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| From | "Stewart Mason" <craigtorso@verizon.net> |
| Subject | Re: The Toms struggling to be heard on the A-list? |
| Date | Fri, 14 Oct 2005 16:48:28 -0400 |
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Not Lame" <popmusic@notlame.com>
> Well, a board like this is a reflection of the people who populate
> it and
> they speak w/ their energies in words typed. I just think it's a
> shame
> it's not given more 'energy'. But you can't force folks to care
> about what
> they don't care or are indifferent about. And ya know? Sometimes,
> frankly, if I'm honest, a *lot* of it does not merit a lot of
> discussion,
> either!
True words spoken, but there's another side to it as well. Over my
years on Audities, I've learned to hold my tongue when I'm less than
enamored of an indie artist, because history has shown that sometimes
folks here (and I'm undoubtedly as guilty as anyone else, although I
like to think I've gotten better over the years) can take
contradictory opinions as direct personal attacks. I refrained from
chiming in on the recent Saul Zonana mini-thread, for example, because
my review of his most recent album ends with the phrase "competent
mediocrity." And if I ever outright dislike an artist (such
as...well, the Toms, whose self-titled album I absolutely hated), I'm
that much less likely to join in on the discussion, even though I
don't subscribe to that charming mindset of "I hate Franz Ferdinand
and anyone who likes them has just bought into the hype" that one
occasionally sees around here. (Heck, this applies to major-label
artists as well: after living with it for a while, I officially think
the Magic Numbers album is a collection of pleasant arrangements of a
lot of extremely boring songs. While I think this is easily the most
undeserving hype since the Darkness, that doesn't mean I think the
people who like the Magic Numbers are a bunch of trend-following
sheep.)
>
> But here's an recent example I'll throw out: a new Sugarplastic CD
> comes
> out? No stick. *why* is that? Well, man....THIS deserves some
> talking
> about!
Well, yeah...and my memory is that we talked about it a lot when the
songs were originally released on vinyl! (That said, I feel the need
to restate that the album previous, the atypically somber WILL, was by
some distance the best album the Sugarplastic have ever done, and
easily my favorite record by an "audities band" in years, possibly
since KON-TIKI.)
>
> But does point
> to how hard it is get indie music heard now because there is just
> too much
> of it and the good stuff is plain just taken for granted. Why can't
> this
> list do its part to doing a better job of bringing the better stuff
> out into
> the light?
Well, in that regard, I just got a box from Amazon that includes the
Bats' AT THE NATIONAL GRID, their first album in a decade and easily
their best since THE LAW OF THINGS: nothing but straight-up Kiwi
guitar pop complete with Robert Scott's inimitable lackadaisical drawl
of a voice. (www.magicmarkerrecords.com for more info) And the Green
Pajamas' 21ST CENTURY SEANCE is...well, yet another Green Pajamas
record. I'm starting to think there's probably not another STRUNG
BEHIND THE SUN in them, but if you like this sort of thing (and I
still do), this is the sort of thing you'll like.
S
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