Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

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ordinaryperson
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Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

Post by ordinaryperson »

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Odd Blood by Yeasayer

AM Ranking: #2553
Genre: Neo-Psychedelia, Psychedelic Pop
Release: 8 February 2010
Label: Secretly Canadian
Ranked Songs: O.N.E. (#2088)
Ambling Alp (#2523)

WikipediaRYM

01 | The Children
02 | Ambling Alp
03 | Madder Red
04 | I Remember
05 | O.N.E.
06 | Love Me Girl
07 | Rome
08 | Strange Reunions
09 | Mondegreen
10 | Grizelda



Music Videos:

Ambling Alp
O.N.E.
Madder Red
I Remember
Any type of opinion can be expressed on these discussion threads, you can post just a few words or a couple of paragraphs, you can even rank the tracks if you wanted to. New discussions will be posted on Fridays, so that users will have the time over the weekend to listen to the album and form their opinion on it.

HINT FOR NEXT WEEK'S ALBUM
Next week's album will be an album from the heartland rock genre that also shares it's name with a Palme d'Or winning movie.
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letmeintomyzone
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Re: Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

Post by letmeintomyzone »

How did critics intially react to this album?
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ordinaryperson
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Re: Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

Post by ordinaryperson »

letmeintomyzone wrote:How did critics intially react to this album?
It seems that the critical reaction initially was moderately positive. A quick glance at the Wikipedia page shows that most reviewers gave them a 4/5 or 8/10. As for year end polls, Aftenposten from Norway ranked the album the highest out of all the year end polls of 2010, placing them at number 6. Commercially the album charted the highest in Norway at spot 14, while in the US and UK it charted to 63 and 64 respectively.
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StevieFan13
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Re: Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

Post by StevieFan13 »

Heartland rock with a Palme D’Or movie’s name?

Dun duh duh duh-duh-duh dun, dun...
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BleuPanda
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Re: Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

Post by BleuPanda »

I should revisit this one. I find both "O.N.E." and "Ambling Alp" to be severely underappreciated. So much energy carried through both, and they really capture a sound entirely their own.
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Re: Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

Post by Nassim »

ordinaryperson wrote:
letmeintomyzone wrote:How did critics intially react to this album?
It seems that the critical reaction initially was moderately positive. A quick glance at the Wikipedia page shows that most reviewers gave them a 4/5 or 8/10. As for year end polls, Aftenposten from Norway ranked the album the highest out of all the year end polls of 2010, placing them at number 6. Commercially the album charted the highest in Norway at spot 14, while in the US and UK it charted to 63 and 64 respectively.
The metacritic score isn't too high either (78) but it did feature in quite a lot of end of year lists. Actually it didn't feature in any list since, it owes its current ranking to EOY only (unlike their previous album who got a little resurgence recently).
I'd have to listen to it again, but my memories are that if you cut it after the 5th track, it would make an extraordinary EP but there is not much memorable further in the album.
letmeintomyzone
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Re: Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

Post by letmeintomyzone »

Any albums in the top 100 will be discussed here?
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ordinaryperson
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Re: Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

Post by ordinaryperson »

letmeintomyzone wrote:Any albums in the top 100 will be discussed here?
Yes, I stated in my post proposing the idea of an album club that any album, as long as it's ranked on this website, would be eligible for the album club.
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FrankLotion
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Re: Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

Post by FrankLotion »

So I thought this was a nice surprise! From someone who just listened to Yeasayer’s first two albums today, I definitely prefer this one. The melodies were surprisingly catchy thoughtout and for the most part I thought this was a blast, I’d say it’s underrated!
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Safetycat
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Re: Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

Post by Safetycat »

Wow, I was really surprised by this album! I hadn't heard anything from these guys before, and I'm really happy they came onto my radar. Ambling Alp in particular is a wonderful, and surprisingly motivational song, and I really like O.N.E. and Rome as well.

The album itself is enjoyable all the way through aside from the first track, The Children, which I plain don't like. Thankfully it's at the start and I can pretend it doesn't exist.

Overall I think this is an 8/10, with the instrumentation and vocals being wonderful but some of the tracks leaving something to be desired.
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PlasticRam
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Re: Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

Post by PlasticRam »

I don't have any comments but I give this 3.5 stars.
I feel like that
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fasbjd
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Re: Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

Post by fasbjd »

Better than expected. I liked their first album quite a bit, and really liked the single version of 2080 that preceded it. When the singles from this album were being released, I was disappointed with the direction they took with the synth-pop sound. But now re-listening minus the expectations that came at the time, I find it an enjoyable listen. 4 out of 5 seems about right...though I still prefer the earlier stuff.
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Re: Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

Post by Jirin »

I like this album. Previously the only Yeasayer I heard was Amen & Goodbye which I believe I ranked in the 30s range on my 2016 EOY list. And I Am Chemistry was one my my songs of the year.

I like the bouncy flourishy indie sound of Yeasayer. At times sounding like if Vampire Weekend or Wolf Parade had more resonant guitar. Where they fall short is direction and completeness. A lot of their songs feel like lots of pleasant sounds stitched together with no final vision.

Good album, better than Amen & Goodbye, but lacks the vision to cross the boundary of ‘great’.
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Krurze
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Re: Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

Post by Krurze »

The only Yeasayer song I knew before listening to this album is the excellent Don't Come Close, which I put at #229 on my all-time list. I discovered this song while playing Grand Theft Auto V, where it is featured on a station that mainly plays chill-wavey stuff, so I kind of just pidgeonholed Yeasayer into that scene.

So I was definitely in for a surprise when Odd Blood's opener The Children started playing and I braced myself for a rather ominous and experimental album. Luckily this feeling started to recede by the next track, Ambling Alp, which sounded more like what I would expect from this band. Then, the stretch from Madder Red to Love Me Girl was what irrevocably sold me on this album. So this is actually a pop record! And a pretty great one at that with dulcet textures and catchy harmonies.

I do agree with Nassim that the second half is not as great as the first, mainly because for some reason not only one, but two faux-psychobilly numbers made it onto the latter half of the record (Rome and Mondegreen), and frankly I could have lived without either of them. There are two more great pop ditties with Strange Reunions and Grizelda near the end of the album, though, so the second half is far from a complete meltdown.

All in all I enjoyed this a lot and I think this is a great start to the (hopefully long living) Album Club.
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Rob
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Re: Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

Post by Rob »

A little late to the party, but here I go.

Yeasayer is one of those bands I only know by name, not by music. But the band's name is great, so that should be enough to check them out. The band name is also misleading, as it reminds me of grumpy old, sea shanty singers, but that isn't what we get here. This is neo-psychedelic pop that invites a lot of comparisons to Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear. Especially the latter is strong here, but this is more unabashedly pop. In fact, even if we take into account old psychedelic rock from the sixties, this is the most straightforward music the genre has too offer. The frills, bills, whistles and special effects that tend to populate this genre really take a backseat here. No matter the lyrics, this feels like good-time music overall.

The consensus that the first half of the album is better than the second is fair, although I didn't think it was all that bad. Besides the second half contains the seemingly divisive Rome, easily my favorite song here. Oddly, supposed stand-out O.N.E. wouldn't make the my top 5 of the album. All four tracks that come before crush it.

This is a solid album with enough going for it to make it stand on it's own. I can't judge it as a follow-up to All Hour Cymbals, which is better regarded, as I haven't heard that one. On it's own, this is good fun, if not an album I probably will return to for years to come.

I usually find rating albums based on two spins difficult, but I also think it fits this series, so here goes:
7/10
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acroamor
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Re: Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

Post by acroamor »

Really dug this record. I downloaded it a few years back because a co-worker was the sister of one of the members, but never got around listening to more than a song or two. I'm in agreement about the pop sensibilities underneath an experimental sheen. Love Me Girl is probably my favorite of the bunch.
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ordinaryperson
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Re: Album Club Discussion #1: Yeasayer's Odd Blood

Post by ordinaryperson »

Hey, I'm glad that this album club is turning out well, with responses coming to this thread even after we moved on to the next album. As for my opinion on Odd Blood, I couldn't really think of anything noteworthy to say. I don't hate the album but I don't really like it either. Something about the vocals and production on some of the songs really annoyed me for some reason. The only stand out track on the album is O.N.E., and I really only like that song for the synth that kicks in during the chorus. It's an okay album that doesn't really stand out from any other pop record released around 2010.
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