OK, children, we need to talk about ‘pretension’:

I was convinced to ‘buy’ the 2016 release by Plan-A because of a glowing review in a magazine that shall remain nameless- though considering I’m a fat middle aged twat and it was an actual paper magazine, you can probably work out- that rightfully praised the record but offered the caveat that it was ‘pretentious’

-3

Now, I went to university

so I can confidently tell you that ‘pretentious’ means

something that’s attempting to impress by affecting greater importance or merit than is actually possessed, or acting smarter than it is. This is a legitimate complaint, and can certainly apply to many recent artistic endeavours, from ‘Inception’ to ‘Interstellar’ to other things not involving Christopher Nolan. And Radiohead of course

Unfortunately, these days the grievance instead seems to mean one of two things. Firstly, it’s all too frequently thrown at art that is merely attempting to deal within a slightly higher register than the reviewer is used to and comfortable with, and so to call something ‘pretentious’ just means ‘there’s something going on here that I don’t quite understand and I don’t like it’

-1

Then there’s the second meaning, which is even more worrying and presumably the reason that the accusation was thrown P-Anim’s way in that magazine that literally nobody else on Earth fucking reads. ‘Waltzed in from the Rumbling’ (love it +5) is, at its heart, a lovely if a little generic indie-rock-pop-americana release that’s differentiates itself slightly for the crowd by utilising the odd string section and choral coda, but never to the detriment of the record’s easy charm and coherent listenability

+5

To listen to it and declare it’s ‘pretentious’ is to use the word to mean ‘ever so slightly different and aiming to sound better than a simple indie rock record’, which is a frightening reaction. If you think ‘WiFtR’

is a ‘pretentious’ album you probably think High Flying Birds are a drastic reinvention for Noel Gallagher and that ‘Logan’ is an art film, and in all honesty you should be allowed nowhere near any forms of culture for the rest of your life and should be immediately steralised less the continuation of your tedious genes pollutes the pool with viral boredom to such an extent that in the 22^nd century the human race is made up entirely of Damon Albarn fans

-2

But I shouldn’t blame Planz & Anz for this straw journalist: I love this record, I mean, sure, it’s a bit

but when the track’s as good as that then you can’t complain

+4

Flowers is how good The Pixies should sound at this point in their career

+5

Sonic beauty abounds, worth

5 Prince Points

Metacritic: +69

Ah, come on now, it’s better than that… isn’t it…?

Length 41 minutes +5

Best Lyric:

Forgot to do this for Animal Collective, didn’t I? Doesn’t matter, it’s fine, move along, move along!

‘Pray to catch you whispering/I pray you catch me listening’

+1

Number of AMAZING songs: 1 (+10)

Is the last song just the first track but played on Ukulele? No -1

Total 106

https://plantsandanimals.store-08.com/