Firstly, the wonderful news of Arcade Fire cleaning up the album of the year award at the Grammy's last week.
The Grammy's are an award show I rarely give two shits about, not just because most awards shows don't have much meaning attached to them, particularly ones based on album sales (ffs, isn't the money the reward for selling lots of albums? do you really need a stupid statue as well?) but also as they're usually won by over-marketed pop stars/ boring country stars etc. I've never heard of. HOWEVER...
All hilarious "WHAT IS AN ARCADE FRIES WHO ARE THE SUBURBS" tweets aside, Arcade Fire winning signifies a great thing.
It means, that (some) people out there are actually sitting up and taking notice of musical artists that are trying to do something new, creative, and amazing. If a band like Arcade Fire, that apparently half the music loving world hadn't heard of, can win a majorly hyped music award, over bigger-than-jesus popular artists like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Eminem, then perhaps there is some hope for the music world. Perhaps we the lovers of alternative music, are not doomed to sit in the corners with our ipods on drowning out the million screams of die hard fandom for richly dressed, manufactured rehashed droll. Perhaps the more creatively minded musicians that struggle day in day out to get their voices heard and get some kind of following, will have more chance to get that sort of recognition they deserve. Perhaps!!
Which leads me to my second thought of the day, putting away the mainstream pop music scene for a bit. Where I fit in with music these days. Within the realms of the music that I am drawn to, whatever you may categorize it (I can't even begin to imagine how), it feels like there are two schools of thought around, that sort of contradict each other.
There are those that strive to discover as many new, underground artists as possible, as independent as they possibly can be... so that anything that would have been considered quite non-mainstream six months before, is now completely mainstream and how the hell could you STILL be listening to that album it is soooo lame and so long ago and ttly ovah it maaan.
Then there are those that get really pissed off with the first kind of people, and shun anything considered independent or underground, as 'indie' or 'hipster' and 'wank' and such labels, and thereby do not give it a second thought, preferring not to associate with anything that could fall under that category. And you know, I don't blame them.
But whatever one thinks about an image, a brand, a label, a culture... It appears to have completely overshadowed the entire music world. You don't listen to something for how it sounds anymore... you listen to it because of what it means. You listen to it because of what it says about you, and what THING you ascribe to. You listen to it because of the way it looks.
I may be completely overgeneralising, I may be just being a cynical cynthia over here. And it may seem a bit pretentious of me even putting this thought out there, after my previous Arcade Fire rant.
But it's the vibe I have picked up over the past few years as I become more and more ingrained in music and music culture. It's not just here, in Brisvegas, it' s Australia-wide, it's world-wide.
When did we stop listening to music for the way it sounded and the way it made us feel, and what made us stop choosing it for that reason? Who cares how 'fucking hipster' Animal Collective are and how pretentious Conor Oberst is? Who cares that the band you're listening to now only formed 3 days ago on the side of a road playing songs that were only about 17th century Rome?
Does their music appeal to my ears? Because if not, I'm really not interested.
I like fucking Steely Dan and America and adore Joe Jackson, and I was an obsessed Ben Folds/ Five fan for a good part of 10 years. I've seen more bands with my parents, and will continue to, than I probably will ever see with a friend. I don't get a single cool point for any of that. What draws me is that I like what I hear. I don't know WHY I like what I like to hear, it probably has a lot to do with the music I grew up with, and how my ears have evolved throughout my life. But it's why I choose it. I don't care what it looks like. I'm not trying to paint myself as this perfect, well rounded music lover. There are things I feel dirty enjoying, the perception of 'I'm not supposed to be enjoying this' is still quite alive and real in many music listening situations. There are also some styles of music I just will never get or appreciate... *cough* metal *cough* country. But as 'indie' as some of the bands I will post about, seem.. I wouldn't be there if I didn't genuinely have a great enjoyment of, not their image, label, mission statement, personality, but their goddamn music.
I'm so incredibly guilty of it, but I'm really, really sick of putting labels on people based on what they listen to. It's ridiculous.
Ok, with that, my last mind grape... More like mind rape, a week ago when the news broke that Radiohead would be releasing their new album, The King of Limbs, in five days time, in digital form. For a week, that was all on many fans' minds, and for the 3 or so hours when it was reported that the album would be brought ahead a daily earlier, it was all that was on my mind and agenda as well. Radiohead have certainly tried to change up the music press industry by making sudden announcements of new singles and albums of late, which can be frustrating but also very exciting. But in the end, is the album any good?
It's not a question one can answer briefly, but I'll do my best. On first listen, it was slightly underwhelming, but obvious to me that multiple listens would unravel its hidden complexity. After doing so, it did unravel as a solid album, but I certainly don't feel its their best work, and it is very very difficult to separate it enough from their catalogue to make a good judgement of it. I can't help but compare the first few tracks of TKOL to Thom Yorke's The Eraser, and "Little by Little" which sounds kind of like "I Might Be Wrong", and it all reminds me of "Hearing Damage", Thom's single released last year. It's very dark, brooding and electronically focussed, and it appears to me as an extension of In Rainbows... the direction they were always heading from Amnesiac onwards. The first half is a quick descent into schizophrenic beats, synth, bass and dubstep, with a slight reprieve (although erratic itself) with Lotus Flower, clearly the most commercial track on the album. If it had all been that, I think the album may have driven me away as too hard to continue. It saves itself with the last 3 tracks, almost guiding the listener out of the nightmarish static of the first half, back into a sweet dreamland of emotion and beauty. As a whole, it kind of works, but I do think it still needs to grow. There is still much to explore in this deep dark Radiohead forest of an album.
Ahh and that is one of the most exciting parts of music, the repeated exploration of an album... the way it forms and changes over time, you pick up on things you didn't catch earlier, things you dismiss as filler become some of your favourite moments on the album, you hear it while something significant is happening and you associate a song with that memory forever, you hate it for a while for that reason, and then love it again years later.
Rant over, thankyou and goodnight!!
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