Indie Rock or wot?!?

[hint]

... it does seem like a bit of a compromise for people who were previously rallying against the retro horrors of indie to suddenly get behind a band who are basically like a case study for said retroism (even if they, like the libertines, do it well). i mean, it suggests a certain humility, which is great, and its interesting in a way, yeah, to try and get to the heart of just why people have taken to it so much, but it seems slightly defeatist.

Sure - I agree.

They're the Northern Strokes. "Old" music done very well indeed.

I presume / hope that the appeal here is down to good old-fashioned songwriting and watertight arrangements. Breaking through the common "it's blokes with guitars, so what?" barrier. The production and the "story" often over-ride the notes and the arrangement these days, when it comes to peoples' assessment of a piece of music.

 

[vernoncrane]

finally heard the monkeys via the domino video section.. theyre alright, really...i can undretsand why some might find them a bit dull, but y'know, no duller than that Wiley album or The Ape of Naples by Coil or Degenerate by Vexed...and if i were sixteen and still living ooop north in my grim hometown i suspect I'd be one of those kids to whom they meant everything....surely there must be enough ex-bookish teenagers on this board who still remember the thrill of having someone who talks and thinks like you being out there on your behalf, and getting famous....that must look like a world of possibilty to the average sensitive bedsit teen, 2006 model.

 

[big satan]

is this new sense of 'well theyre not quite that bad are they' reluctant satisfaction with the monkeys because blissblogger said so? cos im surprised hes found such joy in them to begin with. maybe its easier liking something, no matter what it is, rather than continuing to be dissatisfied (no matter how just) with the current pop status quo and therefore feeling like youre missing out/not in tune with the 'mood of a nation' or whatever....

these seems like a bizaare and frankly phoney reason to like a band, like as if enjoying music in this instance was an academic exercise to try and fit in with the majority. why even listen to music? if you find the mainstream dissatisfies you why bother paying attention to it?
i don't understand why so many people constantly bitch about the state of the mainstream on this board, how many chart records per year do you even like? who cares if the charts are full of rubbish? has it suddenly just struck you that this is the case? if you're reading this board at all you are probably well aware that there millions of better ways to find out about good music than relying on mainstream sources, and none of the music you like is probably even popular anyway. ignore the mainstream, you'll be happier for it!

 

[tate]

The new Yeah Yeah Yeahs, released last week, is almost unbearably bad. Imho. The most noticeable thing is how awful her vocals sound - is this what happens when someone so highly touted as a performer actually has to sing on the follow-up album? She's plainly out of tune in places, though not in any kind of effective or emotive way, and she has the annoying habit of pronouncing her r's as if she were from the midwest.

S F/J gave the record a positive review in The New Yorker, but not surprisingly, he said virtually nothing about the music, and focussed instead on the lyrics, history, and live appeal of the band, which I suppose he had to do in order to give further support to a band pretty close to his music world.

I do think that US music journalists' support for bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs says a good deal about how impoverished the world of heavier guitar-based indie is at the moment in the states. (Singer-songwriter stuff is doing okay, Destroyer and Neko Case both recently released strong records, if you like that kind of thing.)

Not that I ever thought that the YYS were much to get excited about in the first place - Y Control was decent and Maps was okay (Ada's version was better), but, um, come on now, the question of 'is this style over substance?' seems to loom large here.

 

[Grievous Angel]

I like the monkeys a lot.

And that song by Orson is fucking great! Bit of pop genius...

 

[mms]

f.surely there must be enough ex-bookish teenagers on this board who still remember the thrill of having someone who talks and thinks like you being out there on your behalf, and getting famous....that must look like a world of possibilty to the average sensitive bedsit teen, 2006 model.

i just remember the thrill of people coming from totally different lives which i completley related to -
stuff like morrisey or whatever i found completley dull, very clever and dry but boring music and slighty laughable, a resignation to a bit of unncessary introspectision and moaning , why bother when you've got prince or hip hop or dancehall stuff , house music etc..., stuff that instead of compounding your life, takes you by the hand and questions it, enriches it and gives you feelings you've not been able to find before, question is where are those jumps now, i can't really find any equivalents.