Boards
Is there a precedent for music reviewers to give better reviews to music that's more 'vague'?
Bear with me.
What I mean by that, is that it's not easy to write a catchy tune, couple it with a lyric and then replicate that 12 times over in a variety of attention-grabbing ways. And many albums of this ilk pay the price come review time for often having a few weaker tracks.
But I reckon more instrumental, 'ethereal' abstract records probably get away with it more because they sound less 'of their time'?
I don't think Fever Ray are crap at all, but that other thread did back up a gut feeling I have about the record; that it's ok, but been given heightened review scores due to its heritage and artiness.
I think the same thing applies a bit to Fuck Buttons, maybe The XX, some post rock bands, a lot of this stuff like Dntel, Efterklang, Fennesz, etc. I like bits of most of those, but do we tend to overlook the throwaway tracks as 'part of the album's flow' instead of pointing out that, much like many more conventional indie rocks, it's also got it's fair share of filler?