Sinister: Lazy journalism is king!
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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 1999 11:21:05 +0000 (GMT) From: Stuart Gardiner <skg21@hermes.cam.ac.uk> Subject: Sinister: Gay Mark, we don't want to know...
The music press are always going to stereotype B&S fans as being all the same, even though it's blatantly not true. It's the same as the way they make up genres and subgenres to describe what a band sound like, and lump in with them other bands who sound completely different. It's just lazy journalism. Get used to it...
Lazy journalism? Probably so, but think about it this way: have you ever tried explaining what one of your favorite bands sounds like to your friends? It's very hard especially when they don't listen to anything even remotely similar to what you do. And you think of all the nuances you have grown familiar with and realize that your friends don't want a dissertation and don't have the patience to sit as you explain this band song by song. You're left with either going for how the band makes you feel or what somebody else said. So, you pull a name of a band out of your hat to make your friends shut up. With that in mind, try imaging people with 10 digit IQ's trying to pull off the same feat. That's the dilemna of journalists! :^) It's probably a tired subject, but I have finally scored the Looper album. I was a bit saddened to see the limited edition of the Gentle Waves 7" was gone already, but hey, it might as well be sold to someone with a turntable who can actually hear with the thing sounds like, and considering that I have the Looper 7" from this summer that hasn't been played either..... At any rate, I heard this album when i got to my bandmate's house, and it immediately caught my ear, so this is a sign that I wasn't going to convince myself that I was going to like it once I bought my own copy. I went home with this and Catatonia's album. And I admit the Catatonia album was getting more play at the beginning, but I'm enjoying this for it's cheesiness, but I have to wonder, does Stuart down deep wish he was with Arab Strap? After giving their 2nd album that name, and making this thing as Looper with mostly spoken word, you sort of get the idea that he is secretly kicking himself for not doing random spoken word albums, and has to refer to Looper as nothing more than a side project.....but that's probably my own projection, and who in the hell knows what he's thinking? If you are a prolific writer, I'm sure a catalogue of songs that don't fit what your band does start to pile up and you hate to see them wasted. the only complaint I have is that the vocals are mixed so low that I can't hear what's going on. That must be a Scottish thing since Arab Strap was the same way.....and no, it's not the accent that is confusing me since I lived in Glasgow for several months. _______ Suzanne http://home1.gte.net/suzsch/index.htm +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "nambling pambling rice pudding & crochet holiday camp +-+ +-+ gangwanking whimsy-thon" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
At 10:27 PM 3/29/99 -0600, Suzanne Schroeder wrote:
have you ever tried explaining what one of your favorite bands sounds like to your friends? It's very hard especially when they don't listen to anything even remotely similar to what you do. And you think of all the nuances you have grown familiar with and realize that your friends don't want a dissertation and don't have the patience to sit as you explain this band song by song. You're left with either going for how the band makes you feel or what somebody else said. So, you pull a name of a band out of your hat to make your friends shut up.
yup. my band right now is having the exact problem. it's hard to match your sound to someone else when there's no one popular that you really sound like... one of the dilemmas of sounding "indie", and probably the main reason the term came about - a catch-all for college-band types that don't sound mainstream. so what can you do as band like that trying to explain yourself to the masses? sit and whimper? i'm not sure. anyway, just chiming in accord, maybe didn't need to be said, but sometimes it's lonely being a lurker, especially when you hate what you do for a living... senor droolcup [ shaking his fist at the air ] +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "nambling pambling rice pudding & crochet holiday camp +-+ +-+ gangwanking whimsy-thon" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
participants (2)
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Chris Butler -
Suzanne Schroeder