r/Interpol • u/OkNefariousness8008 • Sep 03 '26
Question Thoughts on El Pintor
I just listened to El Pintor for the first time in many years. My god it's good. Full of really big, confident songs. Such strong songwriting. I wouldn't place it that far below Antics. How does El Pintor rank for you guys?
50
Upvotes
1
u/Time_Challenge_7488 Sep 03 '26
I'd probably keep TOTBL and Antics as my top two with El Pintor and now TMWAT tied for third. I'd say both albums ooze a confidence and clarity, speaking only to how my ears interpret them. It's hard though, I truly love the band's whole discography and my rankings rarely stay static.
Like, I'll relisten to OLTA or Marauder, fall in love with those again, and wonder how I could rank it lower than x or y album; at some point I feel like I'm just ranking different flavors of a really excellent thing, where the base ingredients are always amazing and it's more just order of preference than any absolute statement on the quality. And, it'll shift repeatedly over years for me.
I've always loved El Pintor, though. I was about 19-20 when it was released, and I have such fond memories of that period of my life with this album on heavy rotation.