TRMW Archives

* FYI, this stuff is old. The current TRMW is here.

October 29, 2004

At this moment I am sitting in my basement office at Berbati’s Pan, listening to Vetiver, and doing everything in my power not to work. Like typing this.

Yesterday, Yancey Strickler, music journo and editor at eMusic, posed (roughly) this question in his blog: “What is it that makes timeless songs timeless?” This is a big question, and I’m not ready to take it on (remember, I’m writing out of laziness) but I do have an anecdote, and a digression:

Yesterday, the same day I read that question on Yancey’s blog, I did some intensive headphone meditation on the second Swell Maps album, A Trip to Marineville, which has just been rereleased by Secretly Canadian. Quoting my own comments, from other people’s blogs, in my blog feels like the ultimate in meta-onanity. But again, LAZY. My comment:

“Midway through there is this medley consisting of three seamless tracks, the last being an epic reprise of the first. The tracks are Full Moon in My Pocket -> BLAM!! -> Full Moon in My Pocket (Reprise). I can’t put this feeling into sentences (although I guess I’ll have to try for the final review). So I made a chart (a map?). Here it is:

blam!!

It’s something to do with willful absurdity and joy in the face of existential dread, boredom, and heartbreak. Midway through Full Moon, Jowe Head (the singer) sneezes and extends the sneeze into a long drawn out, almost sung tone. Then he starts babbling gibberish like a crazy man. This is divine playfulness.” – Matt Wright, Yesterday, Nowhere

That last link is a reference to “In Defiance of Gravity” a wonderful essay by Tom Robbins which appeared in Harper’s a couple months back (sadly the only thing I could find online was that excerpt). Basically, Robbins in proclaiming the merits of ridiculous behavior during tough times. This is a concept that I just love. I think this is my mantra. This is why, on Hollywood Boulevard two weeks ago, the stars I seek out are these:

1. Kermit the Frog
2. The BeeGees
3. Olivia Newton-John

This is why I love bands like the Beatles, the Kinks, B-52s, Devo, XTC, Beefheart, Zappa, Os Mutantes, T.Rex, the Pixies, Ween, Beck, Deerhoof, Brainiac, and Juicy Panic.

This is why, this Saturday, I will be DJing with my friend Steve, under the name CUM LAZER!!!, dressed up like a giant pink whoopie cushion (fig. 1).

whoopie cushion costume

figure 1

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October 11, 2004

If ignorance is bliss, Soulseek is outright agony. Lately I’ve been picking through some of the more immaculate collections to be found on said service, obsessively queuing in pursuit of obscure British post-punk bands like Desperate Bycycles, Rip Rig & Panic, Flying Lizards, Au Pairs, Orange Juice, Bush Tetras. I’ve also done a little reading, and waayyyyyyyyyy too much Allmusicing. It’s fascinating music, and twenty five years after the fact (most of this stuff came out 1979-81) much of it sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard. But in some cases it sounds distinctly like something I have heard, recently, and this brings me to the “agony” part.

The more I dig into this period, the more I understand what these bands were trying to accomplish with this weird music, the more I want to hate this “new” retro post-punk movement, as typified by bands like the Rapture, Interpol, the Futureheads. Because what made this music so vital in the first place, and makes it stand today, is that each of these bands committed themselves to tearing down the musical status quo, rejected the past, and attempted to create NEW SOUNDS. Cherry picking through history, finding a fantastic post-punk band, and simply updating it for the “indie” demographic (FUTUREHEADS : XTC, INTERPOL : JOY DIVISION (but you already know this), FRANZ FERDINAND : ORANGE JUICE + XTC) is the antithesis of this approach. Yet still this movement continues to be marketed as “post punk” and continues to attract young, capable musicians.

What’s worse, the press is absolutely eating this shit up. The Futureheads album has an 83 rating on Metacritic, which, according to the site, indicates “universal acclaim.” For example:

The group’s edgy, fast-paced New Wave 2K brand of rock recalls the sharp, nerdy delivery of XTC, the impassioned focus of the Jam and ping-ponging hooks reminiscent of the Vapors. – ShakingThrough.net

Right. “New Wave 2k”. Three old bands clumped together = critically acclaimed new band. Seems this reviewer, and the rest of the increasingly un-critical rock press, was too busy checking off the boxes marked “old band critics like” to realize this album for what it is: a really good mix tape, circa 1981.

To summarize: WTF?!?! Where are the voices calling out in opposition, demanding NEW SOUNDS, rejecting NOSTALGIA?

Here’s one:

“I don’t try to follow the masters; I try to ask the same questions they asked.” – Robbie Basho

Thanks Robbie. Too bad your dead.

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Blast from the present!