The Lex Files

The following originates from a facebook comments thread, names removed, etc.  I'm too busy with finals for the next four days to really afford to write anything, but this required a response.

[Friend] is Iron and Wine Sold Out To Twilight

Me: Sold out? Really? The more money they have, the more music they can make. Don't like Twilight? Don't watch it.

Random: No, the danger is the more money offered, the greater the likelihood Iron & Wine compromises their earier sound from the Creek Drank the Cradle and Our Endless Numbered Days to a more marketable pop sound, like when Rivers Cuomo was literally told by record execs to make more commercial material.

My rant:
Ok. Except Weezer is a different beast from Iron & Wine. There's not an indie band in the past 10 years that hasn't had there music on The OC/Grey's Anatomy/movie soundtracks/commercials. It's the new marketing model since no one listens to the radio. New Slang was in a McDonald's ad. Of Montreal shilled for Arby's. At the end of the day, independent musicians are already on same labels as pop stars, or their subsidiaries. Indie is just a different market, like metal or r&b or anything else. ACTUAL independence, per se, isn't part of the model of the industry.
Except insofar as artists retain veto over sound. There's less independence from the industry in terms of distribution but far more than there ever was circa Weezer post-Pinkerton in terms of album content and artistic control. Artists get the final say over if their songs are used in any medium, and tend to make informed decisions re: whether or not they think it's worth it.
Plus, Iron & Wine's biggest commercial sell-out moment was "Such Great Heights" in Garden State, which is the only reason the vast majority of high school indie kids know about them. And if you honestly think that "Woman King" and "The Shepherd's Dog" are LESS experimental or MORE commercial than the earlier stuff, you're crazy.
Man...That didn't merit that much writing. But yeah, there have been a lot of interesting pieces written/studies about where independent music as a sustainable should be headed in order to ensure that artists can make a living.
Of Montreal just tried a new thing in selling Skeletal Lamping as a download code attached to bags and t-shirts and fridge magnets. Brave new world and all that.
Plus, why would record execs want to change Iron & Wine to a "more marketable pop sound" when they probably sell as much on average as any "mainstream" pop artist, given the industry slump. "Indie music" is a far more marketable and narrowly targeted demographic that has guaranteed sales and a built in fan base.

Will update as comments continue.


I know Iron & Wine is strummable mellow indie, but I still enjoy a decent number of their songs, so let's not even tackle how it might be for the best if more bands sounded like commercial pop, or that sounding like pop isn't a bad thing.  Was I overly harsh here?  I just didn't think that people still used ideas like "selling out," or envisioned the record industry as a malevolent homogenizer, especially in the current economic downturn, where the Shins and the Arcade Fire are as likely to sell as Mariah or Britney.

So. The whole point of that Kanye post and beginning to more actively articulate my responses to music was that my friend Max, who's one of the editors of the McGill Daily was nagging me about submitting some stuff to pitch a music column to their culture editor. Of course there was so much going on all summer that I totally forgot about writing more spec pieces and if I actually want to do this, I should show Leah 3 or 4 samples by Friday-ish or maybe Tuesday at the latest. Shit.

So, in addition to that Kanye one, which I'll whittle down and turn into something tamer, I've spent the past twenty minutes brainstorming broad things that I could turn into quick thinkpieces over the next day or two. Nothing insanely brilliant but just stuff that shows the direction I want to head in.

The point of the column is: Music without boundaries, intellect and analysis running roughshod over rap, pop, indie, rock, whatever happens across my desktop, poked and prodded and compared. Different genres mingle, get drunk, insult each other, hook up and break up. I think.

These are broad things that I've come up with so far...any other ideas, or critiques of the ones I've sketched out would be GREATLY appreciated. What looks like it's worthwhile exploring and what doesn't? Having a deadline to write this stuff during the semester will force me to actually write stuff and the more I write, the better I'll hopefully get and the more I'll understand and engage, which is obviously the end goal of this all.


Kanye West, Icons, and Transcending Genre – done

Artifice and the Construction of Persona (artifice within songs vs. artifice in construction of self, indie vs. pop?, decemberists and their ilk vs. hannah montana and hers, "Just Like You" and what does that mean?)

Recontextualisation in Pop, covers, sampling, MIA (paper planes), Santogold and the Clash (guns of brooklyn) ...the sampling of paper planes in esau mwamwaya's tengazako and TI's swagger like us

Something about the Solange album which is blowing my mind, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Also, 1 artist/1 album pieces seem limited or at least not CONCEPTUAL, which is where I tend to interrogate.

Bloc Party's new album, for the exact opposite reason - it's not blowing my mind at all and I need to puzzle that out.

Lil' Wayne

Language Barrier in music? Topical due to large and GOOD francophone music scene in montreal that is (possibly?) neglected by anglo music listeners b/c of language barriers unless highlighted by PFork etc. (Malajube) how do we interact with music that we don't understand? nigerian disco-funk compilation that i've been digging. is it a help or a hindrance to understand (collosally stupid lyrics that bother in english don't in spanish etc.?) John McCain and Dadddy Yankee? or is this its own column

John McCain and Daddy Yankee. John McCain and Bomb Iran. Music and politics.... springsteen and democrats...elitism/blue collar....Yes We Can (obnoxious, even if I'm an Obama fan)... blatantly political vs. lending support. canada vs. the states? steven page and the ndp (steven page and coke?)

Autotune? T-Pain etc. (don’t know enough about all the stuff right now, but the emergence of this as a dominant pop thing is interesting to look at, if only for personal interest)

1. Pick 10 of your favorite movies
2. Go to IMDB or some such and find a quote from each movie
3. Post them here for everyone to guess
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie
5. No googling, using IMDB search, or other search functions

1. J: I think we should go.
C: No, it's our house! Just for tonight...
[she looks at an envelope on the counter]
C: ...we are David and Ruth Laskin. Which one do you want to be? I prefer to be Ruth, but I'm flexible.
Clementine and Joel, breaking into a beach house after meeting in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (pakaboori)

2. S: Yeah. I mean, it's gross when he turns into the bug, but I love how matter of fact everything is.
W: Yeah, it's very Kafkaesque.
S: Cause it's written by Franz Kafka.
W: Right. I mean, clearly.

3. Why would a reviewer make the point of saying someone's *not* a genius? Do you especially think I'm *not* a genius? You didn't even have to think about it, did you?

4. Are you here for an affair, sir?
The hotel clerk in The Graduate, confusing Benjamin's tryst with Mrs. Robinson, with a gala function. (skyecaptain)

5. B_______ was a true friend and I sold her out for a bunch of Swatch dogs and Diet Coke heads.

6. Now finish up them taters; I'm gonna go fondle my sweaters.
Christopher Meloni, as the cook, in Wet Hot American Summer (killwithkarate)

7. E: God isn't interested in technology. He cares nothing for the microchip or the silicon revolution. Look how he spends his time, forty-three species of parrots! Nipples for men!
R: Slugs.
E: Slugs! HE created slugs! They can't hear. They can't speak. They can't operate machinery. Are we not in the hands of a lunatic?

8. If we fought with real swords I would kill you.

9. A trench named Bingo Crepuscule? Why not Youppie Tralala?

10. No. No, Mother, I have not been drinking. No. No. These two men, they poured a whole bottle of bourbon into me. No, they didn't give me a chaser.
Cary Grant in North by Northwest, explaining the culmination of his absurd abduction to his mother.  (koganbot)

EDIT: I think other people have been dropping clues, so I might post a few if these are stumpers, but I'll probably wait forbrendan62442 to take a crack at them first, since I have a hunch he knows some of these.  2 and 3 I'd expect people could get if they were familiar with the movies in question and are fairly recent.  5 and 7 are older (read 80s?) cult classics, but not sure how widely watched they are.  8 and 9 are in translation, from two different languages.

Just got back from the Glow in the Dark Tour (Kanye/Rihanna/NERD/Lupe) at the Bell Centre. Want to write up something about Kanye's evolution from rap star to pop icon and how the stage show abandoned key tropes of hip-hop culture and performance in order to make that jump. Explore/compare/contrast. But first, sleep and basic thoughts.

Highlights:

Rihanna's whole set rocked from Breakin' Dishes through to Umbrella with a lovely detour into Paper Planes and Doo Wop (That Thing) in the middle. Also she dresses as insane as we've decided she is. Red leather pointy shouldered top. Black "Kelly Clarkson on the cover of My December" dress where the dress part comes off and turns into a latex-y dominatrix outfit. Brilliant.

Kanye's epic journey through space and crash landing only to discover that what's needed to repower his ship is "The Biggest Star in the Universe." Where can we find one of those? Oh right....KANYE! HUZZAH! Thank goodness we have Kanye for all our space-battery needs.

In the interim: "Jane (ship's computer), I haven't had a woman in SO LONG. I need some pussy!" "Maybe I can help you with that." "How can you help me? You're nothing but a stupid broken spaceship that won't fly" Cue holographic Gold Woman Cyborg thing. Cue Gold Digger.

Random Japanese alien things.

Rihanna appearing in the sky singing Journey's Don't Stop Believin'

This show is as bonkers as the fusion of Ring the Alarm and Unfaithful

OH! I nearly forgot, Kanye's free advice (!) book (yes book!) Thank You and You're Welcome, which I want to find someway to incorporate into poptimist fun because it is brilliant and ridiculous and awesome and features things like the following:

"Believe in your flyness...conquer your shyness"
"The Missing Banister Theory"
"When I see people with messed-up teeth, I want to be that one person who tell them..."Your teeth are big and white like a horse!"
"Crazy is a label that the average put on the exceptional"


Lowlights:

NERD. They blew and their sound was terrible. Fucking Pharrell.

THe suckiness of NERD was increased by the fact that apparently Lupe was on before them, and we missed his set! The show was called for 7:30 and we got there at 7:45, and in the stadium room at 7:50 when it was empty and setting up for NERD. So unless Lupe started at 7:00 or unless his set was only 15 minutes long....I just don't get it. This is now time number FOUR that I've missed out on seeing him live (twice couldn't get a day off for Lollapalooza, once he cancelled his opening slot for the Roots and now.) The Universe is clearly conspiring against me. Well, one more album, one more chance to see him live, I guess.

Kanye ended the show with a 10 minute rant about a single bad review of the concert he got in a magazine. Sample: You CAN'T criticize something I made without emotion dispassionately when I MADE IT WITH EMOTION. This isn't a term paper. I MADE THIS WITH EMOTION AND YOU CANT TELL ME ITS NOT PERFECT. Artists have feelings too! We hurt! Feel sorry for me! Clap and tell me how much you love me! (Audience cheers) etc. etc. etc. FUCK CRITICS! etc. etc.

I am enthralled by Kanye's ego and this his self-centredness is central to most of his best music, but it was just plain unpleasant. How much did we pay for even the worst seats in the house? Yeah. I thought so. How much are you making every night of this tour? Thought so. How many people are here cheering for you? Exactly. And you want my pity? Sorry, 'Ye...great show, but you're not gonna get it.

Jus' got back from finally FINALLY catching a Dizzee show in Ottawa (Ottawa? Ottawa!) since he wasn't stopping in MTL or Toronto on his co-headlining tour with El-P. Damn.

I wasn't familiar enough with El-P's stuff to really enjoy his set, but it was decent time-biding music. Dizzee, on the other hand....Somehow, since it's Ottawa and friggin' nobody goes to concerts, we were pressed right up against the stage. Played a bunch of stuff from Maths + English, one new track called "Bounce wit Me" and a smattering of stuff from Showtime and Boy in da Corner. He hit pretty much everything I wanted to hear, except for Brand New Day, Round We Go, 2 Far and Dream. Jus' a Rascal, Fix Up and Stand Up Tall we fucking massive and I Luv U was killller.

Damn good show.

Note to Self: Have an ideas book at all times.

In the shower this morning, I came up with a good idea for a reductivist music thinkpiece, but following a two hour nap on the bus home, it's somewhat slipped away from me.

Something about the desire to make Grand Artistic Statements of Importance, and how setting out with the goal of doing so inevitably prevents the achievement of such a goal, maybe? Important music is made in the absence of the intent to do so, or in the absence of a sense of importance? (This is not to argue Spontaneity above all else or that ability and practice and arrangement stop greatness..."sense of importance" is something i need to define more clearly, i think). The greater self-consciousness in the production of rock and consciousness of its role within history and society could thus be one of the missing pieces to my poorly sketched out thoughts on rock's stagnation and the role of "politics" in rock music, as well as the sense of vitality I've been getting from more recent pop, rap, etc. in that they are (were?) less reflective on what they do socially? How is this different from ambition? (I like Ashlee's ambition on Autobiography, but this ambition isn't tied into the music as much as her sense of self, right? So much more to me you haven't seen, etc. Attempts at Importance are why Neon Bible doesn't work like Funeral, perhaps?) Can I apply this across the board, or is it limited in applicability? Does it hold water at all? (What is grander art...early or late Beatles? Brendan would say later...do I agree? Sgt. Peppers aside, were the later albums self-conscious attempts at Grand Art? Part of me says no, which is why they work for me, but who knows. I do know that the one time the Stones go Important is the one time in the 60s they lose me [Satanic Majesties])

NB: This is not a thought out argument. This is a note for future reference so that by the time I get back from my sister's high school concert I haven't once again forgotten this thread. So, feel free to comment, judge, criticize, whatever, but these aren't ideas as much as the beginnings of them. Attacking them and finding the gaps in logic will probably help me get the kernal of truth at the core here.

Addendum: I think it was Dave who brought up Music Box in the poptimist discussion about Lil Mama's L.I.F.E. and I don't know how I missed So Uncool but I'm digging it a fair bit. I'm trying to figure out what the production is doing. It almost sounds like an offshoot of the whole post-Ciara crunk'n'b era but it's not sparse enough, even though it has the electro blips and so forth. The Game Song is delightfully strange - "that's why I hate Madden", indeed - esp. the chopped and screwed "Game Over" line. The real downside of being late to the game on this stuff is that I'm constantly discovering these great albums (minor and major within the bubblegum pantheon) long after the discussion's happened.

So...the last time I posted in this thing, I'd just gotten tired of ranting about useless stuff in my life and decided to start a (since failed) music blog, given that that's what this was turning into anyway.

In the year and a half since then I've gone from entry-level wussy indie to full on indie pretension and back again, torched my grades with one C and dragged them back up to above a 3.5, and forgotten that this journal existed two or three times.

But yeah, the January Bubblegum Pop Experiment that was supposed to be self-conscious expansion of musical taste and vague humouring of my younger sister turned into something much broader, spurred on by reading shitloads of music criticism and critical theory as a means of procrastination.

So, while I'm still a pretentious indie fuck, I've also recently found that listening to and contemplating and writing about the mire of (frequently incredible) pop music out there stimulates the brain. And while it is finals and I should be writing a 12 page paper and studying for Peacebuilding (some things never change, namely my propensity to post late night rants instead of getting shit done) I will be occasionally posting some rants on that stuff here: Birdseed Shirt, because while tons of my friends are willing to discuss the finer points of Broken Social Scene, Islands or Okkervil River, the effort required to even start an intelligent conversation about say...Ashlee Simpson, for example...is often not worth the effort.

I'll keep this account to comment on posts, etc., but ramblings on music, movies, books (which i need to find time to read again), and so forth will pop up periodically over there.

Sreehc.

So during exams I got bored and started a music blog.

Trendy? Yes.
Pretentious? Yes.
Everything I seemingly hate about certain music cultures? Certainly.

However, I am nothing if not a hypocrite, so enjoy. Or ignore. Whatever.

Desperation Tentacles