Lucas Blogs About Books

Hold the phone! Is this going to be an annual thing ? Why not, Hypothetical Reader? People love annual events commemorating someone's birth: Christmas, Lincoln's Birthday, Martin Luther King Day. But those are all people who are widely admired. Fair enough. Wanna talk about Art Brut? Do you mean art brut like Outsider Art ? No, I mean, Art Brut, the indie rock group fronted by Eddie Argos . I'm going to regret this, but could you describe their sound? Sure. Art Brut has a kind of mid-2000s British dance punk-ish sound with spoke-sung semi-ironic lyrics. Honestly, that sounds even worse than Neutral Milk Hotel. Oh, yeah, they're definitely not as good as Neutral Milk Hotel. But the lyrics have a sort of mordant charm. If you say so. I do say so. Anyway, you know how over the course of 10+ years a lot bands will mature and grow their sound and outlook. Yeah. Art Brut steadfastly refuses to do that. The songs off of their most recent album sound like they could have come o...

It's a drum head, just like on Star Trek: The Next Generation . That's right, I decided that since my birthday is this week, I don't have to do a full post. Is it really an OOPS if you decide to prepare it in advance? Sure, it still involves deploying the inOpportune cOntent rePlacement proceSs. You just like bad acronyms. Yes, I do. I also like Neutral Milk Hotel's 1998 album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea . So you're not even going to attempt a natural segue? Nope. Although, speaking of natural segue, this album's chock full of 'em. Most of the tracks blend seamlessly together with only a few moments of silence on the entire record. Notably separating off the title track from the songs around it. Hmm, the lead singer's voice is an acquired taste, I take it? Yeah, but if the vocals were more polished I don't think the album would work as well as it does. It's clearly in the lo-fi genre, and Jeff Mangum's ...