Underground scenes used to be characterized more by great but short-lived bands, right? (Minor Threat, the Smiths, etc.) Groups like R.E.M. were these huge exceptions. Now, thanks to more fans and licensing money and whatever else, bands are much more able to eke out these longer middle-class careers, leading to former buzz bands going on to release album three, four, five, etc. and doing the Rolling Stones endless tour thing. Now snowball that into the wave of new bands who appear every year and require attention and you have this: a year in which practically every band you’ve ever heard of in the last decade put out a new 3-star album. Every single one! You can count the exceptions (the Shins, the National, Interpol) on one hand; most of them put out albums last year.
You could reach into a hat, pull out Cut Copy, Bright Eyes, PJ Harvey, Junior Boys, Feist, the Decemberists, Akron/Family, St. Vincent, Death Cab, Bon Iver, Radiohead, Okkervil River, M83, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (remember?!), The Rapture, The Strokes and literally dozens more groups who once put out great records, plug them into a list at any ranking, and have it be perfectly “defensible.” There’s not a buzz drought. There’s a buzz ocean. And we’re drowning in it. Do you remember that Panda Bear even put out a record? Could you name a single song from it?
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bmichael said:
i asked a notable music writer back in, oh, june if he’d heard the new panda bear and he was like ‘no’. i said it had been out ‘for a while’, and he scoffed. (i like ‘surfers hymn’ quite a bit, still)
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daddyopolis reblogged this from rawkblog and added:
smells like middle aged discontent
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printedinternet likes this
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likeapairofbottlerockets reblogged this from rawkblog and added:
I feel like this was a year of many decent records and few great records. Last year, my top ten list was filled with...
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likeapairofbottlerockets said:
lol @ jeremy’s comment
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likeapairofbottlerockets likes this
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hi54lofi likes this
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georgiatehc likes this
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lafontusa said:
hm. are these phenomena (indie bands upstreaming and scoring radio hits and expanding their fanbases; cult favorites being revived by music writers on a nostalgia trip) new? or just new to you?
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openapplev likes this
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jmir said:
Panda Bear is overrated. Sounds =/= music
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jmir likes this
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airgordon said:
There was a Bon Iver record this year?
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rawkblog posted this
