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Today at Pitchfork, Scott Plagenhoef got in some nice digs at both the American noise-pop underground and the state of UK indie in his review of new Next Big Thing Glasvegas. Some choice cuts:
Here in America, we spent a lot of 2008, and now early 2009, celebrating a noise-pop underground that, in places, takes weak pop songs and slathers them with fuzz and reverb under the pretense of art.
*cough* Vivian Girls *cough*
Also:
Last year, the NME placed Vampire Weekend on its cover and declared that we were living in a time of renewed greatness in American music. Not long after, a blogger at The Guardian made essentially the same claim. Weirdly, the conventional wisdom for those of us on this side of the Atlantic was just the opposite, the line being that 2008 was a relatively ho-hum time for American indie rock. My suggestion for UK indie: It’s not us, it’s you. In the past few years, it’s too few art school bands, too few mavericks, and too few iconoclasts; it’s far too many groups that amount to a haircut, a worn copy of Is This It?, and a provincial accent. Above all, it’s far too many bands that confuse ambition with chart placements instead of creativity.
Pow! Might I suggest that it’s a great thing to have Comet Gain around as a reminder that great noise pop free of pretense and posturing is being made across the pond? The new odds-and-sods record, Broken Record Prayers, is due stateside March 24 on What’s Your Rupture?, and it includes the below uptempo number from the KRS vets (and perennial lineup changers), “Love Without Lies.” It’s got some nice crunchy drums, a Young Marble Giants vibe, and it all kicks in at just the right time. It’s got grit and energy and an actual song underneath. I especially like how the vocals follow along tight with the chord progression, which is not something I usually enjoy.
[MP3]
Comet Gain [MySpace]
Glasvegas [Pitchfork]
I think I know what he’s saying, and since the first part of 2008, I felt the same way about Pfork darlings No Age and Times New Viking. TNV especially, since I hear some good, poppy songs in there, but I feel like they just make it sound like crap on purpose, makes it “arty” and “lo-fi”…or something.
Noise… pop?
I had no idea Comet Gain still existed.
That makes my day.
.. he then concluded the report with “Also, listen to Animal Collective!” Oh come on! (I’ll remind you I dig whatever XMU’s playing of theirs).
That being said, I appreciate the dig on Vivian Girls, because I’m hard pressed to find a band that has provoked less of a response in me than them. It’s like 3 minutes of the most neutral white noise whenever they’re on the radio.
Hey, I kinda like 2 of the songs off that Vivian Girls album! You know, the ones that sound nothing like the other eight.
Comet Gain > whatever you’re listening to right now.
I actually listened to “Tigertown Pictures,” “Realistes,” “City Fallen Leaves” and “Broken Record Prayers” consecutively earlier this week. It left me feeling really melancholy and in the mood for some old Godard movie, but that’s not a bad thing. Gotta love a band that can barely get their shit together enough to make a record every three years.
@Defenestrated: Anybody can string together 1 4 5 with some success!
@MayhemintheHood: Yeah, I definitely would’ve put Times New Viking between those coughs up there instead of Vivian Girls.