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Favs, Fads and Friends

Wednesday, April 20, 2005



I don't think I fit in to...
His Indie World part 1

Oh dear lord, please help Brit Brit in raising an upstanding southern child, now that she is able to trade in her MILF in Training T-Shirt for the one that just says MILF. Thank you also lord, for the opportunity that Paris has received, in making jewellery for the more pedestrian pets of the world, and for finding a new friend for her television show. But most of all, lord, thank you for giving Adam Shore, of Vice Records, who holds the wisdom to know what's best for us lowly music lovers. Lord help him to make sure that indie music does not go the way of the Starbucks.

When I worked as a cook in my teens, at The Dock, in Stillwater, Minnesota, the music I knew was played by the Anthony Bourdainesque sociopaths, Toyota truck driving lesbians and aging hippies I was surrounded by. The strange thirtiesh couple who worked in the prep area loved The B-52s. Ms. Patty the Pastry Chef's son was photographer Daniel Corrigan, who gave me personalized, autographed photos of Husker Du, The Replacements and Soul Asylum. Tom H. Gardner III, a recovering alcoholic writer, obsessed with Hemingway, Soldier of Fortune and the Grateful Dead, taught me to love The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Medeski, Martin and Wood, and all of the folk music on local Red House Records. Dada the Lebanese dope head was into George Clinton and James Brown, as well as the Pixies, and Porno for Pyros. Nick and Jeff on the front line were my own age, but definitely old souls. I never gave Jeff back all of those Uncle Tupelo albums, I hope he doesn't miss them (I know I would if someone took them from me). I'll never forget cleaning squid the first time I heard Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Bomb Popper, waitress and indie record company owner, Andrea brought it all together when she allowed me to interview her while I was studying Journalism at The University of St. Thomas. The current Andrew Bird manager and Grimsey Records head honcho picked out a turntable for me, took me to Applause records, on Snelling Avenue in St. Paul, and filled up my shopping basket with vinyl by Ivy, Stereolab, and the Golden Palominos.

Every time I ever felt unloved or alone, I had the library that all of these influences had helped me create, to keep me company.

Now that I am all the way over here in Sydney, living in Bondi, where record stores receive daily truckloads of Chill Out compilations, and Ministry of Sound Annuals, I don't have the same types of influences in my life as I did back in the states. For my first couple of years in Oz, I was really down in the dumps about the whole thing. I didn't get to the point of groovin' to Blink 182, or making out to John Mayer, but I did miss out on some really good shit.

In the last couple of years things have definitely shifted. Thanks to blogs like Stereogum and Ultragrrrl, sources like College Music Journal, and online radio stations such as Indiepoprocks!, when I've got the Powerbook in bed at home, I feel like I'm back in St. Paul, wading through the new Vinyl releases at Applause. Shore suggests in the article mentioned above that an Indie Yuppie Establishment has been created, and that record companies are producing "fancy-coffee-drinking, Volvo-riding music for kids." I have found the last few years to be a return to a rock-and-roll mentality, producing so many innovative and thought provoking records, that a 20GB ipod can't begin to hold them. The fact there is more mainstream exposure to indie music, and a larger demographic of hipsters, is only a product of technology and communication. The phenomenon is discussed in New York Times Columnist Thomas L. Friedman's book, The World is Flat, at an extensive level. While his book refers to the progress of the pursuits of education, the phenomenon can easily be extended to music. No longer do intellectually motivated kids need to swap cassette tapes between classes. Now, Betsy from Wisconsin can get on AOL Instant Messenger and explain the merits of the new Lamb of God Lp, while her friend Pedro in Tennessee tells her how he wants to be a roadie for Calexico.

Shore's elitist comments simply imply that indie music, in his eyes the only GOOD music, should be listened to by a certain few. What he fails to touch on, is that while there are bands around that have been indie darlings, it doesn't mean that there are homogonous groups of force fed hipsters out there, not knowing what to listen to until Pitchfork media tells them to. Take a look at recent comments on Stereogum regarding the top 10 albums of so far in 2005. It's genre splitting, and it's fucking feisty. These kids are listening, in depth, to everything, so they know exactly what to spit back at each other. The fact that they are listening to something other than crap "urban" music should have us oldies throwing up our hands and dancing like the Poyphonic Spree. Shore actually has the nerve to say that while Death Cab for Cutie, Arcade Fire and the like have produced fantastic albums, the fact that a whole bunch of people like them is boring. Again, what he forgets to mention is that many of us are as fiery about what we hate, as what we like and everyone has their favourites. We know that Grambo hates Franz Ferdinand, Ultragrrrl practically is the reason the Killers exist, Stereogum hearts Kelly Clarkson, that this Seppo wants to punch Coner Oberst in the head.

The irony of the article lies in the fact that Shore's label hosts indie darlings of the moment, Bloc Party, who could easily be added to the list of bands he criticizes. Their album is the first, in my opinion, of the new wave revival to add something new to the mix, especially with their anti-establishment lyrics. I wonder if the band is actually speaking to Shore when they sing, "You're just as boring as everyone else... Why'd you have to get so hysterical?Success, success, success is over... Why'd you have to get so fucking useless... Play it cool boy"

Part II - Indie Music and Hollywood next week
... Seppo 2:47 pm...