Boys, Boys

[Bob Krajewski <lmi-angel!rpk>]

Umm, in my ``Anti-Flame,'' I was enumerated poses that I thought were
composed of at least 70% bogosity, though some of them have a grain of truth
in them.  It's directed mostly at the pat-on-the-back sceneness that the
zine-droolers engage in.  Lots of good (hey, great) American bands have been
slaving away when the ``groovy train'' was nowhere to be found, and now that
there's a reasonable grapevine and distribution network for independents
(well most of them, anyway), Sturgeon's Law is more apparent than ever.  My
greeatest distress originates from that fact that there's this mythical
American sound out there that marks you as being honest.  Well, excuse me,
but I just listen to the stuff.  Hey, how ``American'' did Pylon sound ?
Why do smug DJ's (and I'm not even talking about the usual spoon-fed
cawlitch radio types here) say things like, ``Remember when we used to play
reggae ?''

When REM were making their first rounds, it was OK for them to acknowledge
New Order as an influence (not that any REM influence-elements would be easy
to spot).  Nowadays, I can't even convince a local hipster that this guy I
met who plays in a tight funk band also likes Alex Chilton.  Gosh, how could
anybody be like that ?  I do not include the hard/post-core community and
all the other original misfits in this bunch.  It's not even the few good
bands caught in the whole stampede (though, sadly, the stampede is mostly
towards the good ol' days).  The music comes first, dammit.

Let's talk a little about synths.  First of all, I think there are a lot of
synths that are cheaper than `good' guitars now.  I also want to muse on
sampling for a while.  Of course ``post-modern'' types (hey, I can get in
the mood for it !) like quote-power, the deconstructionist capabilities.  I
don't believe that this mode of music/art-construction is neccessarily
wonderful, but in good hands, it can add undeniable sensual power
while making its references.  (As you can infer, I do like sounds, and
lyrics are usually only of secondary importance.)  There are very few
machines that give as much control over really organic, dirty, and laden-
with-meaning sounds as Fairlights and their ilk.  The best context for these
things seems to be ``real'' instruments, mostly acoustic.  You should all be
familiar with two examples: The Dreaming and the Hounds of Love.  (I'd also
like to throw in The Flat Earth by Thomas Dolby.)

Rather Random Ripostes:

Somebody mentioned Birdsongs of the Mesozoic as a band that used synths.
Well, they do have a little Moog, a funky Roland drum box, and a Linn (the
one new piece of equipment in two years), but everything is low-tech, like
worn, comfortable electric tennis-shoes.  I'm afraid the Cab's current
approach is running out of steam: I find that two chunks (Crackdown and the
Arm, the Sword...) are enough for me.  Try something like Hula or Guerilla
Warfare (hope I got the name right) from Canada instead.  Hey, is your local
college radio outlet going to play a record by a group that does Wild Cherry
and Ohio Players covers ?  (Well, if RUN-DMC can do Aerosmith...)