hey folks, this is Mira, a member of WMHC’s dedicated DJ posse. I recently went through a whole passel of CDs, and among them was the new-ish album, The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations’ Millennium General Assembly, from Le Loup. I always try and check up on what other people have said when I’m reviewing albums — the idea is to provide balance & context but the unfortunate side effect is that I end up criticizing other reviewers, or criticizing the band’s image, than actually looking at the music for what it is. Amusingly enough, Pitchfork is just as guilty of that on their review of Throne of the Third Et Cetera. I read a blog about their review of the Cold War Kids album Robbers and Cowards (unfortunately I can’t find it now) that suggested Marc Hogan’s negative rating was essentially a middle finger flipped at blog- and Myspace-centered hype. Since Le Loup has been described as “DC’s Arcade Fire” and Pitchfork, of course, was the main factor in the frenzy about that particular band, Pitchfork might be feeling like they’ve created a monster.
They didn’t invent the hype machine, of course. Whatever bands might say in interviews and whatever we indie snobs might prefer, music has never been just a matter of pure art. Ashley and I always joke about judging bands by their names and covers — when you have a huge pile of CDs, you have to choose the first one to put in your CD player by some sort of arbitrary standard, whether that’s their record label, the recommendations they come with, or the picture on the front. But ultimately you’ve got to listen to it, and that’s why the Cold War Kids got a 5.0 from Pitchfork (deservedly in my opinion, but YMMV) and Le Loup got a 7.3 and a much better review. Because Le Loup is a good, interesting band, even without the hype, even without the pretentious song titles or the allusions to a particular famous DC outsider artist. Good for them, I guess; give it a try.
Wanted to say, though, that I do think some people need to get over their fetish for well-produced, big-sound bands a la Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene. Nothing against these groups — both are pretty up there on my Last.fm list — but that sort of grandiose music isn’t just hard to do, but nobody wants to feel like they’re in a movie montage every time they put their headphones on. Almost all the songs that I find myself listening to over and over again are melodic, non-epic, little-music numbers — singer-songwriter things, old lo-fi post-punk bits, or anthems of whatever genre. Most recently this song, Dočasná záležitost from Peto Tazok, a Slovak rapper (seriously) with a weird voice, and Mammút, another one of the awesome Scandinavian bands we can’t get enough of (this one comes with a little more piss and vinegar, though).
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