Sunday, April 29, 2007

My vain struggle for hipness and relevance

Yes I should take a moment and record my reflections on last Friday's performance. They are myriad and dark.

First, however - you know, it has been a few years since a friend of mine suggested I listen to Modest Mouse. I got a good ten years on this person and I respect her taste in music it scares me to touch one of her mix CDs. She was into Death Cab for Cutie before the Postal Service. Woo.

So this new MM album comes out and what do I do, I sample it on iTunes (because that's what you do) and there's one track I respond to, Dashboard and when I listen to the entire thing all I can think it, this isn't just emulating XTC, this is XTC, from the staccato guitar riffs to the descending choruses of "OH! OH! OH! OH! OH!" The lyrics are even Partridge in their extreme.

Thought about getting the rest of the record as part of their "complete your album" promotion ... but I don't want to. The rest of it just sounds like Death Cab.

2 comments:

niobe said...

At least your friend's consistent.

Looking forward to your reflections. How could it be otherwise, given my fondness for all that is myriad and (especially) dark?

pengo said...

Yes, well, truth is I find it difficult to write about performance, because unless my appraisal is all sunny and positive, I can really find I've put my foot in it. After seeing a perf, a lot of people make their way here - so it's exactly the people I am most likely to offend who are going to find me kvetching about what they thought was a touching experience.

So now I have to write something, because those same people are now going to wait for the other shoe to drop. I will satisfy them, and you, in a day or two. It was a great experience, the problem it seems it me.