VS

Sometimes, it's difficult having so much better taste than everybody else....
Here's an example. Recently, I heard this band, Blacklist, and thought they were pretty good. I can't say I'm 100% behind them, though. The music is good, sweeping, swirly epic anthemic stuff than I'm always a sucker to hear. On top of that, they're smart people, graduates of the New School, and the singer is also a writer, and references a lot of somewhat left writers.
But, musically, they're actually more limited than what I like. They don't have the depth and variety of emotions that a band like Silence is Sexy or Pandora's Box or Workers can conjure up easily. Lyrics-wise it's a lot of intellect, but where's the connection? Where's the resonance?
Politically, though I'd say they are fellow travellers, I cannot really get behind somebody who sides with Christopher Hitchens.
So, I like them, honestly I do, but I still prefer the others. Maybe the guys in Workers are grad students, I don't know, and certainly cannot tell from their lyrics, but I feel a greater sense of real humanity from them, a more direct connection, and I feel better listening to them. ( I push the comparison between the two bands because the sound is very similar. Check out the music on myspace from Blacklist and the same from Workers)
I don't mean to set myself in opposition, so much as I just really am a bit different, so my tastes and desires are different. If I'm in opposition to anything in the arts it's this:
I suspect you're far more likely to hear about Blacklist than any of the others bands because they're based out of New York. They have the far more expensive haircuts and outfits. I suspect they have a publicist. In other words, however left-leaning the lyrics may be, they definitely have stakes in the machine. That machine is what I'd oppose. It's not about taste: it's about manipulation, and not even external manipulation because we often do it to ourselves.
So, as always, I would ask: how much longer must we tolerate mass culture?

Radio, Radio

So, the majors are arguing about who you will pay to listen to music. You know what real "radio without restriction" is, there, Dave? It's the model we had for a few years, between 1968 and 1980, in FM Radio. It's the model pirate (or offshore, or "Free") radio follows. It's peer to peer, and it rarely has an advertiser. Basically, Dave, it's when suits like you aren't involved. That much is proven, even by suits like you. Ask France.
So, I've got a simple plan for the music Business: adapt or die. Either learn a new audience and artist friendly way of distributing music, or die off, and let's watch the existing channels of doing that flourish.
Oh, and Elvis has something to say. And the Beastie Boys agree.

Oh, by the way

For a "pop culture" blog, you might notice that I'm "ignoring" some stuff in popular culture. I don't care about who David Letterman is doing, who is making money from Kurt Cobain or Michael Jackson's legacy, or which teen movie actress is on Cocaine, this week. It's not that I'm ignoring it, exactly; it's that I think it's much more relevant to talk about the good, less saturated stuff. I'll bring up mass culture, from time to time, but my main thrust is to show how there is no need for mass culture at all.
There really isn't, by the way. I could watch about 50 hours of TV without ever turning on a TV show shot for a major network, every week. I could listen to about 100 hours of music, every week, without even once listening to a major label product. I could read 5 or 6 books without going with a chain bookstore. I could watch 2 or 3 movies without Blockbuster or even Netflix. That's every week, mind you, and this side of the fence is growing. So, again, how much longer must we tolerate mass culture?

Vice

Like me, you probably have run across Vice magazine, at least once. It's a freebie, so you probably even picked it up. A mixed bag, I'm sure. You might have been creeped out by the sleaze factor, or you might have read an insightful article. The ironic hipness might be off putting, or you might have liked the photography. Regardless, they have created a small empire beyond just the magazine. There are releases on the music label, TV shows on the station, and books on the shelves. Absolutely everything is a mixed bag, and you probably suspect, just like I do, that it was their intent to make things that are a mixed bag. Every time they annoy, befuddle, or offend you, it makes them feel a tiny bit superior. They are young, so it's still crude enough that you can see through their games, unlike the big boys at Time/Warner.

For a magazine, you'd be far better off with the Big Takeover, Chunklet, or even Blurt. But, the TV shows are a little more unique. Some of the TV shows even display a little quality. I mean, check out this one. Listen to some of the interviews at this show. Maybe, watch this. Fairly high quality stuff, perhaps despite the Vice involvement. Yes, there's some real garbage, but, I guess you have to cherry pick everything. Until there's more high quality TV online (I still have high hopes for Mania) Vice may be your only choice.

We're an American Band....

For my posts, you would be forgiven for thinking that I'm European, but, no, I live near the American Capitol. Further, unlike my recent selections, I listen primarily to Punk, post-punk and Hardcore. On top of that, despite my pop culture leanings, I'm a bit of a Pinko.
Enter The United Sons of Toil, a bunch of American socialists from Wisconsin. They play a particularly political brand of abrasive rock. They call it "math", but it's got almost nothing in common with the "math rock" you mostly hear today, which is all a bunch of random time signatures to my ears (exception: Meshuggah, who sound like an off kilter grind, as opposed to bad, loud jazz). No, this is mid-1990's midwestern strum and klang, like The Jesus Lizard, Slint, and (early) Fugazi. No surprise that prime Son Russell Hall did his time in Pound Wi and P'Elvis .
They definitely know their way around some skronk. So, if you want some loud punk, here you go. All loud, but well constructed, without any hint of metal. Lyrics like a modern Gang of Four, no waste, all anger. They have nothing to insult your intelligence. So, aging hardcores, Listen! You have nothing to lose except your chains!

The Gasoline Brothers

Continuing with my Germanic heritage, here's another Dutch band: the Gasoline Brothers.
They're a bit more spotty than the aforementioned Silence is Sexy and Pandora's Box, but still, they have two worthy albums out. The second, Tsk!, is very energetic new wave with some little country flourishes. Think the Futureheads meets Marshall Crenshaw. The first album, Hm!, is much more alt-country with a lot of experimentation of the kind that Wilco, or the Flaming Lips indulge in. However it's a much more laid back sound. Still some very strong songs, but this is very much a band deciding who they want to be when they grow up. When they decide, I hope they are as strong as songs like "Psychosomatic Heart Failure" and "Sleeping Pills and Asteroids" !
Also, they've got a great website, even with some games, so do click the link!

Binge

Yes, I do know how insensitive I am.
Anyway, as we all become "recessionistas", the first thing we cut out is entertainment. I say that instead, we should take a cue from my punk rock past, and change our entertainments. Instead of being entertained by things that line some rich guy's pockets, we should support each other.
Even if you cannot "DIY" your entertainments (we can't all cut CD's and we cannot all shoot movies, and we cannot all write books) I think that, rather than cutting such things out, we should be looking at people who can make their own. So, more Youtube, less you lose. More Jamendo, less jive. More Craftster, less Crap.
It's also all part of my evil plan to get us away from mass culture. The more you seek out alternative means, the more you will find niches filled with riches.
So, if you click on the links, you should see all kinds of pathways to entertainments, and maybe, just maybe, one will inspire you to create, instead of consume

Purge

I don't want to focus on negativity, but this is the way it's coming out.
Have you seen the new Jay Z Video? The one for "Run this town"?
Lots of digital ink has been spilled about what's killing music, but I can show people this video, instead. The recording industry killed itself. They've been regurgitating the same tired crap for 25 years. Think about it: it's been manufactured pop bands and whiny rap moguls for a quarter century. On top of that, they've ceased promoting. I never cared all that much for MTV, but at least it used to be a promotional arm for the recording industry and for the past ten years it's been nothing but "reality" shows in prime time.
They over-charge for CDs which have a crappy over-compressed sound, and the engineers have been told to flatten out the sound so it's all at the same volume. Listen to a recording made in the 1980's, then a recording made in the new century; there's a marked difference in recording levels, and they're doing that to compensate for the compression rates that CD's demand. So, even the best music would be fatigue-inducing, because the sound quality is now very similar to an advert on TV, with all sounds flattened out at the top register of the compression ratio (ever noticed how commercials seem louder than programming? This is why. The loudest sounds and the quietest sounds are all pumped in at the same level. In real life, loud sounds are loud, and quiet sounds are quiet. On commercials, and on CD's{well, CD's produced by the major labels} all the loud sounds and quiet sounds are equally loud)
All that's what I say is killing the music industry. But this video is another reason to abandon the mainstream. First, this being a rap video (i refuse to call this "hip hop". There's no swing, and only the most rudimentary beat) the lyrics are a confused whine. On top of that, they're a fifteen year old whine. Basically, "it's lonely at the top". Oh, really, now, Sweetcheeks? So, we've got more blues for the boss man, how utterly charmless.... Throw in enough crude language so that you can believe that you're retaining your "street cred" , it's still a song for Oil Barons, in a time when we're all in foreclosure.
Melodically, this is crap. I don't think I even have to qualify or defend that. It's just crap.
But, then, let's get to the video portion: you've got 3 major music stars adopting the look and feel of the intifada! Only not the gritty, bloody intifada that tears open your soul, and leaves you hard and bitter. No, this is romantic firelight intifada. People ready to throw rocks in a jihad for Jiggy by soft candlelight. Nice.
Yeah, so this is exactly why my blog is named what it is: how much longer are we going to tolerate this? When will people finally say "Hey, I can make my own culture"? We have all the tools. You can burn CDs on your computer, you can find whatever movies or music or writing you want, no matter how obscure, more easily than you could find and see a mainstream movie back in the 1970's . There are millions of online galleries, not to mention sites like Deviant Art where you can post your own virtual gallery. There are street-fashion sites to even go outside the fashion magazines. You name it, and culturally, there's no need for the mainstream. So, when they insult us with garbage like this Jay Z nonsense, we can ignore it, and concentrate instead on whatever obscure fascination we may have. Purge this town.

Choke

Ok, I don't really want to write negative reviews, but I saw the film adaptation of the Chuck Palahnuik book, and I agree with this review , except I'd be a little more negative.
So, instead of writing that review, let's take a look at Chuck talking about Portland and Food.

Pandora's Box

OK, before I say anything else, yes, that's a cheesy band name.
Yes, there's some melodrama, and yes, there is a lot of pretension. This is SRS RT. But, my final valuation is whether it's enjoyable, and the new album by Pandora's Box, called "Barriers" is enjoyable.
This five piece German band sound like a less experimental, more acoustic version of what Radiohead were doing around the "Paranoid Android" bit. The vocals are closer to Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, and there's a definite prog-rock undertone, but they're clearly interested in bringing popular music somewhere new, and you have to give that a little compensation. They're nowhere near as bad as a lot of those bands who claim to be "post-rock". This stuff still has some syncopation, and some heft and some momentum. It's worth your time to listen.