What are Sup Forums's thoughts on this new album by Andrew WK? It's pretty fucking cheesy...

What are Sup Forums's thoughts on this new album by Andrew WK? It's pretty fucking cheesy, but at the same time I have to give the guy props for trying to release a record with so much unabashed optimism in a time where negativity rules our world.

>actually liking generic buttrock garbage
Fucking kill yourself, you waste of oxygen. It's objectively garbage and you know it. Just because Fagtano gave it an 8, doesn't mean it's good. Fucking hell, fuck off and die you cockmongling fuckface piece of shit. I'll kill you.
Opinions are facts that stupid people disagree with. Facts became opinions because idiots couldn't handle the ultimate truth. And my "opinions" are much better than the 13-year old scrubs that lurk in this dungeon that is Sup Forums. At least I know what the definition of "intelligence" and "critical acclaim" is.

Yeah, it's probably one of his best albums.

I'm glad this is becoming a pasta, it's hilarious.

t. soyboy

>It's pretty fucking cheesy, but at the same time I have to give the guy props for trying to release a record with so much unabashed optimism in a time where negativity rules our world.

which is precisely the knee-jerk reaction he was searching for

Speaking as someone who loved I Get Wet and listened to a fair bit of Close Calls With Brick Walls back in the day and generally considers himself a fan of AWK, I honestly have no idea what I think of it. It's definitely the most interesting music I've heard in a long time. It's so far removed from either mainstream or underground music right now that I really don't have much of a reference point for it, which is a fine situation when we're talking about experimental or outsider music, but this isn't really quite that. It's like pop rock from a parallel timeline where arena rock never left the radio but just kept developing. (Granted, this is true of all of his rock albums, but it's been a long time since I've heard a new one whose songs I haven't grown used to.)

And if it were from a parallel timeline, it would actually be a lot easier to appraise, because it would be exactly what it sounds like: dumb, delightful, motivational rock and roll for an audience that's used to dumb, delightful, motivational rock and roll. But it wasn't made for that Earth-2 audience, it was made for us, and for us it comes out of nowhere. Our culture of irony and cynicism isn't built to enjoy something like this, at least not from rock music.

With everything Andrew WK does, you're forced to wonder, to what degree is this a put-on? To what degree does he want us to THINK it's a put-on? Is there a joke, and are we in on it, or by trying to be in on it are we made the butt of it? It's tempting to say "shut up dipshit it's just happy music", but there's too much weird, vaguely sinister mitigating evidence in the AWK lore--and maybe too much artificial sweetener in the music itself--to feel easy about that conclusion. A tension emerges because the music is so incredibly obvious that you start feeling like you're missing something. It's really cool in that way.

The cynic in me can't help but think this is a put on, but at this point I'm ready to accept this album at face value. The message I'm getting from it is "Life sucks sometimes but that's ok, you just have to keep going."

It's fucking fantastic.

literally exactly what he was going for

I listened to this album for the first time today and had never listened to andrew wk before. At first I thought, "this is just arena rock power pop, nothing special here, but for some reason I wanted to keep listening, and its actually composed pretty well.
You all brought up good points

Go to bed, swaglord.

it has brought me light in my hour of darkness

I think I respect the attitude more than the music. As a power pop record it's pretty weak.

rock's UNK

jesus christ. You're actually right.

...

But W.K. isn't a lolcow

its corny as fuck and non contrarians on this board are gonna pretend they like it cause fantano gave it a good score

are you so sure?

He may have some minor tendencies, but I doubt you could even get a Kiwi Farms thread out of him. He's too self aware

awilkeskrier.homestead.com
i dont really know the whole story but i think there's been harassment campaigns against AWK for various reasons. he was basically pushed out of music for a decade but it's pretty unclear by who or why

I think I remember that site. I'm not gonna go back and read all that shit again, but man, it fuckin' takes me back. AWK has deepest lore, and at his conceptual peak in the '00s seems to have been an almost Kaufman-level genius of a performance artist.

what i got out of it was that the idea for the "Andrew W.K." musical act was formed by a group who doesnt wish to reveal their identities. Likely includes the dude himself (AWK), some of his relatives (industry insiders), and maybe some other industry people.
There seem to have been contractual issues where AWK wasn't allowed to use the AWK name.
There's also the matter of the name "steev mike" (his old stage name???)(someone from the mysterious group?)
Anyway a lot of his fans got pissed because he is so inspirational and genuine and yet also somehow fake and manufactured. I don't think the whole story has come out yet.
tbqfhwy i think we could someday uncover a similar backstory for the unk (that is, he's an actor portraying a struggling musician with a heart of gold)