|
Unsung Forum » The Horrors new LP |
Log In to post a reply
|
|
|
|
| Topic View: Flat | Threaded | |
|
riotmaster 1563 posts |
May 12, 2009, 12:48
|
||
|
I know what you mean, but what i'm saying is i can't recall the last time i heard a record and thought 'wow, thats new' It just doesn't happen anymore And i'm prefectly fine with it :-)
|
|||
Hunter T Wolfe 1710 posts |
May 12, 2009, 14:22
|
||
|
I don't find The Horrors album to be derivative or unoriginal at all. It's influenced by many things that have gone before, of course, and sometimes it references them blatantly, such as the Shangri-Las quote in 'Who's To Say.' Wooden Shjips, who I also like, sound far more derivative and in thrall to their influences- Loop, Spacemen 3, Neu! and Suicide- but they're cool cos they're a nondescript-looking bunch of Americans on a little label, and no-one hear feels threatened by them. Some other artists who were far more derivative than The Horrors, at least at an equivalent stage in their careers: The Beatles The Rolling Stones Bob Dylan James Brown The Byrds Led Zeppelin David Bowie T-Rex The Sex Pistols REM Echo and The Bunnymen Spacemen 3 etc.....
|
|||
IanB 6761 posts |
Edited May 12, 2009, 16:55
May 12, 2009, 16:51
|
||
|
Hunter T Wolfe wrote: IanB wrote: Though in this day and age if you are not good looking, or at least striking in a cartoon manner, then you are probably fucked either way. Ahem... Coldplay? Elbow? The Kaiser Chiefs? . All 90s bands. All last century. What's in the music press, what 30 year olds listen to and what teenagers are getting hot and bothered over are miles apart. It's all gone very boys-will-be-girls and J-Rock of the Dir En Grey variety. Tokio Hotel (who are German) being a pretty good example of the look. No idea what the music is like and I am not sure anyone cares.
|
|||
|
Moon Cat 9577 posts |
Edited May 12, 2009, 17:49
May 12, 2009, 17:25
|
||
|
If I might speak in defence of Elbow (elbow room?). I think it's slightly unfair, although perhaps an inevitable consequence of their recent success, that they are getting lumped in with the likes of Coldplay (and the subsequent parade of Athlete's yada yada). Yes, there are similar foundations of melancholy 'indie', whatever the fuck that means these days, in such acts but for my dollar Elbow have always had the gritter, wine-stained toothed edge over the Primark Indie Boo-Hoo brigade. Their songs are better, the lyrics are less like a shopping list of Athena Man platitudes designed to appeal to 30 something indie-princesses and guys that think standing on a hill for twenty minutes makes you 'sensitive'. Fair play to them - sonically they are far more adventurous than the band's that now seem to be their 'peer's'. The albums that were supposed to make them HOOJ, but didn't, "Cast of Thousands" and "Leaders of the Free World", whilst not being King Crimson, are at least fairly experimental in their field. And whilst I wouldn't begrudge the band their current success, I think it came at the right time for them four albums in. If the first album had gone stellar I reckon they'd have split up by now. Look at loads of the (once) big-hitters that have stalled three albums in, Kaiser Cheifs, Franz Ferdinand. If they're canny enough there's no reason why Elbow shouldn't enjoy an REMesque career in a way. I'm far from the biggest Elbow fan around but for all their false starts,(Which I think that has actually been a good thing for them in the long-run cos they will actually have a chance of having a long-run!) I think they have songs of merit and value. Name still sucks though
|
|||
|
IanB 6761 posts |
Edited May 12, 2009, 18:29
May 12, 2009, 17:40
|
||
|
keith a wrote: IanB wrote: I feel exactly the same way about Fujiya and Miyagi, Franz Ferdinand and any number of a host of acts whose members were born after the 70s were over and who seem to view pop history as something that is fair game for plunder with absolutely no sense of having to build on the past. Ironic ransacking being all the rage and an acceptable end in itself. How very 1982 of them.. To to be fair to FF, who are well into their 30's in any case, surely anyone can tell one of their records from a mile away. They've taken influences and made them sound contemporary, made them their own. Haven't been tempted to buy the third LP yet though! As for F&M, etc., let young people plunder what they want as long as the end result is good. And in F&M's case, it is (what I've heard anyway) It might be a good time to listen to Jealous Of Youth by The The, Ian! ; ) IanB wrote: All that aside we are talking about people who view music making as a career option. The Jon Bon Jovis of rock n roll. Which is why we are all aware of The Horrors in the first place. They are in it to win it. Sorry Ian, I find this quite a ridiculous thing to say. "They are in it to win it". What exactly do The Horrors want to win? Bon Jovi-like success??? Right...they're clearly going about it the wrong way then! The Horrors could be way more successful if success was all they cared about. The folk on here might well be au-fait with Krautrock and shoe-gazing, but you mention those terms to a lot of people who care less passionately about music than us lot then they haven't got a clue about them. And no, I'm not out of touch, or being condescending. I have these conversations. Joe Public doesn't know who much about Neu or MBV. You want to appeal to a mass market and be Champion's League winners in music, then you're gonna have to be way more obvious than that. There is nothing quite as sad as a middle aged man being down with da indie kids in an attempt to stay current. The cultural comb-over. The rock n roll Grecian 2000 but when it comes to popular music I'll try anything for a couple of albums that is reliably recommended to me . If it turns out to be a hollow rehash I reserve the right to say "next" even it that makes me an old **** . A "Jealous of Youth" old **** or otherwise. If the writing is original then what it sounds like matters not a jot. Everything is a rehash of something on the surface. Anyway, ref The Horrors, I think it is a mistake to confuse matters of taste with matters of fact. Just because a career looks casually anarchic or fame-adverse and you personally feel some kinship with their music does not mean it is not planned out with something akin to military precision and with the budget to match. Even if the end product has all the pizazz of a Vo5 ad. I do suspect Keith that you would be far less generous to anyone of the age of 25 basing their career on say the second and third Scorpions records. Which is where you and I always part company - the point where taste assumes the consistency of a concrete vantage point. A vantage point from which it is possible to argue that one kind of pop music is in essence more valuable than another. It simply isn't meant for that. There is no right or wrong position on a 3 minute single. Or a triple live album for that matter. As Alan Bennett has it in the History Boys "his crap or my crap - it makes no difference". As for whose crap makes into the pantheon, to misquote Chou En-lai, "Ii's too early to tell". Ephemera is in the eye of the beholder and it really is *all* ephemera. As a Dollar fan you really must see that, no?
|
|||
|
IanB 6761 posts |
Edited May 12, 2009, 17:51
May 12, 2009, 17:50
|
||
|
I know nothing about Elbow. I have a record somewhere (is there something called Great Expectations?). Played it but it didn't make me go further. Though as you are doing the recommending I will definitely give them another go. I totally rely on the recommendations of a handful of enthusaists for new music and have come to the conclusion that anything meant for me will eventually find me. I know that kind of laxity marks me down as something of a semi-pro among more serious Heads but I pretty much stopped worrying about what I might be missing out on when my first child was born back in 86. I simply haven't had the time.
|
|||
|
Moon Cat 9577 posts |
May 12, 2009, 17:50
|
||
|
keith a wrote: [quote="IanB"] To to be fair to FF, who are well into their 30's in any case, surely anyone can tell one of their records from a mile away. They've taken influences and made them sound contemporary, made them their own. Haven't been tempted to buy the third LP yet though! Neither's anyone else. That's the problem. And I actually like 'em!
|
|||
|
Moon Cat 9577 posts |
May 12, 2009, 17:55
|
||
|
I think you would find the 2nd & 3rd albums interesting if nowt else. I actually think Guy Garvey makes for a good 'singer/songwriter', and we know how shit-loaded that term is, cos he's a been round the block a bit and actually manages to generate images that don't demand ikkle puppy instant sensitivity, and goes a bit above and beyond "I feel bad cos you make me sad..." lyricism. And I think it's a credit to the band that they at least muck about with their sound in a way that folk they're lumped in with don't. There's bands I will listen to much, much more than Elbow, but at risk of sounding glib, I think they genuinely are good at what they do.
|
|||
|
IanB 6761 posts |
May 12, 2009, 18:01
|
||
|
Moon Cat wrote: keith a wrote: [quote="IanB"] To to be fair to FF, who are well into their 30's in any case, surely anyone can tell one of their records from a mile away. They've taken influences and made them sound contemporary, made them their own. Haven't been tempted to buy the third LP yet though! Neither's anyone else. That's the problem. And I actually like 'em! Did anyone (in terms of significant numbers) care about the Springsteen or U2 records either? Will a lot of people over the age of 17 have Friday marked in their diary as the date of the new Green Day record? I suspect not. If they aren't selling tickets either then that's a problem. Two of my girls saw them supporting The Cure and loved them and I actually quite liked what I heard of the new one. Out of step again!
|
|||
|
riotmaster 1563 posts |
May 12, 2009, 18:04
|
||
|
some people really do think about music too much. you either like it or you don't it doesn't need justifying or deliberating surely ? its just music. one mans Smiths is another mans shit sandwich and so on Bon Jovi are no more or less valid than anyone else either IMO. unless you are a music snob of course
|
| Pages: 7 – [ Previous | 1 2 3 4 5 6 | Next ] | Add a reply to this topic |
|
|
|
| Unsung Forum Index | |
