Why I Suppose I'm Indie.
I read an article today in the Tribune by Greg Kot, highlighting the Chicago musical fests this year. I have some knowledge regarding Intonation and the Pitchfork fest from my very musically inclined friend, Erick, but this article just made me realize that I suppose, if I am forced to be categorized, that I am more of an Indie than a Rocker or a Hip Hop-er.
Intonation held a few interesting acts, but those were acts that are largely more Indie than not (Bloc Party and The Stills). The Streets I have seen once before and am not really interested in them outside of their British roots. I get distracted by Mike Skinner's lyrics in that I find them really, really boring. The word geezer just doesn't do it for me ten times over. Or something like "who dares wins." Whatever.
Also on the docket at Intonation is Rhymefest, another artist that I have no interest in seeing (the only song I am familiar with is that of the track Brand New with Kanye West - and yes, the fact that I only know of that one track also confirms my otherwise non Hip Hop classification) but when the effort of the song seems to remain on finding words that rhyme with " it, " and the line "get off my dick" is used, as well as the word "bitch" thrown around, I tend to take issue.
Maybe this is more about hip hop and how I think I used to like hip hop or at least respected it - and to some degree I still do - but lately what i see as hip hop is just so bad..but yet, I don't know of any hip hop artists that are classified as"bad," which is part of the problem I have...they're all good to these critics, but some more than others. Where else do I see this in other musical genres?
The pitchfork fest thus appears to be more appealing to me. Bands like O Mutantes, The Walkmen, Yo La Tengo, and Tapes 'n Tapes make me happy, mainly be/c I don't feel pressure to like their music be/c otherwise I am seen as a sheltered, low minded music appreciator. I just like it, really not having to try, which is what i think music should be (be/c if its supposed to be "difficult" or if I am supposed to learn something from it then I have truly fallen into the echelon of the snobby music appreciator and I hate them). True, I don't really enjoy reading Pitchfork as much as I used to when I was in college, and this started, *importantly*, when they began to give ridiculously praised filled reviews to hip hop artists out of, what I view, as fear of being labeled a racist, or being pigeonholed as someone who doesn't understand good, meaningful, progressive and "important" music from that which is not. Kind of like saying you should appreciate jazz for what it is, not what you want it to be. To these critics, hip hop is our generations jazz.
Example: Pitchfork's review of 50 Cent's The Massacre, which they rated as a 7.0: "Clued in by an intro skit in which a sweet-sounding young damsel receiving a Valentine gets blasted by bullet-spray, we get it." That's a 7.0? In what universe? That alone as an INTRO is enough for me to turn off the album (which is why I am not a critic). What determines those ratings, and in turn, what determines some hip hop to be okay and others to be unacceptable to these critics? Do hip hop artists recieve such bloated praise for being products of an environment that they rap about? (see "racist" society, difficulty moving up through the class systems, bad education, police brutality, etc.) - and this, the American black eye for centuries.
It bothers me that music critics, when reviewing these artists, tend to become the equivilant of knee jerk liberals in music. I'm not afraid to say it: I think the hip hop artists that I have been exposed to write songs that are alarmingly filled with insecurities, double standards, and an incredible obsession with wealth (and I don't want to hear anything about how they went from being "nothing"), and things that you can buy and show off, be it a woman or jewelry or cars.
The videos are another topic altogether - again, I am not saying I am adverse to women who choose to strip down to next to nothing to make money be/c its their choice, and to voice an opposition to that choice - expecting them to reign in sexuality or sexualized behavior, is never healthy, but I really don't like the image that is portrayed that some of these rappers feel so empowered by that I see in their videos - throwing champagne on women (why does that make them feel good?), for example. I just don't get it and I don't like it and I really hate that music critics nowadays are so hell bent on being ridiculously accepting of terrible music (again, I realize that all choices are subjective but come one, that review of 50 cent was completely inappropriate. Is there some sort of musical criticism curb that is employed?).
I wouldn't be surprised if most of the people who attend Intonation are from a sector that has never lived anything similar to what these artists rap about - so why does it remain so empowering to that audience, so important, and what is it that makes it relevant to them other the than pop culture factor? You put those lyrics down on paper and it reads like some crazy, incoherent advertisement for a lifestyle that practically no one can afford or lives. The beats themselves might be alright but its so much repetition that without the rhymes it makes you feel like you're being tortured. So the two are necessary then...for a form of music that i think could drastically be improved if critics stopped being so incredibly forgiving.
Circus Wedding Part II of II....
...will be posted upon the arrival of the wedding photos. I just tell a story better when I have photos I can link.
I read an article today in the Tribune by Greg Kot, highlighting the Chicago musical fests this year. I have some knowledge regarding Intonation and the Pitchfork fest from my very musically inclined friend, Erick, but this article just made me realize that I suppose, if I am forced to be categorized, that I am more of an Indie than a Rocker or a Hip Hop-er.
Intonation held a few interesting acts, but those were acts that are largely more Indie than not (Bloc Party and The Stills). The Streets I have seen once before and am not really interested in them outside of their British roots. I get distracted by Mike Skinner's lyrics in that I find them really, really boring. The word geezer just doesn't do it for me ten times over. Or something like "who dares wins." Whatever.
Also on the docket at Intonation is Rhymefest, another artist that I have no interest in seeing (the only song I am familiar with is that of the track Brand New with Kanye West - and yes, the fact that I only know of that one track also confirms my otherwise non Hip Hop classification) but when the effort of the song seems to remain on finding words that rhyme with " it, " and the line "get off my dick" is used, as well as the word "bitch" thrown around, I tend to take issue.
Maybe this is more about hip hop and how I think I used to like hip hop or at least respected it - and to some degree I still do - but lately what i see as hip hop is just so bad..but yet, I don't know of any hip hop artists that are classified as"bad," which is part of the problem I have...they're all good to these critics, but some more than others. Where else do I see this in other musical genres?
The pitchfork fest thus appears to be more appealing to me. Bands like O Mutantes, The Walkmen, Yo La Tengo, and Tapes 'n Tapes make me happy, mainly be/c I don't feel pressure to like their music be/c otherwise I am seen as a sheltered, low minded music appreciator. I just like it, really not having to try, which is what i think music should be (be/c if its supposed to be "difficult" or if I am supposed to learn something from it then I have truly fallen into the echelon of the snobby music appreciator and I hate them). True, I don't really enjoy reading Pitchfork as much as I used to when I was in college, and this started, *importantly*, when they began to give ridiculously praised filled reviews to hip hop artists out of, what I view, as fear of being labeled a racist, or being pigeonholed as someone who doesn't understand good, meaningful, progressive and "important" music from that which is not. Kind of like saying you should appreciate jazz for what it is, not what you want it to be. To these critics, hip hop is our generations jazz.
Example: Pitchfork's review of 50 Cent's The Massacre, which they rated as a 7.0: "Clued in by an intro skit in which a sweet-sounding young damsel receiving a Valentine gets blasted by bullet-spray, we get it." That's a 7.0? In what universe? That alone as an INTRO is enough for me to turn off the album (which is why I am not a critic). What determines those ratings, and in turn, what determines some hip hop to be okay and others to be unacceptable to these critics? Do hip hop artists recieve such bloated praise for being products of an environment that they rap about? (see "racist" society, difficulty moving up through the class systems, bad education, police brutality, etc.) - and this, the American black eye for centuries.
It bothers me that music critics, when reviewing these artists, tend to become the equivilant of knee jerk liberals in music. I'm not afraid to say it: I think the hip hop artists that I have been exposed to write songs that are alarmingly filled with insecurities, double standards, and an incredible obsession with wealth (and I don't want to hear anything about how they went from being "nothing"), and things that you can buy and show off, be it a woman or jewelry or cars.
The videos are another topic altogether - again, I am not saying I am adverse to women who choose to strip down to next to nothing to make money be/c its their choice, and to voice an opposition to that choice - expecting them to reign in sexuality or sexualized behavior, is never healthy, but I really don't like the image that is portrayed that some of these rappers feel so empowered by that I see in their videos - throwing champagne on women (why does that make them feel good?), for example. I just don't get it and I don't like it and I really hate that music critics nowadays are so hell bent on being ridiculously accepting of terrible music (again, I realize that all choices are subjective but come one, that review of 50 cent was completely inappropriate. Is there some sort of musical criticism curb that is employed?).
I wouldn't be surprised if most of the people who attend Intonation are from a sector that has never lived anything similar to what these artists rap about - so why does it remain so empowering to that audience, so important, and what is it that makes it relevant to them other the than pop culture factor? You put those lyrics down on paper and it reads like some crazy, incoherent advertisement for a lifestyle that practically no one can afford or lives. The beats themselves might be alright but its so much repetition that without the rhymes it makes you feel like you're being tortured. So the two are necessary then...for a form of music that i think could drastically be improved if critics stopped being so incredibly forgiving.
Circus Wedding Part II of II....
...will be posted upon the arrival of the wedding photos. I just tell a story better when I have photos I can link.