Music Of The Weak: State Of The Union (Part One)

When Mike Skinner quietly dropped Original Pirate Material, his debut album as The Streets in 2002, things felt as if pop music had suddenly turned a corner.  Skinner’s homemade beats, though clearly built upon 80’s rap records and the never-quite-took-off trend of UK Garage, signified a commitment to the DIY song-smithing that had spent a couple of years bubbling under the current shiny pop scene, but sounded as histrionic as anything by The Backstreet Boys or recent solo star Justin Timberlake.  The persona Skinner cultivated on that album juggled drugs and booze, picked fights, talked shit, and generally came off as an unctuous, typical 21 year old.  The internet, in particular, greeted Skinner with tremendous excitement, as if he were The Future.

Last week, Mike Skinner released Everything Is Borrowed, The Streets’ fourth—and if his retirement statements are to be believed, penultimate—album.  The arrangements, while still as clever as those on the first album, fully tip the balance from ramshackle-with-populist-leanings into blatantly syrupy—with emphasis on choirs, orchestral horns and glam-rock guitar solos.  The disarmingly baffled dude from Original Pirate Material has disappeared; as has the guy who spent his entire second album, A Grand Don’t Come For Free, searching for answers to practical questions (Where did my money go?  Why is my TV broken?  Is my girlfriend cheating on me?), only to end up with a philosophical one: “No one’s really there fighting for you in the last garrison/ No one except yourself that is.”  Skinner’s replaced him with a new-age-y chap who’s got all the answers: “I came to this world with nothing/ I’ll leave with nothing but love.”  Even the moments where Skinner hints at his earlier wastoid tendencies sound more like action movie tag-lines than the hard-earned discoveries on those first couple of albums.  Would Mike Skinner circa 2002 even want to hang with 2008-era Mike Skinner?

Then there’s The Hold Steady, whose first two albums became critical successes largely because of their refreshingly bar-band-like guitar licks; intricate, song-spanning storylines; and Craig Finn’s endlessly quotable lyrics (“She came off kinda spicy but she tasted like those pickle chips;” “I like to party on the problem bus/ And I can’t stand it when the banging stops;” “I met William Butler Yeats/ Sunday night dance party summer 1988/ At first I thought he was William Blake”—I could do this all day.)  2006’s breakthrough album, Boys & Girls In America, tweaked the formula to make their Boss-endebtedness more overt and allow for more crowd participation at their (incredible without exception) live shows—in the form of call-and-responses and lighter-wavers.  At this point, the goodwill The Hold Steady had built up over the course of their early years exploded into full-on hype, and the band seemed to have found a sweet spot in their sound where they could both retain their artistic legacy and expand their fan base (who are strikingly young considering all of the band members are in their 30’s.)  It would have worked, too, if this year’s Stay Positive hadn’t been a shallow compendium of drinking slogans and power ballads—which Finn even tries to rationalize this with a declaration in album-opener “Constructive Summer”: “Our songs are sing-along songs.”

Or how about our boy Lil’ Wayne, who rode legitimate mic skills, unrelenting productivity, and immense likability into unparalleled ubiquity via a series of increasingly bonkers mixtapes—available in all corners of the web?  In a rare position—think Jay-Z circa 2001, B.I.G. circa 1997, Public Enemy circa 1989—to absolutely blow the world away with an album, he came out with June’s The Carter III, a paint-by-numbers late-decade rap record.  Kanye collab?  Check.  Jay-Z guest spot?  Check.  Swizz Beats, T-Pain, Cool & Dre, Alchemist, Busta Rhymes?  You know it.  Complaints about the album may range from inconsistency to a general lack of anything exciting going on, but, at base, there’s nothing truly, horribly wrong with The Carter III—Weezy plays it way too safe for that.  Apparently, that’s what we’ve come to expect from those widely regarded as our most valuable artists.

The Streets, The Hold Steady and Lil’ Wayne aren’t the only major artists who blew their chances to put out special albums this year—add My Morning Jacket, Hot Chip, and (though they’re not exactly my steez) Of Montreal to that list.  Bands taking a quality dive at crucial points in their career is nothing new, yet each of these bands in particular shares something that is, relatively—their successes are each defined, in some way, by their relationship to the internet.  The Streets blew up among a small army of brand new bloggers hungry for what was next; The Hold Steady legitimately parlayed the critical attention it received (mostly from Minneapolis-based music journalists enamored with  Finn and guitarist Tad Kubler’s former band, Lifter Puller) into actual attention; and Lil’ Wayne gave it away for free until he got the internet—and subsequently, the world—hooked.

Up until very recently, the internet has blessed popular-music artists more than any other art form:  The distribution and dissemination of music has become easier; the playing ground has nearly been leveled between major-label artists, independent-label artists, and no-label artists; communication with fans has never been easier, and building a fan base has been increasingly crucial in breaking new acts; means of making music are easier to come by; genres and sub-genres have multiplied, seemingly by the day; world markets have opened up; things have gotten pretty damn exciting.  Yet, it’s difficult to deny that popular music right now is an absolute mess: compelling music seems hard to find; the most visible taste-making websites look more and more like a series of press releases; artists rely more on familiarity than innovation.  Right now, my iPod holds 992 songs from 2008.  Not one of them would make it onto a list of my favorite 100 songs of the decade, whereas 8 from 2007 and 10 from 2006 would.  I scan the internet regularly for new music, and rarely these days does something rise up as absolutely great (most recent find: Gang Gang Dance’s “House Jam.”)

It hasn’t always been that way.  2000, the year Napster thrived, saw breakthrough, forward-thinking music from Amon Tobin, At the Drive-In, The Avalanches, Badly Drawn Boy, Boards of Canada, Capleton, Clinic, Craig David, D’Angelo, Daft Punk, De La Soul, Doves, Eminem, Fatboy Slim, Ghostface Killah, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Grandaddy, Lifter Puller, Luomo, Madonna, Modest Mouse, OutKast, Phoenix, Quasimoto, Radiohead, The White Sripes, Wu-Tang Clan, and dozens of others that may or may not fit into my own personal groove.  Compare that to last year, when the greatest successes came from artists refining their own personal sound—like Jay-Z, Radiohead, Iron & Wine, The National, and Spoon—or riffing on familiar sounds in exciting ways—like Kathy Diamond, Sean Price, and Feist.  That’s why Animal Collective handily took the number-one spot in our 2007 year-end albums list—they stuck out as a forward-thinking group amongst an army of tinkerers.

The majority of artists hyped by blogs and music websites these days sound acutely reminiscent of past artists and trends.  Of course, a good number of any year’s best albums share that characteristic.  Albums by Fleet Foxes, Cut Copy, and Jamie Lidell sound great on their own merits—yet rely heavily on past touchstones.  But amidst the pastoral folk, new wave and blue-eyed soul that set the tones for those records throb a capella rounds, DFA experimentalism, and electronic funk—styles scarcely found amongst their peers.  Fleet Foxes, Cut Copy and Jamie Lidell temper their genre-homages with keen innovation—not to mention sheer songwriting chops.  More and more frequently, however, lesser artists merely cobble together handfuls of blog-friendly trends in order to find themselves recipients of hype disproportional to their talents.  In the last couple of months, Deerhunter, No Age, The Ruby Suns, Times New Viking, Department of Eagles, and just about every band with Crystal in their name have benefited from that strategy.

The internet popularity of mediocre artists who take few musical risks and the recent tendency for formerly risk-taking artists to reign in their less conventional ideas: Artists are learning to game the system.  It used to be that dips in quality would result from artists turning their songwriting sensibilities towards larger markets.  Now, instead of pandering to the crowd that will buy the most recent records, they pander towards instant gratification.  The internet provides artist with immediate access to fans and feedback, so they learn to gear their songs toward that feedback.  The Streets and The Hold Steady, for example, misunderstand their own strengths.  They think their audience wants more barroom philosophy a la "Dry Your Eyes" or more songs they can drink and chant "I'm gonna walk around and drink some more" to, because their fans think that's what they want.  So bands that used to have their own voice lose the hard-earned truths they built their style upon.  Bands like Deerhunter, who are entirely dependent on a relationship with the internet--setting up their own blogs, releasing copious amounts of music directly to their fans--may not have ever had that style in the first place.  In this era it's more than possible to be an indie band and still sell out.

-Martin Brown, 2008

Comments

[Garrett Martin]

"More and more frequently, however, lesser artists merely cobble together handfuls of blog-friendly trends in order to find themselves recipients of hype disproportional to their talents. In the last couple of months, Deerhunter, No Age, The Ruby Suns, Times New Viking, Department of Eagles, and just about every band with Crystal in their name have benefited from that strategy."

Except Deerhunter, No Age, and (especially) Times New Viking are all responsible for making their respective "trends" "blog-friendly". What prominent blogs were going nuts over barely-recorded Clean / Swell Maps homages before Matador picked up TNV?

You have some good things to say, and generally say them well; it's a shame you devalue that with ill-informed kneejerk contrarianism.

[Kenny]

Marty, I'm in no way trying to dogpile you here, but it seems to me you're always looking to the fringe. Sometimes the conventional stuff works. If I were to make a playlist of my favorite songs of the decade, several from this year that would spring to mind are Jack Johnson's "Angel," Al Green's "Lay It Down," Nas's "Queens Get the Money," and T.I.'s "Swagger Like Us." I'd also include at least one from Brian Wilson's "That Lucky Old Sun," but I'm not sure which.

Why does it always have to be stuff no one's ever heard of? Pitchfork is always doing that shit and people hate them - with good reason.

I think your points on the Internet's relationship with musicians are all really strong, but your strengths get lost when you play the Pitchfork elitist game. Or like Garrett says, "[y]ou have some good things to say, and generally say them well; it's a shame you devalue that with ill-informed kneejerk contrarianism."

BTW - If you have to have some "look how cool I am because no one's ever heard of this shit" music on your list, why not talk about how awesome The Cool Kids or Jay Electronica are? Why's it always got to be, "I'mma hate everything popular and then hate some obscure shit to really rub it in?"

[Marty]

Garrett,

Yo, I get that Deerhunter, TNV, and No Age are all at the forefront of their respective sub-genres. I buy that (except for Bradley Cox, who I generally believe is indie-rock's Ryan Adams--prolific as hell, but can't write a fully-formed song.) Each of those artists shares a similar formula with their music: 80's hardcore/90's indie influence + drone/distortion. Times New Viking and No Age in particular are attached to scenes--"Shitgaze" has received as much press as TNV has; Pitchfork's Nouns review focused more on The Smell than the music. Blogs have gotten predictable, and so has the music they promote (with some exceptions, which I'll talk about next week.)

I think your "kneejerk contrarian" assessment may have been a bit kneejerky itself. I won't argue that those bands don't have their merits, but the actual quality of songwriting on each of their recent albums just doesn't hold up to their influences--and I think one of the reasons for that is because blogs and music websites, in their desire to be the first to discover new artists, are willing to give them a pass on underdeveloped material. Those bands are preaching to the choir.

Kenny,

I can understand why you would think that, but I'm sure Tucker would tell you that my taste leans firmly toward accessable pop music. That just happens to be in short supply these days. I ran through iTunes' Top 10 a couple of weeks ago and couldn't find a single that was truly awesome--and I love T.I., and I'm pretty fond of some Britney and Xtina singles. Right now, though, it's a wasteland.

In terms of popular music, there's not a song out right now that's even close to "Crazy" or "I Get Money" or "Int'l Players Anthem" or "Real Talk" or "Lip Gloss" or "Paper Planes" or "Ignorant Shit" or "Dashboard" or "You Know I'm No Good" or any of the other stuff that has rocked my shit the last couple of years--"Swagger Like Us" may hinge on a great idea, but it's incredibly under-developed. (Jeff Weiss puts it much better than I could here: http://passionweiss.com/2008/09/03/the-dull-competence-of-tis-swagger-like-us/). Last week my favorite single was by Busta Rhymes.
As for The Cool Kids and Jay Electronica, I'm not that impressed. That might change, but that's where I'm at now.

Look, the reason I'm writing this particular column (and, trust me, in Part 2 I'ma get positive) is because I am so tired of slamming shit every week, but I can't find a whole lot out there worth praising.

[Kenny]

Marty,

Sorry if I was harsh. I think I was being a bit hypocritical; I started out with an actual; criticism and by the time I was done writing, it turned into, "If you don't start appreciating music, I'll rip your ears off!" lol I'm sorry.

I'm still standing by Johnson's "Angel," though! It's just a simple song that's beautiful.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Part 2!

[Tucker Stone]

I'll follow up and say that yeah, if anybody wants to punch somebody in the "hate what's popular and listen to machinefabriek b-sides only" gut, i'll be the mommy. Marty's a freak for the popular, but he can usually convince me with wily argument.

there is one thing that i thought was huh for a second when i read this, which was that marty said he only had 992 '08 tracks. the fuck? i've got 1808. muthafucka need to be getting some autechre and brooklyn after dark. fill that nipod up real quick.

And i'm sick of blog-ready or whatever bands trying to jack my drone for their crap indie-rock albums. Keep the drone pure, or don't touch that shit.

[Marty]

Kenny,

Dude, you're like my biggest supporter. I would only take your comments in the best light. And I may even check out "Angel" because of you.

Tucker,

I think it's possible that you just emasculated me and made me feel good about it. Tongue kisses for you my friend!

[Kenny]

Marty,

Awwww, thanks! Honestly, you turn me on to soooo much good music, that when I read you getting negative, it's like - what hope do I have to find good stuff? lol If you can't find anything good, then I need to start looking into nooses for my musical taste....

Angel is good because it's just *really* simple. In my opinion, if you're going the minimalist route, then you really have to have the chops because there's nothing to hide behind.

Also, I was trying to think of something that really grabbed me this morning on my way to work, and I thought of something! Mark Ronson & Rhymefest's "Man in the Mirror" mixtape! In my opinion, it's Mark Ronson finally taking the gloves off and really giving his full on attention and it's just solid from top to bottom!

[Chris Rice]

I've gotta say Martin, I think you're pretty much spot on with your assessment of the current music scene.
I've felt utterly uninspired by this year's releases (with a couple of exceptions that I'll get to). Most of the albums I've loved this year have been releases from last year that I missed at the time (Architecture in Helsinki, Future of the Left, Burial).
The one album that's becoming a stone cold classic from the early part of this year is the Neon Neon album, but things are nonetheless starting to look up a little.
The Evil Nine album grabbed me immediately, the Fujiya & Miyagi album's pretty cool, and the new albums from Kings of Leon & Bloc Party are growing on me with every listen, particularly the latter, as they have truly evolved their sound.

[Chris Rice]

I've gotta say Martin, I think you're pretty much spot on with your assessment of the current music scene.
I've felt utterly uninspired by this year's releases (with a couple of exceptions that I'll get to). Most of the albums I've loved this year have been releases from last year that I missed at the time (Architecture in Helsinki, Future of the Left, Burial).
The one album that's becoming a stone cold classic from the early part of this year is the Neon Neon album, but things are nonetheless starting to look up a little.
The Evil Nine album grabbed me immediately, the Fujiya & Miyagi album's pretty cool, and the new albums from Kings of Leon & Bloc Party are growing on me with every listen, particularly the latter, as they have truly evolved their sound.

[Marty]

Hey thanks, Chris.

I have to admit that I've slept on the Neon Neon album (although one of our other TFO writers is rumored to be a big fan.) In a couple of days, hopefully I'll give you a couple more corners to go scratching in.

[andre]

blues created velvet underground and bob dylan. no wave/early punk created sonic youth nirvana modest mouse pavement and radiohead. Experimentation is necessary. In a time like this, where everything is killed seemingly before it has a chance to stand(mainly by ADD blogs but also gone to shit for money publications like rolling stone and spin pretending to know whats what but never covering anything important or risky), things will still evolve into something else and form anew. while i agree that the music scene is a fuckin mess, it has produced some amazing stuff. deerhunter animal collective arcade fire and grizzly bear are all making incredible music in my mind. messes always produce beauty in time.

[Garrett Martin]

I definitely understand not liking any of the three bands I pointed out, and finding them to be uninspired. And my defense of Deerhunter is at least partially just rooting for the home team. Still, it's inaccurate to suggest No Age or Times New Viking were courting Pitchfork or music bloggers with their recent records. They both started off making music that was thoroughly out of fashion, have remained consistent to themselves in the wake of success, and can't be blamed for the press constructing stupid lifestyle or scene pieces around them.

Anyway, yeah, I generally like your music column here, even if I don't always agree with you.

Oh, and Tucker, you can listen to Pocahaunted and Double Leopards all you want, as long there are still bands that sound like Cheap Trick recorded through an adding machine.

[Tucker Stone]

Oh, I've been meaning to check out Double Leopards, because I'm a big fan of the Religious Knives album, they have some kind of connection. Pocahaunted looks like hippy shit though. Fucking sandals and socks.

Somebody besides Andre or Marty, meaning me, should point out that when the two of those guys actually get to the arguing part of the discussion, it's pretty fucking legendary.