Scratched somewhere else; skipping here
The mp3 and music blog world is growing. No news there, but it's been interesting to read in a couple of blogs that there's some growing resentment and snobbery against "indie yuppies" and "newbie hipsters". This isn't new, either. One of the annoying things about the indie scene has always been the ridiculous self-obsession, trying to figure out what and who is cool or isn't, and ditching a band as soon as they're perceived to be too mainstream.
Again, this isn't news. It's happened for a long time, so long that I can even remember when I first was annoyed by it (Nirvana). But what is new is it's happening so much faster now. Artists like the Arcade Fire and M.I.A. get all of their hype through mp3s and blogs and are old news by the time their album comes out.
So what's a music lover to do? That answer is easy and perfectly answered in Pitchfork's brilliant review of the new O.C. mix:
Accelerate the inevitable: Embrace your lack of the unique, stop liking bands for their scarcity, enjoy the full spectrum of music, not just the portions with credibility directed prefixes.Being a sincere lover of music means that, somewhere along the line, you realize that where and when you hear music isn't nearly as important as, flat-out, just whether you like it or not. I'll use my poverty-line amount of indie cred solely to remind myself that all I've ever looked for is songs that I want to rewind over and over, whether they're hugely mainstream or a friend's band. I sometimes feel a little self-conscious over putting up mp3s of The Decemberists or LCD Soundsystem because they've already been hyped for so long in so many other places, but ultimately, I don't care. I heard them one day, liked them, posted them. It's no different than, say, delivering an opinion that tons of other people have already stated.
Ultimately, I think that the hype-to-backlash trip will start getting so quick that the two will just mesh together and cease to be separate, going the way of the stigma against bands putting their songs in commercials. We just won't care anymore. Can't wait.
8 comments:
I know exactly what you mean. I tried starting a band last week, but before we even had our first practice we were criticized for becoming mainstream, and had to disband.
uhhhhh, reid?
what is this "re-wind" that you speak of? Do you mean "hit the 'previous' button"?
Is there some wacky new format that I don't know about? One that involves tape wound around a spool? That's the stuff of science fiction.
I wish you'd quit making stuff up.
Commercials get all the best songs these days!
Although I can't slag critics too much , since they guide me to well over half of my music ... acquisitions, the backlash against the hyped NYC neo-new wave (or nieux wave, as I saw once; distinguishable only in print) bands of the 'oughties has been particularly harsh. !!!'s fall from grace (though the Out Hud project seems to have given at least some of them new cred) came between their single and album, almost as fast as Scott's imaginary band.
Reid, despite being annoyed by it, you often apologize for liking nifty songs that have been ditched by the taste-makers. One example is that Killers song on your 2004 best-of, which might have been the only good song on Bat Out Of Hell. And speaking of fantastic poperas, howabout that Belle & Sebastian?
How do you think the anti-rockist snobs fit into this whole thing?
I'm glad you like those songs, Michael. Those are my two of my most-played songs of last year.
It's true...I do feel a little guilty about what I listen to sometimes. I'm usually a little late to the boat on things, but it doesn't mean that I like the stuff any less. But hell, I feel guilty about pretty much everything.
I'm not even cool enough to know who the "anti-rockist snobs" are.
wow.
I wasn't aware that !!! had even risen to grace. I once saw them open for some old band or other. I thought they were totally a gimmick, like Cex. Oddly enough, though, I noticed that Mr. Cex has just released a new album. His third, I think.
And we all know how much of a gimmick Wesley Willis was, but that dood had like 14 albums to his credit.
I'm not sure what my point is.
Um...I wouldn't really call Wesley Willis a gimmick. I always thought that it was a little sad...a schizophrenic homeless guy that's more or less being laughed at for being crazy. That's not to say that the evil part of me didn't laugh at the lyrics, but the good part of me thought the appeal of him was pretty distasteful.
d-l: "Me and Giuliani Down By the Schoolyard" #16 single in Pazz n Jop, w/45 voters, and this poll gets fewer participants than albums. Louden Up Now #95, w/13 voters. (course, maybe you could argue that the album did indeed suck vs. the single, but i've seen at least three writers distance themselves from the full-length.) Eight white guys in a band playing dance music, a gimmick?!
R: Late to the boat! I've always looked to you to learn what was hot...until this mp3 blog revolution, that is.
No way I'm gonna be able to spell it, but Kalefah Sannah*, I think, is one of the pop-ist ringleaders.
*Get mixed up with an African historian, seriously, so possibly not right.
My guess is that the anti-rockist snobs are busy getting ready to start hatin' on Annie, who is on the verge of finally putting out her record in this country, and is therefore imminently expected to graduate from her stature as the blogosphere's worst/best kept secret to the pages of Entertainment Weekly. Incidentally and unrelated, that LCD Soundsystem record is the only thing of that ilk to have really gotten through to me. I'd dl-ed (not dave lee-d) Beat Connection ages ago and it did nothing for me...but then Reid (essentially) played me "Great Release" and I was hooked.
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