Dear Tim Perlich, I find your writing juvenile and superficial. It's clear from what you've written here that your musical references don't extend much deeper than the last issue of Magnet. Furthermore, it's obvious that you lack the sensitivity to recognize earnest songwriting even when you hear it. Good luck to you my friend! I genuinely hope that your taste and writing skills improve in the future.

This review is too obviously vindictive to be informative. The only track I've heard off the album so far is the pre-released "Willow Tree" which is a far cry from childish, or even child-like. I couldn't call is naive, nor would I refer to it as a pop-ditty. This review has left me confused. Either the song I've heard is nothing like the remainder of the album or any piece of music Van Gaalen has ever recorded, or somebody passed you the wrong CD to listen to before you dashed off your thoughtless and insulting review.

did you get teased as a kid and this is your way of getting back at the cruel world that dealt you a bum hand?

I don't even want to go into all the reasons why you are an asshole for writing this review. A good review includes insight and constructive criticisms. this is more like a diary entry filled with jealous utterances.

Chad VanGaalen is one of Canada's best. If you don't agree it is still your duty, as a journalist, to take your job seriously and write a review that actually leaves the reader feeling like you have some modicum of critical analysis skill.

grow up Perlich

Execrable mutterings from the pitiable poseur Perlich. To see why his calumnious, cretinous, singularly stupid "review" of Soft Airplane is, to paraphrase Wolfgang Pauli, "not even wrong," I urge readers to simply listen to the record, something he, evidently, hasn't done.

Um hey Tim Perlich,

I'm not going to get as harsh as some of these comments. However, insinuating that people who like music you don't are too ignorant to see the truth is kinda sad.

Its your job not to like stuff, but being a dick doesn't help anyone.

PS Using the expression twee is desperate. People use that in conversation in England, not here. Using it here just makes you seem pretentious and desperate to seem cool.

Hey Perlich! Chad Vangaalen or Destroyer?

"a famous toronto painter shot me down."

Wow. A disturbing insight into the mind of a petty and strangely resentful man. I'm not the world's biggest Chad fan, but at least I would listen to the album before writing a review. This doesn't even sound like you got the shrink wrap off of your promo copy, you strange little man. Why do you still have a job, exactly?

"My eyes aren't working now, but I'm going to see my baby any day. And I'm hoping when I finally see you, you will hold me to the light. Let those beams shine in and through you. Let those beams shine through me too".

This doesnt really sound like someone who is a child, or is trying to be a child, but rather someone who has a child. Too bad about the mix up - you're really getting hammered for it.

I have a good idea. Why don't you write a controversial review that gives potential listeners no information whatsoever about the disc at hand?

At least the dreaded Pitchfork staff can write a scathing review with some level of intellectual acumen and aesthetic sensitivity.

PS - Give up the comparison to Neil Young. Is that the best you can do? Other reviewers have been using that tired comparative crutch since the release of his first record.

Yikes! Scathing reviews of the scathing review. The only one that doesn't seem justified is the original. In short: it would seem that Tim Perlich is bad and Chad is good. :) for Chad.

NOW magazine clearly hates anything that has any sincerity to it. Yet somehow I still manage to be surprised when things I enjoy, espicially creative Canadian things, get trashed here. This album blows my mind. Nothing "twee" or "quaint" about it, just beautiful songs with memorable hooks and lyrics, mostly about death. This review didn't only insult the album, it insulted the listeners, which is unforgivable. I love this album, and I don't like adults pretend to be naive children. I also don't like morons pretending to be insightful critics.

Boy you're really getting raked over the coals for this one! I really am curious why you really didn't like this album, yes a review usually elaborates on reasons. It's not good enough to just say I didn't like it, as others have already pointed out. Did you listen to it for more than one rotation? It has ocurred to me that it may be political. Exclaim did a full out feature on Chad, and so what better way to debunk a competing magazine than to dismiss the subject of their feature altogether. Too bad, this review?? only brings down the journalistic reputation of NOW.

I would agree that this review is singularly stupid, but this is only one of many Perlich reviews.

The album is thoughtful and earnest.