Another HAIM album is out, and every media outlet in the world - both mainstream and more self-consciously hip - seem to once again be falling all over themselves to exclaim how wonderful and very, very special the sisters are. I wasn't sold on the first album, but I dutifully checked out the second. Once again, I hear nothing but updated Wilson Phillips and Donna Lewis. I still hear none of the much ballyhooed second coming of Fleetwood Mac that everyone insists they are. Now, I don't really have anything against Wilson Phillips and Donna Lewis. As mainstream pop went, they were perfectly adequate and were inoffensive enough during their reigns in the pop top 40 a quarter century ago. But a lot of HAIM's supporters seem to have a problem with them, as any mention of those influences are trotted out way less often than Fleetwood Mac, which over the last couple of decades has become a reference that's acceptable for journalists to make and still maintain their hipster cred. Wilson Phillips? Still not so much. Mostly though, I don't hear HAIM doing anything particularly interesting or inventive with that old pop formula to justify the hosannas everyone insists on firing at them with a catapult. They're perfectly adequate and inoffensive, but not much more to my ears. I will stick with my earlier theory, that people are so starved for anything in the top 40 these days that seems to be created by actual humans and not a Swedish computer program, that they will overpraise someone like HAIM in the hopes of spawning more music by actual humans. But if there's anyone around here who hears more than I do in HAIM, please enlighten me. I'm open to liking them, but so far have not seen much reason why I should care much one way or the other. https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56456#msg-56456 Thu, 16 Apr 2026 09:41:39 -0500 Phorum 5.2.23 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56554#msg-56554 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56554#msg-56554
Okay, I took Zwirn's suggestion, and listened to that song. Time to move on.]]> Delvin Trouser Press Tue, 18 Jul 2017 17:20:59 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56517#msg-56517 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56517#msg-56517
but not too late. I made through the first six tracks of 'Something to Tell You" only the bands second album in ten years.

i like the music but i don't like the words.



Post Edited (07-14-17 00:50)]]> STEVE Trouser Press Fri, 14 Jul 2017 00:57:24 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56504#msg-56504 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56504#msg-56504 zwirnm Trouser Press Wed, 12 Jul 2017 18:36:26 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56502#msg-56502 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56502#msg-56502
]]> Delvin Trouser Press Wed, 12 Jul 2017 16:01:31 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56500#msg-56500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56500#msg-56500 zoo Trouser Press Wed, 12 Jul 2017 14:31:27 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56492#msg-56492 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56492#msg-56492 > I hear nothing but updated Wilson Phillips and Donna Lewis. I still hear none of the
> much ballyhooed second coming of Fleetwood Mac that everyone insists they are.

In the Squeeze review that appeared in one of the print editions of the TP Record Guide, the reviewer described the frequent comparisons between Difford/Tilbrook's songwriting acumen and that of Lennon/McCartney: "That's as much a sign of their talent as it is of how little craftsmanship there is in modern pop music. What has seemed like brilliance on Squeeze's records has often been mere glibness. When the competition's weak, it's hard to spot the difference." (That quote is from memory, so I may not have it word for word.)

I don't recall hearing any of Haim's music. If I did, it went right over my head, as most modern pop music does. But the comparisons to Fleetwood Mac, Donna Lewis and especially Wilson Phillips are enough to send me elsewhere in the H bin.

]]> Delvin Trouser Press Wed, 12 Jul 2017 12:09:57 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56487#msg-56487 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56487#msg-56487


Post Edited (07-11-17 16:14)]]> nosepail Trouser Press Tue, 11 Jul 2017 18:09:54 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56486#msg-56486 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56486#msg-56486 breno Trouser Press Tue, 11 Jul 2017 17:26:31 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56484#msg-56484 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56484#msg-56484 Lorde
Halsey
Katy Perry
TLC
SZA


The one I can't figure out is Ed Sheeran. Okay, inoffensive pap. But 10x platinum??]]> Paganizer Trouser Press Tue, 11 Jul 2017 15:02:59 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56483#msg-56483 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56483#msg-56483
I otherwise paired HAIM with Spice Girls, which clearly wasn't fair. But Go-Gos isn't apt, as far as magazine-cover-all-female-play-their-instruments.]]> Paganizer Trouser Press Tue, 11 Jul 2017 14:53:49 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56481#msg-56481 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56481#msg-56481
Though, I guess from a different perspective, the bands the Paisley Underground were emulating had mostly been top 40 bands in an earlier era (though they did throw never-ommercial sounds into the mix, like the Velvets.) Maybe pop music has morphed so far into pure product at this point that Wilson Phillips are to 2017 what the Blues Magoos were to 1984.]]> breno Trouser Press Tue, 11 Jul 2017 13:27:55 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56480#msg-56480 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56480#msg-56480

]]> Paganizer Trouser Press Tue, 11 Jul 2017 13:04:45 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56477#msg-56477 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56477#msg-56477 Under the Radar giving them cover stories and acting like they're some sort of cutting edge in music that puzzles me.

Which again, I guess pop music with commercial potential that doesn't seem to be cooked up by Swedes working in a Radio Disney lab may indeed be cutting edge these days. Hell, I suppose it may even be the modern definition of punk, it's such a radical notion.]]> breno Trouser Press Tue, 11 Jul 2017 12:23:34 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56468#msg-56468 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56468#msg-56468 Michael Toland Trouser Press Tue, 11 Jul 2017 09:17:43 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56467#msg-56467 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56467#msg-56467
]]> Paganizer Trouser Press Tue, 11 Jul 2017 05:37:39 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56460#msg-56460 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56460#msg-56460 It's that fitting a little niche thing that they do - they do what they do well enough and in a way that is blatantly unoffensive and also lacking anybody else around doing the exact same thing better. So they win...........for now I guess.

They present a good unified front too, they can talk about the "pop" element of their sound so they make good copy and they have that self-aware thing, but nobody as far as I can truly see "loves" the band, they just really like the idea of the band.

"The Wire" to me was a great single though, I haven't heard anything else approaching that kind of savvy push and pull from them.

]]> mats84 Trouser Press Mon, 10 Jul 2017 18:14:22 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56457#msg-56457 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56457#msg-56457 zwirnm Trouser Press Mon, 10 Jul 2017 17:20:21 -0500 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56456#msg-56456 https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,56456,56456#msg-56456
I wasn't sold on the first album, but I dutifully checked out the second. Once again, I hear nothing but updated Wilson Phillips and Donna Lewis. I still hear none of the much ballyhooed second coming of Fleetwood Mac that everyone insists they are.

Now, I don't really have anything against Wilson Phillips and Donna Lewis. As mainstream pop went, they were perfectly adequate and were inoffensive enough during their reigns in the pop top 40 a quarter century ago. But a lot of HAIM's supporters seem to have a problem with them, as any mention of those influences are trotted out way less often than Fleetwood Mac, which over the last couple of decades has become a reference that's acceptable for journalists to make and still maintain their hipster cred. Wilson Phillips? Still not so much.

Mostly though, I don't hear HAIM doing anything particularly interesting or inventive with that old pop formula to justify the hosannas everyone insists on firing at them with a catapult. They're perfectly adequate and inoffensive, but not much more to my ears.

I will stick with my earlier theory, that people are so starved for anything in the top 40 these days that seems to be created by actual humans and not a Swedish computer program, that they will overpraise someone like HAIM in the hopes of spawning more music by actual humans.

But if there's anyone around here who hears more than I do in HAIM, please enlighten me. I'm open to liking them, but so far have not seen much reason why I should care much one way or the other.]]> breno Trouser Press Mon, 10 Jul 2017 16:37:05 -0500