Who is Jim DeRogatis?

• Chicago-Sun Times Pop-Music Critic

• Freelanced for SPIN, Modern Drummer,

• Co-Host of NPR’s Sound Opinions

• Flaming Lips, Lester Bangs Biographer

• “Not a musician, is a drummer.”

Other notables

• Once got fired from Rolling Stone for writing a negative review of Hootie & The Blowfish

• Key witness in the 2008 R. Kelly child pornography trial because he received a tape anonymously in ‘02

Who is Brian Eno?

• Producer and solo artist identified as “father of ambient music,” on Wikipedia.

• Most famous work has been with the Talking Heads (including “Remain in Light”) and David Byrne

• Has also worked with

Bowie, U2, Coldplay, Devo

Is it love?

• Well…• Well… even DeRogatis admits he has a liking for Eno’s work.

A few pieces of evidence…1. Eno’s “St. Elmo’s Fire” made it into DeRogatis’s DIJ

In just a three minute review, DeRogatis says…By creating new sounds through manipulations he brings listeners to the “Most wonderful

place in the world”

“Another Green World” is one of my favorite albums of all time.

Eno’s four albums in the 70s are “pure joy” Eno is incredibly underrated as a singer

Eno finds “magic in the studio”

More evidence…

2. Eno’s “Wrong Way Up” made it into his The Great Albums series

“’Wrong Way Up,’ was indeed a brilliant effort: a collection of 10 amazingly

beautiful, wildly inventive and instantly unforgettable tunes.”

Refers to Eno (and John Cale on this album) as legends, giants, an ideal pairing”

And even more evidence…

3. His recent “Trash-Burn-Buy” reviews of anything Eno related…

BUY Eno/Byrne’s “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today”

BUY U2’s “No Line On The Horizon”

BURN Coldplay’s “Vida La Vida”

C’mon, really?

• DeRogatis even finds ways to praise Eno while interviewing/reviewing other bands (case in point, CYHSY).

Hugely influential in the New Wave movement, “I still discover stuff after 100,000.”

So what?

DeRogatis’s Eno obsession may negatively influence the way he views artists similar to Eno

(I think that in DeRogatis’s eyes, these artists are trying to do what Eno did but can never achieve the same level of success)

A few quick examples…

According to Pandora.com, Last FM and Amazon.com, Eno’s sound is similar to the following artists DeRogatis has reviewed…

-The Killers - Fleet Foxes -Beck -Deerhunter

-TV on the Radio -Andrew Bird

-Kings of Leon – Franz Ferdinand

-Santogold -Animal Collective

-Neko Case – Vampire Weekend

DeRogatis reviews v. Kot reviews for some Eno-like albums

“Day and Age” by The Killers: Trash | Burn

“Dear Science” by TVOTR Burn | Buy

“Because of the Times” by Kings of Leon Trash | Burn

“Noble Beast” by Andrew Bird Trash | Burn

“Santogold” by Santogold Burn | Buy

Specific Case: Vampire Weekend

•Rolling Stone’s 10th Best Album for 2008

•Best New Band 2008 by SPIN (first band to appear on the cover before debut album)

•Proclaimed blog darlings - VW's album came out in Jan. 2008 and if you search Stereogum they return 133 post results for "Vampire Weekend." That means they've written about Vampire Weekend nearly 1 in every 3 days this past year

•In under a year they went from playing as an opener-opener at Funk N’ Waffles to playing SNL and starring in MTV Safe Sex commercials

Not a surprise…

“Vampire Weekend” by Vampire Weekend

Trash | Burn

[I needed a “DeRogatis doesn’t love Vampire Weekend” graphic]

• Review title: “Look Muffy: A Band for Us.” (A later blog follow up was called “Yes, Vampire Weekend still bugs me.”)

• Calls the band “Calculated”

• Criticizes their sweater/tie-wearing habits as “overarching

prepiness”

• .

Hear more for yourself…

“I intensely dislike this record, I will never forget it because it’s so obnoxious I can’t forget it.”

“They try to do a little funk in that very white boy collegiate way that the Talking Heads did.”

“I hate this record.”

Take note..

He literally compares Vampire Weekend to his Eno-idols while trashing them!

And the pretentious attire situation is closer than first appears…

But an audible comparison…

“St. Elmo’s Fire” by Brian Eno (3 min mark)

“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by Vampie Weekend (2:31 in the song is the breakdown)

In the end…

While DeRogatis doesn’t trash all modern bands comparable to Eno’s work (see Deerhunter, Portishead, Neko Case) he may be inclined to be harsher than usual when someone attempts to sound anything like Eno