Thank You.
Okay, given that it's very easy to go against the grain with criticism, especially if a(n) album/movie/book is praised to death and one expects perfection, but hears/sees/reads something far from perfection. (I do offer a bit of an apology to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.) And I sort of don't want to be that guy who says indie stuff is pretentious... but, well yeah I do. Because it is. A lot of the time. And people know it. "Independent" music now just means "unusual" -- so the label itself is (or implies) pretension to begin with; indie pop, rock, folk, hip-hop isn't just stuff resigned to independent labels (I'm not going to go into faux-indie stuff now [your Fall Out Boys, uhh, etc.]) anymore, which, yeah, it doesn't really matter. But this trend isn't reserved for the major players -- dozens of promos I get are "indie" and "pretentious" to the extreme and it's sickening. I don't really care. Whatever.
Just give me The Hold Steady. Are they pretentious? Well, they did diss pretty terribly on the dance-punk bands of NY... that's okay, guys.
(Well, it's not even late, but I can't think straight because I'm tired. And fishy. Just understand that Illinois is, well, ... "precious" at times.)
1) Danielson's music = pretentious.
ReplyDelete2) The Hold Steady do not come off as holier than thou.
Dude, just look at the names of the songs on Illinois.
EX: "THE BLACK HAWK WAR, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience but You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, "I have fought the Big Knives and will continue to fight them until they are off our lands!"
And that's all for a 2-minute track of SATB-like vocal chords accompanied by woodwind ornaments.
Compare that to, say, The Hold Steady's "Banging Camp," which is about the equal pull of the street life and the Christian life (well, that's pretty much the whole album).
Anyway, Sufjan (just look at that name, man -- pretentious city) isn't all disappointing. It's just not the greatest thing around. Andrew Bird beats him on nearly every front -- especially the one concerning that "p" word (although he's not completely free of that either).
Okay, so both THS and Sufjan are a little over the top.
As for labels, I'll stick with Rock/Other/Other, thank you very much.
And Be Your Own Pet suck.
ReplyDeletePlus, it's in the execution of all things (Rilo Kiley). I don't agree with the author that simply having the concept of writing an album about every U.S. state is schoolboyish or pretentious. Although it may be gimmicky, it depends on how it's done (of course).
ReplyDeleteSomeone could have said to me "We want to make this album about this fictional band... called The Lonely Hearts Club Band."
Or, "We want to make this game about Italian, let's say plumbers, who go down giant pipes and eat mushrooms to get bigger."
I CAN POST AS MUCH AS I WANT.
ReplyDeleteI'M NOT PRETENTIOUS FOR CONTINUING TO POST ON MY OWN BLOG.
ReplyDeleteYou guys crack me up.
ReplyDeleteSufjan Stevens never grabbed me. I think his stuff sounds like cheesy 70's pop music. I wouldn't go so far as to call him pretentious; I think he's doing what a lot of bands do: using the tools of the trade to craft an image/style, rather than creating a style and then using the tools to communicate it. Long song titles don't make a difference. It's either good or bad (and yes, these descriptors go beyond personal preference, as any art history major can tell you).
Genres are a necessary evil. Pioneers are almost never genre-specific, because usually what they are doing has yet to be classified. But the whole idea of "classifying" music is detrimental - unfortunately, we are unable to simply identify music by name; we must also communicate connotations and prejudices via those names.
Stevens never taps into the musical history of a state -- never touching Chicago blues or jazz, or Michigan soul or rock. He simply uses the concept of songs about a state as a vehicle to deliver his baroque folk-pop.
I think this is a false argument. Who cares? I'd rather he didn't try to ape other musical styles. Musical eclecticism is dead; so many groups are so bad at it. It's time for everyone to consolidate and stick to what they're good at (that means you, the Strokes). That's why I like the Hold Steady. It's just rock and roll. At the Drive-In: rock and roll. Panic! at the Disco: rock and roll (with cool long song titles and interesting arrangements).
Be Your Own Pet: sucks. I can't believe they're the darlings of Nashville's "indie" scene. Just because they aren't even 18 yet and they drop f-bombs over fuzzy punk riffs ... sheesh.
I don't know who this Danielson guy is, but his website is atrocious.
Daniel made a list of all the artists who have worked with him over the years. To that list, he added other folks whom he had made plans to work with at some point. His plan was to bring everyone together, to add to his new album.
No judgment here, but that sounds like the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I suppose it's the idea of removing autonomy from the creation of the music, which is an interesting concept, but not for me.
Pretension is almost immediately discernable. Oasis = pretentious, and if you didn't know that, well...
I don't feel like thinking anymore, so I'll stop now.
Can't we all just get along and holds hands and sing Blur's "Coffee and TV" in unison? CAUSE IT ROCKS, YO.
ReplyDelete-Matt
I thought of something amusing today.
ReplyDeleteWhat if a band didn't refer to themselves as an "indie rock band" or "indie pop band," yet rather an "indie noise band." I think that is hilarious because it implies the existence of mainstream noise bands or something of that nature.
-Matt