It’s interesting how in time I’ve stopped thinking of this sort of sound as “lo-fi”. Lots of local bands have figured out how to get a decent sound without the best equipment or recording knowledge, and at least this point it’s not worse to me, just different.
These guys, Olde Pine, are pretty cool. It’s sorta derivative - the instrumental break at a minute in is particularly similar to an Algernon Cadwallader song - but I really like the main guitar riff, as well as the way the song shifts to a strummier feel towards the end. And, honestly, the guitar/drums duo continues to have a soft spot in my heart, especially when there’s vocals to fill up some space.
Plus really there’s never a bad time for upbeat twinkly emo music.
(Worchester, MA)
How Not To Enjoy Music
- Judge new music as quickly as possible
- Feel like your musical taste is better than anybody else’s musical taste
- Make assumptions based on genre
- Listen to a narrow range of music
- Think of some music you like as a “Guilty Pleasure”
- Surround yourself with people who won’t question your taste
- Listen to a band once, make an opinion, and then assume that opinion is correct forever
Standing Out
How can one band be creative, unique, groundbreaking, etc, while thousands of others sound identical to each other?
Sometimes there’s a big “gimmick” that makes it obvious. Man Man uses burlesque influences and it clearly distinguishes them from the rest of the pack. Mariachi El Bronx is an even more extreme example.
That is misleading for young bands, though, because it’s not about the big idea. There is no “eureka” moment. The nature of creativity is such that great musicians are always making the best and most interesting choices that they can.
An average musician might wait until the whole song is written before trying to “spice it up” - whereas the great musician puts his entire self into deciding what the second note of the riff will be. Maybe the basic blues guitar patterns offer up hundreds of riffs that will definitely work, but the great musician finds the one that is truly right for the song.
This happens at every stage of the process. The drummer could play the obvious beat, but he struggles until he figures out the one that’s just right. The band picks the producer they want, rather than the one offered by the label.
Obviously this isn’t “the secret” - it’s risky and dangerous and scary. But it’s the only way I can make sense of how great bands like Modest Mouse or Cymbals Eat Guitars so clearly stand out from the pack, despite dozens of new indie rock albums coming out each week.
It’s about micro-creativity, and with this mindset you can start to get deeper into the great music of today.
Tonight’s radio show will be all about this concept - and it goes live in a few minutes.
MEGASHRUB - Shrubstep (Live in studio)
You have to listen to more music.
People are able to make strong connections through music. Whenever I hear someone say “I don’t like rap” or “metal just doesn’t appeal to me”, etc, it’s like saying “I don’t want to connect with those people, the people who like the music that I don’t like.”
We all crave those connections with other people. Why, then, do we cut ourselves off by dismissing entire genres? Are we really that limited in our preference of aesthetic in music?
No - it stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of music. Our supposed entitlement to strict musical taste is used as an excuse to isolate ourselves. It makes us less curious about what’s going on around us.
We do it because it’s easy. It’s much easier to reaffirm our own beliefs than it is to open ourselves to something new, and in turn to allow ourselves to be changed.
While we’re talking about sloppy music… The Microphones are a band that you will not understand if you try to think before you listen. The rhythm is loose and the mix is weird, it’s lo-fi in a way that isn’t hip and everything is wrong.
It deconstructs everything you think is “required” for good art. We’ve all got the mental checklist that we go through - certain genres we don’t like, the tone that instruments should or shouldn’t have, what sorts of vocals are legitimate - and it’s not until after we clear through that list that we actually listen to what’s going on.
Throw away the checklist.
Playing weird music on the radio
Live now - today’s theme is sloppiness, gonna be spinning weird un-school music for the next 1.75 hours.
TUNE THE FUCK IN. http://thebirn.com
Good Sloppy Music: Braid, Guided By Voices, The Microphones
How do some bands hang on to that unpolished sloppy vibe? It seems like one of the most basic requirements to be a “good” band is to be tight. Play your notes together. Stay in time.
Yet, Braid aren’t tight. They are, but not like James Brown was tight. It’s something different, some sort of more primal musicianship that shines through. I think a lot of it falls onto the steady tempo - lots of shitty bands are sloppy, but then some great ones manage to be sloppy and still stay perfectly together at one consistent tempo.
Alternately, the tempo can waver a bit - that supposed “life” in the music that a click track could ruin, the ability to push the chorus just a bit faster - but it only works if the band is extremely solid otherwise.
Either way, in most cases, it’s got to be subtle. A bit of looseness here or there, not a jumbled mess.
In other words - I suspect that “good sloppy” is a very thin slice of music. It’s usually what happens when a band that never went to music school practices its ass off, works out most of the kinks, but leaves a few in the mix for flavor.
(P.S. - I’ll be focusing on great sloppy music for tonight’s radio show)
TONIGHT @ 10pm EST! We’ll be hosting a listening party for You Blew It’s Grow Up, Dude over at http://turntable.fm/topshelfsquad. Come hang with us and the band!
