I’ve made a recent discovery that music is getting good.
Before you think this is the blandest statement ever spoken, here’s my line of thought. Back in the ’60s, there was the Beatles. The ’70s brought in the Alan Parsons Project, Nick Drake, and Paul Simon solo. The ’80s was for the Police and Vangelis. (We won’t talk about the ’90s. Two words: Kurt Cobain.)
But there’s something about recent music that’s just so good. Having a nice young dad who graduated in the ’80s, he backs me up on this, though that could just be the remnants of ’70s music he was forced to grow up on talking. But when you stop and think, there’s just so much that’s come out recently that blows away any competition from any earlier decade.
The first band that comes to mind is the Shins. I find they have no faults whatsoever. Their newest album, Wincing the Night Away, incorporates the perfect mix of catchy melody, talented vocals, perfect overall composition of songs, and pure sound from expert production. They matched their dreamy feel from Oh! Inverted World with their enthusiastic acoustic tendencies in Chutes Too Narrow to create this transcendent album. The only turnoff some might come across with the Shins is the sheer absurdity of the lyrics (but even Waiting for Godotgot a Nobel Prize). What’s that about a gunnysack filled with red rabbits? Through careful dissection of the lyrics and interviews with James Mercer, their meanings can be worked out, though some are more obvious than others. And for some, it simply doesn’t matter; Mercer’s vocals are pleasing enough to let one skim over the finer points of what he is saying. They also know how to play for crowds: they played a concert in San Francisco last April that I consider the absolute best concert to which I have recieved tickets.
Other great new music includes Spoon’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky. While they received widespread radio play with “Underdog” and “White Light,” respectively, the albums themselves are far better as a whole than as a single song. Spoon’s authentic sound is unlike any heard elsewhere. They mingle guitar noises with clapping and conversation over Britt Daniel’s distinctive voice to create a timeless album. Wilco makes a more calming appearance, mingling folk and jazz with the definite emotions of loneliness and hope, as portrayed by the opening lyrics that beg, “Maybe the sun will shine today.”
And the most ironic part of this is that all the bands that would previously have been labelled “indie” are the ones being picked up by radio stations and television advertisers. There was a time a few years ago that no fewer than three TV ads used Postal Service songs, one amusingly being for UPS. The Shins play during a Zunes commercial and the cover of Chutes Too Narrow appears in an iPhone ad. The Wraith Pinned to Mist and Other Games by of Montreal was reworked to become the contagious Outback Steakhouse song. Architecture in Helsinki’s Souvenirs gives a Sprint commercial its mysterious glimmer. The death of an indie band to mainstream music is a sad occurrence, but it is in most cases inevitable. The popularity means they’re doing something right, but it’s a tragedy when the music changes its unique sound to become more pleasing to more people (see Death Cab for Cutie’s change from Transatlanticism to Plans and the Decemberists’ from Picaresque to The Crane Wife). Even the gradual fading away of amazing bands like the American Analog Set is more honorable. In the end, it will be the spin-off bands that will live on as the indie soul of their parents: Flash Hawk Parlor Ensemble, the Martin Youth Auxiliary, All-Time Quarterback, Tarkio, and Pinwheel will forever keep the rebel soul alive.
Whatever your music addiction, there’s good stuff out there. Iron & Wine, Nada Surf, Architecture in Helsinki, Modest Mouse, Moby, Mogwai, Dntel, The Frail, and countless numbers of other bands all exist. I have a strong dislike for Amy Winehouse, but even she could be considered to be talented and different before her songs were massively overplayed and she stole x-hundred Grammys from better deserving bands. So shut your ears to what mainstream is shoving at you and just listen for a while; this is the true spirit of indie music. You’ll be glad you did.
Long live the Aughts (’00s)!
