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Post by Xalazi on Mar 15, 2012 18:24:51 GMT -5
What are the words that come to mind when you think of "Rock music"? Loud. Hard. Fast. Guitars. Drums. Bass. Dangerous. Sex. Drugs. Violence. Fun. etc. I don't know about you, but I'm just old enough to remember a time when some flavor of Rock N' Rock was still considered "The devil's music". Basically stuffy parents feared it.
Now, I noticed something particularly interesting about my music listening habbits lately. There isn't a single "Rock band" that debuted past 2008(give or take a year or two) that I like. Sure there are plenty of rock bands that debuted before 2008(give or take a year or two) that are still making great new music. But I've yet to come across a good quality rock band that came out in the last couple of years that I like. Why is that? The list of new artist for late 2011-early 2012 has been specially "weak."
Well I think the reason for is that Rock N' Roll has lost it's balls.
Let me give you an example. This is what a new indie rock band at the verge of a break out year sounded like in 2003:
This is what a new indie rock band at the verge of a break out year sounds like in 2012:
Which of this is Loud. Hard. Fast. Guitars. Drums. Bass. Dangerous. Sex. Violence. Fun. etc?
Indie Rock what happened to you? Back in my day(god I feel and sound old) the indie scene is where the weird, experimental, fringe, dangerous music was made, and where the future of Rock was forged. Today it's where the boring, and uncreative act like their original while they poorly(very poorly) do what The Smiths and Siouxsie and the Banshees were doing 25 years ago. I'm picking on the Indie scene because that's what Rock is today. Rock isn't top 40 right now. That doesn't mean it should loose it's edge.
I remember the very first time I heard The Yeah Yeah Yeah's. I was just starting to listen to rock on a regular basis. At the time I basically listened to two radio stations, Z100(Top 40) and K-Rock(Rock station). K-Rock's rotation at the time basically had a lot of 80's and 90's alternative(lots of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumkins, The Smiths, etc) mixed in with new rock music. And it was a good time for new rock music. The White Stripes had just broken into the mainstream. The Hives, and The Vines got a lot of air time too. And then I heard "A date with the night!" Bam! It was a the sound of fucking chaos. Heavy drums, awesome guitar, and Karen O basically having sex. It was awesome. It basically blew everything else out of the water, and I became a life time fan of rock because of that. It's kind of sad that I might be a part of the last group of fans that will experience that.
Grow some balls indie rock. Please. I want something new and good that will scare some parents. You don't even have to get as crazy as the 80's and 90's, but I should at least have a problem with a 10 year old listening to you.
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Post by aztalanturf on Mar 16, 2012 1:46:28 GMT -5
I think in some genres of rock, the "scare your parents" thing got to be cliched. I know it did in machine rock...lots of unoriginal Marilyn Manson and Rammstein ripoffs who covered themselves in makeup and fake blood. I think it will swing back at some point. Plus, most of us have parents that lived through the 60s and a lot of stuff has already been done and played out. Fake blood, Nazi uniforms and gore no longer scares people so it takes true creativity to put out something that gives that sense of excitement and taboo to an audience. That takes real talent. There is a ton of great, edgy stuff out there if you know where to look. Its just not played on mainstream radio. Start exploring other realms and you'll find something. YouTube's recommendations are great for that and also podcasts. Check out Dark Compass out of London... www.darkcompass.comIf you want some good, recent, "scare your parents" rock, I recommend: Left Spine Down Cyberpunk from Vancouver www.leftspinedown.comBella Morte Gothy rock from South Carolina www.bellamorte.comCSS Poppy, eclectic rock with lots of attitude from Brazil Peaches Overall mure electronic than rock, but she does use some guitars and certainly has a punk rock attitude. She'll definitely make the parents go "WTF?". She's been around since the early 2000s, but is still making parents scratch their heads on a consistent basis. Look up Peaches Christ Superstar www.peachesrocks.comGabriel and the Apocalypse www.gabrielandtheapocalypse.comFemale fronted industrial rock out of Minneapolis Mankind is Obsolete Female fronted machine rock out of LA. There's a very punk rock feel and energy to what these guys do. www.mkio.com
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Post by Volk on Mar 31, 2012 17:00:02 GMT -5
I agree 100%.
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Post by Xalazi on Mar 31, 2012 18:08:51 GMT -5
I think in some genres of rock, the "scare your parents" thing got to be cliched. I know it did in machine rock...lots of unoriginal Marilyn Manson and Rammstein ripoffs who covered themselves in makeup and fake blood. I think it will swing back at some point. Plus, most of us have parents that lived through the 60s and a lot of stuff has already been done and played out. Fake blood, Nazi uniforms and gore no longer scares people so it takes true creativity to put out something that gives that sense of excitement and taboo to an audience. That takes real talent. There is a ton of great, edgy stuff out there if you know where to look. Its just not played on mainstream radio. Start exploring other realms and you'll find something. YouTube's recommendations are great for that and also podcasts. Check out Dark Compass out of London... www.darkcompass.comIf you want some good, recent, "scare your parents" rock, I recommend: Left Spine Down Cyberpunk from Vancouver www.leftspinedown.comBella Morte Gothy rock from South Carolina www.bellamorte.comCSS Poppy, eclectic rock with lots of attitude from Brazil Peaches Overall mure electronic than rock, but she does use some guitars and certainly has a punk rock attitude. She'll definitely make the parents go "WTF?". She's been around since the early 2000s, but is still making parents scratch their heads on a consistent basis. Look up Peaches Christ Superstar www.peachesrocks.comGabriel and the Apocalypse www.gabrielandtheapocalypse.comFemale fronted industrial rock out of Minneapolis Mankind is Obsolete Female fronted machine rock out of LA. There's a very punk rock feel and energy to what these guys do. www.mkio.comI could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that all the bands that you listed have been around for 4-5 at least. In the case of Peaches she actually predates a lot of the bands that I like that inspired this thread. And that's pretty much my point. Most of the good new music out there is being done by bands that have been around for a while. In the past year or so I haven't heard a proper debut album that has really blown me away.
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Post by aztalanturf on Apr 2, 2012 1:59:16 GMT -5
LSD is pretty new. I think only 4ish years tops? Bella Morte has been around for quite some time. MKIO has also been around for a bit but have flown under a lot of people's radars and seem to be gaining dome traction of late. It takes a while for indie bands to get out there, IMO. Just because they've been around for 5 or more years doesn't mean they can't be new and exciting if they're active and putting out great work.
Definitely check out Dark Compass and also Dark Horizons. Dark Horizons only plays music 6 months old or newer for their regular eps. Both shows are great and very diverse.
What about The Joy Formidable or Sleigh Bells?
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Post by aztalanturf on Apr 4, 2012 15:14:06 GMT -5
Both TJF and Sleigh Bells have debuts that blew me away, BTW.
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Post by Garbage Addict on Apr 6, 2012 9:42:12 GMT -5
Ooo yes Joy Formidable are amazing and soooo good live - cant wait for the new material.
Also, little known British band, TheVirginmarys are awesome too - they supported Skunk Anansie on their European tour last year
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Post by Tornado on Apr 9, 2012 15:44:38 GMT -5
Both TJF and Sleigh Bells have debuts that blew me away, BTW. Yes, they're great. I like both bands a lot. PS: The Joy Formidable also released a mini-album A Balloon Called Moaning & the EP It's Just a World Apart. Worth a listen (or more).
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Post by codyt3212 on Apr 10, 2012 5:40:47 GMT -5
The musicians that the website Pitchfork hypes up are a prime example of what I think is wrong with music today. There are simply TOO MANY bands out there these days. And they're all trying to be fresh and hip....plain old rock n roll or just about anything that doesn't try to reinvent a genre just doesn't cut it with critics and hipsters alike. I try to distance myself from the hipster scene because frankly their style and views on music irritates me. Maybe I'm being close minded and making a generalization but its how I feel. There is far too much pretension going on in the music scene. But flavor of the month bands come and go in the blink of an eye nowadays and in the end they won't be remembered, so I at least find solace in that.
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Post by luxavalanche on May 17, 2012 16:22:01 GMT -5
Indie rock is dead. The only real innovation is coming from electronic artists.
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Post by luxavalanche on May 17, 2012 16:22:43 GMT -5
That said, there is NOTHING wrong with a good rock song. And sometimes innovative doesn't equal interesting or fun or enjoyable, so it's good to have a balance. Garbage does both well.
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Post by Tornado on May 17, 2012 17:31:06 GMT -5
Indie rock is dead. The only real innovation is coming from electronic artists. That's why I listen to a lot of electronic music. It just sounds more interesting. Still, rock is my second favorite music genre.
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Post by GoGoGrrrl on May 19, 2012 2:46:45 GMT -5
Yeah, most of the music of the past few years that has clicked with me has been either dreamy or dancey or new-waveish sounding indie music (ie. Beach House, Crystal Castles, LCD Soundsystem, Twin Shadow, etc). There's not a lot of great rock music lately (but this happens every so often). I totally see what Shirley bemoans about in interviews - that there are especially few really cool rock chicks, especially compared to the 90s.
YYYs are overdue for an album too. The Kills are carrying on at least. Metric has an album out soon, but they've never been as rock'n'roll as the previous two mentioned. Dum Dum Girls are good, but far from "dangerous" (a bit dreamy still).
Do you like The Pains of Being Pure at Heart? Their last album (from last year) had a few songs that rocked a bit more than I would've guessed (as they were previously more jangly pop indie stuff - I'm terrible at categorizing, clearly). It's like softer Smashing Pumpkins, sort of ;D.
I've honestly had Hole's Live Through This on repeat the past few weeks (until the new G leaked that is). I was wanting some female-driven rock music & feeling a void myself...
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Post by luxavalanche on May 23, 2012 22:04:22 GMT -5
Kurt from the Pains of Being Pure of Heart has a solo record coming out in July. He records under The Ice Choir now, and I've heard the record. It's really great. Fans of Depeche Mode et al will like it.
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