It's the less tangible feeling that the Americans are outflanking the UK somehow on our own turf - difficult, intelligent, groundbreaking, literary "indie rock" records with a genuine emotio

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Why American Bands Are Best

Our new columnist argues that the best new music is coming from across the pond these days…

Ever since the Sixties, when the success of our pop groups made it easier to cope with the sun setting on the Empire, the British cultural identity has been tied up with its pop cultural identity. Particularly when it came to the 'special relationship': sure, the Americans had all the money, but so what?

We were the cool older brother who played guitar. But it's not what it once was.

The recent Blair retrospectives enjoyed rolling out the clip of Noel Gallagher at Number Ten because it was film from another age. Alastair Campbell's diaries make the invitation sound like almost an accident, that it meant nothing to Blair, but it’s nevertheless impossible to imagine anything like Cool Britannia happening today.

There are a whole series of reasons why that is - the country today wouldn't tolerate a government appearing that infantile, for one thing - but what about the musical ones? Well, the problem is that now all the cool kids seem to be American.

The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Flaming Lips, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Arcade Fire, The Gossip, Scissor Sisters, The Killers, to name just a few - damnit, those bands should have been our bands. Well, maybe not The Killers – they're our bands already.

But, still, something has happened.

The Americans have a vibrant, original, alt.music scene that doesn't exist in this country. There is a proper sustainable mainstream alternative over there in The Shins and Modest Mouse, Spoon, Death Cab For Cutie, Bright Eyes and Rilo Kiley.

Bigger than merely cult bands, they amount to a coherent and credible scene with a following.

And those are just the college radio topsoil. Beneath them, there are tons of interesting US artists (Battles and Secret Machines, say, or the Elephant 6 collective) filling halls and making exciting and well-received music. Somehow, it all seems to be working out for them.

Contrast that with the playlist of our leading alternative rock station today: Athlete, Editors, Reverend & The Makers, Travis, Turin Brakes and The Twang.

Wait for Coldplay, Keane, Razorlight and Hard-Fi to cluster bomb us with their next releases and you've got a whole Music Scene of the Damned: no ambition, dying of boredom.

The important thing here isn't that every British band I've listed there is duller than David Cameron's (not bad) record collection, it's the less tangible feeling that the Americans are outflanking the UK somehow on our own turf - difficult, intelligent, groundbreaking, literary "indie rock" records with a genuine emotional core - uncompromising, existing on their own terms. We stupidly thought we owned that land.

It's like American TV. In the 80s, American telly was a joke. We might watch Dallas or Knight Rider, but safe in the knowledge we were effortlessly culturally superior. Then, quite unnoticed, all of that began to change, until suddenly American dramas, thrillers and comedies were the only ones worth having.

Now, we barely even expect to compete. It has become that way with music. The shame!

Of course, Britain won't lose it completely. Britain will continue to produce bags of great stuff to love at a cult level, burning brightly and fading away. We can still make The Office and we can still birth The Libertines, but two helpings of each, at most. Then we have to watch the horizon for the next thing.

You might ask why it matters.

I suppose it shouldn't. I mean, I'm happy listening to these foreigners, and they seem to come over here to play often enough (at least in the big cities). But as a music fan, I'm starting to feel like the Brits in the war, dazzled by American GIs with their nylons and chewing gum. And that's no way to be, is it?

-- acrobat, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:40 (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

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Where's that from?

-- Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:54 (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

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"our leading alternative rock station" = radio 1?

-- fandango, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:55 (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

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msn.co.uk

-- acrobat, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:55 (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

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Good grief.

-- Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:55 (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

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What's their new columnist's name?

-- Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:55 (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

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dom passantino.

-- acrobat, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:56 (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

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hahahaha

-- Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:58 (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

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do we actually have "mainstream alternative" over here?

or just NME 'alternative' (i.e. the mainstream!) and well, actual under-the-radar alternative bands like erm... Electrelane? minds gone blank here... kate or someone who pays a bit more attention than me might have some names? please god not louis (no offence) or the sfabooradley fellation squad please? UK bands/acts formed after 1997 and actually releasing records now?

-- fandango, Thursday, 9 August 2007 11:05 (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

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k lets give this it's own thread

-- acrobat, Thursday, 9 August 2007 11:10 (7 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

acrobat, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:11 (eighteen years ago)

Electrelane, 65daysofstatic, Working For A Nuclear Free City, Patrick Wolf, Guillemots, The Clientele, the Warp etc roster (now made up of, OH LOOK, YANK ALT.BANDS LIKE !!!, Battles, Grizzly Bear), Twilight Sad, King Biscuit Time, The Aliens, Shack, Camera Obscura...

It's there, but it's small, and doesn't work on the same fronts as the Yank analogue.

Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:12 (eighteen years ago)

Oasis and Coldplay are kidn of to blame. There is a feeling that being ina band and releasing good records isn't enough with a lot of UK music, I suspect - you need to be massive, you need to be all over Radio 1, you need to be culturally relevent. NME is only interested in uncovering stuff that can help it survive.

Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:14 (eighteen years ago)

The Bluetones, formed before 1997, admittedly, are still touring and releasing records, aren't they? To small but steady audiences.

Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:15 (eighteen years ago)

x-post

that is one mediocre list of bands

jabba hands, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:15 (eighteen years ago)

I think the first six or so are fucking wicked, personally.

Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:16 (eighteen years ago)

The Clientele are more popular in the US than the UK.

OK maybe untrue technically but their new album came out over there first.

blueski, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:18 (eighteen years ago)

Then there's more specialist, less overtly alt.rock scenes, jazz, electronica, experimental, etcetera, which are producing great bands like Acoustic Ladyland, who don't fit in anywhere.

x-post - exactly; that irony is one of the reasons I listed them. is the new one even out over here yet?

Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:19 (eighteen years ago)

The best band mentioned in this thread so far is The Bluetones.

King Boy Pato, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:19 (eighteen years ago)

"our own turf"

die

blueski, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:20 (eighteen years ago)

In the 80s, American telly was a joke. We might watch Dallas or Knight Rider, but safe in the knowledge we were effortlessly culturally superior.

die

blueski, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:22 (eighteen years ago)

p.s. sorry fellation squad, just flaming :( and louis, I'm interested, my apologies.

fandango, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:23 (eighteen years ago)

chill blueski. wasn't saying it was a "good" article. thought there was a germ of an idea in it though. don't we have enough journo bashing thread already? (i admit i started the worst, but i sort of regret that now)

few more:
los campesinos
prinzhorn dance school
delays
monkey swallows the universe

the weird thing is bands like mclusky or electrelane feel, to me anyway, more american than british. i'm not quite sure why.

acrobat, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:23 (eighteen years ago)

does MIA count?

acrobat, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:25 (eighteen years ago)

until suddenly American dramas, thrillers and comedies were the only ones worth having.

I don't think I watch any American dramas, thrillers and comedies - occasionally but not regularly

Tom D., Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:25 (eighteen years ago)

British Sea Power.

The only TV I watch, pretty much, is downloaded yank concept dramas.

Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:26 (eighteen years ago)

What those things that go on for 300 seasons and take 10 years of your life to watch?

Tom D., Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:28 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah.

Four Tet.

Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:29 (eighteen years ago)

Electrelane, 65daysofstatic, Working For A Nuclear Free City, Patrick Wolf, Guillemots, The Clientele

basically none of this lot have the remotest chance of making the NME cover/Radio 1 playlist do they?

hate getting all DJ Martian about this :/

fandango, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:29 (eighteen years ago)

Piss-all, I think. Patrick Wolf threatened to earlier this year, but they didn't take to him.

Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:31 (eighteen years ago)

Guillemots (doh) should have left them off...

fandango, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:32 (eighteen years ago)

Guillemots might have made R1 playlist (like, B list, maybe an A list once), but I doubt they'd get on the cover of NME. I also don't think they'd shift anywhere near as many records as, say, The Fratellis. They might just have been in wich a chance of scraping 100k last year with the Mercury nomination, but I doubt it.

Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:33 (eighteen years ago)

radio 2 A listed mouthy! ok. are there more "indie" media outlets in america? better infrastructure? i'm pretty sure death cab or whoever don't get mainstream radio play in the US but then american radio is very, very confusing.

acrobat, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:35 (eighteen years ago)

There's Plan B, Drowned in Sound, Playlouder, Artrocker. The Dad Rock mags cover the more trad new bands.

acrobat, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:37 (eighteen years ago)

About 8x the population and god knows how many x the landmass. Spoon can shift 160k copies of Gimme Fiction over two years and still be a 'cult'ish concern over there. Proportionally small sales / audiences in the US are SO MUCH BIGGER than ones in the UK.

Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:37 (eighteen years ago)

wish I could get behind The Long Blondes more but it's still "alright for this kind of music" :/

fandango, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:39 (eighteen years ago)

influentially though is it fair to say

Pitchfork > Plan B, Drowned in Sound, Playlouder, Artrocker etc etc?

fandango, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:40 (eighteen years ago)

US = 3.7 million square miles (9.6 million km²) and 300 million people.

UK = 244,820 km² and 60,209,500 people.

Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:42 (eighteen years ago)

I've never seen Dummy mag in an actual shop either, and http://www.factmagazine.co.uk/ can be added to the (uk) web list?

fandango, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:42 (eighteen years ago)

Roots Manuva, Richard Hawley, Sway, Jamie Lidell, Anthony & The Johnsons, Elbow, Boards Of Canada...

Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:45 (eighteen years ago)

Only 5x the population, but still. 160k records in the States = 32k records here.

Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:46 (eighteen years ago)

British bands I like even if they're not awesomewy wevolutionary - not including duos and producers:

Hot Chip
The Clientele
Camera Obscura
Ladytron if they're still going
Saint Etienne (but only when produced by Xenomania now)

gets v difficult after that. The Go Team are off the list because they've clearly run out of IDEA and blown it with meh new album.

blueski, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:53 (eighteen years ago)

oh and The Shortwave Set

blueski, Thursday, 9 August 2007 10:54 (eighteen years ago)

have you any idea how many records someone like electrelane sell mouthy? 65dos? do they have day jobs?

acrobat, Thursday, 9 August 2007 11:00 (eighteen years ago)

I haven't a clue, but I'm gonna get in touch with a friend of mine who's very good at discovering these things.

Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 11:51 (eighteen years ago)

This reminds me of how Americans are absolutely astounded to learn there's a shop in London where people go and quite happily spend £1.50 on Mountain Dew and £2 on Twinkies. The exoticism of the foreign looks really fucking stupid when it's applied to a) the major world cultural superpower b) a country that basically takes 85% of its fucking cultural signifiers from the UK anyway.

Dom Passantino, Thursday, 9 August 2007 11:56 (eighteen years ago)

This is basically the same thing Allison Graham does in the Radio Times each week, right?

Dom Passantino, Thursday, 9 August 2007 11:58 (eighteen years ago)

Pavement as Seinfeld

Dom Passantino, Thursday, 9 August 2007 11:59 (eighteen years ago)

I'm absolutely astounded to learn there's a shop in London where people go and quite happily spend £1.50 on Mountain Dew and £2 on Twinkies. But I'm from Devon. wtf is a Twinkie anyway?

Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 9 August 2007 12:01 (eighteen years ago)

There's a shop like that in Eastbourne! Should be coming to Devon soon I guess.

acrobat, Thursday, 9 August 2007 12:35 (eighteen years ago)

I didn't know about this shop either and I live in London. Never had a Twinkie but would like to try. I have bought a couple of Hersheys this year I confess.

blueski, Thursday, 9 August 2007 12:45 (eighteen years ago)

I was gonna say this is a semantic thing "indie" in Britian since Britpop has become rather a meaningless catch all term. Mainstream rock is very different in the US anyway. Hard rock and metal seem to do the job that lad rock does in this country. But Dom's "exoticism" point kind of makes sense, I would ask him though, why then has Britian been wht you'd call the "haircut indie" rut for so long? Though in the end it may just boil down to geography and cash, I guess being Electrelane sized in a country of 300 million is a better bet than in a country of 60 million.

acrobat, Thursday, 9 August 2007 12:53 (eighteen years ago)

About 4 of the bands Southall mentions in his vigorous defence are better than any of the US bands namechecked in the article, but fortunately for ILM's sanity I'm out all day, so I can only mention Oceansize, Youthmovies and the UK progressive revolution once...

Just got offed, Thursday, 9 August 2007 13:22 (eighteen years ago)

I'm from the US. Death Cab for Cutie is pretty goddamn "mainstream" these days. They did a huge tour with Franz Ferdinand co-headlining. They came to my college and everyone went apeshit.

I love the current music scene here except so many of our good bands are gone all summer to play European festivals. Yet US radio is so fucked up that nothing good ever really gets played. The average Brit probably has a better idea of who some of my favorite bands are than some of my best friends. That could simply be a "grass is always greener" kind of thing, though.

Also, that article could have stood to name some better American bands. Also also: the Gossip and Scissor Sisters are not big here at all. Not even the "indie kids" really listen to them. I was surprised to see them mentioned in the context of the White Stripes and the Killers.

Both versions of The Office are very funny.

Twinkies are gross.

duestown, Thursday, 9 August 2007 15:53 (eighteen years ago)

the UK progressive revolution

*snigger*

Tom D., Thursday, 9 August 2007 15:54 (eighteen years ago)

No Tom, that's the name of Louis' band.

acrobat, Thursday, 9 August 2007 15:56 (eighteen years ago)

I apologise for using the "s" word

Tom D., Thursday, 9 August 2007 15:57 (eighteen years ago)

They've just released a split 7 inch with The Strange Death Of Liberal England.

acrobat, Thursday, 9 August 2007 15:57 (eighteen years ago)

I was surprised to see them mentioned in the context of the White Stripes and the Killers.

the reason for this is because they all had a hit in the UK before the US. they've also all filmed music videos in England in response to that. i doubt The Gossip or The SS will gain popularity in the US the way The Killers and The Whtie Stripes have done tho (not a huge amount itself tho right?)

blueski, Thursday, 9 August 2007 16:05 (eighteen years ago)

The Kilelrs and Whit Strips were huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuGE for a while in the US. Kids don't really listen to rock music anymore, outside of say ... metal dorks and those emo teenagers.

As far as indie rock goes, it is a popular style here ... it's all over T popular TV and movies. I once saw a minute of some stupi d Teen Disney show, and the episode was about kids in middle school trying to start their own "indie rock "" band (yes, that's what they called it, wearing skinny jeans and all().

uhrrrrrrr10, Thursday, 9 August 2007 16:18 (eighteen years ago)

xpost to acrobat

yeah i know that sounds a bit silly, but there's something in it. i think john harris wrote an article in the spectator about it.

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 10 August 2007 11:23 (eighteen years ago)

xpost ah fuck it (it was supposed to be a Smiley Culture sleeve)

DJ Mencap, Friday, 10 August 2007 11:24 (eighteen years ago)

you read the spectator?! or is that some 696 style lol?

acrobat, Friday, 10 August 2007 11:26 (eighteen years ago)

I do like the idea of MIA as the Luke Haines of her day though, this gobby broadsheet-fave who stands up as some kind of "Actually, I think you'll find that _this_ is pop music" martyr despite a complete dearth of pop success.

Dom Passantino, Friday, 10 August 2007 11:44 (eighteen years ago)

why is Luke Haines always crouching in photos?

blueski, Friday, 10 August 2007 11:50 (eighteen years ago)

"ooh me Nobbies"

blueski, Friday, 10 August 2007 11:51 (eighteen years ago)

Sarah Nixey RIP.

Dom Passantino, Friday, 10 August 2007 11:52 (eighteen years ago)

Hope you advertising absinthe up in heaven now, baby girl

Dom Passantino, Friday, 10 August 2007 11:52 (eighteen years ago)

her cover of 'The Black Hit Of Space' should've been #1 for 10 weeks

blueski, Friday, 10 August 2007 11:55 (eighteen years ago)

or at least #41 for 10 weeks

blueski, Friday, 10 August 2007 11:56 (eighteen years ago)

you read the spectator?! or is that some 696 style lol?

-- acrobat, Friday, August 10, 2007 12:26 PM (35 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

yeah i stopped reading when johnson left... sike.

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 10 August 2007 12:03 (eighteen years ago)

You should switch to The New Statesman, it's a winning mix of anti-semitism and Sophie Heawood, two of your favourite things.

Dom Passantino, Friday, 10 August 2007 12:05 (eighteen years ago)

lol i been in the staggers, waaaay long ago.

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 10 August 2007 12:08 (eighteen years ago)

i resigned from submitting articles in protest at them not printing them.

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 10 August 2007 12:11 (eighteen years ago)

I did that for some newspaper as well. Forget where.

Dom Passantino, Friday, 10 August 2007 12:16 (eighteen years ago)

Like when Andy Cole retired from internationals?

DJ Mencap, Friday, 10 August 2007 12:18 (eighteen years ago)

Andrew Cole

Dom Passantino, Friday, 10 August 2007 12:19 (eighteen years ago)

Sophie Heawood

That's the name of the person who wrote that laughable Kate Nash review last week.

Just got offed, Friday, 10 August 2007 12:28 (eighteen years ago)

I hear if you say "Candyman" three times into a mirror the fag she hags for appears. One more needed...

Dom Passantino, Friday, 10 August 2007 12:30 (eighteen years ago)

Also, current Guide cover girl Josie Long is, I believe, an old favourite of yours, Dom. I'll bet you particularly enjoyed the line "She couldn't be more indie, unless she was personally knitted by Belle And Sebastian".

Just got offed, Friday, 10 August 2007 12:31 (eighteen years ago)

I've been too busy trolling the SOTCAA guys over at C+B to properly focus on Long recently.

Dom Passantino, Friday, 10 August 2007 12:37 (eighteen years ago)

You finished with the misanthropy yet?

Anyway...

Lets look on the brightside, if we get the kind of economic meltdown peeps on ile are suggesting is looming we may yet get another young marble giants or disco inferno!

acrobat, Friday, 10 August 2007 12:44 (eighteen years ago)

ew, this thread.

stevie, Friday, 10 August 2007 14:21 (eighteen years ago)

EXPLAIN

Dom Passantino, Friday, 10 August 2007 14:31 (eighteen years ago)

i don't really see much point in this, but sophie's a friend of mine, and you can say what you like about her writing but the personal stuff just makes all who indulge in it look like the most pathetic jealous and bitter asswipe losers. and i really don't see how you could imagine it any other way. i mean, on some level i don't care, because you're gonna continue doing it whatever, but it makes me embarrassed to post here, and turns my stomach. but hey, whatever gives you a hardon.

stevie, Friday, 10 August 2007 15:25 (eighteen years ago)

There isn't going to be an economic meltdown so I'm afraid we're stuck with the Kaiser Chiefs for now. Sorry.

Matt DC, Friday, 10 August 2007 15:27 (eighteen years ago)

there's this bit in rip it up and start again where grimey simey suggests that the amount of people on unemployment benifits was one of the driving forces behind the post punk years. you could i guess tie in the "lost generation" bands and early britpoppers with the early nineties recession. intresting the amount of sucessful acts who are now coming out of places like the Brits school and the seeming health of the british economy... </carmody>

acrobat, Friday, 10 August 2007 15:38 (eighteen years ago)

As long as I don't do anything stupid as a result of my petty and childish dislikes of more succesful music journalists, like set up an unreadable bi-monthly indie magazine, I think I should be fine Steve.

xxp

Dom Passantino, Friday, 10 August 2007 15:39 (eighteen years ago)

... the generation of indie musicians we're talking about here are the first generation of musicians who've been eligible for the New Deal for Musicians grants, correct? Is that relevant?

Dom Passantino, Friday, 10 August 2007 15:40 (eighteen years ago)

Does anyone know anyone who's ever taken that up?

ailsa, Friday, 10 August 2007 15:44 (eighteen years ago)

Was that an xpost Ailsa?

DJ Mencap, Friday, 10 August 2007 15:58 (eighteen years ago)

I hear if you say "Candyman" three times into a mirror the fag she hags for appears. One more needed...

-- Dom Passantino, Friday, 10 August 2007 12:30 (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Dom, we only unbanned you a week ago, fucking cool it will you?

Matt DC, Friday, 10 August 2007 15:58 (eighteen years ago)

No, I was talking about the New Deal for Musicians thing. Attempting to actually keep on topic, assuming the topic isn't now Dom vs the world

ailsa, Friday, 10 August 2007 16:00 (eighteen years ago)

Ever since the Sixties, when the success of our pop groups (from the original post)

What, like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, who played rock 'n roll and blues?

StanM, Sunday, 12 August 2007 19:51 (eighteen years ago)

The title of this thread makes me want to vomit.

Bimble, Sunday, 12 August 2007 20:45 (eighteen years ago)

I'm not so sure that the infrastructure / influence of Pitchfork etc. being greater than than of Plan B, DIS etc. idea is such a bad one, that maybe bands who could be propelled to moderate success by a Pitchfork are left kind of languishing with some local popularity while getting little to no attention from a Radio 1 or an NME? Although the only proof I could offer for this dubious theory is that I probably like more current Glasgow bands than I do bands from the rest of the UK combined, and assume that other major cities are similarly strong.

Merdeyeux, Sunday, 12 August 2007 21:02 (eighteen years ago)

I LOVE THE KILLERS. Wait, what's this thread about?

Tape Store, Sunday, 12 August 2007 21:04 (eighteen years ago)

jeez, strange thread but loaded question--"gen-u-wine emotional core." So the music's actually comin' from some place real? I think the problem is that a lot of this "solidly bourgeois" indie-emotional-core music is frankly imitative; of whatever era in which the UK and the States fought and made love in that beautiful way. Brit-pop as it's called never quite rung my bell, but there is plenty of cool British music with emotional core. certainly I find the Clientele a bit uneven but there's some kind of emotion there, and perhaps they're a good example of the competition between UK and American emotional-core indie, which I guess means some alt-country indie-style roots and the proper reverence for the right '60s and early-'70s icons. in that respect, America does it more interestingly or at least they sing better or have better producers, in the sense that Americans are closer to the whole thing than Brits, except the Brits sort of beat the Americans for a while in the '60s, a couple years intermittently, and that's what everyone, young and old, is still pissed off or happy about today, hence this kind of stupid but interesting thread. Anyway, trick question: what is this elusive emotional core we all talk about? I honestly don't know, except stylistically speaking. I just think there are a lot of indie bands who are seeking an emotional core.

whisperineddhurt, Sunday, 12 August 2007 21:11 (eighteen years ago)

i hadn't noticed that acrobat had mentioned a "genuine emotional core". lol emos. we didn't have emo in the 60s or 70s, and the solidly borgeois stuff i mentioned was *not* emo, thank you very much but no thanks, seriously, go now. it's not about a competition with america, that's why britpop sucked so much, the jingoism of "breaking america", it's just that british lyricists sometimes want to write about british stuff, whereas the transatlantic rock market evolved a kind of ersatz, deracinated, placeless way of talking about the world that you still hear in bands like coldplay.

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Sunday, 12 August 2007 21:18 (eighteen years ago)

I LOVE THE KILLERS. Wait, what's this thread about?

-- Tape Store, Sunday, August 12, 2007 9:04 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Tape Store for the win.

Bimble, Sunday, 12 August 2007 21:22 (eighteen years ago)

Emotion is overrated.

Geir Hongro, Sunday, 12 August 2007 22:14 (eighteen years ago)

british lyricists sometimes want to write about british stuff, whereas the transatlantic rock market evolved a kind of ersatz, deracinated, placeless way of talking about the world that you still hear in bands like coldplay.

well said.

sleeve, Sunday, 12 August 2007 22:18 (eighteen years ago)

But in the mid 90s, UK indie got more concerned with a sort of pop classicism and US indie got all post-rock and instrumental

Even though the vocals are very Neil Young, I hear a lot of obvious British influence in the psychedelic indie by the likes of Flaming Lips, Grandaddy, Polyphonic Spree etc.

Geir Hongro, Sunday, 12 August 2007 22:28 (eighteen years ago)

I was waiting for someone to mention the Clientele who are pretty well known (in indie terms) in the States and plugging away playing gigs in bowling alleys over here.

Matt DC, Sunday, 12 August 2007 22:56 (eighteen years ago)

http://rofl.wheresthebeef.co.uk/Vietnam%20Headshot%20CTD.jpg

Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Sunday, 12 August 2007 23:08 (eighteen years ago)

hmmm

stephen, Sunday, 12 August 2007 23:18 (eighteen years ago)

american rock rules but not because of all the gay bands in that article.

M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 15:22 (eighteen years ago)

and i like quite a few of those gay bands.

M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 15:22 (eighteen years ago)

shut yr gob m8\

uhrrrrrrr10, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 15:46 (eighteen years ago)

Most of the American bands namechecked in the original article peaked around 2001 and are way past their prime!

Mr. Snrub, Tuesday, 14 August 2007 17:28 (eighteen years ago)


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