In general, on a day to day basis I tend to steer towards indie rock - I listen to KEXP and WXPN and try and keep up on all of the brand new stuff out there. I also enjoy things like the NPR All Songs Consider blog where folks from pretentious outlets like Pitchfork tell me what was good this year. I've been turned on to some cool stuff this way. But lots of times, these guys uniformly swoon over something that I run to check out and I just dont get it. Here is a list of a few.
- Interpol. Remember a few years ago when everyone went gaga over these guys? All I kept asking is -- why is he constantly yelling at me?
- Arcade Fire. Oh man, what is it about these guys that everyone loves? Booooring.
- Radiohead. Maybe this isnt fair, because I do like some of their stuff. But these guys are presented as some kind of messiahs, and to me, its just a lot of bleeps and blips with a *really* annoying voice.
- TV on the Radio. OK, I get that this music is complex, and it demands repeated listening, and that it is multilayered. But is it good?
- Sufjan Stevens. Do we really have to suffer through 48 more states?
- and this year's addition....wait for it....yes, Fleet Foxes. Fleet Foxes were named #1 on the KEXP end-of-year list, and in top 5 for almost anyone with indie cred. And they are from Seattle, the ultimate badge of indie-coolness. And Trevor raved about them...enough to send me a CD when I showed skepticism (Thanks, Trev). And the music is, well, pleasant. But why oh why do they have to make the CD sound like it was recorded in an empty, cold, dark church, with each member standing in a different corner of the room? The songs are nice, but for a band that is trying to get by on folky lyrics and beautiful harmonies, why do they make the vocals sound so crappy? Really, the effect of the echo-y reverb-y analog-y ness of it all makes it sound like an old Mamas and Papas record.
The other thing I dont understand is how a bunch of guys get together to form a band and decide to make this kind of music - choirboy/folk? Guys should get together to form a band and sing rockin tunes about obscure movies and movie star siblings, not this stuff.
So what is it that I don't get? Please enlighten me.
Listening to the CD makes me cold. Very cold. Maybe they want me to feel that way, and if they do, they are brilliant, but I like music that makes me warm and happy. Like #40: In Between Dreams by Jack Johnson. This is a beautiful, fun, happy, strummy, singalong from a kind of hippy-dippy dude. Perhaps this is the first CD on this list which my kids had influence in, since I got to know JJ through his Curious George work. But In Between Dreams is really a great listen. Give it a shot instead of that pretentious choirboy stuff.
6 comments:
CTV- I feel your pain, brother. I, too, was once conflicted over Radiohead, thinking that they might be overrated. But the more I listened to their albums, the more they grew on me.
The thing you need to understand about Radiohead is that they do not make happy, upbeat music. Their songs are often weird and abrasive. A simple analogy would be directors like David Cronenerg and Stanley Kubrick, who make movies that are good but not necessarily uplifting.
I'm not as familiar with some of the other bands you mentioned, but I suspect it's just a matter of personal taste. I'm sure lots of people find the Violent Femmes (to name one band that you like) to be overrated and annoying.
Anyway, keep up the good work on the blog. I'm digging most of your choices so far.
Thanks Brian. I think part of it is that I used to have the patience and time to give new things a few listens whereas my grumpy older self is more closed minded and makes snap judgements. Aarrr.
We have rotating art exhibits at my workplace, and the other day I noticed that some new paintings were on display: vivid oils in pastel colors of kittens at play, as well as some bigger works featuring lions and leopards and sundry other wild cats. Some people wandering by had stopped to admire them. I didn’t check to see the name of the artist; for convenience, let’s just call her … Doris Lipschutz.
Jack Johnson: Jack Johnson is kind of the Doris Lipschutz of the modern rock world. Everything he does is directed at making you feel good. The lyrics are feel-good, the beat is feel-good, the vibe is feel-good. Because who doesn’t want to feel good??? He’s not going to challenge you, for chrissake! A lot of people don’t like it when they’re challenged; and if they aren’t happy, his songs won’t get played on the radio and his CDs won’t get bought. So he does what he does, which is basically to make Dave Matthews look like John Cage.
Radiohead comes from a different place than Doris Lipschutz. Radiohead is a little more disturbed, a little more “out there.” Radiohead is like Vincent Van Gogh. Yes, that’s it: I could definitely see Thom Yorke cutting off one of his ears and then painting a self-portrait afterwards. And then there are bands, e.g. Fleet Foxes, who think they want to make you feel good; but unfortunately, they don’t do it in a standard way. Think Jackson Pollock. There he was, dripping paint all over the place just to make people happy, but what did we end up with in the end? Just a bunch of vague, formless paint splotches. No kittens, no leopards.
I know I’m supposed to like Jack Johnson. He wants me to like him; he’s doing everything he can to get me to like him. But every time I’m driving with the radio on and I hear that feel-good, lowest-common-denominator-calibrated voice earnestly reaching out to me, I want to pull to the side of the road and heave in a ditch. I have felt this way for as long as I can remember, for as long as he’s been doing what he does.
I guess I’d just rather listen to Jackson Pollock and Vincent Van Gogh than Doris Lipschutz. I don’t know why that is; it just is.
Could you write about “Doolittle” already, so we can have something that we can all agree upon?
Radiohead totally grew on me and now I love them. But I'm still not a fan of Sufjan Stevens or Arcade Fire and I have two of their cds. I'm trying but I'm not there.
How do you feel about Cat Power? I'm not into her either.
And I do like TV on the Radio and Animal Collective but I don't have any of their music right now but will soon.
How do you feel about Animal Collective?
One more thing I forgot to say...I like music that makes me happy but Jack Johnson's lazy, beach boy music makes me want to punch him in the face. I can't stand it...Just me though. I feel the same way about some Grateful Dead music and Bob Marley. I get it, you are mellow and happy. Good for you.
Ooookay little ms snarky! What's wrong with mellow and happy? Man, this one sure touched a nerve.
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