Interpol Rollcall

[palahniukkubrick]

Who's going? I know it's early, but redsock did a Muse thread so deal with it. I'll be wearing a t-shirt with a big anvil on it.  

[keithstg]

I'll be there.

[Random Citizen]

I'm attending.

[Fico]

I'm surprised at how well in advance people pick their concert attire...

[Bags]

Me, but no clue what I'm wearing.  And i'll be in the back, near the left side bar pro'ly....

[chaz]

Anyone see the City Paper's review of Antics?  Ouch!!

[Random Citizen]

*yawn* She's probably mad because she had to go out and buy the album...that came out over a month ago vs. a freebie.   :roll:  
 
   

November 5, 2004
 Look at Me, I�??m Ian C.
 By Shannon Zimmerman
 Antics
 
 Interpol
 
 Matador
 
 Aghast Agape
 
 Prosaics
 
 Dim Mak
 
 The crusty music scribes who reviewed Interpol�??s 2002 debut mainly had one point to make: Gee, ain�??t it cool that the kids of today finally have a Joy Division and/or Echo and the Bunnymen and/or Chameleons of their own? That, of course, didn�??t stop the New York quartet�??s Turn on the Bright Lights from racking up miles of hyperbolic column inches. Good for them�??every pasty-faced college kid with a guitar and a Factory fixation deserves a hot �??n�?? bothered write-up in the pages of Rolling Stone, dontcha think? But reading back over those notices now is pretty revealing.
 
 That congratulatory tone would seem downright offensive if Interpol hadn�??t worked�??and worked, and worked�??so hard to earn it. Consider the band�??s name, which resonates with frozen-checkpoint glamour in the same way that Warsaw, an early Joy Division moniker, did way back in the late �??70s. Consider, too, the group�??s much-ballyhooed fashion sense, which would best be characterized as skinny-tie-chic if it weren�??t for bassist Carlos D�??s unfortunate flirtation with Third Reich�??style regalia�??a high-fashion don�??t that wasn�??t even cool back when Sid Vicious trotted it out.
 
 Still, the biggest point in Interpol�??s disfavor is its music. Don�??t get me wrong: Like everyone else who counts albums by Joy Division and Echo among his all-time faves, I thought Bright Lights was a hoot, a goofy road trip down Memory Lane with one great song (�??PDA�?�) and a bunch of also-rans that at least sounded halfway decent rumbling away as background noise at, say, your best friend�??s 40th birthday party.
 
 Of course, the same could be said about the Grease soundtrack, and I�??d argue that that particular analogy gets the relationship between Interpol�??s forebears and the band itself just about exactly right. Indeed, if and when Greasemeister Robert Stigwood ever decides to come out of retirement to produce a postpunk film (and no, Times Square doesn�??t count), he�??ll almost certainly cast the men of Interpol in his movie, and perhaps even use �??em as his soundtrack band. After all, these guys are the Sha Na Na of today.
 
 Harsh? Maybe. But given the way the usual suspects have fawned all over Antics, Interpol�??s sophomore effort, someone�??s gotta do the dirty work. With the possible exception of two tracks, Antics is, in a word, godawful�??so bad, in fact, that the current critical mantra about how the disc showcases Interpol�??s melodic side can only be described as Orwellian.
 
 Take, for instance, �??Next Exit,�?� the album�??s organ-fueled opener. Lyrically, the track aims to be this well-traveled band�??s fight song: �??We ain�??t going to the town, we�??re going to the city,�?� sings frontman Paul Banks in his relentlessly monochromatic warble. �??Gonna trek this shit around/And make this place a heart/To be a part of.�?� A worthy sentiment, that, but the tune�??s plodding cadence and three-note �??melody�?� conjure up only boring old touring-band fatigue and hipster ennui. All that�??s missing here is a Jackson Browne�??style tip of the hat to the roadies.
 
 Despite D�??s supple, fret-board-running bass line, �??Evil�?� is similarly stuck in a midtempo rut�??one that Banks only digs deeper with more words about the trials and tribulations of, well, being Paul Banks. �??It took a lifespan, with no cellmate,�?� he intones wearily with nary a wink nor a nod over his band�??s shoplifted Sturm und Drone. �??Narc,�?� by, er, contrast, finds guitarist Daniel Kessler practicing his scales over a slightly discofied shuffle and a by-the-numbers shoegazing chorus, and �??Take You on a Cruise�?� opts for the kind of echo-laden soundscape that U2 abandoned decades ago. Banks adds insult to inanity by weighing in with lyrics that one suspects are meant as koans but turn out to be mere non sequiturs. �??Time is like a broken watch,�?� he offers portentously. �??And make money like Fred Astaire.�?�
 
 Got that? No? Well, perhaps the song�??s next line will make more sense: �??I see that you�??ve come to resist me,�?� Banks intones�??to which the only proper response is: Can you blame us?
 
 In addition to Banks�??, um, antics, each of these tracks suffers as well from the band�??s ill-advised commitment to lock-step rhythms. As on its debut, Interpol here fares best when it ups the BPM. Though �??Slow Hands,�?� Antics�?? first single, ain�??t great by any stretch of the imagination, it does get by on the strength of Kessler�??s hyperactive riff-mongering and drummer Samuel Fogarino�??s relatively crazy rhythms. Indeed, the track�??one of the album�??s two real keepers�??is a rock-disco anthem that could give the criminally neglected Electric 6 a run for its money.
 
 The other trump card here is �??Length of Love,�?� a throbfest that, from its title on down, is nasty through and through. Even Banks rises to the challenge, so to speak, managing to thread one of his inscrutable �??poetic�?� phrases�??�??complex salacious removal�?��??through the song�??s hedonistic murk with, for once, considerable style and grace.
 
 But that kind of acumen is all too rare on Antics, a disc that�??d be one dud of a career killer if it weren�??t for those pesky fanboys who keep writing it up so damn favorably. To be sure, Interpol has a knack for giving certain people�??you know very well who you are�??exactly what they want. But revivalism based on cartoonishly received notions of the past doesn�??t generally bode well for any band�??s future. As the saying goes, you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can�??t fool all of the people all the time�??and that goes double for Sha Na Na.
 

[palahniukkubrick]

Originally posted by Fico:
  I'm surprised at how well in advance people pick their concert attire...

it's the shirt I always wear  

[Random Citizen]

Originally posted by Fico:
  I'm surprised at how well in advance people pick their concert attire...

I'm deciding between the black goddess and the black temptress. Har dee har har.

[bearman🐻]

That review is clearly written by someone who doesn't have a clue or really enjoy music. And from someone who has no idea what kind of work it takes to create, write, perform and record music. But whatever, she is entitled to her own opinion, even if it's crap (and yes, I'm intending to sound like Jack Black in High Fidelity).
 
 I for one am not missing Interpol for anything. This is the album of the year, IMO. It's an incredible record!

[Venerable Bede]

Originally posted by bunnyman:
  That review is clearly written by someone who doesn't have a clue or really enjoy music. And from someone who has no idea what kind of work it takes to create, write, perform and record music.

you mean <gasp> the city paper employs people like that???  and i thought they simply employed people who can't write well.

[bearman🐻]

That too!

[palahniukkubrick]

Originally posted by bunnyman:
  That review is clearly written by someone who doesn't have a clue or really enjoy music. And from someone who has no idea what kind of work it takes to create, write, perform and record music.  

plus, she can't resist comparing them to Joy Division. How original.

[BookerT]

i'm pretty sure that this shannon is a guy. not positive, but pretty sure. like the dead guy from blind melon.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

Great review!