Smug is the Worst. I Hate Smug.

I don't ever read Pitchfork but a friend just sent me their Aeroplane post. Maybe it has good parts after the intro, but here's where I stopped reading and will never return:

"I love it to death, myself-- cried when I first listened to the promo cassette and everything."

Just so everyone knows: whoever that guy is did not buy Aeroplane in a store after hearing about it from friends or reading about it like the rest of us. He had the promo cassette, and it's very important that we all know that in the context of a sentence that is ostensibly humble/self deprecating. Barf.

Comments

[josh]

well, someone needed to let the rest of us know that the pure experience of blissful enjoyment had been worn out before the album even hit the shelves. I mean, otherwise, we'd be living a horrible lie.

[Liz K]

This reminds me of seeing One Republic being interviewed by Alison Becker on the Vh1 video countdown. She asked them what it was like to work with Timbaland, and the lead singer was like "you mean...Tim?" and he smirked and said it in the most condescending way possible, just to make sure everyone knew that Tim is what people who actually know him call him, whereas Timbaland is what stupid wannabees and fans call him. I was so disgusted. It was so unneccesary.

[Zach]

One of the interviewer's intro paragraphs from the interview they published on Monday also grossed me out:

I wrote in the introduction to the original Puncture article (which appears in a forthcoming Verse Chorus Press collection of the best of Puncture) that you can hang Aeroplane "on the shelf with Robert Wyatt's 'Rock Bottom,' Daniel Johnston's 'Yip/ Jump Music,' Skip Spence's 'Oar,' Incredible String Band's 'Wee Tam,' Syd Barrett's 'Madcap Laughs,' and the Television Personalities' 'Could Have Been Bigger Than the Beatles.' It's as good or better, this music, this record. And unlike a lot of what I'm listening to and really enjoying this week/ this year, Aeroplane will remain essential listening long after the echoes of my overheated excitement are silent."