You should...
Go back and listen to The Glow Part 2 by The Microphones. I think Phil Evrum is really coming from the right place, and the lyrics on The Moon are fucking incredible.
As cynical as I am, I still love this record. It's been on my mind a lot lately; it seemed like the indie music scene was going somewhere really different from where it is. This, 1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad, Aeroplane Over the Sea, and eventually Thought for Food and Sung Tongs among other records of the time were getting more and more ambitious and had really unique production.
Now when I see a "big" or ambitious indie record, it's something like Arcade Fire. I guess Ys is still of this tradition, but its not homemade like the records from the late 90s and early 2000s were. Maybe I'm just really out of the loop and have missed something. Zuh.
HEY WHA HAPPENED!?
As cynical as I am, I still love this record. It's been on my mind a lot lately; it seemed like the indie music scene was going somewhere really different from where it is. This, 1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad, Aeroplane Over the Sea, and eventually Thought for Food and Sung Tongs among other records of the time were getting more and more ambitious and had really unique production.
Now when I see a "big" or ambitious indie record, it's something like Arcade Fire. I guess Ys is still of this tradition, but its not homemade like the records from the late 90s and early 2000s were. Maybe I'm just really out of the loop and have missed something. Zuh.
HEY WHA HAPPENED!?
posted by Grant at
3:40 PM
1 Comments:
I think something happened around 2001-2004 that has corrupted the soul of America. It's just a feeling, so pinpointing the watershed moment would be difficult. However, musically, I feel that this moment is readily apparent.
A parallel could be drawn between the current state of indie music and the white music of the late '60s and '70s: the decline of the well-crafted pop album and a turn towards the creation of a 'musical concept/magnum opus.' For example, the Beatles never consciously attempted to produce a big expansive record until they brought in Phil Spector. Witness also the Stones with Exile on Main St., and Dylan with Blood on the Tracks (not to mention less artistic bands, like Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull). Music, albums especially, became a sort of spectacle, which ultimately led to the self-conscious embrace of this spectacle: Bowie, Lou Reed, Roxy Music, and T. Rex.
The establishment of the album as a musical event, rather than a mere collection of songs, seems to coincide with the increased profitability of the album, and the demise of the quickly recorded single, or albums recorded in one or two sessions.
Likewise, indie music's rise in popularity,profitability, and recognition in the mainstream began in late 2003: O.C. premieres, August 5th. Garden State premieres: July 2004. Modest Mouse goes platinum with Good News for People Who Love Bad News, April 2004, etc. The Gilmore Girls. The Shins, Modest Mouse, Flaming Lips music is used in car commercials 2003-present. This is not a trend that suddenly appeared out of the ether, but I would argue that this is the age at which it became properly ripe. Suddenly there was no obvious paradox in someone liking Modest Mouse, The Shins, Bright Eyes, Something Corporate, and Sum 41.
I doubt that the coincident rise in indie's music's popularity and the decline of the unselfconscious album is happenstance. Bands like Arcade Fire and Joanna Newsom set out to make a "big" 2nd record, which undermines whatever personal charms their debuts had. When Phil Evrum whispers or Jeff Mangum screams, the album not only functions as "BIG" but also as personal. There seems to be nothing self-conscious about the way either The Microphones or Neutral Milk Hotel sing to you. Albums like Ys don't work because, although it works as a large, ambitious album, it lacks any sort of personal expression.*
I think that perhaps both you and I would agree that the indie music scene has suffered a lot from the increase in popularity. Ultimately, there's far fewer bands out there that you can come to ten years later and still love as much as you did when you first excitedly sought them out, listened to their album for days on end, and found yourself cursing fate that you were/are incapable of expressing something so immediately true.
Anyways, lot of type wasted on a ramble. I think that there inevitably comes a time when music like we love will come back. Grunge and Nirvana couldn't kill off indie music; neither will Zach Braff.
*By the way, Joanna Newsom is dating ANDY SAMBERG ?!!??
By
stephen h., At
March 3, 2008 9:14 PM
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