folks.
having spent the last few days in the past, well, my own past, tis time to shed off the shackles of history and look forward. afterall, how many times have i used the phrase 'onwards and upwards'. so, subscribing to my own advise, i woke up this morning and decided to stop being so selfish and listen to new music. yes new music. something different and fresh. and lo, it came to pass that i stumbled upon a new ep by the evenings out on brainlove records. and it's like nothing else i have heard so far in '06. a mesh of ideas burst out across the 4 tracks and propelled my jaded soul into the stratosphere of joy. a glorious mess with no big name producer, no ideas of radioplay, just some young talent giving their all. in other words after spinning its 17.5 minutes of vital chaos a couple of time i became refreshed and ready to face the intray once more. (full review in the usual place) continuing the groove for new newness, i felt that recently i have had enough of beat propelled sounds, my head needed something a little more human, warm that didn't induce a pounding cranium.
amazingly, my hands fell upon the forthcoming album by the new-to-me broken social scene. first play was experienced on the stereo system proper, with the mess of instrumentation sounding disjointed and not constructed for external enjoyment i wasn't too impressed. however, a second listen on headphones revealed just how wrong i was. not knowing the bands excessive line-up (polyphonic spree with more guitars basically), or their desire for joyful sonic abandon whilst forging classic pop songs, i just didn't get it on the first listen. now that i have tuned into their thing, i reckon this could easily become this years arcade fire for many that get the chance to hear them.
i always find it fascinating to see the different strands of the so-called alternative scene developing off into various tangents, and recently the chasms of difference that exists between the uk and usa scenes has become increasingly polarised.
while the uk is still facing the fallout from the recent post-punk resurgence, and the revised need for happy pop tunesmith sidelined with a cheeky smile, it seems in america they are rediscovering the love for melody, artistic integrity, and all things that were good about the alt.rock scene of the mid '90's, but thankfully without the constant need for self analysis and painful soul purging.
in fact, in 2005/2006, i reckon that the americans are actually sending us guitar based music that far exceeds the quality of the uk current 'best-of-breeds'.
kaiser chiefs vs. clap your hands and say yeah
franz ferdinand vs. broken social scene
arctic monkeys vs.arcade fire
kasabian vs. anyone.
i know which of the above i will still be listening to in 5, nee, 1 years time. us brits seem to be currently subscribing to bands who deal with style over substance, cover art over chord sequences, where as over that stretch of deep water, things seems to have turned a joyful 180 degree since the fucking white stripes or the even more unpleasant, the killers. this new batch of bands seem to be intent on the end result, not the projected sales figures, nor the haircuts, and for once the music is worthy of love and devotion.
in fact, for many of these, i thinks it's clear that the bands have a certain d.i.y aesthetic that is wonderfully refreshing in this age of manufactured pseudo-indie bands who have their world domination manifestos published on their website prior to an album even being released.
don't get me wrong, i am very aware that if you scratch the surface there are some truly excellent bands out there in brit-land, just that the media only seem to focus on a select few, most of whom are more interested in appearing on the johnathan ross show than actually making a record that touches the hearts and minds of their hopeful audience.
oh, fuck it. rant over. in 12 hours time i will delete this post, as i decide that actually i reckon i really do like the dreadful babyshambles.
basically, i am just very glad to hear some damn fine guitar based music having felt out of the loop for quite a while (wasn't keen on the blues-garage revival, and the constant purging of gang of four styled riffs over the last 2 years began to become somewhat tiresome, and as for the britpop comeback, that's just beyond me really), irrespective of where the band comes from.
onwards and upwards.
mark e
