am I still supposed to like Art Brut ?! (pseudo Art Brut vs Satan review)

I remember back in 2005 when Art Brut’s Bang Bang Rock & Roll was Pitchforked/Best New Music’d with reviewer Rob Mitchum writing that:

“When you start to measure the amount of music you listen to in gigabytes and jumbo-size Case Logics, it’s easy to forget the awesome power of the simple declarative statement… That it’s difficult for me to find a recent point of reference for Art Brut is a testament to just how self-serious indie rock has become… Art Brut, through their thoroughly unpretentious embrace of pretentiousness, are the most punk new band I’ve heard in years, punk having lost itself long ago to the pretentiousness of unpretentiousness.”

I read the review and thought “wow, maybe I should check that out, it sounds novel.” And indeed it was just that, novel.

I mean I probably listened to that album at least 10 times, which isn’t bad (I usually only listen to my favorite albums more than 10 times).  But realistically, the Art Brut album was more of a novelty than a necessity.  And I probably should have known this going into Bang Bang Rock & Roll.  I mean Pitchfork compared them to The Ramones, and I hate The Ramones.

But alas, Bang Bang Rock & Roll was really “down to earth” and “raw,” and it’s not so difficult to see the initial allure.  The singer, Eddie Argos, was just a British indie-rock bro who got excited about naked girls and starting a band – kind of like you and I probably would.  Although in 2009, with so many indie-bands over the last 3 years almost having too much fun (see Los Campesinos! & the entire electro movement), Bang Bang Rock & Roll would, perhaps, barely have garnered a second of attention.

I think the name itself, Art Brut, says a lot.  Although admittedly, I may be misinterpreting the meaning.  Basically, Art Brut is art-slang for “outside art” – and to me this says that Art Brut being is an “outside music” band; basically a band that’s not quite music, but earns a moment of musical history merit based on it’s originality.  I have to say though – and this is probably just be the Trekkie in my me speaking – that if I’m going to listen to talk-rock, I’m probably more inclined to flip back to William Shatner’s Has Been (which, by the way, predates Bang Bang Rock & Roll).

In 2007 Art Brut released their sophomore LP, It’s A Bit Complicated.  I never listened to it.  And that choice wasn’t due to a bad review, it was based purely on the fact that I had no desire to listen to another Art Brut record.  Which is kind of similar to me having the new Decemberists’ album, The Hazards of Love, for several weeks now without pushing play even once.

I’m listening to the new Art Brut LP, Art Brut vs Satan, right now, and it’s just not doing it for me.  It sounds exactly like the first LP, but it’s less interesting, less tight, and less novel.  It doesn’t necessarily sound awful or painful, it’s more or less just OK I guess… but my desire to hear Art Brut definitely died 4 years ago.

However, Art Brut continues to get indie-mag ink (I haven’t read any of the articles though) and I have to wonder, “is Art Brut really a band worth following?” and “does Art Brut really deserve our attention based on past indie-cred?”

I’m inclined to say that Art Brut isn’t worth covering anymore, but then again here I am writing about them (likely for the first and last time).

I doubt I’ll play Art Brut vs Satan again… I’ll probably never listen to It’s A Bit Complicated… but eventually I might spin Bang Bang Rock & Roll and reminisce about the 2 weeks during the winter of 2005 that I rocked out with Art Brut.

At the end of Mitchum’s ’05 review he hopes that Art Brut has at least “got enough in their tank for another album or two.”  Now that they’ve released 3 albums, I would like to ask Mitchum if I’m still supposed to like Art Brut?

is Lo-Fi Indie Noise Rock the Soundtrack to this Depression?!

America, and the rest of the world, is in the midst of one of the most significant economic recessions of modern times, and I believe the hard times, unemployment, uncertainty, anger, and frustration that is plaguing average citizens of the world, is going to result in a continued growth of lo-fi indie noise rock.  Much like early punk rock represented an anti-establishment DIY aesthetic, lo-fi indie noise rock has the potential to define a currently frustrated indie-youth subculture.

The timing seems perfect, the metaphorical electro bubble, while not necessarily burst, has certainly been deflating.  The vast quantities of DIY electro acts and music blogs to emerge between the release of Justice’s Cross (2007) and Cut Copy’s In Ghost Colors (2008) is impressive, but while a lot of enjoyable dance/party music has came out of the recent electro wave, it has gotten to the point where enough is enough, and a lot of music critics and music fans have found themselves SCREAMING FOR SOMETHING MORE ABRASIVE.

I know I’m not alone in this feeling.  Two easy examples of music publications who clearly share this attitude are Pitchfork Media, and Gorilla vs Bear.  Neither will dismiss great indie-pop/indie-electro/indie-disco (for the most part), but both have been pushing less accessible noise rock over the last 12 months.

Similar to how indie-pop (see Postal Service, The Shins, Death Cab for Cutie, The Decemberists, Super Furry Animals, Stars, The Pipettes, etc.) started loosing its dominance post-2005, electro/disco is starting to become a little less market dominant now (although for me dark-disco – ie. Glass Candy/Chromatics – still feels appropriate).

The bands that I currently have picked out for the “soundtrack to this depression” include No Age, Titus Andronicus, Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, Wavves, and Times New Viking.  These bands are not necessarily my personal favorites – although I love the Wavvves LP (2009) –  but I believe they constitute a genre, a time, and a place in music that we’ll be able to look back at, and say “oh yah, I listened to indie-noise-rock when my Bachelor’s Degree couldn’t even get me a job as a burista, and I couldn’t fucking handle listening to another indie-pop/electro-bloghouse hit on the fucking Hype Machine.”

While the aforementioned noise-rock bands are the type of music that I’m really looking at here, I feel it would be selling this era of music short if I were not to mention indie-popular music from other genres that possess some of the lo-fi, harder to digest, less accessible aesthetics of noise-rock.  Just to note, when I say lo-fi I’m referring more to an audio aesthetic than a recording technique.

Lower-fidelity rock acts like The Dutchess and the Duke gained popularity in 2008 (via Pitchfork’s Best New Music, surprise surprise), and indie-metal acts like Harvey Milk received a little more attention from not-so-metal music publications (but I still can’t relate to any metal, and I have a feeling a lot of indie-nerds feel the same).

Recently garage rock bands like The Strange Boys (a LaCinta favorite), The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (early-Sloan meets Exploding Hearts), and Cymbals Eat Guitars (Built To Spill meets early-Modest Mouse) have been received with excellent reviews.

The Black Lips are set to release their grimy new album 200 Million Thousand (2009), and they kicked off the online media frenzy with a series of bad ass stories from the band’s attempted India tour (which is probably being edited for VBS.tv as you read this).

Lo-fi psychedelic bands like Deerhunter, Atlas Sound, and Black Dice have seen increased attention over the last year, and newcomers like Pit Er Pat, Tickley Feather, and Blind Man’s Color have left strong first impressions.” The Pitchfork Twitter account (via Mark Richardson) recently tweeted, “Are my headphones in worse shape than I thought or did the new black dice come up on shuffle?” – and to me at least, that comes across as a huge compliment.

Even electro has had its share of lo-fi makeovers, with groups like Heartsrevotion and Pictureplane making danceable electro a little less accessible, and a little more noisy.

There have also been 8-bit electronic groups like Truckasauras and Dan Deacon taking the stage, and musicians like Nite Jewel have put a layer of dirty makeup over the typically polished electro/disco model.

Given the notable rise in popularity of noisy indie music, rockers like No Age becoming involved in skate culture and starting their own record label, and teenagers like Nathan from Wavves receiving unbelievable initial attention, it seems that – for the moment anyways – my prophecy of lo-fi indie noise rock becoming the soundtrack to this depression may just become reality.

“Got no car. Got no money.  I got nothing nothing nothing not at all.  Got no bike. Got no girlfriend. Got no time. Got no money. Got no friends. Got no family.” – Wavves

Just you watch, day by day you are going to become more attracted to feedback, and distortion, and emotions other than “let’s dance!”  Times New Viking may sound like a hell-of-a-racket at first, but before long you’re going to be gritting your teeth, and banging your head, while you embrace the noisy racket.  It only makes sense, because you’re probably going to be unemployed, in debt, pissed off, and totally lost any day now.

Here’s some link to MP3’s so you can start building your soundtrack to the depression (if you haven’t started already).  Go ahead, a change in musical pace might be just what you need, and I mean what else are you going to do? Listen to MSTRKRFT’s abomination of a new electro album?!

No Age “My Life’s Alright Without You”

Link To MP3

Titus Andronicus “No Future”

Link to MP3

Titus Andromicus “Arms Against Atrophy”

Link to MP3

Vivian Girls “Second Date”

Link to MP3

Vivian Girls “Where Do You Run To?”

& “Surfing Away (live)”

Link to MP3’s

Dum Dum Girls “Catholicked” ❤

Link to Mp3

Wavves “So Bored” *& “Weed Demon” ❤

Link to MP3’s

Times New Viking “Drop-Out” ❤

& Titus Andronicus “My Time Outside the Womb”

& No Age “Eraser”

Link to MP3’s

If you can think of any other bands I should include in my lo-fi-indie-noise-rock grouping, or have any other thoughts that may be of interest, please leave a comment on the article.  I’m really hoping LaCinta’s readers take more to discussing matters with one another via commenting on the site.

“WORLDWIDE PITCHFORK BOYCOUT” nerd-yells Colin Meloy

The Pitchforker’s got all twitterpated upon discovering Twitter recently, and today they released a half-assed Guide To Musicians on Twitter.

Gossip time:

In this guide the Pitchforker’s stated, in regards to Colin Meloy’s Twitter account:

“Worth Following? Tough for us to not read each post in Meloy’s super-nerd singing voice. A deal breaker.”

Don’t you imagine most of the Pitchforker’s voices to be pretty super-nerdy too?

And THEN, Colin Meloy Tweeted these words:

“ouch! is there some sort of memo going out to the spotty interns at pitchfork to snark my band?  We used to be such BFFs!”

AND THEN, Colin Meloy Tweeted these words:

“WORLDWIDE PITCHFORK BOYCOUT”

Them be fighting words!

While HRO worries about the Electro-Wars, I’m going to start training for the Indie-Nerd Wars.

Since it’s going to be really hard to differentiate who is on who’s side, I think everyone on The Decemberists side should dress like mariner’s/mariner’s hookers (circa Picaresque), and everyone on the Pitchforker’s side should dress like that really dorky and awkward guy that interviews bands on Pitchfork.tv (see the Jamie Liddel or Jay Reatard interviews)

I’ll be back in the next 1 to 24 hours with a follow up post about some of the musicians/bloggers/etc. that I follow on Twitter, because Pitchfork’s list was, as I mentioned, a little half-assed.

PS: Follow Me Here