I personally felt that some of the bands you criticized - you were being harsh and the same complaints could well have been addressed to just about any other band, regardless of their origin. Take I Am David Sparkle, which you said sounded too Mogwai-ish - the Mogwai sound has itself changed across every album from their early singles to now. Even within albums, Mogwai has a rather broad songwriting style and I think it's easy to discern one track from the next. Mogwai in turn derived plenty of it's early sound from Slint, Rodan, June of 44, Sonic Youth etc. Ok, let's go easy - which era of Mogwai do you feel IADS emulate? Or is it just that a band playing instrumental post rock will automatically get tagged with a tag because it's easy to make that association? be honest.
Yes mogwai did as you say. But I think that comparison isn't quite right, mogwai might have been influenced, but their sound was pretty different from all the bands you mention. Probably closest to slint, but still they were still quite different in my opinion. I see accusations of them being slint rip-offs being similar to the muse and radiohead comparisons. There might be similarities but their not just stealing the other band's identity.
Which I feel i am David sparkle did.
But I've checked out i am david sparkle's myspace and they seem to have evolved. Though I think it sounds worse now.
I'd say they stole from different parts of mogwai eras. Most from young team and mr beast, those are the two albums I listen to the most from mogwai, so maybe they've taken some from other albums i wouldn't know.
Songwriting wise, alot of the bands you mentioned do write genre-specific songs - there is nothing wrong with that if they're good at it, in fact you do expect a band to somewhat play along the lines of a certain sound. Not every form of music is meant to be experimental and bold and cutting edge and different for the sake of being so. Music's largely about enjoyment, and sometimes it's simple catchy stuff that works that angle best.
Different for the sake of being so? I think people have this common misconception that some bands are just trying to go about doing some uber avant-garde stuff just for the sake of doing weird and ridiculous shit. I mean there are obviously some people who do that, but there are plenty of bands who try and come up with interesting and fresh music, borrowing influences from all over. As opposed to just sticking to one style of music and playing it over and over again.
I acknowledge that not every form of music is supposed to be experimental etc etc. But I think if the scene wants to grow it has to have different types of bands, the scene now in my opinion is very sameish, the only way you can differentiate a good handful of the bands is the vocalist.
I know, people want to enjoy music, that's the point of it. I don't put down bands for wanting to play normal rock, pop, hip hop whatever the hell, or force their bands into a genre. But frankly I think they don't do it well, it's simple as that. Electrico for example, the way I see it they don't do anything new, especially their older stuff, but they sound good. I like them, though I prefer more interesting music but I still think they do what they do decently.
My one post about doing something different, was more catered towards a musician group. From my point of view, new interesting fresh music would help the scene alot more than just a bunch of what are essentially cover bands. Look at the 60s-70s, punk, grunge. Sure the leading bands weren't that original, but they didn't go backward.
I want to reiterate the point that I have nothing against cover bands, bands who just want to play certain genres, bands strictly formed for fun, etc etc. This thread is about what is needed to improve the SG rock music scene, and in my opinion, what is needed is something more interesting.
Good on you for being honest about that. Just appreciate there's a long way to go, and I'm just hoping you realise that your "journey of discovery", to dial a cliche, has barely begun. You may not realise it, but your post betrays a certain arrogance and smugness that you later claim you are opposed to.
I know, I'm 17, I realise it.
As for my arrogance, if I'm right, you're referring to that entire indie elitism thing? Well I do not think I am better or superior to people who choose to listen to radio music, hype bands, jazz, blues, pop, whatever. Anyone can listen to anything they want to, music is all about enjoyment. If you want to listen to caracal, go right ahead. If you want to listen to the village people, I don't care. Do I think I'm better than you? No. I however will say in regards to the local scene, bands that are regressive do not help develop it to a point where it really matters, and when their horrible, they make it worse. I will say that I have been harsh on bands like caracal, cardinal avenue etc etc. Their not too old and they will grow.
Bands that bring something interesting to the table will be noticed, and they will inspire other bands to do something less generic, that's what should be ripped off, the mentality of progressing on to something else.
Obviously, one could sit back for 300 years if they live that long and see a really cool music scene, but if we can speed it up, why not?
I don't think local bands have no talent, everyone has talent, everybody who is willing has the ability to make interesting music. Just that I think most of their heads are stuck in a box.
If thinking that the local scene would benefit the greatest from bands making music that progresses, and more importantly sounds good, makes me an elitist. Which you say I don't realize, then I guess I don't.
You don't have to like local bands, for sure. But to say that you are stereotyping and generalising really does completely disregard all the effort and hard work that bands put in. At least recognise that and respect that. Alot of the time our prejudices are inherent and we may not even recognise them. They may stem from reasons as trite as "wow they're nothing special" which translates to "hell i could do that better, if only [...]" - impressions that you could have formulated from just seeing them play one gig, staying for 3 songs, and then moving on. Be honest with yourself about where you're coming from.
I think, when one is making a general statement about a wide topic. Their basically stereotyping and giving what is essentially a summary of whatever it is. Not to mention, I was specifically talking about the negatives. I wasn't giving a summary of the local scene, I was giving a summary of what I think is holding it back.
Time is a very rare and precious commodity that many people do not have the luxury of. Say you're working a 12 hour job or doing your post grad studies. you want to listen to good music. what do you google, "good music"? you need an active interest and acumen to follow, read up and listen in depth to new music. and we all know sometimes it takes repeat listens for something to really shine. where does that leave those with no time? this is the reason why history has shown great success in radio and mtv spoonfeeding the general population - they're telling you what to like! they play it on repeat, and naturally after repeat listens, people tend to pick up on something and their interest and like grows (until you reach the saturation point / overplaying). That's basic psychology.
Nothing wrong with people who want to focus on other stuff besides music. I've mentioned before that music isn't the most important thing in life, which is pretty obvious, and if someone wants to focus on medicine, physics or whatever, good for them.
If you really do care about music, I don't think there's any excuse for not having enough time. It's all about whether you're dedicated enough to choose a career related to music, or go and do something that will make you a decent living. People are realistic, they want to just earn a living, because after all they want to make their kids have better lives, make their wife happier, etc etc. If they want to do that, that's fine, but it's all about whether you want to sacrifice things for music. I'm still 17, maybe I'll eventually lose this fire for music and go become a insurance agent, but right now this is how I feel about it.
for me, as long as music means something to you, you deserve to derive your enjoyment out of that. we are all free to have opinions but i also think we should seriously think carefully about how and why we formulate these opinions. there's no shame in one day realising and admitting that we said some pretty stupid shit that was based largely on ignorance, prejudice and wanton assumptions. Hope that day comes for you sooner rather than later.
you keep assuming that i think people are less deserving of music because they listen to stuff i don't like or think is boring, or people don't deserve to play it because they play bad music, they play generic music, etc etc. this is untrue, i think i've repeated this over and over again. people can do whatever makes them happy, i do not think i am better than them.
people seem to be derailed from the topic which is the local rock music scene and thus are targeting me from my slamming of local bands who do not do as much as they could for the local scene, by doing something more interesting and being more engaging. they don't have to of course, but you know, this is just me, suggesting what could be done to help the local scene.
god this is so long, i've probably repeated certain things many many times.
