tags
comments: 0I mean, the question was a hot topic; but it's the answer that makes it matter. And (coordinating conjunctions be damned) the answer teaches us that like many things in life, the best things get often left by the wayside while the simple and routine rise to prominence.
I wrote another PHP CMS; this time I suppose I got paid for it. Although I only wrote the backend that drives this site about a year ago, what I wrote for work seems about 10 years removed from it. Customizeable in any way and extensible in many, the whole site can be controlled from a rather minimal backend interface. I intended to go one step further so that even the backend interface would be controlled by itself, but decided against it.
Jeremy and I were going to write a small work of fiction detailing the ridiculous adventures of a group of characters resembling real people as rum runners in rennaisance France. The short two piece was to be entitled "Young Black Millionaires", and the subtitles were going to be "Summer's Prelude" and "Winter's Prelude." I was supposed to start it, but I just couldn't get an idea worth a damn; I can comment all day about the state of how things are, but when it comes to creativity; I'm actually quite devoid of it.
The same thing goes with music; I've been playing guitar for something like 6 years now, and I'm respectably good at it, but I've never written a single song. I've made some phrases that I liked (and of course promptly forgot them), and built a library of good sounding licks that are usually half borrowed and half created, but a song is nowhere in said pantheon.
Since all the major players have been introduced, I guess I can talk about mixing music and politics. Besides this will segue off into all sorts of interesting directions. There is some grand myth being perpetrated right now on both the indie and progressive fronts that a grassroots mixture of these aliens such as the one fabled to have existed 2 decades before my birth is beginning anew in the urban centres of America. I suppose they are trying; I mean, there are people who exist that are in charge of such operations; or at least you can assume this from the name they place on the concert posters.
I went to such a thang in Spanish Harlem this past Friday with Krupnick. I didn't really have any fun at all; but that's really besides the point. The place was cozy, and there was some indie band from Argentina there, and a Cuban guy had a makeshift gallery of some gorgeous black and white photos he had taken from Cuba. The atmosphere was rife for things to happen, and ideas to exchange; and nothing happened. Most everyone was there to relax and drink, activities in which I happily joined them (and would join anyone, really); but as a whole it served to cement in my mind the reality that this trend of progressive politik-backed music shows were really nothing more than music shows.
I first got this suspicion a few months ago, while campaigns were struggling with vigor to get out the youth vote. It didn't help that the headlining band (Q and not U; I was there for shy child) had a loyal following of kids aged 14 to 16; but I felt that, aside from the requisite obscenity laced attacks burning our president in effigy, there was no real political heart to any music we heard there. People were too young; the guys just wanted girlfriends, the girls just wanted to rebel; and I just wanted to kill the idiots that were trying to make a circle pit.
When talking to Shy Child drummer Nate Smith briefly before the show, his mind was all on obtaining a release from life and checking out what music was going on downstairs. It was something an attitude I'd see in Spanish Harlem too; the real attitude 21st century urban art. I don't disagree with it or demean it in any way; in fact I probably fall in line, but with maturity we lose our fiery activism, and while I wouldn't go and say this applies to our culture as a whole, I would definitely propose that the rumors of the cooperation of artists and progressives have been greatly exaggerated.
Since we're on the subject of Shy Child, I must say that I am really dissapointed by how their sound comes across on "One With the Sun." Its glossy plastiche retracts from the gritty, organic sound on their earlier reecordings and cheapens the "real" feeling that comes off of their keytar/drum combo. The way it's mixed, it sounds as though the backbeats were mixed in reason and not played by actual humans, whereas live, you get a sense of feeling and of energy from the drums and somewhat more amazingly the keytar, which Cafarela manages to employ in such a way that actually channels feeling. They have 2 live gigs coming up; on the 1st of December and then again in the middle of the month; I will not miss this for the world. The songs on "One With the Sun" are absolutely fantastic; but they give off an amateur feel on the album.
But Shy Child is off the hook, because at least their songs are terrific. Leed's super quartet The Music won't receive such benifits. Their first album, which was self titled, was 10 tracks of somewhat indiscribable music. 50 some odd minutes of bombastic, Zeppelin-inspired, anthemic, epic, synth-enfused, energetic arena rock. And it was spectacular. Tracks like "Take The Long Road and Walk It", "Getaway", and the epic crescendo of "Too High" (not a drug reference) are high on a list of personal favorites and will stay in my playlist for years to come. The album got a meek review from critics; most of whom were misguided by the hype that quartet would become the next big thing, but many maintained that they had high hopes for the future of a band who was comprised of mostly 19 year olds. But then, out comes "Welcome to the North". Their latest album; it's not so much good; more like, very bad.
"Welcome to the North" is probably my biggest dissapointment as far as music goes since my tastes were too different for comparison. Sappy, overly-drawn out ballads aren't what breaks the album; The Music quite simply sold out their sound for something more accessible. Gone are multiple scathing riffs per song; ingenious hooks, impeccably placed (yet utterly predictable) slowdowns and speedup; but even the lack of these do not kill it. Gone is the synthesizer; and with it, my interest in their next album.
Things that I have been listening to, in an effort to make up for these releases, cross the spectrum of indie music. I've been taking in more of The Wrens recently, and adding into that some classic Neutral Milk Hotel. Finally got around to listening to The Postal Service, who are fantastic, but I must say Junior Boys has them beat across the board, which is saying something as they are both excellent. I gave Mouse on Mars another try, and find their groovy house beats to be quite the delectable morsel. Been taking in more Enon, since I have grown quite fond of their "High Society" album; and listening to as much !!! as possible, as I cannot escape that chunky, funky groove. The Arcade Fire's "Funeral" is genius beyond what my level of writing talent can accurately describe. I'm somewhat done with my Organ/Dance Punk phase, but I still listen to The Fever, The Flesh, The Organ and The Faint off and on. To coincide with my love of 80's revival, I've taken quite the liking to the band VHS or Beta, from which I so blatantly purloined for the title of this blogpost. If anyone wants to join me for a post-turkey day bash, I will be attempting to check out The Flesh at a show at Discotheque around 11:00 PM.