May 4, 2010

Don't Believe The Hype: April

Does negativity mesh with music blogs, seeing as they are predominantly a promotional platform for fans to spread the word about their favorite bands? I'm not sure. But with the ridiculous onslaught of new music finding its way to the web everyday, sometimes a little negative criticism is necessary to make way for deserving bands waiting in the background. That being said, here are two heavily hyped and lauded bands that have recently ripped through the interweb. And I can't get through a track.*

Sleigh Bells
These Best New Music recipietents are being tagged as revolutionary mainly for their excrutiatingly loud volume. With big looped beats, repetitive gain-heavy guitar licks, and repeated vocal melodies, repitition and noise are obviously the duo's biggest selling points. It's an absurdly simple formula, yet it's working and spreading like wildfire. Their best song to date, "Ring, Ring," (*the lone exception which I admittedly love) can't really even be considered a cover as it's 95% of the 1971 Funkadelic song "Can You Get To That" with the other 5% belonging to singer Alexis Krauss's new vocal melody—it's more like creative karaoke. The real question is, should a song so unoriginal be so wildly celebrated? It's worked in pop music and hip-hop for decades and so my problem here isn't really with the Sleigh Bells, but with the ridiculous praise they've been showered with from critics and fans alike. "Revolutionary" and "new" are terms that should be saved for bands uniquely original—ones that transcend the current static landscape of music. Not for songs generated by sampling or original work so short it must be looped every 35 seconds.

Sleigh Bells - "Tell 'Em"

Two Door Cinema Club
Who doesn't like electro pop? It's blissful and shamelessly fun. But Two Door Cinema Club are the Jason Mraz equivalent of the genre. Sure, like Mraz, they're obviously talented and will inevitably find success, but also like Mraz, there's little originality, weight or substance behind the songs. Music doesn't have to be existential or deep. Chromeo's nostalgic and self-aware irony works fantastically well as does the ridiculous science-fiction laser-show that is Ghostland Observatory. Cut Copy's lyrics certainly aren't mind-bending either running with the oft-used and cliched topic of love, but within their incredibly rich and original sonic framework, it works as a pleasant contrast. Two Door Cinema Club's music is shiny, well-produced and incredibly catchy, but there is nothing challenging or new here instrumentally or thematically to make it interesting. It's amazingly well done fluff in the vein of the Emo wave that took over the "alternative" and "punk" genres in the late 90's and early 00's. With a little humor or tension injected, perhaps songs like the deliriously peppy "Something Good Can Work" would achieve a more dynamic quality and work. But right now, it plays like over-chewed bubblegum.

Two Door Cinema Club - "Something Good Can Work"

Note: These are my highly subjective opinions. If this music makes you happy, please continue enjoying it and supporting the artists.

Two Door Cinema Club

1 comment:

  1. I listened to sleigh bells before seeing them play with Yeasayer a few weeks ago, and I couldn't get into it at all...but then I saw them live and it actually wasn't too bad. It was very dance-able, given I was under some influence, but none the less I was grooving.
    I tried listening to them again today, and it's just not there...it's weird how that works.

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