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I confess - I'm part of the Indie Rock Mafia. I like to stand
at concerts with my arms crosses and bop my head. A band with
too many instrument pedals makes me happy. And I get a little
chill whenever I hear those self-effacing, relationships-suck-because-I
screwed-up-everything lyrics. I like the Replacements; I love
The Pogues. I bounce to Built to Spill and I survived a concert
by The Make Up.
My friends have suggested that the music a person is drawn
to reflects what is missing in their own soul as well as what
talks to their own lives. [Specifically,
this is PostLibyan's theory. Just making sure credit is given
where credit is due! -- Brendan.] In that case I love
the sloppiness of a good jangly depressed indie rock band because:
- I'm a control freak.
- My relationships are inevitably disasterous.
Furthermore, I am a concert
junkie - I live to see music performed. To me, the recorded
medium is secondary - I listen to most albums and think of how
they translate to the stage. I realize this isn't fair to many
bands, but hey, I'm allowed my opinion.
With all that said, when the new Death Cab for Cutie album
was recommended to me, I bought it sight unseen. I wouldn't
have recognized one of their songs if it had crawled up to me
in a bar and started to gnaw on my ankles.
So I went home and popped it in (PING!) and sat back.
And I listened.
My first thought was, "hey these guys sound a lot like
Modest Mouse."
Then I thought, "hey these guys belong on Kindercore."
And finally I thought, "That song sounds a lot like Crooked
Fingers!"
So, in other words, yep, they're an indie rock band. They've
got the slightly melancholy key changes and the delay heavy
guitars. The singer writes about meeting up with former loves
and not being invited places. And I can see myself standing
in front of a stage bouncing my head as I mouth the lyrics.
In other words, I didn't hear anything that made me go "wow!
I've never heard that before!" (See: Godspeed You Black
Emperor!) but it's an enjoyable little album -- nothing that
makes me go "what the hell were these freaks smoking!?"
And on the best songs (such as Title Track or Company
Calls), they measure up to best indie rock material out
there.
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