Who’s up for a little game of Indie Rock Bingo?
[Video]
[5.00]
Thomas Inskeep: I’ve never really taken Twenty One Pilots as a rock band, exactly — and please, please, listen to this week’s NYT Popcast about what exactly “rock” means in 2018 — and I’ve never really cared for them, either. They’re so whiny, so cranky, so keening, especially vocally. (Is this what it means to be emo in our present day?) But I actually do like the unexpected layers of texture and volume that keep piling on to “My Blood” as it progresses (especially once reaching the 3:00 mark). And I’m for the high/low harmonies, too. I could see this becoming the first song of theirs I take a liking to, though it’ll take some time to grow on me. But it could happen. Maybe.
[5]
Iain Mew: The first time I heard them on “Fairly Local” I admired its “gothic, hollowed out crawl.” They’ve taken a rather convoluted route to get back round to that, but here at last is the same feeling, now with added electro sparkle glistening somewhere between promise and menace.
[8]
Taylor Alatorre: Imagine MySpace-era MGMT covering a random song off of Emotional Rescue. Now take what you imagined and make it 50% more emo and 60% less interesting. Now imagine you’re the talking dog in the sad horse cartoon show and it’s time to deliver the most on-point joke of the fifth season.
[3]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: For all of their faults, Twenty One Pilots have always been deeply original in their corniness. “My Blood” changes that up, instead opting for a 2014-Alt Nation aesthetic that serves them surprisingly well — even the faux-rap bit goes down easy here. But “My Blood” runs completely unremarkably, squandering the potential of the change of aesthetic.
[5]
Alfred Soto: Writing about Vampire Weekend a couple days ago, I read friends comment on the similarities in the manipulation of synth textures, the conscious use of gauche white hip-hop tropes, the preference for merely floating. As attractive as this stew may taste, Twenty One Pilots’ arena rock instincts reduce these disparate elements to mere noise for Section 151 Row 79.
[3]
Tim de Reuse: Sounds less like a song by Twenty One Pilots and more like Justice remixing a song by Twenty One Pilots, and that’s mostly a good thing! If anything, the parts that lean towards a traditional pop structure make it weaker, and it would’ve been more fun as an exercise in french house — though it wouldn’t hurt to knock the compression from “drum ‘n’ bass production video tutorial” down to “early-aughts Daft Punk.”
[7]
Anna Suiter: Twenty One Pilots still seem to be guilty of making slight variations of the same song over and over. They’ve certainly found their niche, though, even if it’s a dull one.
[3]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: Ok but the second half of this is better than most Tame Impala songs.
[6]