but that's why SFJ's article is full of shit: he's calling out bands for not trying to rip off black music, but who have no desire to rip off black music because they're too busy ripping off other artists like bruce springsteen, who are themselves musical generations removed from the dudes who ripped off classic rock n roll in the first fucking place. arcade fire is not music to fuck to, it's music for some high school kid to make a mix tape (or i guess an mp3 playlist) of and never give to the girl he's trying to impress with his musical taste. it's not dangerous to make independent released sexy music, it's just that that's not the vogue right now, and... shit. rereading his article, i'm not exactly sure WHAT he's trying to say. i have no idea why SFJ thinks it's bad or cowardly that devendra banhart does what he wants to do, playing stupid folk music that my dumb friends get stoned and listen to, instead of trying to be r kelly... which is also music that my dumb friends get stoned and listen to.

i do have to say, however, that while i disagree with everything the guy says in his article i do agree that contemporary indie rock needs a kick in the ass.
any article that calls bullshit on a genre as tightly wound up as indie is ok in my book.

pachoob

RickSlick

janine

But yeah, I think a lot of struggling rappers (best example of struggling black musicians today) have done a lot to build home studios and learn production and craft as well. Isn't that what the film "Hustle and Flow" is about? How is that any different than Ian Mackaye building a studio in his home on a shoestring?

The lo-fi bravado is more about overcoming limitation and I think that sense of accomplishment coupled with lowered esteem and expectations can come across as arrogance. Even Lou Barlow said in a recent Onion interview that he was making lo-fi cassettes because there was no alternative, and would have been writing prog-rock if he had Pro-tools when he was 14.

The problem is that "lo-fi" music often re-contextualized the original recordings, and in the case of a band like Einsturzende Neubauten made them sound extra creepy, or you have the case of Guided By Voices. Their best music was made on a 4-track because the songs never got fully realized. In his head Bob Pollard was Roger Daltrey and it worked because the listener had to fill in a lot of blanks. When they got the opportunity to use real studios they jumped at it, and when he really COULD be Roger Daltrey the music suffered. But that is another topic, and I am now moving far from whether or not "indie rock" is too white.

noamjamski

natepatrin

natepatrin

janine

Please. No more glockenspiel.

Unironically,

The Dewd

The Dewd

Perhaps T.I. woudln't want to talk ribbon mics with you, but I'm sure Quincy Jones or Timbaland would.

noamjamski

Not that I can't appreciate anything lo-fi and rootsily authentic, but having grown up on Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, sometimes it just feels like something's missing. I think this is why I don't get Neil Young...at all. Otherwise, yeah, it's malarky.

janine

King of Pants

pantsonfireliarliar

Diglett

King of Pants

Also when did "empty space" become a racial musical trait? I think modern hip hop is as guilty of maximalist music as anyone else. Does that mean the sparseness of June of 44 is intrinsically "black?"

This is an awkward slippery slope. If the kids wanted to hear funk, wouldn't they listen to funk?

Also- the inverse is equally true. There aren't enough vocal harmonies in hip hop! Rap isn't white enough! What? Exactly.

Putting a racial mandate on music not only does more to further segregate people and styles, but is something only a music critic could ever worry about.

noamjamski

Cos

King of Pants