A Very Pixies Halloween

The worst album of their classic era is still classic Pixies.

No one likes this album but me.

Joni courts a full drum kit and sparks with electricity.

This album sounds like hits from the 2000s and 2010s put in a blender.

Listening to Joni's discography in order is like watching instruments slowly added to the band in Stop Making Sense.

"I say the word blue in all of these songs. What should I call the album?"
- Joni Mitchell, 1971

This album hits differently when you consider that it's probably a concept album about how Leonard Cohen isn't a very good partner.

"Texas Chain Saw Mass-a-kree."

All these songs sound exactly the same and that is their strength.

"You're bound to lose if you let the blues get you scared to feel."

No one else was doing what Joni was doing in her prime.

70s theater-kid-core with Beach Boy vocals.

This album sounds like a guy recording ideas into Voice Memos to flesh out later and I wouldn't change anything about it.

"If you want to count me, count me out."

This has that stately, whimsical middle-earth psych sound that was going around in the late 60s.

"I am more than the pain I'm in."

Seeming seems like Not-Too-Distant-Future Islands.

Only a punk would consider 10 minutes of music an LP.

Harp, vocals, synth, and heavy reverb for 42 minutes.

This is not a complaint.

"Snakes in human form."

Witchy arrangements, good riffs, competant thrashing, simplistic lyrics.

It starts to feel like the same song 10 times in a row.

Atmospheric synth psych that evokes the best 80s new wave. The arrangements do a lot with a little. Matthew knows what small thing to add here and there to bring the right amount of energy into these songs. The melodies have a similar subtle power. More people should hear this.

Did The Apples in Stereo change their name and start playing faster?

Subtle, anthemic psych country.