Thinkpiece: Stupid is the New Smart

(Disclaimer: As ever with these sort of torturous state-of-the-nation rambles, I pretty much thought this one up as I went along and am not presenting what follows as any sort of coherent manifesto. Critiques and mockery welcomed in the comments, and I reserve the right to violently disagree with myself by about, ooh, this time next month maybe? – Enjoy.)

There are so many great, fun new stupid, noisy, great bands popping out of the woodwork at the moment, I’ve been a bit lost for words trying to get my head around ‘em all.

I’ve been thinking recently about how the nature of myspace, last.fm (not that I use last.fm), hype machine and quick downloads of singles/mp3s have changed the way I approach new music, and presumably the way everyone else does too. Yeah, I know all of those things have been around for a while, but... uh, I dunno, maybe it’s taken a while for their wider ramifications to filter down to the heart of our listening process?

The last year or two has seen a lot of people (myself included) trying to formulate a rationale/explanation for the “lo-fi/DIY boom” or whatever you want to call it – y’know, the one that’s seen an ever increasing number of scrappy, home-recorded bands of variable quality finding themselves pushed into the public eye, with results both pleasing and deeply silly in equal measure.

And naturally, we aforementioned commentators have been quick to call bullshit on all these oft-times lazy, arrogant, unimaginative, borderline unlistenable groups, deriding the whole business as a cynical hype perpetrated, presumably, by soulless, unsavoury, self-regarding characters of some ill-defined description. Meaning, perhaps: people from the generation below us…? Scary thought, huh?

Anyway, as far as the established model of music appreciation goes, bullshit calls = fair enough. I mean, if that guy from Wavves lived across the street from me and gave me a tape of his stuff, I’d probably think he was a pretty cool kid to be blaring out such a ridiculously silly Muppet Babies do The Dead C type racket in his spare time, and I’d wish him well. But at the same time, anyone who would consider him a World Class Prospect on the indie-rock circuit, able to stand alongside all those clever, consummate, committed bands that top all the end of year polls and charm festival crowds across the globe, would clearly be some kind of abject fool or simpleton. Not because his music is worthless or doesn’t have its place in the world, but, y’know… it ain’t exactly The E Street Band is it? Multiply by the fact that he also seems like a bit of a dick, and finish this paragraph with yr own comment re: his 15 minutes sliding down the drain.

But clearly this disjuncture between ‘Local’ and ‘Global’ approaches to appreciating music requires some thought. I guess the two levels have always been there, but it’s the world-shrinking power of the internet that’s caused this strange rupture in the relationship between the two that people are still trying to get their heads around.

And, pondering this, it suddenly occurred to me that this here “lo-fi-whatever boom” is not so much a trend or movement or hype that can be analysed via the codified music industry pattern we grew up with - it’s more the result of a basic sea-change in the way we’re experiencing music.

Put it this way: I’ve always loved trashy, slapdash, noisy, weird, amateurish, geeky, fun-loving, indifferently talented punk-ass bands. In fact, I probably enjoy them a hell of a lot more than most of the ‘World Class Prospects’ out there, and it’s always been comforting to know that pretty much any populated area in the western world will have a few of these kinda bands, just kicking around and having some laughs for the benefit of whoever’s around, without ever having to worry about becoming World Class or, god forbid, ‘proper’.

What’s changed is that now THE WHOLE WORLD can hear these bands, where previously the mechanics of record distribution & critical approval would have kept them below the radar. And we can all listen to them on the same day that somebody first brings a mic and a 4-track/laptop to one their practices too. And, apparently, a lot of us are enjoying the opportunity to do just that. And, in essence, that’s PRETTY AWESOME, right?

If we can get past the tiresome critical notion that ‘innovation’ is somehow prime currency in music (as if it were a research project or something… but sorry, that’s another rant entirely), then can’t this be seen as the original spirit of the Desperate Bicycles and Television Personalities (and Dead Moon and The Gories, and Jim Shephard and Maureen Tucker?), writ large across America in permanent marker?

So a few shitty bands might accidentally create a hype snowball, and end up touring the world without a clue what they’re doing, as everyone yells “huh?? I thought these guys were supposed to be the future, they can barely even play, and they just sound like a shit version of [insert cultish ‘80s band here] anyway! I paid £10 for this! What a bunch of crap!” Yeah, well… what of it?

Personally, I’ll go on record as saying I’m happy to grab the opportunity to share in whatever racket a bunch of hip teenagers in Galeburg, Illinois are banging out this week in preference to having to make do with whatever Matador or Secretly Canadian deem to be a real strong release. And if a few people get burned as the indie establishment tries to engage with the garagebound masses…. well, so it goes.

Not that I’m suggesting that the hype perpetrated by limited edition 7” labels, by the bands themselves, and by certain shadowy conglomerates of guys who I assume probably wear baseball caps indoors and speak ominously of “jams”, is necessarily benign or well-intentioned. Indeed it often has a rather toxic feel to it that I would wish to avoid if possible. And neither am I advocating blanket acceptance of any old rubbish – many of the names more frequently thrown around in the ‘noisy & badly recorded’ sphere do nothing for me, and indeed can easily seem almost offensively useless to the untrained ear. But the negatives, I feel, are more than outweighed by the positives.

Namely, to return to my initial point, by the vast amount of music that’s streaming my way every day that’s fun, that’s energetic, that’s positive, that makes me want to jump around and praise the heavens. More of it than I can really find the time to compose any worthwhile thought about to post for you here. And it’s not like a lot of these bands require much thought from me anyway…. they’re just doing what they do and it’s good fun and it makes me grin. Hence: posting quandary.

So I’m going to do about it is: three or four brief posts, each of them throwing out the names of five new bands in this general vein who get the thumbs up from me. Some of them you might have heard about, some of them not so much, it depends where you do your reading/listening I suppose. But all of them in their own weird way embody what I love about rock n’ roll.

Just don’t expect ‘em all to be the new Guided By Voices, for that kind of genius comes but once in a lifetime. Just imagine you’ve had a few beers and you’re watching ‘em play at a barbeque or in a garage or something and all will be well in the world for a few minutes. And if it turns out any of them actually are the new Guided By Voices, well.. BONUS!

Nodzzz we’ve already done of course, and Dum Dum Girls, and I’ve written tons about The Vivian Girls, not to mention Hotpants Romance, Cheap Time (damn, those guys are great) and Thee Oh Sees. They’re all still my faves – probably my tips for the brightest sparks of 4-track sunlight out there - but they’re increasingly looking like the surface of a very groovy, everlasting iceberg, so….. man the boats, people!

Labels: punk rock, rambling