No argument on the vocals, but "indulgent" isn't really a valid criticism of Anastasio, IMO. Or if it is, you'd have to apply it to the whole band. Anastasio is certainly capable of playing with restraint, but that's not the same thing as playing short songs.

@huntigula I wouldn't totally disagree with you, but let's not kid ourselves. '97 Phish isn't exactly the second coming of the JBs or anything. It's definitely firmly in the category of "white boy funk," and the band themselves has said as much. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's a different animal entirely,…

There honestly isn't that much overlap between Phish and DMB fans. Most Phish fans I know think DMB is terrible, and as a Phish fan, I'd agree with them. Actually, I don't care for any jambands beyond Phish and the Dead. Just seems kind of redundant.

No, different guy.

Man, I could really use a Mountain Dew Kickstart right now. I've only had 7 today.

As an obsessive Phish fan, this is like the one AV Club thread that's tailor-made for me. And of course I see it right before I have to go to bed. Goddamn it.

@avclub-fb0a6055659ae7a3c54debc9bc174f1c:disqus Yeah, see, I would have said "hard at work," but that wouldn't have accorded with Prof. Pants' original wording. Or I could have said "It's hard getting work done?" but then that removes the opportunity to follow it up with "You might literally be." Instead, I…

Hard getting work done? You might literally be.

Yeah, depending how you read it, it either falls into the "pointless personal anecdote" category or the "reflexive critical backlash to popular trend" category. Either way, there doesn't seem to be much point other than providing a comments section for people to discuss vinyl. Which I guess isn't a bad thing.

Yes, most people can't tell the difference between FLAC and 320kbps. I can't for most recordings. (I can tell the difference between 128 and 320 for damn sure, though.)

It doesn't "refer exclusively to mediocre shitheads." EDM came about as a catch-all term for dance-related electronic music. People started to use it because it was less clunky and more precise than saying "electronic music" and way less stupid than calling everything "techno," seeing as how techno is already a genre…

I'd say Automatic For The People could qualify. I'd change absolutely nothing about that album. Even Ignoreland, which doesn't really belong there, somehow belongs there anyway.

Moving away from "message" docs, the first thing that popped into my mind re: editing was Errol Morris's "Fast, Cheap, and Out Of Control." On paper, it should be a mess. You've got profiles of four people who have vastly different occupations and no obvious connection to each other: a lion tamer, a mole-rat expert, a…

@avclub-ce6c92303f38d297e263c7180f03d402:disqus I never claimed that book reviewers only check citations. Hence my "[a]side from basics like bad prose or poor organization" caveat. Point is, they don't review a Doris Kearns Goodwin book in anything remotely resembling the way they'd review a Pynchon novel, and it…

"It’s pure propaganda—well-meaning propaganda, and at times crudely effective propaganda, but nonetheless a form of cinematic activism where art is of secondary concern."
But is "art" being of a secondary concern a bad thing? Are documentaries primarily "art?" The criticism that they "get a pass" from critics because…

I like those AT&T commercials. Can't go wrong with a simple, unadorned "cute kids being hilarious" premise. But yeah, the etrade baby is the worst thing in the world. I think we can all agree on that.

The worst are the ones with the form "The [imperative sentence]," e.g. The Get Down Stay Down, or The Hold Steady. I actually like The Hold Steady, but their name still annoys the everloving shit out of me.

Yeah, stick with it. I'm loving the show now, even moreso than when I wrote that post above that you replied to. About halfway through season 2 the show really hits another gear. I'm well and truly hooked at this point (beginning of season 3).

Yeah, stick with it. I'm loving the show now, even moreso than when I wrote that post above that you replied to. About halfway through season 2 the show really hits another gear. I'm well and truly hooked at this point (beginning of season 3).

Exactly. There's often an emotional core to their genre exercises. And even when there isn't, there's enough obvious affection for the target (or targets) that it keeps things from devolving into winking novelty. And their songwriting skill also helps, obviously. There are countless songs that—if you took out a small…