“I enthusiastically tackled Architecture in Helsinki's In Case We Die, praising it as a landmark of the fickle-pop movement sweeping across the indie-rock league. Demon, the Envelopes' debut, is a near doppelganger of that album, down to its multitude of vocalists, its adorable accents ("It Is the Law", coming out something like Hopelandic), its short attention span, its 50s-style romanticism, and its infectious giddiness.”
So let me get this straight, the Envelopes are being punished with a low rating and a wordy dissertation about RIYLs by PFM because their adorable record happens to fall AFTER another equally adorable record on some invisible time? Well that isn’t very nice or very fair.
Good is good, no? Does good proceeded by something else good instantly cancel out the worth of the second good? I know a few math and science teachers who might want to talk to Pitchfork about this kind of crazy logic.
Here are the facts:
This 2006 domestic Brille Records cd was originally released in August of 2005 in the UK*... not all that long after Architecture in Helsinki released their last record. To be more specific they were released a mere four months apart; clearly PFM missed Demon as an import and more importantly the date of when this music was recorded. Oops. Also I am rather certain any press kit or one sheet that came with this promo cd would also contain this little factoid: the songs found on Demon are "home recordings made between 2001-2004", again pre AIC's In Case We Die. Double oops. This makes their 6.2 rating over AIH 8.8 rating twice as insulting.
I demand a rating retraction.
I like the Pixies. I like The Vaselines. I like Beat Happening. I like the idea of Pavement covering Os Mutantes. I like Architecture in Helsinki but they (AIH) are too much of a school play orchestra to work as THE band I would want to play this game of compare and constrast with. I have a thing, I mean a BIG THING for clumsy, occasionally tuneless pop played with the kind of energy boy and girl puppies in window playpen have. I will admit, I have this record in one form another already, in fact hundreds of them but it’s because I like music like this. I heart sonic spazzy twee and I will keep buying records that offer me the best version of this style of music. This is perhaps what separates your collector from your basic music fan but I personally can’t get enough of any kind of music that pleases me to the core.
I always have room for one more good record and I am guessing maybe some of you logical musical loving types do too.
*Brille is a UK label who now has a US deal and a little fun trivia for ya taken from the Envelopes site: before Brille had chosen its label name they used Psychotic Reaction or just the registration number of the company.
