Originally, I was going to write a rebuttal/addendum to Aaron's mind-blowingly incredible blog post about The State of Music; but let's be honest with ourselves, you don't just turn a sacred cow like that into an Animal Style cheeseburger with a side of french fries. Instead, to prove to you readers out there that there is still good music being produced today, I was going to present you a mid-year roundup of the best music of the year so far.

…And then I decided that was too boring. I mean seriously, how many times does Fishscale need to be mentioned? And while we're at it, how many times do we have to talk about how much we don't like The Arctic Monkeys?  Here is our spotlight on things people need to stop blogging out (yes we're blogging about them too; shutup):

The Pipettes

Q: What do you get when you add a third member to Junior Senior and three sets of breasts?  A: Something that gets David Greenwald really excited.  And I mean really excited.  Really, really excited. Cute songs (and girls), but after a few listens the novely wears off and the songs get really boring and annoying. Every year there's some novelty group the indie kids go nuts over (The Darkness were awesome) and a year later we hang our collective heads in shame.  Get yourself a copy of the Phil Spector boxset and let's not make the same mistake twice. 

P.S. None of them can sing. 

The Arctic Monkeys Hype

Am I going to render my opinion invalid by admitting that I actually kinda like The Arctic Monkeys?  Whatever, it's not like I'm listening to The Pipettes. Every year there seems to be two things that stand out among the musical landscape: a young garage-rock band that will save rock and roll for good (who remembers The Coral?) and some snotty young punks that completely shun their fame.  This year the honor of both falls upon the Monkeys, and as a result the amount of unprecedented praise and backlash is following them around everywhere.  The truth is though, neither is warranted upon them and what seems to get ignored is that they made a fairly fun and catchy album that rightfully has won the hearts of kids everywhere. Not bad for a bunch of English brats whose average age is less than that of the station. After all, with a mediocre Strokes album and Jack White running out of ideas this year, where else am I going to get my fix of bratty rock and roll?

 
The new Sonic Youth album

Look, I'm not calling the new Sonic Youth album bad.  Hell, I love Sonic Youth.  But let's face it guys, the Yoof have been running on autopilot since 1990's fantastic Goo.  Sure, they've been on a good streak lately with Murray Street and Sonic Nurse, but a lot of that can be attributed to the presence of Jim O'Rourke and simply having a spurt of creativity after a dry spell. Rather Ripped is nice, but at this point the band has run out of ideas and haven't gone anywhere. Mission Of Burma, meanwhile, have released an awesome album while also being really old.

Matisyahu

A Hasidic reggae rapper from Brooklyn? It's as if The Beastie Boys and Bob Marley collaborated together on the greatest album ever! But seriously, he's collaborated with a Muslim beatboxer and raps about peace, love, and unity. Sorry Art Brut, but it seems like Matisyahu beat you to the song that makes Israel and Palestine get along. Coming soon to an annoying frat house boombox near you.

Taylor Hicks 

Fuck you, asshole.

- Carman

Download: The Pipettes – "Pull Shapes"  

P.S. David Greenwald's most excellent blog can be read here. UCLAradio.com <3's you Dave!

tags: [pipettes] [arctic monkeys] [matisyahu] [rather ripped] [taylor hicks] [mp3]