'Bicinium' means 'duet' in Latin
A bunch of my favorite artists in the past two years are pop duos: Mates of State, the Postal Service, the Knife, Tegan & Sara. Notice that the White Stripes do not make the list. The Kills are pretty good, but I'm still ambivalent. One significant feature of this set is that they all have at least one female singer (except for the Postal Service, who cater to, in Simon's words, people who "prefer guys that sing like chicks," rather than female singers).Whereas "Bikini Kill" means "crappy music" in English:
I often feel that I'm in a minority of a minority in this regard. I like rock/pop music with female vocals, but I can't stand the music that women create as an answer to the male-dominated rock world. I thought Le Tigre released a decent first album with some good tracks, but they've fallen precipitously since then. And that's a feat, considering they weren't so high up in my opinion. Kathleen Hanna released a solo album (as Julie Ruin) that was actually pretty good, but probably because it was more about creating a pop album than about a "message," though there are certainly political tracks on that record. Bikini Kill was just plain awful.
In the past couple of years, some of my favorite albums have been by Rainer Maria, Rilo Kiley (despite their uncharacteristically trite single about the Iraq War) and the aforementioned duos. I think what's finally becoming clear to me (though I should have probably known it years ago) is that political music tends to suck. There are exceptions, of course, my favorite among them being the Clash, the Broadways, the Honor System, and Bad Religion. Two unfortunate and related issues arise for me when it comes to political music:
- I rarely agree with the politics of the artists I like. Too often they're overly alarmist (granted a three minute punk song doesn't give you too much time to discuss subtler points of an issue), or are just plain too far to the left. For example, Propagandhi is a bunch of very angry Canadians who are sticking it to the Man. Canadians. Or the Honor System, for another example, are proud communists.
- Most political music is forgiven for its crappy musicianship, vapid lyrics, and generally unredeeming quality because it is preaching to the choir. Think, Anti-Flag.
I want suggestions. I don't have too many friends who introduce me to good new music. Kyle has been trying to get me to listen to a couple new bands, but I'm convinced I just don't like post-MTV post-punk. And I hate using "post" adjectives, too. Zack just introduced me to a song by the Notwist, and it's pretty good. Keep 'em coming (if you've got something good, leave me a comment).
An unrelated note:
My dear friends Rosalyn and Luis got married this past weekend in Miami. Congratulations, guys.
Labels: music
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