Idlewild

After listening to Idlewild's Make Another World for the fifth time in a row today (and declaring in my head that this...THIS! is the best album of 2007, over Sky Blue Sky or In Rainbows, subject to change, on a whim of course), I decided that I had to say something.

Idlewild is criminally underappreciated.

This is not like British Sea Power where they make music that I can see, perhaps, other people not liking. This is like, Idlewild makes music that any person who has come of age in the last 15 years should like. Should love. First off, there is absolutely no reason that Idlewild did not absolutely explode in 2003. A great rock single (You Held the World In Your Arms) and the best song of the year (American English) that should have grabbed every person moderately interested in rock and propelled them to US arenas. Alas, we're stuck with Uncle Wimpy and the Adults showering people with butterflies during arena concerts. (This is rock? Paper butterflies? Remember how everyone with a soul accused the Eagles of killing rock in the 1970s? You can still like Uncle Wimpy and the Adults and still acknowledge that they are terrible for rock music.)

On top of that, their last two albums have been fantastic. Perfect mixtures of anthems and biting rock pieces. Biting. Real squalling guitars. Remember when everyone collectively decided that we could either listen to lumbering guitar antics of the plod-rockers like Nickleback or listen to a skinny boy passably strum three chords but sing from the gut? OK, over-exaggeration, but few bands really seem to like to show a loud, brawling, tuneful proficiency with the guitar any more. Along with actually having talent at their respective instruments, their lead singer is a poet. There are some weird lines, sure, but generally, the lyrics are miles above typical rock fare (see: Snow Patrol).

I guess this just means I have to make this blog the portal for your listening experience of Idlewild. (The problem is their music videos aren't great, and I don't think Imeem has them...so, I might just have to put up a bunch of YouTube videos and you can all close your eyes.)