I'm glad to The Sound took time out to demonstrate his sense of humor [India Arie] and his desire to be like everybody else [Arthur Russell - the preeminent credibility drop since his 2004 retrospectives]. Arthur Russell is another one of those white guys (from Iowa, by way of San Francisco) who is somehow semi-branded as black. Journalists usually throw in little descriptors like 'downtown art scene' [via Basquiat], 'afro-beat', and never mentioning he's from Iowa. Retro-hype kept building until that shitty movie about Arthur Russell's imagined life, starring Jamie Foxx.
Joanna Newsom is like this, too. Remember when she was supposed to be 'all freaky'/not-some-average-white-chick b/c she played the harp and sang in that silly affected voice? But here she is rockin a Chanel bag (same one that Cam Diaz and Emma Stone have)
Here she is at a hockey game, again with the frat bro from SNL.
John Cage also falls into this category, although for more subtle reasons. Interestingly, the frontman of Love (also named Arthur) usually isn't billed as a black person, except possibly when trying to draw comparisons to Arthur Russell's alleged blackness. Hipster credibility dynamics are very confusing...
Anyway, hope we can leave our friendly feud at that. I'll drop the Carles appropriations [riding copycat waves], although some terms (like Overgrounders) are public domain since there's not a word that better describes that concept. I just hope we don't have an 'angry' contributor (I don't know how such a nice guy like Drew can have so many angry-bro friends)
Now, some random thoughts.
Who likes the Walkmen? Are the only people who buy Walkmen albums coffee shop owners who want to drive out their loitering patrons? I had my afternoon ruined today by the Walkmen discography being on shuffle in a cafe. Annoying voice, undistinguished guitars, shrill trebly sound, for hours. I don't care if that guy has deep lyrics. Publish your poetry, spare us any more recordings. Are the Walkmen the american Muse?
File under: 'I'd Rather Be Dead'
(These are two different bands)
Something I have been feeling recently, is this video from Matrix Metals.
I think everyone should embrace the fact that 'chillwave' is the tip of the iceberg (no pun intended), and we're headed, I believe, into at least a decade-long shift towards this aesthetic. I'm personally excited about a return to synthy futurism in music/culture, the vibe of the 80s overground, when everything was slightly dark and full of possibilities. Ironically, this will entail a few more years of 'rehashing the 80s', asking questions like "wasn't Family Ties actually an awesome show?", throwing Yacht-rock theme parties, etc. before we break new ground.
I'm thinking about changing the format of my posts soon. Be on the look out. Don't forget to pick up the goodie below, as a sort of cure for the 'Walkmen blues'.
No comments:
Post a Comment