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Ok,
this is going to be the first real entry I've made in this blog that's from MY point of view, nothing to do with my characters so here it goes:
Attention music industry! Stop producing crap!
Let me break my sentence down for you. I'm 21 years old, and, while that is young, I've been privilaged to listen to a lot of music in my short existance. I was raised on classic rock like the Beetles by my father, and soft-rock like Genisis and James Taylor by my mom.
From there I branched into whatever my friends were listening to like, B*Witched in the 90's along with N*sync (what the hell is with the asterixes in names?) and eventualy developped a taste of pop-country and country rock like Nickelback, Hinder and Theory of a Deadman.
Until I started reading Questionable Content. The guy that writes this, Jeph Jacques, is an upstanding guy, for sure. I've never met him, sadly, but I feel as if he is a nice guy who is friendly and is smart. Anyways, his drawing and writing as well as reviews of bands both with by his characters and by the man himself, inspired me to expand my horizons.
Thus I found the "indie culture". Now, I love this Indie Culture for one reason only: I can be whatever I want, and still fit in with the other people, because they, like me, are doing what the feel is right for them with their personal belief system and convictions.
But not only this, but also because it introdcued me to bands I would have elsewise never known were in existance. So, here are my reccomendations, based on personal preference.
Jack Johnson is first. Jack is...an indie folk-rock type guy with interesting guitar riffs and some absolutely excellent base lines. His song, Sexy Plexi is particularly fun to listen to, and the lyrics are fun as well. A few of his other sings I like are:
"Bubble Toes" which is a song about a girl that paints her, at different times, in a positive light and a negative one. But also talks about how she infulanced him and caught his attention and love no matter what. That said, I can't decide if it's about a woman he's in love with or a little girl that he is fond of in a fatherly way.
"Banana Pancakes." This song in and of itself is a blast to listen to. It, in my opinion, captures the very essence of real romance. The little things that develop in an "older" more "mature" relationship. Like...with the girl you've been dating/married to for 7 or 8 years. The entire messege is to slow down and to enjoy the time you have together.
The world is busy, yes, but that doesn't mean that, as a human with social needs, you need to constantly be harried by it. The over-all underlying currents in the piece are a heartwarming suggestion that sometimes..all you need to make a perfect weekend with your significant other is a rainy day, a good cup of coffee, a big, snuggly blanket and pancakes. Banana Pancakes at that.
I reccomend his album, Brushfire Fairytales. It's very very good.
Liars "Drums not Dead" This album is a mental workout at best, and a convelouted 72 minute track at worst, depending on who you are. It's almost impossible to memorize track names or times with this album because of how seamlessly they flow together.
This is both good and bad. Good because it sounds just so damn awesome. Bad because it can be tiring to think that you are listening to the same piece over and over. The basic breakdown for this work is the story of two characters; "Drum" a woman represented as strong, overbearing and self assured by the drums, duh...and Mt. HeartAttack. Who is a man, depicted as sort of quiet, not very decisive, but caring and deeply in love with Drum, but not sure how to express it. Sort of like Marten from QC.
The final peace on this album is as damn near close to being a magnum opus as you can get without being Bethoven or Bach. It's called "The Other Side of Mt. HeartAttack." And it details Mt. HeartAttacks final breakdown and confessing of his feelings for Drum in a soft, touching, convincing manner. He tells her that no matter what happens, he'll never leave, and always be there to help her. It was also the basis for this comic, on of my favorites by Jeph. This could be considered one of his best ever, It think.
Modest Mouse is next. These guys have been getting a little more attention with an album that ended up going mainstreem last year called "Good News for People Who Love Bad News." It's an absolutely FANTASTIC record. I can see why it weant mainstream, but that doesn't mean it's not worth checking out. It's one of my favorites in my collection.
Modest Mouse has a very eclectic sound, and one that is polarizing. Either you hate it, your you love it. There are no two was about it. The titular song, Good News for People Who Love Bad News is very well done, but not overly memorable. Which is sad for a titular song. It's almost as big a disappointment that way as the first Hulk movie.
That doesn't mean the song is bad, far from it, it just doesn't have the same...memory-sticking quality as say "Float On" does, or "The Ocean Breathes Salty." Now, granted those are the ones that went mainstream off the record, but Float On has this...endeering quality, it reminds me of a kitten that has pissed on your shoes, but then you realize they were ugly shoes to begin with and it just did you a favor.
Anyways, if you don't mind pink cd's with funky trumpets in it, then I would say it's for you. It's a very summer-sounding record, the kind of thing you'd play at the beack to get good looking, scantily cald women you'll never work up the courage to talk with to look your way. I know.
Arcade Fire: The Arcade fire are an excellent indie band from Montreal, so I'm told. Just down the road from me. It's one of the cities I avoid. It's like Toronto, only not as congested, has more Quebecois, and more strip clubs. Anyways, The Arcade Fire released a waxing philosophical album a little while back called "Neon Bible." Again, an album with a titular song. This time, the titular song, "Neon Bible" is actually quite memorable.
The only fault I have with this song is it is a tad to quiet. Now, I don't have a problem with soft sounding music, on the contrary, I enjoy. What I mean is, when they recorded this, they had the gain so far down, that I have to turn my radio all the way up. Kind of annoying, especially when driving, and I have to turn it all the way down for the next song.
Now, and this is just me, I feel that this album is particularly interesting because of the mindset and culture that it examines: secularism. Secularism is the exact opposite of religious institution. I.E. the direct opposite of Chruch being strip club. And, it's not at all surprising for them to write something of this nature coming from Quebec where this...enitre album is lived out on a daily basis by the population there.
This goes double for the actual song, Neon Bible, it's Christianities view of secularism instead of how most people write: Their view of anything from a secular non-theist standpoint. The chorus and bridge are written thusly:
Oh God! Well I look at you know.
Oh you lost it but you don't know how,
In the light of a golden calf.
Oh God! I had to laugh
Take the poison of your age,
don't like your fingers when you turn the page
What you know is what you know is right
in the city it's the only light
In the Neon Bible, the Neon Bible
Not much chance for survial
if the Neon Bible is true.
Now, what I take from this is the Church (and by that I mean christians, not the Catholic church) is looking at the world around them, and just finding it so worrying and distressing that they can do nothing but laugh. It's past the point of sadness.
The first part of the chorus talks about the poison of the age. It's hard to describe what that could be. I think, realisticaly, it's different for everyone else. For one person, their poison is alchohol. Someone else pornography, for the guy down the road it could be drugs and for the person across the road it's self-inflicted pain.
And then it comes down to the definitive statement, echoed throughout every faith on the planet. And that's that this life...this..existance living with that sort of dibilitating poison means you have no chance for survival. Now, that could be spiritual, or physical or even mental survival. Either way, it's a very touching, and very...thought provoking, dark, and deeply rooted piece.
There's another song of theirs called "Keep the Car Running" which I'll review at some point, but I think I'll leave it at this for now. Anyways, check out QC, check out these songs if you are so inclined. Leave a messege if you have something you think I should listen to. Remember that music is a powerful artform. And when it comes to music, like poetry, you can't be wrong in how the music interperets itself to you.
Good vibes to you
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Posted by mjwb on 2008-07-02 21:01:11 | Rating: | Views: 66
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hi mjwb!
yeah these are great but i bet you can find even lesser known indie artists that would knock your socks off...
keep your eyes on the local music mags from TO and montreal...i'm sure they have online concert listings too and i'm sure that some of them play queens u and kingston in general so you could check some out without the frustration of TO (or the long drive).
cheers!
:)
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Posted by badlydrawnstickman
on 2008-07-02 21:17:31
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True enough man, I was talking to someone yesterday, and her son actually plays in a nationaly touring indie-metal/math-rock band. They are called Life or Death, and apparently are pretty rad. Maybe I'll check them out? Kingston and Queens would be awesome, seeing as I live about 20 minutes from there....good call man.
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Posted by mjwb
on 2008-07-03 13:41:12
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Also, I've been thinking about picking up a Slint album. They are supposed to be fairly good, even if they don't record anymore.
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Posted by mjwb
on 2008-07-03 13:42:43
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^The Beatles
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Posted by mikewk
on 2008-10-01 15:18:02
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