Death knell for Teh Bravery

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4097433.stm

i've not heard anything by them yet. i'm surprised there isn't more talk of El Presidente.

Stevem On X (blueski), Friday, 7 January 2005 16:53 (twenty years ago)

1. The Bravery
2. Bloc Party (above)
3. Kano
4. The Game
5. Kaiser Chiefs
6. KT Tunstall
7. The Dead 60s
8. The Dears
9. Tom Vek
10. The Magic Numbers

Stevem On X (blueski), Friday, 7 January 2005 16:55 (twenty years ago)

Bloc Party (above)

Great.

mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 7 January 2005 17:05 (twenty years ago)

The Bravery and The Music are probably some of the very worst band names I have ever heard. Judging by the shameless vanity and lack of imagination of their names, I am not motivated to seek out their records.

Jena (JenaP), Friday, 7 January 2005 17:10 (twenty years ago)

look at their fucking jackets.

cutty (mcutt), Friday, 7 January 2005 17:20 (twenty years ago)

The Music's new album is called "Welcome to the North"..

Great! Wow! Fant!

mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 7 January 2005 17:23 (twenty years ago)

"And the award for Best New Band Name goes to The Fucking Jackets"

Stevem On X (blueski), Friday, 7 January 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

Kaiser Chiefs continue the fine tradition of bands named after football teams (Bocca Juniors, St Etienne, er...Pele? Sultans Of Ping FC? Ted Leo's 'Hearts Of Oak' LP). If they sound as good as those bands (apart from Pele who were like the poor man's China Black iirc) then that's good.

Stevem On X (blueski), Friday, 7 January 2005 17:26 (twenty years ago)

of course St Etienne being a city, I suppose that doesn't really work

Stevem On X (blueski), Friday, 7 January 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

I think I saw them on Jools Holland. They looked like hair boy toni and guy psuedo indie disco twunts. I think they might have sounded like The Killers. They weren't that good.

elwisty, Friday, 7 January 2005 18:25 (twenty years ago)

This thread is useless until someone tells me whether a fucking jacket is the same as a smoking jacket.

What's this place, Biblevania? (natepatrin), Friday, 7 January 2005 18:46 (twenty years ago)

http://www6.islanddefjam.com/www2/av_system/go.mov?link=DoW5J7F9qG7YVUV0UL0iA4B3-46768

SOMEONE THROUGH A WRENCH IN THIS HYPE MACHINE BEFORE THE WORLD ENDS

THIS IS THE WORST CRAP I HAVE EVER HEARD

cutty (mcutt), Friday, 7 January 2005 18:51 (twenty years ago)

"THROW"

cutty (mcutt), Friday, 7 January 2005 18:52 (twenty years ago)

The Bravery sound like unoriginal bandwagon jumpers trying to cash in on bands like Stellastarr and The Killers

DJ Martian (djmartian), Friday, 7 January 2005 19:03 (twenty years ago)

wow that's the stupidest article i've ever read.....fuck jesus fuck.

M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 7 January 2005 22:16 (twenty years ago)

Remember the 2003 list which predicted that the D4s would be more succesful than Sean Paul?

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 7 January 2005 23:02 (twenty years ago)

i'm still boggling at the fact someone's compared the bravery to new order and the cure. what, like "the bravery are absolutely fucking shit compared to new order and the cure?" granted, i've heard hardly anything by them (which i'm about to try to rectify), but ... come on.

i quite like tom vek, though. and the magic numbers. and kano. the dears can swivel.

grimly fiendish (grimlord), Saturday, 8 January 2005 19:07 (twenty years ago)

I got sent a load of Bravery demos last year and they sounded like second rate Killers. Dreadful.

If there's any justice then Bloc Party will be as big as Franz Ferdinand. Their album is much better but there's no big Take Me Out type ubiquitous single. The Kaiser Chiefs could be pretty good as well in a straight up indie pop way.

I hope Kano does better than Wiley though. Even appearing on this list is indicative of Big Industry Push though.

Matt DC (Matt DC), Saturday, 8 January 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

thing is, i really quite like the killers ...

i've got a handful of bravery tracks here now and they're OK at best ... there's a nice needling riff in "tyrant", f'rinstance. but, you know, they sound like early spandau ballet. *all* this new-wave-of-electro-rock stuff sounds like early spandau ballet, whereas it should sound like a flock of seagulls.

grimly fiendish (grimlord), Saturday, 8 January 2005 20:26 (twenty years ago)

I've heard one of The Bravery's songs a few times and was... unimpressed. I'm very much liking Kaiser Chiefs, though, and the Tom Vek track wot I have heard I thought was very good too.

William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Saturday, 8 January 2005 20:46 (twenty years ago)

i'm really beginning to like the magic numbers. mrs fiendish says they're insipid and shit, and that they make her want to kill herself. so i'll be listening to them on headphones, then.

grimly fiendish (grimlord), Saturday, 8 January 2005 21:02 (twenty years ago)

Swygart takes the manful burden of pointing out that the Kaiser Chiefs are great, phew. I thought I was going to have to.

Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Saturday, 8 January 2005 21:04 (twenty years ago)

are they great? they just strike me as really kinda average. different milieu to the bravery, but no more or less exciting.

mind, i've only heard one song. they're the kind of band i'd like to see live; i have a feeling they'd be FUN.

grimly fiendish (grimlord), Saturday, 8 January 2005 21:26 (twenty years ago)

"I got sent a load of Bravery demos last year and they sounded like second rate Killers. Dreadful."

Second-rate Killers? That's gotta be some new category of godawful!

latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 8 January 2005 23:52 (twenty years ago)

I clicked that link and was about to defend this band as "not horrible" and then the dude started to sing.

Aigh.

(ps: "Somebody Told Me" is a better single than anything Bloc Party has done.)

What's this place, Biblevania? (natepatrin), Sunday, 9 January 2005 00:15 (twenty years ago)

My faith in the Kaiser Chiefs is down to the fact that I desperately hope I Predict A Riot will prove to be their Hometown Unicorn.

Matt DC (Matt DC), Sunday, 9 January 2005 02:22 (twenty years ago)

The Bravery are from Boston, which as the BBC should know precludes them amounting to anything.

Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Sunday, 9 January 2005 02:27 (twenty years ago)

did any new yorkers catch The Bravery at new years motherfucker? i got there too late and missed it

phil-two (phil-two), Sunday, 9 January 2005 03:21 (twenty years ago)

The Bravery are from Boston, which as the BBC should know precludes them amounting to anything.

On behalf of Jonathan Richman and Ric Ocasek, shaddap, you

What's this place, Biblevania? (natepatrin), Sunday, 9 January 2005 03:31 (twenty years ago)

It should not be overlooked that I am from Boston.

Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Sunday, 9 January 2005 04:42 (twenty years ago)

Now, Endicott has his sights on saving popular music, saying 99% of stuff on the radio or MTV is "like listening to an air conditioner".

Maybe I ought to pay more attention to the radio and MTV and less attention to ILM and the BBC.

Also, Jonathan Richman is a total ponce.

Ian John50n (orion), Sunday, 9 January 2005 04:50 (twenty years ago)

More like Ponce de Leon (constantly on, the fountain of youth -- not Robotron)

What's this place, Biblevania? (natepatrin), Sunday, 9 January 2005 04:57 (twenty years ago)

(ps: "Somebody Told Me" is a better single than anything Gang of Four has done.)

elwisty, Sunday, 9 January 2005 15:25 (twenty years ago)

"Somebody Told Me" = smoking jacket, "Helicopter" = fucking jacket

Nancy Boy (Nancy Boy), Sunday, 9 January 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

smoking jackets are hella over-rated

Stevem On X (blueski), Sunday, 9 January 2005 17:51 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...
Just saw the Bravery in Northampton, Mass. They were eh. They're REALLY REALLY REALLY fashiony and it put me off, a lot. They basically have one or two fairly decent songs (one of which is "Honest Mistake") and the rest is rather generic Strokes/Killers/etc.

At least they seemed to be enjoying themselves... except for the bassist. He seemed to think he was way too cool to even be there.

i am nervous (cochere), Friday, 28 January 2005 08:03 (twenty years ago)

One great thing about p2p is the chance that people will hear the Bravery lp before it's even out, hate it/forget about it, and it'll sit in the stores on its release day without selling a single copy.

In a just world, anyway.

Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 28 January 2005 08:08 (twenty years ago)

The thing that I most dislike about the Bravery is that if you were somehow able to plot musicians on a graph and you could put an 'x' on it for The Strokes and another 'x' on it for Fischerspooner and then draw a straight line connecting those two 'x's it would lead you in a very short space of time to the Bravery.

It's just all so utterly predictable.

(also true of the Killers)

Jacob (Jacob), Friday, 28 January 2005 08:49 (twenty years ago)

"The thing that I most dislike about the Bravery is that if you were somehow able to plot musicians on a graph and you could put an 'x' on it for The Strokes and another 'x' on it for Fischerspooner and then draw a straight line connecting those two 'x's it would lead you in a very short space of time to the Bravery."

OTM. ILM needs more graphs.

cdwill, Friday, 28 January 2005 17:12 (twenty years ago)

supposedly some friends of mine are opening for them in brooklyn tomorrow and it already sold out? who are these dudes?

hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 17:14 (twenty years ago)

They're THE BRAVERY! Yeah!

Someone find out who their PR firm is.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 28 January 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)

i'm guessing their record company bought all the tix and the show won't be full. happens.

hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

they have tons of NME/british press hype, which is almost as good as PR firm in some circles.

A friend of mine who really likes the Killers was talking shit about this band because they were basically overproduced and too much style over substance, which is a pretty harsh indictment.

Dude, are you a 15 year old asian chick? (jingleberries), Friday, 28 January 2005 18:59 (twenty years ago)

they have tons of NME/british press hype, which is almost as good as PR firm in some circles.

no, that means they already have a pr firm.

hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 19:25 (twenty years ago)

this band sucks. yet another killers

breezy, Friday, 28 January 2005 20:28 (twenty years ago)

supposedly some friends of mine are opening for them in brooklyn tomorrow and it already sold out?

All I know is, the show I was at was nowhere near full, and when my friends went to get tickets an hour before, they were told it wasn't expected to sell out.

i am nervous (cochere), Saturday, 29 January 2005 00:30 (twenty years ago)

Skabba the Hut

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 29 January 2005 00:34 (twenty years ago)

style over substance? You be the judge:

http://www.ambitious-outsiders.com/dwnlow/bravery_promo.jpg

Dude, are you a 15 year old asian chick? (jingleberries), Saturday, 29 January 2005 01:02 (twenty years ago)

Hehe, they're like three average indierock dudes and two Stewart Lees.

I've only heard 'Honest Mistake' and it's kind of uh, uninspired, they sold out the Academy 2 by me which Gang of bloody Four failed to do.

Ferg, Ah (Ferg), Saturday, 29 January 2005 04:10 (twenty years ago)

http://www.comedycv.co.uk/stewartlee/2002-december-stewart-lee.jpg

Ferg, Ah (Ferg), Saturday, 29 January 2005 04:14 (twenty years ago)

im just happy to hear this bag of douchebags being referred to as TEH BRAVERY.

maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Sunday, 13 March 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

They really are contemptible, but I have to admit that I like "No Ring On These Fingers" more than any non-"Brightside" Killers song ever.

But they really are contemptible. SKABBA~

James.Cobo (jamescobo), Sunday, 13 March 2005 18:00 (twenty years ago)

There's a pretty good article about them in The New York Metro that doesn't focus on them so much as it does the industry politics of trying to get a "buzz" band out of the "indie ghetto", not over-hyping, etc. It mentions Skabba the Hut, too.
I thought this band was a Weird Al style joke when I fist heard them though, they're pretty bad.

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/arts/music/features/11548/index.html

La Monte (La Monte), Sunday, 27 March 2005 17:34 (twenty years ago)

I'd heard Honest Mistake several times before actually finding out it was The Bravery. They weren't anywhere near as awful as I'd been expecting.

Matt DC (Matt DC), Sunday, 27 March 2005 17:40 (twenty years ago)

I don't think they're awful so much as completely non-descript among the current crop of same-y bands.

La Monte (La Monte), Sunday, 27 March 2005 17:41 (twenty years ago)

"Honest Mistake" is decent compared to the previous single

miccio (miccio), Sunday, 27 March 2005 18:24 (twenty years ago)

Both singles are decent, but more in their sound than the songwriting. Not offering anything very vital. They appear to be awful live though, from the three TV appearances I've seen (Later..., NME Awards, Friday Night Project).

Crackity (Crackity Jones), Sunday, 27 March 2005 18:56 (twenty years ago)

The album's a bit of a heap of shit.

Michael Philip Philip Philip Philip Annoyman v1.0 (Ferg), Sunday, 27 March 2005 18:58 (twenty years ago)

I am so glad punk rock happened and we get to keep reliving calculated cool year after year. It is all so much more real and invigorating than Pink Floyd.

Cloud City of Bespin, Sunday, 27 March 2005 21:11 (twenty years ago)

ain't that the truth

miccio (miccio), Sunday, 27 March 2005 21:13 (twenty years ago)

Killers' To-Do List: Lawsuit, Long-Form Video, Beef With The Bravery

"Look at a band like the Bravery. They're signed because we're a band," Flowers said. "I've heard rumors about [members of] that band being in a different kind of band, and how do you defend that? If you say, 'My heart really belongs to what I'm doing now,' but you used to be in a ska band. I can see the Strokes play or Franz Ferdinand play and it's real, and I haven't gotten that from the Bravery. I think people will see through them."

i am nervous (cochere), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 14:21 (twenty years ago)

I've heard rumors about [members of] that band being in a different kind of band, and how do you defend that?

Uh, quite easily?

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 14:25 (twenty years ago)

Oh, Brandon.

miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 14:32 (twenty years ago)

Dude, B-Flow, don't badmouth your labelmates! Even if you got a Grammy (nomination)!

David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 14:35 (twenty years ago)

That long-form video thing...they're moving into their "Wild Boys" period kind of early.

miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 14:35 (twenty years ago)

2 seperate people have said i look like the bassist.
it's the chin i think.

piscesboy, Tuesday, 29 March 2005 14:54 (twenty years ago)

do you also look like Hansel? Cuz the bass player looks like Hansel.

miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 14:55 (twenty years ago)

Shots will be fired outside the KROQ studios.

Brian Miller (Brian Miller), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 14:56 (twenty years ago)

If guns get pulled, I'm afraid someone might think they're aiming for the Bravery singer & hit Morrissey by mistake.

David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 14:59 (twenty years ago)

HOW DO YOU DEFEND THAT?!

Suedey (John Cei Douglas), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 15:06 (twenty years ago)

The New York article is full of all kinds of suspect New Yorkisms - "It’s not an easy time to be a next big thing—especially in New York..." - as though there's any easier place to be a next big thing?

Brian Miller (Brian Miller), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 15:12 (twenty years ago)

up yo mama

(sorry)

miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

I wanted to see a picture of Bravery dude in white dreads and found this:

http://www.aavc.vassar.edu/vq/summer2002/extras/images/skabba.jpg

(Third from right.)

JoB (JoB), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 18:39 (twenty years ago)

I don't mind so much genre changing for musicians. It happens all the time.

But no one who's ever been in a band called Skabba the Hutt and now sings for The Bravery even classifies as a musician. Such a person is called a knob.

Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 18:48 (twenty years ago)

my girlfriend just discribed The Bravery as a 'Techno' band. It was quite sweet.

Hari A$hur$t (Toaster), Thursday, 31 March 2005 22:07 (twenty years ago)

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/22849.htm



LUV 'EM & LOATHE 'EM

By MAUREEN CALLAHAN
PHOTO The Bravery's hightly stylized frontman Sam Endicott ingnites criticisms.
James Quinton

Email Archives
Print Reprint

March 31, 2005 -- THEY are the most buzzed-about New York band since the Strokes - playing sold-out shows in support of their just-released, major-label debut; garnering glowing profiles both here and in the U.K.; routinely turning away would-be groupies, including supermodel Kate Moss.

Yet the Bravery - whose excruciatingly perfect New Wave look and sound have drawn snickering comparisons to the more credible Killers - are the recipients of a very specific, undiluted brand of New York-centric hate and contempt.

"It's funny - even by New York back-biting, playa-hating standards, this is on another level," says Rolling Stone contributing editor Rob Sheffield.

When the Williamsburg-based band played a sold-out show at neighborhood venue Northsix, wheatpasted flyers went up, comparing the Bravery to bland, prepackaged cartons of milk.

Click Here!

Bloggers dug into the band's lineage, posting pictures of a then-bleached-blond, dreadlocked Sam Endicott - the Bravery's lead singer, now of pale skin, black eyeliner, and a carefully-coiffed jet-black mohawk - from his days in a ska band called Skabba the Hut, back, of course, when ska was the prevailing "next big thing."

"Skabba the Hut remains the most disturbing thing about them," says MTV News correspondent Gideon Yago.

"But there's a reason to hate them, and it's because they are a parody of what the New York rock scene was. It's now become a fashion endeavor for white kids."

And loathing the Bravery isn't just sport for New York scenesters, who see them as unwelcome heirs to the city's less-heralded, more talented predecessors like the Rapture, Radio 4 and Longwave.

This week, even Killers frontman Brandon Flowers took a very public swipe at the Bravery's ska roots.

"How do you defend that?" he asked, adding that the Bravery only got signed to a major label because of the Killers' success. "I think people see through them."

The Bravery's response: You think?

"At our first show in London - our first song in - I got a bottle thrown at my head," says lead guitarist Michael Zakarin.

"I expected it. I had heard that London was like a good, harsh New York crowd with better aim."

Singer Endicott has a theory as to why his band elicits such virulent contempt: "I think there are people that want us not to do well, but it's a very small group of music snobs and they tend to be vocal," he says.

"I think a lot of critics have the mentality that you should only play to people in New York City and not blow up too big," adds guitarist Zakarian. "You have success, and people want to crush you."

But it's not quite that easily explained.

The Bravery's eponymous debut record has won critical raves from Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly.

They were named among "top artists to watch" or "the next big thing" by Spin, Rolling Stone, BBC News and the Village Voice. The NME - a highly influential U.K. music magazine - was an early champion and recently gave them the cover.

They've sold out two mid-April shows at the Bowery Ballroom and just added another date at Irving Plaza.

"It'd be simpler if they were just plain bad," says Rolling Stone's Sheffield. "The fact that this record is good is a big disappointment to some people. You'll hear people say, 'Officially, I don't like them, but I kinda like that record.'"

In fact, Sheffield says he first saw the Bravery when they played the scenester-packed Motherf - - - er party on New Year's Eve. "They were great," he says. "The crowd was really into them. But there's something about them . . . they look like they could've been assembled by a 'make-your-own-hipster-dance-rock-band kit.'"

The Bravery is hardly the first band to engage in self-mythologizing - "part of the rock tradition," says Dave Itzkoff, who wrote a six-page profile of the Bravery in New York magazine, "is the idea that your band had a consistent vision from the very beginning."

But the Bravery's extreme posturing, coupled with an unabashed careerism and the sense that they're capitalizing on the marketable sound of the moment, seems to be the band's true Achilles' heel - though Zakarian insists that such criticism "is bull - - - t. We're going after a sound, not a trend."

That said, last week, the band played a K-Rock sponsored show (including free beer!) at the Lower East Side club Rothko to a suspicious crowd. As the band took the stage, one concertgoer grumbled, "I can make it through a verse and a chorus - maybe. But once they get to the bridge, I'm gone."

Endicott was in his scrupulously put-together New Wave uniform, replete with a dollar bill taped around his wrist and the word "lionized" written in black marker on his knuckles. The bass player - as he does at many shows - regularly turned his back on the crowd to take an artful swig of beer before spontaneously spraying the crowd (as he did at last month's Northsix show and many, many others).

And, like an overeager kid who just wants everyone to really, really like him, Endicott announced the band's last song (a cover of INXS' "Don't Change") and threw rock tradition to the wind by ignoring the conceit of leaving the stage and letting the crowd demand an encore: "You want another song?" he asked, still breathless.

Even the members of the crowd - all of whom paid for tickets - weren't quite sure what to make of the Bravery.

"I could hear the instruments more than I could hear the words," said a 23-year-old investment banker. (In Endicott's defense, he announced he was sick.)

Despite that, the banker said, the band is clearly, definitely marketable.

"I sell bad companies, so I have to make bad companies sound good," he said. "This is how I'd sell the Bravery: through viral marketing, grass-roots promotion, and bringing lots of kids to Rothko and feeding them free beer."

maura (maura), Thursday, 31 March 2005 23:32 (twenty years ago)

INVESTMENT WANKER MORE LIKE

Sven Basted (blueski), Thursday, 31 March 2005 23:38 (twenty years ago)

"more talented predecessor" Radio 4
"more credible" Killers

Brian Miller (Brian Miller), Thursday, 31 March 2005 23:46 (twenty years ago)

i agree with brian miller.

f--gg (gcannon), Thursday, 31 March 2005 23:51 (twenty years ago)

metacritic has all this

100--Uncut
This album really is just too good to be true. [Apr 2005, p.114]

100--E! Online
While their sound is decidedly of the moment (Bloc Party, the Killers, et al), their songs are undeniably catchy as all get-out.

80--The Guardian
They don't sound too new, but their shuddering pop melodies and knack for smiling through gritted teeth might just make the Bravery the nation's favourite new band.

80--Delusions of Adequacy
The Bravery treads the same well worn path as bands like The Smiths and The Cure but manages to avoid tripping on its roots by adding a unique personality.

80--Q Magazine
If The Killers hadn't got there first with Hot Fuss, The Bravery's debut would have been revolutionary. Instead it is merely a brilliant pop record. [Apr 2005, p.115]

70--Urb
They definitely know their way around the early Duran catalog, not forgetting the requisite stops at New Order and the Psychedelic Furs. [Apr 2005, p.101]

70--New Musical Express
It's bold, brash, trashy fun that will tempt Killers fans to fall in lust all over again. [19 Mar 2005, p.57]

70--PopMatters
While the Bravery are certainly not in league with the Strokes, Interpol, or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, this record is a strong one with some unexpected surprises.

70--Blender
This is dramatic, radio-loving rock primed to outlive the current I Love The '80s infatuation. [Apr 2005, p.113]

67--Entertainment Weekly
There are countless other bands using electro blips to make us boogie and bang harder. [8 Apr 2005, p.65]

60--Rolling Stone
The Bravery do a jockier version of the New Wave competition, pumping the drums in straight-ahead tunes such as "An Honest Mistake" and "The Ring Song."

60--Dot Music
If you’ve heard one song by The Bravery you’ve pretty much heard them all. The keyboard settings may change, as do the guitar FX pedals, but there’s a formula at work here and how much you get out of this record depends entirely on how interesting you find that formula.

40--Alternative Press
Where, say, Franz Ferdinand can fill dance floors with a jagged, arty sense of danger, the Bravery are more vanilla in their approach (read: They're Duran Duran). [May 2005, p.132]

33--Stylus Magazine
Completely forgettable.

30--The New York Times
[A] rather dreary pastiche.

I'm not sure who to believe. I am beginning to lose my faith in the rock music media.

pawn of prophecy, Tuesday, 12 April 2005 15:41 (twenty years ago)

It looks like it has a lot to do with where you are from

dan. (dan.), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 19:09 (twenty years ago)

Everybody Wang Chung Tonight (aka Nick Sylvester's album review):

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0515,sylvester,62935,22.html

xhuxk, Tuesday, 12 April 2005 19:37 (twenty years ago)

"next big sybian" tee hee!

g e o f f (gcannon), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 19:42 (twenty years ago)

(not being snotty—i liked that review)

g e o f f (gcannon), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 19:43 (twenty years ago)

80--Delusions of Adequacy
The Bravery treads the same well worn path as bands like The Smiths and The Cure but manages to avoid tripping on its roots by adding a unique personality.

When did Tiny Mix Tapes change their name?

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 19:46 (twenty years ago)

what a bizarre review

Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 19:51 (twenty years ago)

"are you being sarcastic"

"I don't even know anymore"

Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 19:52 (twenty years ago)

Oh, that review is great! Very very nice. It's like, what do you do with this record? It ought not to be any good, and it kind of isn't, but it has a certain function at a certain kind of party, and are you going to wreck that party with your bitching and then go blog about it?

When someone puts on a song by teh Bravery, why oh why does my critic brain have to go and make me think about it? I heard "Honest Mistake" and thought it was shitty, and there's a long, convoluted and intricate explanation on why just the line "it was an honest mistake" is shitty the way they use it, but why even?

daria g (daria g), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 20:01 (twenty years ago)

they need a better singer

miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 20:20 (twenty years ago)

My favourite new band.

David Merryweather (DavidM), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 20:29 (twenty years ago)

having recently seen them live (the tour with Ash), i can say that they're awful.

amusing.

awfully amusing? THE POSING OMG I CAN'T GET SAM ENDICOTT'S CROTCH OUT OF MY BRAIN.

the music, while incredibly derivative, wasn't horrible...until he started singing. i was more amused by the band's onstage antics. because oh, did they cultivate their antics.

a friend who was also at the show said Endicott reminded her of Squiggy out of Laverne & Shirley. me, i just kept thinking these guys would make excellent action figures. esp. the guitarist, with his action mullet. and Endicott, with his fantastic mic-stand fellating molesting action!

janni (janni), Friday, 22 April 2005 19:27 (twenty years ago)

I get a serious Good Charlotte vibe from them, but I like GC a lot more.

Al (sitcom), Friday, 22 April 2005 19:31 (twenty years ago)

i'd imagine i wouldn't be able to get through an entire song on record, but the stage show (since i'd gone to see Ash, not them; hadn't heard them till the show, actually) was entertaining.

once. i wouldn't do it again. and i wouldn't see them on purpose, but if they happened to be playing with someone you actually wanted to see, you might be amused at the posing.

the 14 year olds for whom it was obviously their first concert were amusing/saddening to watch as well. hooray for selling '80's yoof cultcha back to kids who didn't live through it in the first place! it's the circle of life, and it moves us all.

one of these days, Endicott's going to slip whilst molesting his mic stand onstage, and he's going to knock one of his own teeth out, and he's not going to be happy about it.

but it will be terribly, terribly funny.

janni (janni), Friday, 22 April 2005 19:36 (twenty years ago)

"I get a serious Good Charlotte vibe from them, but I like GC a lot more."

Oh my god so OTM!!!

Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 22 April 2005 23:45 (twenty years ago)

Their clothes don't fit properly and their accessories are awkwardly worn. They really need a better stylist, and also to not stand in catalog poses as much. yuck.

daria g (daria g), Saturday, 23 April 2005 03:32 (twenty years ago)

four weeks pass...
reviewing "Fearless":

I know that 80's retread is all the rage right now with the Strokes/Killers/Interpol/Franz Ferdinand/Bloc Party/Kaiser Chiefs doing that Duran Duran throwback two-step, but who made the decision that all these bands get one quality breakthrough single apiece? Who's doling this stuff out? "Fearless" is the latest in a line of catchy cuts from this pseudo-retro-movement; driven forward less by frontman Sam Endicott's awful caterwauling and more by the mix of dreamy organ, relentless three chord bass and bare-bones Meg White-ish percussion. It's an enjoyable but paper-thin track that reeks of one-hit wonder. In any case, I sure liked this song a lot better before I found out it was written as response to the events of September 11th. Now I feel all icky.

Having just read this thread, I'm glad that this is all I've heard of The Bravery and glad that I'll not likely have to hear more.

Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Saturday, 21 May 2005 21:57 (twenty years ago)

Straight in this week with a dribble on the UK Top 40 at number 43. Thought this might be due to some pre-release/airplay/download sales, but no, the 'Fearless' single came out last Monday. Ha ha, their career is over.

James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Sunday, 29 May 2005 23:05 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...
I just picked up The Bravery.

This is basically the dance-rock equivalent of rice pudding.. with some hipster garnish. I like this. It's a bit momentous, but very comfy at the same time.

Who knows, but while I'm not getting any sorta "Album of the year" vibe now, it's certainly the most enjoyable album I've heard in years that incorporates all of these dance-rock/80s/disco-punk/hipster-fashion trends all into one tasty manufactured thing. That, in of itself, is not why I like this.

I like it because The Bravery is not trying to force itself upon you. It's the same trick that The Strokes used, except I think these guys sound like they're having a lot more fun than the Strokes -- which isn't too hard these days.

And I don't mind The Rapture or Interpol, for example, but those bands' recent albums are mixed to be IN YOUR FACE.. which kinda reveals all the dermatological elements of the bands' sounds that wish I didn't have to be, well, so close to, zits and all.. whereas the Bravery kinda keep all of their elements a safe distance away. It's just a very well crafted mix.. not "too much" of one thing, not "too little" of another.

I don't think I'll be listening to this much after a few months, but so far, except for one song, all of the songs have been quite fun! (I'm at "Out Of Line" now...) Of course, The Bravery is derivative as fuck. I'll be the last person to call this album original. But who cares.

Just musings on first listen. I might love this tomorrow. I might throw it against a wall by this weekend. Who knows.

donut e- (donut), Thursday, 7 July 2005 06:26 (nineteen years ago)

Hmmmm... Then again, I was probably one of about 17 Americans, or just humans, who really liked Menswe@r. See? I even use the at-sign, and not an "a".. [This is where 95% of ILM stops reading every one of my posts from here on out.] I thought they were top-notch "brit-pop" that just knew how to rub people the wrong way in such a right way, if that makes sense. They also had some great songs on Nuisance, and some great singles and B-sides as well. Though I can imagine loathing them on principle if you live in the UK. Most be a "grass is greener on the other ocean" thing.. kinda like the popularity of later Beach Boys outside the U.S... but I digress.

I guess it helps to not pay attention to MTV or The Bravery's press machine... I've never heard much about them, but I saw a snippet of "An Honest Mistake" on MTV in Las Vegas a few weeks ago and I kinda liked it.. so I previewed the CD last night at a local store, and found it palatable enough to buy. It was on sale for a used CD price. Hence.

Reading the thread above, it seems 40% of it talks about their clothes, and 20% of them refers to Killers comparisons. I'm not doubting the Killers comparisons, but I've only heard one Killers song, and I can't remember it... I can still remember about a third of The Bravery from last night's first listen.. which isn't a great feat, but it counts for something -- against the Killers, I guess. Will give The Bravery more listens this week!

donut e- (donut), Thursday, 7 July 2005 17:05 (nineteen years ago)

I like Menswe@r! They were the cliff-notes of britpop! I know Ned and Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic are also fans.

Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Thursday, 7 July 2005 22:20 (nineteen years ago)


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