Fleet Foxes… really?

by The Scene on December 19th, 2008

So it’s been a while since we’ve posted anything, due primarily to a heap of recent craziness, whether taking the form of finishing up two new Nothing Room releases, dealing with a particularly harsh San Francisco winter season, dealing with a bedroom flood caused by said winter season, spending too much time on Reddit, and dealing with that pesky gorilla that recently escaped from the zoo and has a tendency to punch us in the nose just as we fall asleep.

What’s made us come out of hibernation? How about the obligatory Best Music of 2008 lists coming from every possible wazoo of a publication this side of Mordor. More importantly, we’re trying to deal with our continuing confusion regarding everyone else’s musical tastes and preferences. The Fleet Foxes full-length, an incredibly beautiful work of folk magic, soaring harmonies, and softly poetic lyrics, has officially given Pitchfork a great big boner. A hardcore boner. Like, watching Total Recall at the age of 11 hardcore boner.

What can we say to dispute Pfork’s decision to give Fleet Foxes the #1 spot? The album is majestic, the singing is pure and beautiful, the songwriting is memorable and pleasing, the production and arrangements all ring true. Yet, when people look back on the year 2008 some time down the road, will they really remember Fleet Foxes as the band that changed everything? Has this band really made an album that, while never having a notably bad moment, is enough to infiltrate our hearts and minds to a point where Natalie Portman can say with a straight face “This band will change your life?”

No offense to FF, but The Scene thinks not. We love the album, are happy that the band has reaped widespread fame and adulation, and for us it is among the best of the year, but for once in a lifetime we actually agree with Rolling Stone; this is a #11 best album, not a #1. You want a #1 best album? Well, then either do something completely new and do it brilliantly (and any truly original work is bound to have pimples and warts, just like any brilliant astrophysicist or IT professional who secretly records Captain Beefheart covers in his bedroom), or do something traditional, and make it perfect. Wait, not just perfect, startlingly perfect. Blow us out of the water, whether through bombast or intricate subtlety. Grab us by the hearts, grab us by the brains, kick our faces in with your masterpiece. But you can’t just settle for beauty. Lots of music is beautiful; it’s your job as an artist to go beyond that term and create something whose importance is impossible to accurately convey.

We’re not just gonna be negative nancies though and deride everyone else’s decisions… We’re all about constructive criticism around the scene. So what is our #1 album of the year? You’ll have to wait until January 1st, when we release our own toppermost of the poppermost list… unlike some people, we actually understand the concept of a calendar.

And as a parting thought, here’s something to remind you how important music really can be… the type of thing that can truly be looked upon with a declaration of “yes, this changes everything”…