Listening to Drive Like Jehu's 'Turn It Off', it's scouring, angular rhythms perfectly soundtracking the end of one HELL of a day, it reminds me that there is so much in the music world which helps me, heals me, makes me feel alive that would, in other people's eyes, be switched straight over to something safer like Chris Moyles' inane drivel. Whether that's safe or worthy of a government ban is a debate for another time.
Funnily enough Chris Moyles was briefly referenced earlier today by a young lady when hearing a most amusing song being played on Radio 1. She heard it, imagined it to be Chris Moyles doing his hilarious (read deathly boring) pastiches (read lame re-write) and left it at that. In fact, it was Gorgol Bordello's 'Start Wearing Purple'. How could she dismiss this, admittedly ridiculous sounding, but awfully fun, gypsy punk riot as, well, a shamefully tired DJ ridiculing some far superior talent?
Easy.
It's not aimed at her. So, will people stop going on about how their favourite bands have gone 'commerical'. I fear this to be the crybaby holler about Liars' new self-titled effort (commercial? well, only in the way that The Stooges or the Icarus Line is commercial). There is no chance that your favourite band will appeal to many music listeners outside of your little circle of Pitchfork, Cokemachineglow, Drowned In Sound friends.
People don't want to be challenged or confronted. They want to escape and dance and laugh and shoot rainbows out of their eyes. They don't want to feel like society is being ground underfoot by cogs of death or be shocked into action by yet another ambient (read boring) independent thinker.
Hell, if you're so bothered stop saying Slint's Spiderland is your favourite record (please never say this in my presence....that is bollocks) and start doing some charity work. I mean REAL charity work, where you go build schools and houses and toilets and provide running water for third world countries.
Don't force people into thinking they are inferior for their music tastes - they are just as valid as yours. You just happen to want to explore music's 'outer regions' rather than warm your cockles to the newest Coldplay heart-warmer.
I count myself as someone who likes to hear noise, sonic manipulation and fierce experimentation but sometimes, you know, I'm quite happy to hear something beautiful like Low's 'Breaker' or the gorgeous soul stylings of Jeff Buckley's 'Everybody Here Wants You'.
Really I just want to rant about unreliability of people, their unrealistic expectations and the fact that they can only blame themselves for their mistakes, but I'll save that for a poor unsuspecting friend's ears instead.
Thursday, 5 July 2007
Monday, 2 July 2007
When Did DIY Get Marginalised and Marketed?
1. Rihanna - 'Umbrella'
2. Kate Nash - 'Foundations'
3. Enrique Iglesias - 'Do You Know?'
4. The Enemy - 'Had Enough'
5. Lee Mead - 'Any Dream Will Do'
6. The Hoosiers - 'Worried About Ray'
7. Jack Penate - 'Torn On The Platform'
8. Kelly Rowland ft Eve - 'Like This'
9. Calvin Harris - 'The Girls'
10. Reverend and the Makers - 'Heavyweight Champion Of The World'
What is this you ask? The top ten worst songs this year? The ten artists Brad would most like to exterminate to make a better world?
No, inevitably it's the UK chart top ten. Now, everyone knows the singles charts mean NOTHING anymore. So why the hell have I posted it up here like it's all significant and interesting?
Well, because the NME told me it is. NME.com to be precise. I'm told by those wise people that this is "an exceptional week for the DIY London scene".
Erm.........okay. Kate Nash (villified and lampooned in that extremely worthy effort 'LDN Is A Victim', justifiably) and Jack Penate are from London. That's it. Is THAT an EXCEPTIONAL week for the LONDON DIY SCENE? What the FUCK is the London DIY scene anyway?
They cite The Enemy, Reverend and the Makers and miss out The Hoosiers entirely. Despite the fact the first two acts are two of the worst, most tedious boring acts I've ever heard come out of this country.
This is not exceptional. This is a travesty. To report that there are ANY acts involved in ANY London DIY scene in the chart is bad, bad journalism. This actually makes me furious. On this showing (and I will admit that the NME really does know better) it seems as if these news writers wouldn't know DIY if it painted their entire fucking house. There is a huge amount of bands in London that have trudged across their home city and the rest of the UK playing to anyone and no one, putting on club nights of their own for other bands to play, playing free shows, playing (on rare occasions when promoters are utter cunts) pay to play shows, recording their own demos/EPs/singles and releasing them with money saved from part-time jobs and not eating. There are fanzines promoting these bands, bands that have been playing for YEARS, where mainstream magazines (or elitist, sniffy websites) won't promote them because, well, they weren't fucking looking hard enough.
THIS is DIY. Hell, I'm not gonna come across all high and mighty and list them, because, frankly, I don't try hard enough either. All I know is that Kate Nash and Jack Penate have nothing to do with DDD, Tim Ten Yen, Popular Workshop, Bolt Action Five, Das Wanderlust, Fight Like Apes, Cuckoo's Nest, The Sailplanes, Untitled1961 etc. (yes I know not all of these are London bands, and also know these are all pretty popular - yet THESE bands/artists are more indicitive of a DIY scene than those in the chart).
What would be truly exceptional would be if Popular Workshop's 'William, It Was Really Something' hit the Top Ten in October. Then we could all celebrate.
2. Kate Nash - 'Foundations'
3. Enrique Iglesias - 'Do You Know?'
4. The Enemy - 'Had Enough'
5. Lee Mead - 'Any Dream Will Do'
6. The Hoosiers - 'Worried About Ray'
7. Jack Penate - 'Torn On The Platform'
8. Kelly Rowland ft Eve - 'Like This'
9. Calvin Harris - 'The Girls'
10. Reverend and the Makers - 'Heavyweight Champion Of The World'
What is this you ask? The top ten worst songs this year? The ten artists Brad would most like to exterminate to make a better world?
No, inevitably it's the UK chart top ten. Now, everyone knows the singles charts mean NOTHING anymore. So why the hell have I posted it up here like it's all significant and interesting?
Well, because the NME told me it is. NME.com to be precise. I'm told by those wise people that this is "an exceptional week for the DIY London scene".
Erm.........okay. Kate Nash (villified and lampooned in that extremely worthy effort 'LDN Is A Victim', justifiably) and Jack Penate are from London. That's it. Is THAT an EXCEPTIONAL week for the LONDON DIY SCENE? What the FUCK is the London DIY scene anyway?
They cite The Enemy, Reverend and the Makers and miss out The Hoosiers entirely. Despite the fact the first two acts are two of the worst, most tedious boring acts I've ever heard come out of this country.
This is not exceptional. This is a travesty. To report that there are ANY acts involved in ANY London DIY scene in the chart is bad, bad journalism. This actually makes me furious. On this showing (and I will admit that the NME really does know better) it seems as if these news writers wouldn't know DIY if it painted their entire fucking house. There is a huge amount of bands in London that have trudged across their home city and the rest of the UK playing to anyone and no one, putting on club nights of their own for other bands to play, playing free shows, playing (on rare occasions when promoters are utter cunts) pay to play shows, recording their own demos/EPs/singles and releasing them with money saved from part-time jobs and not eating. There are fanzines promoting these bands, bands that have been playing for YEARS, where mainstream magazines (or elitist, sniffy websites) won't promote them because, well, they weren't fucking looking hard enough.
THIS is DIY. Hell, I'm not gonna come across all high and mighty and list them, because, frankly, I don't try hard enough either. All I know is that Kate Nash and Jack Penate have nothing to do with DDD, Tim Ten Yen, Popular Workshop, Bolt Action Five, Das Wanderlust, Fight Like Apes, Cuckoo's Nest, The Sailplanes, Untitled1961 etc. (yes I know not all of these are London bands, and also know these are all pretty popular - yet THESE bands/artists are more indicitive of a DIY scene than those in the chart).
What would be truly exceptional would be if Popular Workshop's 'William, It Was Really Something' hit the Top Ten in October. Then we could all celebrate.
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