52pm

Oh god, I forgot about the second verse of Bhindi. Your music taste is SOOOOOOOO diverse Joe.

I disagree, but, again, your position is damned entertaining.

Reminds me of dipshits in college who think they are special because they like Children of Bodom AND Arturo Sandoval.

matedog wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 1:57pm

Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 1:02pm

matedog wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 12:52pm

Oh god, I forgot about the second verse of Bhindi. Your music taste is SOOOOOOOO diverse Joe.

I disagree, but, again, your position is damned entertaining.

Reminds me of dipshits in college who think they are special because they like Children of Bodom AND Arturo Sandoval.

I know what you mean—superficial cosmopolitanism—but Flex' rebuttal last week or the week before that made the point that we know Joe had the experience and perspective to belie that shallow interpretation. But it's fair to regard the lyric as too clumsy (or even weirdly satirical of those shallow liberals).

matedog wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 1:57pm

Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 1:02pm

matedog wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 12:52pm

Oh god, I forgot about the second verse of Bhindi. Your music taste is SOOOOOOOO diverse Joe.

I disagree, but, again, your position is damned entertaining.

Reminds me of dipshits in college who think they are special because they like Children of Bodom AND Arturo Sandoval.

Oh yeah, we all knew those guys.

Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 2:06pm

matedog wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 1:57pm

Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 1:02pm

matedog wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 12:52pm

Oh god, I forgot about the second verse of Bhindi. Your music taste is SOOOOOOOO diverse Joe.

I disagree, but, again, your position is damned entertaining.

Reminds me of dipshits in college who think they are special because they like Children of Bodom AND Arturo Sandoval.

I know what you mean—superficial cosmopolitanism—but Flex' rebuttal last week or the week before that made the point that we know Joe had the experience and perspective to belie that shallow interpretation. But it's fair to regard the lyric as too clumsy (or even weirdly satirical of those shallow liberals).

That's really the issue for me. Sure I know Joe knows better, but he still sounds like that for the duration of the song in a few different ways.

matedog wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 2:22pm

Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 2:06pm

matedog wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 1:57pm

Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 1:02pm

matedog wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 12:52pm

Oh god, I forgot about the second verse of Bhindi. Your music taste is SOOOOOOOO diverse Joe.

I disagree, but, again, your position is damned entertaining.

Reminds me of dipshits in college who think they are special because they like Children of Bodom AND Arturo Sandoval.

I know what you mean—superficial cosmopolitanism—but Flex' rebuttal last week or the week before that made the point that we know Joe had the experience and perspective to belie that shallow interpretation. But it's fair to regard the lyric as too clumsy (or even weirdly satirical of those shallow liberals).

That's really the issue for me. Sure I know Joe knows better, but he still sounds like that for the duration of the song in a few different ways.

I'm more charitable or tolerant of the lyrics than you, but, yeah, I'd prefer it wasn't done in the first person because it does lend itself to that "college dipshit" voice.

Interpretations of Joe's lyrics aside, accepting the premise in favor of disdain for folks (perhaps clumsily) expressing excitement for newly experienced cultural diversity just seems like "savvy cynicism" outsmarting itself.

Flex wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 2:55pm

Interpretations of Joe's lyrics aside, accepting the premise in favor of disdain for folks (perhaps clumsily) expressing excitement for newly experienced cultural diversity just seems like "savvy cynicism" outsmarting itself.

I agree in a larger sense—that "savvy cynicism" is its own kind of cosmopolitan smugness—but it's not unfair to be skeptical of shallow cultural dabbling, especially if it's just about status (being hipper than thou). It's not what Joe was trying to convey, obviously, but it's not hard to read those words coming from, as Hoy said, "college dipshits."

Ouch, I was gone a few days and Mondo Bongo looses to by a vote to Bummed Out City To my ears BOC is the least interesting track on this album. Are y'all just fucking around voting it this far?

Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 3:09pm

I agree in a larger sense—that "savvy cynicism" is its own kind of cosmopolitan smugness—but it's not unfair to be skeptical of shallow cultural dabbling, especially if it's just about status (being hipper than thou). It's not what Joe was trying to convey, obviously, but it's not hard to read those words coming from, as Hoy said, "college dipshits."

I was just thinking on this - and the parallel with "would have voted for Obama for a third term" Get Out family - what I think is missing from the criticism of the song is thinking about the class interests that go into the proverbial cultural tourism. Is this about genuine appreciation for cultural diversity - clumsy or not - or is it about using culture as a tool to mask a person's class interest in decimating said cultural diversity. That's what grates about a certain kind of person that, presumably, Hoy is thinking of - they're the kinds of folks who claim to want to live in a diverse neighborhood but support policies that lead to gentrification, for example.

I have a hard time finding an expression of that hostile class interest in BB, and I think it was Wally who mentioned Joe would be lamenting the gentrification that has come to his beloved neighborhood.

Flex wrote: ↑

08 Jul 2019, 2:55pm

Interpretations of Joe's lyrics aside, accepting the premise in favor of disdain for folks (perhaps clumsily) expressing excitement for newly experienced cultural diversity just seems like "savvy cynicism" outsmarting itself.

Word.