If you know me at all, you know I have a ridiculous penchant for gimmick-y English bands who just scream one-hit-wonder. You could say that it's my own version of liking faux-punk/hardcore Warped Tour "emo" (and don't get me started on the misuse of THAT word), all girls' jeans and flat-ironed hair and obnoxious hoodies and guyliner. However, the English bands I like tend to lean heavily on a post-Strokes or post-Franz Ferdinand sound, and their look is a more generalized indie rock style. The look: scruffy converses, skinny jeans but not too tight, t-shirts, impossibly young (seemingly no older than 25), spotty, pale and doughy. Like how Arctic Monkeys look and dress, essentially - overly styled bands like the Horrors or Klaxons are in their own category, really. The sound: clipped, syncopated beats, sharp guitar lines, shouty choruses. It's the kind of indie pop that sits comfortably in the UK top 20 alongside your typical US dancey hip-hop tinged pop, and crap ballads, kind of like how that "emo" business functions here. Only in these English bands, there's a different kind of artifice that appeals to me more, that seems slightly more earnest and simple. There's something so generically appealing about them as well - how nondescript they essentially look, the simple guitar and drums setup, but somehow it's still exciting. Maybe it's the giddy rush of youth I'm going for, what with me getting all old and whatnot. Here are the ones floating around my brain at the minute:
"Monster" - the Automatic
This song is "old" already, and the annoying shouty dude in the band has mercifully left. And this band otherwise is pretty bland in that "emo" Warped Tour American way (even though they're Welsh), but this single...I liked it as soon as I heard it. The melody of the chorus is especially hooky, the old-timey nature of the harmony. This is also the only time that I condone the background "singing" of the shouty dude. It makes sense in the cadence of this song.
"Let's Dance to Joy Division" - the Wombats
Now this song has so man elements that would usually turn me off a song. Cutesy reference to Joy Division. Yet another indie song about how cool "dancing" is. Use of children's chorus. However, shouty chorus? That chanty bit at the end, "we're SO HAPPY, SO HAPPY..." Love it.
"Take Her Back" - the Pigeon Detectives
I was initially really excited by this band - the "I'm Not Sorry" single is so unbelievably catchy and wonderful and induces so much dancing on my part. However, after listening to the album...whoah. Some of the most inane, almost misogynistic lyrics ever. "You know I love you/take off your clothes/it's alright"? A friend heard this song during a road trip and texted me the lyrics to this song with this comment: "seriously? Seriously?! SERIOUSLY?!?!?!" I agree. This song ALMOST teeters on the same sentiment. But again, it's saved by the shouty, chanty chorus, and thankfully its premise is elementary enough to not be quite as offensive. I even like how the singer's voice squeaks when he shouts "CUZ!" before the chorus.
No comments:
Post a Comment