i like this song/vid. i like those other bands a lot. did barnes get naked? apparently when they play 'the past is a grotesque animal' he does that but they did neither when i saw them in march.
Barnes got damn near close to naked. He was wearing these really low cut tight pants and nothing else at one point, but he had several costume changes. Highlights from their set included Rapture Rapes the Muses, Gronlandic Edit, and Suffer for Fashion.
White Denim was actually the highlight of the day, and their 50 minute set outshined even Of Montreal. They're my new favorite band. I would describe their sound as frenetic soul-punk, in the vein of the White Stripes but more hyperactive. I will see them as many times as I possibly can, and I suggest y'all do the same. They're from Austin but they tour nationally.
Busdriver was decent. It reinforced my ambivalence about extremely verbose and technique-oriented MCs. A few of his beats were awful, too.
A couple bands worth checking out: Small Sins (Cake-ish minimalist quirk-pop out of Canada) and MGMT (Brooklyn guitar soul-rock). MGMT actually introduced themselves as "a buzz band from New York." The first song of their very short set BLEW MY MIND.
Incidentally, Sasha Frere-Jones is a tool, and also wrong.
Report about today's shows to follow! I'm off to roll joints.
just finished that sasha frere-jones articles. his logic doesn't really pan out. especially when he talks about devendra being a fan of r kelly instead of imitating his style - and how this somehow has to do with the democratization of music... it just doesn't make any sense to me.
Don Caballero (proggy 3 piece), Clap! Clap! (as LAME as their name is derivative), Riverboat Gamblers (metal-tinged punk rawk from Austin), and
Ted Leo Battles Cat Power
Battles was the absolute highlight and probably the best show all weekend, exceeding my expectations. Saunier is a beast on the drums, and they earned every blip and bloop. Ted Leo was listenable and super energetic. Cat Power was low-key and soulful, the perfect end to an EXHAUSTING weekend.
I'm gonna watch In the Soup and then pass out.
I guess I went too far in calling Frere-Jones a tool. He's a good writer, but still wrong.
i would take severe umbrage with reffering to SFJ as a 'tool'. thankfully this rash comment has been retracted. furthermore i think that despite obvious exceptions a lot of his article holds water. and the style in which he posits this is in the necessarily broad field of emerging pop theory. i have had countless conversations that amount to the paralyzing awareness of white cultural paucity (haven't we all) why not extend this to our more popular white contemporaries, doubtless similarly afflicted. and where do you draw the line in adopting funkiness. what's OK? progressive? as for devendra i think that frere-jones is just pointing out someone playing it real safe. or is devendra funkier than he is given credit? i dunno. i think for arcade fire and grizzly bear his assessment holds up.
SFJ's thesis is open to numerous counterexamples. White Stripes, Black Keys, and White Denim are three bands, popular, less-popular, and up-and-coming, respectively, that rock out soulfully as shit. That's just restricting the pool of possible counterexamples to bands with colors in their name. And that's why SFJ is wrong.
The response: well, he was making a generalization, and those bands are "exceptions that prove the rule."
To this I say: OK, but I'm sure we could sit here and rattle off counterexamples all night (but let's not).
On a related note, one thing I noticed about some bands at the fest, most noticeably Clap! Clap!...some bands try WAY TOO HARD to get everyone amped and dancing, simply by being amped and dancing themselves.
The fact that you've got 9 dudes on stage all freaking out isn't going to make me dance or have fun. You gotta earn that shit by playing good songs. Its pathetic to see a band like Clap! Clap! freaking out onstage when the songs are so forgettable. It just seems rehearsed and artificial at that point.
Vlad: White cultural paucity? Don't sell yourself short, honky.
i guess for me it resonated as an examination of a recently blowin-up niche; the orchestral indie scene. arcade fire, sufjan, polyphonic spree, st. vincent, all of which i kind of love but all of which have that very tangential, Brian Wilson, relationship to the blues or the soul of american pop. and since i have noticed this as a funny movement in pop SFJ struck a chord, pun intended. on a cross thread comment, MIAs new one has really grown on me, thats some hot shit. i even dig the clash sample now.
8 comments:
i like this song/vid. i like those other bands a lot. did barnes get naked? apparently when they play 'the past is a grotesque animal' he does that but they did neither when i saw them in march.
Barnes got damn near close to naked. He was wearing these really low cut tight pants and nothing else at one point, but he had several costume changes. Highlights from their set included Rapture Rapes the Muses, Gronlandic Edit, and Suffer for Fashion.
White Denim was actually the highlight of the day, and their 50 minute set outshined even Of Montreal. They're my new favorite band. I would describe their sound as frenetic soul-punk, in the vein of the White Stripes but more hyperactive. I will see them as many times as I possibly can, and I suggest y'all do the same. They're from Austin but they tour nationally.
Busdriver was decent. It reinforced my ambivalence about extremely verbose and technique-oriented MCs. A few of his beats were awful, too.
A couple bands worth checking out: Small Sins (Cake-ish minimalist quirk-pop out of Canada) and MGMT (Brooklyn guitar soul-rock). MGMT actually introduced themselves as "a buzz band from New York." The first song of their very short set BLEW MY MIND.
Incidentally, Sasha Frere-Jones is a tool, and also wrong.
Report about today's shows to follow! I'm off to roll joints.
just finished that sasha frere-jones articles. his logic doesn't really pan out. especially when he talks about devendra being a fan of r kelly instead of imitating his style - and how this somehow has to do with the democratization of music... it just doesn't make any sense to me.
so jealous about of montreal.
Today was:
Don Caballero (proggy 3 piece), Clap! Clap! (as LAME as their name is derivative), Riverboat Gamblers (metal-tinged punk rawk from Austin), and
Ted Leo
Battles
Cat Power
Battles was the absolute highlight and probably the best show all weekend, exceeding my expectations. Saunier is a beast on the drums, and they earned every blip and bloop. Ted Leo was listenable and super energetic. Cat Power was low-key and soulful, the perfect end to an EXHAUSTING weekend.
I'm gonna watch In the Soup and then pass out.
I guess I went too far in calling Frere-Jones a tool. He's a good writer, but still wrong.
i would take severe umbrage with reffering to SFJ as a 'tool'. thankfully this rash comment has been retracted. furthermore i think that despite obvious exceptions a lot of his article holds water. and the style in which he posits this is in the necessarily broad field of emerging pop theory. i have had countless conversations that amount to the paralyzing awareness of white cultural paucity (haven't we all) why not extend this to our more popular white contemporaries, doubtless similarly afflicted. and where do you draw the line in adopting funkiness. what's OK? progressive? as for devendra i think that frere-jones is just pointing out someone playing it real safe. or is devendra funkier than he is given credit? i dunno. i think for arcade fire and grizzly bear his assessment holds up.
Well, R Kelly is legitimately awesome. Real talk.
SFJ's thesis is open to numerous counterexamples. White Stripes, Black Keys, and White Denim are three bands, popular, less-popular, and up-and-coming, respectively, that rock out soulfully as shit. That's just restricting the pool of possible counterexamples to bands with colors in their name. And that's why SFJ is wrong.
The response: well, he was making a generalization, and those bands are "exceptions that prove the rule."
To this I say: OK, but I'm sure we could sit here and rattle off counterexamples all night (but let's not).
On a related note, one thing I noticed about some bands at the fest, most noticeably Clap! Clap!...some bands try WAY TOO HARD to get everyone amped and dancing, simply by being amped and dancing themselves.
The fact that you've got 9 dudes on stage all freaking out isn't going to make me dance or have fun. You gotta earn that shit by playing good songs. Its pathetic to see a band like Clap! Clap! freaking out onstage when the songs are so forgettable. It just seems rehearsed and artificial at that point.
Vlad: White cultural paucity? Don't sell yourself short, honky.
i guess for me it resonated as an examination of a recently blowin-up niche; the orchestral indie scene. arcade fire, sufjan, polyphonic spree, st. vincent, all of which i kind of love but all of which have that very tangential, Brian Wilson, relationship to the blues or the soul of american pop. and since i have noticed this as a funny movement in pop SFJ struck a chord, pun intended. on a cross thread comment, MIAs new one has really grown on me, thats some hot shit. i even dig the clash sample now.
Yes, that Brian-Wilson-as-crucial-touchstone point is totally legit.
I think the next crucial touchstone will be Prince.
And I agree, the new MIA is really solid. Better, dare I say, than her debut?
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