Is that a recommendation or a slam? I'm guessin' the latter.

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
Is that a recommendation or a slam? I'm guessin' the latter.

I'm guessing my english really suck.. I was very disapointed when i came home from the record store expecting that it was a extreamly good record. It's not terrible, but cant imagine it will become a classic like 10.0 should imply. Hence i think at least source tags & codes is overrated. have not bothered to check out trial of dead's other records.

quote:

Yeah, I think you may be right. I've been happy to see -- especially since the Internet became so commonplace -- how much interest and attention indie has gained in recent years. It seems to me though, that rather than it just being just an increased number of people looking for different music than what's being offered by majors these days, there are a growing number of people who have taken interest in it primarily for...shallow, flashy purposes. Which for me, seems to go against the whole damn point of indie music in the first place - at least as far as I was initially attracted to it.

The quality and creativity of the sounds used to be the main factor in whether a group of musicians receives a lot of hype, from fans, critics, show attendance, and all that other shit. Not mainly how cute(sy)/quirky/novel the group is, like how it's starting to seem today. It's lame the two have become inseperable, even in independant music and I guess maybe I just had the urge to express that. Apologies if I wewnt and ruffled any feathers in the process.

I would definitely agree with the fact that people are starting to listen to indie for the 'shallow, flashy purposes'. I think it's partially things like the OC and Garden State that have made indie 'cool' in the eyes of these people, and so they then want to be 'cool' as well. However, I've found that the entire knowledge of indie music that these people have is simply what they play on these shows/movies. Then, they can tell people that they listen to indie, and spew off a few band names that 'no one has heard of'. I'm all for people being introduced to indie in whatever way possible, but it all seems very superficial when they're obviously just trying to be the first to listen to the new 'trend', but not really actually caring all that much about the music itself. It's all just an image thing for them.

Case in point: Someone who is 'indie' in the way I just described was looking at my mp3 player, and upon realizing that I had pretty much nothing she'd ever heard of, she went on to say rather loudly: "Wow! You're more indie than I am!"

Ugh.

Sorry for all the quotation marks. Habit.

Broken Social Scene. OMFG. And Deerhoof.

i like this forum topic

for me, it's easy as one two three:

the rapture (why? oh why?)
the arcade fire - i really liked them at first, because i was going through a canadian phase, then i found better songwriting bands with better (read: aesthetically, not technically) production that didn't sound like mud and didn't need to spice up their songs with frequent tempo changes. sorry but i feel strongly about this.

also:
the hold steady
bright eyes
arctic monkeys

quote:

Originally posted by cinelite:
i like this forum topic

for me, it's easy as one two three:

the rapture (why? oh why?)
the arcade fire - i really liked them at first, because i was going through a canadian phase, then i found better songwriting bands with better (read: aesthetically, not technically) production that didn't sound like mud and didn't need to spice up their songs with frequent tempo changes. sorry but i feel strongly about this.

also:
the hold steady
bright eyes
arctic monkeys

I definitely agree with Arcade Fire and The Rapture but please tell me when you find a better lyricist than Conor Oberst. I don't go in for the overly emotive stuff usually but he's jsut a genius.

Super Furry Animals - do not suck. They are an amazingly talented band that can tackle any genre and sound awesome. Even their electronic/glitchy stuff is some of the best out there and that ain't even their bread and butter. By the way, see them live...they have oodles of talent and are still relatively young, considering their massive output. Also, Gruff Rhys is an amazing singer. I'd go almost as far as saying that they are the new Beatles (but not quite).

quote:

Originally posted by thetreesgetwheeledaway:

I definitely agree with Arcade Fire and The Rapture but please tell me when you find a better lyricist than Conor Oberst. I don't go in for the overly emotive stuff usually but he's jsut a genius.

i'm not into the emo twang of oberst, and while he's got a great coterie of musicians (which I feel is his strong suite - i.e. 'fevers and mirrors'), and he himself is an accomplished writer, i just feel it's a little too much hyped-up self-importance. plus, i'm kind of tired of the sad sappy storytelling he subscribes to. sorry for the alliteration...

quote:

Originally posted by thetreesgetwheeledaway:

quote:

Originally posted by cinelite:
i like this forum topic

for me, it's easy as one two three:

the rapture (why? oh why?)
the arcade fire - i really liked them at first, because i was going through a canadian phase, then i found better songwriting bands with better (read: aesthetically, not technically) production that didn't sound like mud and didn't need to spice up their songs with frequent tempo changes. sorry but i feel strongly about this.

also:
the hold steady
bright eyes
arctic monkeys

I definitely agree with Arcade Fire and The Rapture but please tell me when you find a better lyricist than Conor Oberst. I don't go in for the overly emotive stuff usually but he's jsut a genius.

better lyricists? let me think (just off the top of my head)...

david byrne
dave berman (silver jews)
stephen malkmus
bill callahan (smog)
isaac brock
lou barlow
jeff magnum
lou reed
hell, even spencer krug, in my opinion

granted, i know lyrics are very much a personal preference, and i actually do think conor oberst is a great lyricist. but his lyrics are so heart on sleeve that it sometimes sounds insincere. plus, i think the others above leave more room for interpretation, which is, again, probably just a personal preference.

Most overrated:

Animal Collective
Broken Social Scene
The Shins
Guided By Voices

The Shins are overrated? No way, dude.

quote:

Originally posted by ezkcdude:
The Shins are overrated? No way, dude.

Absolutely. Can't find anything in them at all.

quote:

Originally posted by transmogrifier:

quote:

Originally posted by ezkcdude:
The Shins are overrated? No way, dude.

Absolutely. Can't find anything in them at all.

How about a fresh sound and great lyrics?

dcfan i agree wholeheartedly. it's as if you are me and i am you.

quote:

Originally posted by cinelite:
dcfan i agree wholeheartedly. it's as if you are me and i am you.

haha! we are one.

quote:

better lyricists? let me think (just off the top of my head)...

david byrne
dave berman (silver jews)
stephen malkmus
bill callahan (smog)
isaac brock
lou barlow
jeff magnum
lou reed
hell, even spencer krug, in my opinion

granted, i know lyrics are very much a personal preference, and i actually do think conor oberst is a great lyricist. but his lyrics are so heart on sleeve that it sometimes sounds insincere. plus, i think the others above leave more room for interpretation, which is, again, probably just a personal preference.

I guess it must be very personal because I have almost no interest in what Isaac Brock has to say. I much prefer Conor to everyone on that list. The only better lyricist I can think of is Bob Dylan. Maybe Leonard Cohen. David Byrne's lyrics aren't up for interpretation, they have obvious and preachy messages. But, to each his own, I suppose.

quote:

opb: thetreesgetwheeledaway: David Byrne's lyrics aren't up for interpretation, they have obvious and preachy messages. But, to each his own, I suppose.

What?! Examples please?

Here's what I think of when I think of D.B. lyrics (rough paraphrase):

"psycho killer qu'est que c'est? fa fa fa fa"

"Animals don't help, they're laughing at us they shit on the ground and sleep in the dark. They say animals don't worry- they're livin' on nuts and berries."

"And you may find yourself in a beautiful house with a beautiful wife... you may ask yourself my God, What have I done?"

I have a hard time seeing any preaching in any of that. His delivery makes it sound like he's preaching sometimes, but if you pay attention the 'message' is anything but obvious.

quote:

I guess it must be very personal because I have almost no interest in what Isaac Brock has to say.

It's your loss if you have no interest in Isaac Brock's lyrics. Oberst may have a pretty turn of phrase once in a while, but Brock can build a whole song on some crazy cosmic metaphor and make it fly like none other.

quote:

What?! Examples please?

The examples you gave didn't disprove my point,really. He preaches or he babbles and I'm not sure what's worse.
Here:
This was a Pizza Hut
Now it's all covered with daisies
you got it, you got it

I miss the honky tonks,
Dairy Queens, and 7-Elevens
you got it, you got it

Now, tell me those aren't terrible lyrics.
You may be right about Isaac Brock. I haven't given him much of a chance.

I wasn't arguing over the merits of byrne's lyrics. I was just saying I don't think he's trying to preach in the sense of trying to convince the listener of anything in particular. I think it's actually pretty rare that his lyrics (from the THs era at least) deliver a 'message' like "say no to drugs" or what have you.

quote:

Originally posted by thetreesgetwheeledaway:

quote:

What?! Examples please?

The examples you gave didn't disprove my point,really. He preaches or he babbles and I'm not sure what's worse.
Here:
This was a Pizza Hut
Now it's all covered with daisies
you got it, you got it

I miss the honky tonks,
Dairy Queens, and 7-Elevens
you got it, you got it

Now, tell me those aren't terrible lyrics.
You may be right about Isaac Brock. I haven't given him much of a chance.

Um if those are David Byrne Lyrics, well then I think that must be the worst song he ever wrote. But if we're talking in terms of his work as a whole well I mean songs like Heaven, Life During Wartime, Cities, Once in a Lifetime, Crosseyed and Painless, The Great Curve, The Big Country, Don't Worry About the Government, all of them have ambiguous messages which can be taken seriously or not and IMO work either way. And seriously to call the Talking Heads preachy is a bit goddamn ridiculous in my opinion. And Conor Oberst is sure as shit preachy as well a being self-conciously poetic. Not that I don't like Bright Eyes, I mean look at my name but seriously face the facts, he's no Dylan or Brock or Byrne and in terms of originality in terms of music(which I know where not primarily dealing with) well there's just no comparison beween Bright Eyes and the Talking Heads or Modest Mouse or Bob Dylan or many artists I can think of. The thing that appeals to me about Conor Oberst is that he's very honest in his lyrics and delivery and while he can be overbearing at times(see Fevers and Mirrors, most of the album), at other times he can be genuinely moving IMO( Lifted and I'm Wide Awake it's Mornning). But seriously he's just not that amazing.