Seriously, though, this is like the Gabbo episode of The Simpsons where Krusty's show falls apart and he can only offer Worker and Parasite, Eastern Europe's hottest cat and mouse duo, in lieu of Itchy and Scratchy. Except imagine that the cat and mouse duo was Finnish and they rocked the microphone.
>a recent (last 5-10 years) shift towards cultural conservatism and financial accountability (not just in the >exec's but also in the general student population) has meant that "interesting but obscure" and "financially >risky" artists are bypassed.
This is more or less it. Don't just blame the exec's for a generally thankless task, blame all the insufferably bland Von-Dutch/Export cap denizens of your lectures and tutorials.
There's supposedly wheels turning to try and bring Les Savy Fav and Broken Social Scene here as well around Orientation-ish time as an adjunct to their Oz tours. It's all gonna be pretty frantic for tour organizers. Though we love you etenally and appreciate your efforts. :)
Cries of "post-modern irony" and surprise at university audiences not wanting to see an indie pop band fall of deaf ears. Fact is, Bomfunk MC's will end up doing a tonne better among yer average punter than the Arcade Fire. Which sickens me, but it's a fact. I'd estimate less than ten percent of Auckland uni listens to bfm, for example. Most of them listen to the same awful shit that the rest of the world does, the same dreck they liked in 1999 as fourth formers, occassionally adding a seminal artist like Crazy Frog or Kelly Clarkson or Nelly to their musical interests as time passes and Top 40 Charts turn over. Why do you think places like the Loaded Hog get packed to the gills every weekend? Point is, as far as an interesting musical climate goes (ignoring the subsets of people really into indie, punk, hip-hop, decent metal, etc) student culture is pretty moribund and has been for a few years.
I still like this album a lot, though not as much as when it came out.
Posting again to re-iterate that if you cut the bullshit Auckland scene backlash away, and everything else peripheral, The Mint Chicks was one probably one of the five best albums released anywhere this year. If they'd gone into York Street or something like every other dime-a-dozen NZ rock band, the results could have been insufferably generic. Honestly, isn't it refreshing to hear a band trying to pull off jazz-fusion interludes on their first album, rather than Song-Song-Song-Song-Ballad-LOOK THIS BALLAD JUST FADED INTO THE NEXT SONG AMBITIOUS PRODUCTION?
Funny, I found that Mint Chicks album to be one of the most idea-packed albums I heard all year. I guess part of it is that those ideas tend to fly past in jagged fragments rather than fully fleshed out songs. But I love bands like Minutemen and Liars, so it was always going to appeal to me none the less.
OH! Oh oh oh oh. Fucking Breaks Co-Op, if that was this year. I believe sincerely that all the reviewers that slapped five stars on that album will look back in embarassment in two years' time. Plays like a market research firm engineering the ideal 'generic bestselling summer album'.
Yeah, it's not really my thing either. I don't know whether it IS in fact overrated, or it's just something out of a genre I don't really get, though. I've got no real desire to hear it again, but I'm glad of their success. And I'll be eternally glad if people play it over the summer instead of being all like "Brah, break out the Jack Johnson/Sublime". Ick.
Yeah. I didn't harbour the hate others seem to over the first two albums (they were still better than, say, Keane or Starsailor) but fuck both those tepid, overwrought singles. And the rest, which I heard in many a CD store.
Arrrgh. Dammit. Yes, I meant "Pegasus"!
You better not get me angry about this, I just smoked up! GRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAGH! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!! THIS IS WHEN I REACH FOR MY SWORD!!!
Some of these are pretty good lists, although I keep seeing a lot of 2004 stuff (oops) Mine is super-predictable, usually it takes until the next year for me to form a more interesting list as I check out less hyped-stuff.
In some sort of rough order?
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary
The Mint Chicks - Fuck The Golden Youth
Stephen Malkmus - Face The Truth
LCD Soundsystem - s/t
Antony And The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock N' Roll
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - s/t
Die!Die!Die! - s/t
Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Broken Social Scene - s/t
Thunderbirds Are Now! - Justamoustache
Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better
Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger
The Ponys - Celebration Castle
Architecture In Helsinki - In Case We Die
Doves - Some Cities
The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
The Phoenix Foundation - Horsepower
Special bonus vote that would be right up there if we're counting complilations: Belle and Sebastian - Push Barman To Open Old Wounds
'Riverhead' is unconditionally one of the best straight-ahead pop albums of the decade.
'Out Of The Moon' is pretty mediocre, that said.
Is that Death From Above 1979 that Goldenhorse were opening for? No wonder the reviewer was baffled - DFA1979 make heavy, awesome noise-rock.
The prospect of anything resembling Crowded House ever besmirching New Zealand music again would send it back to the dark ages.
Hahahahha, holy shit. My sympathies.
Just goes to show commercial radio is fucking worthless, though.
95bFm plays The Strokes, Interpol, Kings Of Leon and a bunch of other quality international and local acts. It's a damn sight more consistent and interesting currently than Channel Z ever was, let alone Kiwi FM.
Bingo.
I still think the first two albums are really strong though.
I'm Slowdive, and they're the one I've barely heard! I'll have to check em out...
Yeah, I totally echo what Jimi said, irrespective of my earlier criticisms. I admire you for actually fronting up on here, considering how obnoxious the debate can get. And some rarities would be awesome, although I thought last night's show was pretty solid.
> come on bomfunk cancellation gang of four replacement. come on...
Hell YES.