Thursday, January 26, 2006
t.A.T.u, "All About Us", Pt. 3
Don't worry, the definition of a single hasn't changed since the last time you bought one. It's catchy as hell because it's Europop and therefore it sounds completely obvious. No peeling back the layers of half-assed squeals passing as singing in order to uncover the perfect indie pop within. It's HUGE -- the tympani, dude! -- and because of the sheer spectacle of it all, I didn't even notice that the melody was nothing but an ascending scale until my fifth of sixth listen (I take it you noticed that almost right away). And the t.A.T.u girls are smoking hot in the video. No "rock" song could come close to touching "All About Us" in 2005.
And saying that "a lot of the music of 2006 sounds A LOT like some older tune" is a bit disingenuous, don't you think? Lots of music from every year sounds a lot like some older tune. Songs and artists rip off other songs and artists all the time. It's not like subtle plagiarism has become a sign of the musical times or anything.
And saying that "a lot of the music of 2006 sounds A LOT like some older tune" is a bit disingenuous, don't you think? Lots of music from every year sounds a lot like some older tune. Songs and artists rip off other songs and artists all the time. It's not like subtle plagiarism has become a sign of the musical times or anything.
t.A.T.u, "All About Us" Pt.2
I did listen to "All About Us" and I don't hate it. It is catchy as hell, but I am surprised that the Jew thinks this was THE BEST SINGLE of the year. But, I don't really know what his definition of a "single" is. Knowing him it really means a song that was relased as a CD single (does anyone buy those?).
A remember once someone gave a talk about music in the Physics Dept. and though his talk was about chords and scales and that sort of thing, people kept raising questions about the temporal structure of music (if that's the right term), as in to do with verses and choruses, and he said any aural information with some chracteristic correlation length would appeal as music. This song really pushes it by being so repetetetetive.
It also starts of sounding a lot like Celine Dion ("My Heart Will Go On"), this is another blog topic -- how a lot of the music of 2006 sounds A LOT like some older tune, I'll roll out the examples in a susequent post.
In the meantime I have at least a half a dozen topics for JVSI that I've been stewing on, which I will get to posting soon ... very soon.
A remember once someone gave a talk about music in the Physics Dept. and though his talk was about chords and scales and that sort of thing, people kept raising questions about the temporal structure of music (if that's the right term), as in to do with verses and choruses, and he said any aural information with some chracteristic correlation length would appeal as music. This song really pushes it by being so repetetetetive.
It also starts of sounding a lot like Celine Dion ("My Heart Will Go On"), this is another blog topic -- how a lot of the music of 2006 sounds A LOT like some older tune, I'll roll out the examples in a susequent post.
In the meantime I have at least a half a dozen topics for JVSI that I've been stewing on, which I will get to posting soon ... very soon.
Friday, January 20, 2006
t.A.T.u, "All About Us"
The Indian spoke about hipsters (I mostly ignore them), Pitchfork (they're decent folk, most of the time), and the Decemberists* (I've never gotten around to hearing them and I'm in no rush). Truthfully, I know very little about those things. If that's how the Indian defines "indie music", then I'm not sure if he knows what he's getting into.
If we apply that definition (it's as good as any other one) then I don't believe most websites and blogs write about indie. When so much (too much!) music available is available to you, there's no need to set up boundaries for yourself. In particular, a blog doesn't have to ensure it reaches a specific type of consumer because the only products being sold are the blog's authors. There's no need to "cover it all". There's no reason to be thorough if you don't want to, no need to ensure you have your say about the latest shit hot release like the monthly print mags do. Bloggers don't need to stick to a marketing agenda, they can write about Sunn O))) one day and Il Divo the next. My first ever blog post was about the Backstreet Boys. Write about pop, techno, hip-hop, noise, whatever is on your mind. I can't trust bloggers whose focus is too narrow, or who appear to be sticking close to canonical bands and topics, or who feel the need to throw in their two cents about MIA just because everyone else has.
It might appear that I'm trying to overstate my point by deliberately choosing the most blatantly un-indie song I could find. The truth is that I decided to start with this song several days ago, because what could be a better subject for the first post on JewVsIndian than my favourite single of 2005? In contrast, the Onion AV Club named its parent album the Least Essential Album of 2005. The Onion AV Club doesn't care about Europop. Fuck the Onion AV Club.
The Indian will probably hate this song.
*via cartoon. A damn funny one too.
If we apply that definition (it's as good as any other one) then I don't believe most websites and blogs write about indie. When so much (too much!) music available is available to you, there's no need to set up boundaries for yourself. In particular, a blog doesn't have to ensure it reaches a specific type of consumer because the only products being sold are the blog's authors. There's no need to "cover it all". There's no reason to be thorough if you don't want to, no need to ensure you have your say about the latest shit hot release like the monthly print mags do. Bloggers don't need to stick to a marketing agenda, they can write about Sunn O))) one day and Il Divo the next. My first ever blog post was about the Backstreet Boys. Write about pop, techno, hip-hop, noise, whatever is on your mind. I can't trust bloggers whose focus is too narrow, or who appear to be sticking close to canonical bands and topics, or who feel the need to throw in their two cents about MIA just because everyone else has.
It might appear that I'm trying to overstate my point by deliberately choosing the most blatantly un-indie song I could find. The truth is that I decided to start with this song several days ago, because what could be a better subject for the first post on JewVsIndian than my favourite single of 2005? In contrast, the Onion AV Club named its parent album the Least Essential Album of 2005. The Onion AV Club doesn't care about Europop. Fuck the Onion AV Club.
The Indian will probably hate this song.
*via cartoon. A damn funny one too.
