Turn Up The....

Grandfather: “What is that you’re listening to sunny boy?”
Thurston: “It’s called punk rock gramps!”
Grandfather: “What? What did you say? Turn that racket down boy .......oh heavens! Why is it so loud? Why is that man screaming? This isn’t music son, its just noise!”
Thurston: “Well grandpa one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure!”

Well the senile old man wasn’t completely wrong there, was he? That is the customary first reaction to most forms of new, loud music …..Mind you he did die the next day, so let’s not berate him too much for his gaffe.

Punk rock was and always will be the original, rebellious, outsider genre. It ruled for almost an entire decade and inspired a horde of other genres. But in terms of mainstream acceptance, the musicians always chose to function outside of conservative society.
It’s been almost two decades since we’ve seen a real punk band! ..... (And no, Greenday does not count!!) So in punk’s absence, what has been rebelling against society, breaking norms, and throwing convention out the window?? ......wait….what’s that grandpa??

Noise rock has occupied punk rocks vacant throne since hardcore punk bit the dust in the early 90’s. Violent, abrasive and in your face, noise rock is everything for the 90’s what punk rock was for the 70’s…..a vibrant and exciting scene which is revolutionary at the same time. It employs dissonance, feedback and distortion to its breaking point. Unusual song structures, screeching guitars, down tuned grinding bass and earth shattering drums!!.....you get the idea….its loud!!
To the untrained ear, it may sound like two 6 yr olds going crazy on a band’s equipment! .... (Damn those are some talented 6yr olds!!) But more open minded listeners will be able to find the subtle beauty beneath the harsh exterior. You either completely embrace it or completely despise it.

Taking inspiration from noisy punk groups like the Germs and Flipper; and New York’s No Wave movement, noise rock burst onto the scene in the 80’s with Swans and Sonic Youth.
Probably the two most important front men in noise rock, David Yow of Scratch Acid & Jesus Lizard and Steve Albini of Big Black & Shellac were instrumental in the advancement of noise rock from basements into alternative radio.
Jesus Lizard’s uncompromising, scathing guitar driven rock was complemented by madman Yow’s psychotic and just plain pissed off vocals while Albinis’s sarcastic biting lyrics fit perfectly with Shellac’s tight as tight can be, precise sparse rhythms and sharp angular guitar riffs.
In the mid 90’s noise rock bands exploded in number with bands as diverse as guerilla gig specialists Lightning Bolt, spastic Arab on Radar and others like Locust, Wolf Eyes, Pink and Brown, Black Dice who along with 2000’s Parts and Labor, Indian Jewelry and Liars carried the formula of noise rock into the new millennium.
Genres like grindcore, powerviolence, metalcore started popping up in the new decade influenced by noise rock

As a takeoff on the established New Wave scene, the burgeoning New York music scene came to be known as No Wave. No Wave was basically at the experimental end of the rock spectrum, influenced by Punk---Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Jazz---James Chance and the Contortionists,
And Avant-garde and Experimental---Mars and DNA
No Wave shows were equivalent to the city’s Broadway theatre shows in which melody takes a backseat to texture.
Present day bands like Neptune, Liars, Erase Errata, and Ex Models are influenced by the atonal sounds of the No Wave scene.
Experimental Avant-garde worth noting includes Oxbow, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Chicks on Speed and Life without Buildings.

The use of free form structures of noise rock, feedback, dissonance with pop sensibilities constitutes Noise Pop. Ambient guitar effects, vocals melded into the reverb laden wall of sound, all these techniques were flawlessly used by probably the definitive noise pop band--Jesus and the Mary Chain. More accessible than it’s louder, harsher cousin noise rock, noise pop remained in the shadows till JAMC broke it big. To some extent Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. and the Pixies also possess elements of noise pop.

Peaking in ’91 Shoegazing, a genre named after the manner in which its bands played a dense, droning type of rock while staring at their shoes influenced pop in various indie circuits. Cream of the crop of the shoe gazing scene were considered to be My Bloody Valentine who were seen as the successors to the Velvet Underground’s eccentric version of droning rock n’ roll. Tremolo arm permanently bent and open tunings, reverse reverb—‘glide guitar’ gave Kevin Shields that signature MBV sound which used Phil Spector's wall of sound to full effect and could disorient and mesmerize the listener in a single listen.

So the next time your grandfather tells you that punk rock is just noise, give him a hug....he knows more about music than you do!! :P

Rock Revival

In the rock scene of the 21st century, while mainstream bands like Nickleback and Seether still play grunge affected rock, indie bands have taken to resurrecting previously died out genres, rocking them back into existence. Joy Division originally brought gloomy, arty post punk into existence in the 70’s punk era. Killing Joke, Echo and the Bunnymen, Wire, Mission of Burma and the Fall all carried punk into more experimental territories. New Wave influenced Television and Talking Heads made post punk a lot catchier.
Modern bands like Interpol, the Editors, the Killers, Franz Ferdinand and the Cribs taking inspiration from this forgotten 70’s genre have created a post punk revival movement, bringing the punk influenced sound back into the charts.

However unlike post punk, garage rock has not had an easy road towards mainstream acceptance. In the 80’s garage rock revivalists the Fuzztones and the Cynics covered many of the songs of 60’s icons the Sonics while the Gories and Thee Mighty Caesars followed the proto punk sound of the Stooges.

Garage rock revival finally garnered commercial attention in the 2000s as the four big bands – the Hives, the Vines, White Stripes and the Strokes along with others like the Von Bondies, Babyshambles, the Dirtbombs, and New Bomb Turks broke into the charts. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Kings of Leon and the Libertines all have gained a cult status and inspired a new generation of garage rock revivalists.

Two's Company, Three's A Crowd!

Trends in rock n roll come and go like…well….. (Insert cheesy metaphor here), but the most important thing is, I’m here to point them out to everyone! Rejoice!

When you think of a rock band, you think of a lead singer hamming it up on stage, the guitarist straddling his guitar, the bassist holding it together, and the drummer pounding things with sticks and maybe even a keyboardist lurking in the shadows….god only knows what he does! But what if you take away the unnecessary….what if from five; the number is dropped down to two? Would they still be able to get the same sound? ....Well duh!

Gone is the age of excess….now is the time for minimalism, in every sense of the word. Not only are bands like the White Stripes reducing rock to its purest, simplest form, they’re also removing the perception that it takes big rock bands to make a big sound ….(enter slipknot).

The recent trend in rock seems to be of rock duos, two musicians…one sitting at the drum set and the other playing a guitar or a bass just reducing rock to its bare essentials.
The most notable rock duo in recent time is of course the ex husband-ex wife duo of the White Stripes with the eccentric musical genius Jack White on guitar and vocals and the trained monkey on drum styling of Meg White. With a musical palette that stretches all the way from blues to country to good old garage rock, they do it all with the same back to basics approach and they do it well.

Giving close competition to the White Stripes are the Jimi Hendrix disciples themselves, the Black Keys. Playing blues rock in the vein of the master; the Black Keys have turned out some amazing songs in the span of seven albums.

Alternative rock is not without its duos. Local H is an example of a hard hitting rock band making due with just a singer-guitarist and a drummer. Their full driving riffs are assisted by adding bass pickups to the guitar and a versatile drummer. Another group is the Matt Cameron led Wellwater Conspiracy in which Matt, one of the greatest drummers of the 90’s manages to belt out a song while rolling around on his set. All these years sitting behind Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder, he actually has a nice set of pipes….who knew?!

Noise rock duo Lightning Bolt and indie rock’s golden boys No Age completely deconstruct punk rock and somehow manage to produce the sound of three guitars playing in tandem covered in distortion and feedback from just one tiny guitar.

Some other notable rock duos include the Fiery Furnaces, the Kills, the Raveonettes and the Two Gallants.

Gus Van Sant

Gus Van Sant is probably best known for directing the Oscar winning movie ‘Good Will Hunting’ and the remake of ‘Psycho’ but his heart truly lies in directing art house classics or indie movies as they’re better known such as ‘Drugstore Cowboy’ and ‘My Own Private Idaho’. His best movies are usually considered to be ‘the death trilogy’, three films based on true life events. The first film ‘Gerry’ released in 2002 deals with euthanasia and how physical isolation affects people. The second ‘Elephant’, a movie based on the Columbine Massacre deals with murder and social isolation experienced by teenagers on a daily basis. The third and my favorite ‘Last Days’ depicts the final few days of an artist similar to the late Kurt Cobain before he commits suicide. Like other films of the trilogy this movie deals with mental isolation in which Michael Pitt delivers a stellar performance. His latest indie venture might be the best one yet. ‘Paranoid Park’ a movie on exactly that – paranoia shows a skater teen who accidentally kills a security guard trying to deal with the situation.
Now most people who will go out and rent these movies or download them on my suggestion, be warned these are not the average light hearted popcorn movie. The reason that makes these movies so special is the experimental approach applied by Van Sant in all of them. Minimalist dialogue and narration, no linear connections between scenes and starting at different points in time are all traits that he uses to full effect. Open minded people will truly love how he’s able to capture the mood and feeling of each scene with any particular story line. As for the narrow minded ingrates, I think the new bond movie is out….

Silence

No more sun glistening over the remains
The twilight breeze has calmed the mind
Gone are the intellectual, the vain, the prudes
The brave didn’t stand a chance in those sparkling shoes

But what they left without regret
Tears the ultimate prize they claim
To the victor go the spoils tonight
Not one fascist beating heart in sight

Maybe the hypocrite stares bleary eyed
His wonders of merriment turn into fright
Just a matter of time before it starts again
A smoke, a drink, an ominous game

Whispers cluster at every corner
Soft web of lies denied
Cold, desolate and lonely in there
Preferred silence now available everywhere

Of Indie & India

As the distorted guitars and driving beat of ‘In a hole’ by Jamc comes to a close and the quirky ‘Stereo’ by Pavement begins, I start to hear the faint rumblings of 5 drum sets in the distance banging out the usual danceable bollywood track. As I gaze out the window I see people dressed in their best, moving in a circle, as if drawn to the noise. It had completely escaped my mind that this was navratri season and this was not uncommon at 11:58 pm but as my mind wandered to different subjects, I strained to listen to the final few notes of probably the greatest indie band of the early 90’s. My annoyance with the party goers grew when the next song on my list was completely inaudible over the racket (‘Washer’ by Slint if you’re wondering). That’s when I asked myself the question….is it possible to be indie and Indian at the same time?
Sure I had been drawn to indie music as a kid, just because it was something different and something many people didn’t know about, but it gave me so much more than that, something that mainstream rock could never give me….a different outlook on life. I began listening to music by artists that were equally or in some cases more talented than artists heard on the radio, but apparently all they did wrong was not sign away their integrity to a major label, they did not make a deal with the devil and as a result mainstream popularity eluded them. But they still had the drive and passion needed to make good rock and roll. As a young kid I never knew the difference between good and bad music, I accepted the music on Mtv at face value, heck I even liked rap at one stage!! But as I grew up I realized I didn’t fit in either with the jocks or with the nerds, I needed a place to belong, I needed answers to life and I needed them now! Indie gave those answers to me….not just indie music but indie movies, indie books .I found out that there’s a whole another world out there that most Indians don’t even see or care about. I felt part of a worldwide community of misfits who weren’t head banging or moshing to Megadeth but listening in delight to the mournful croon of Morrissey from The Smiths. Delighted we banded together as a faction of outsiders conspiring to take over the music world. Every day I wake up and feel like a kid in the candy store as I search the internet for new bands coming out of nowhere but having the ability of becoming the next Nirvana and everyday as I listen to the freshly downloaded tracks (thanks limewire) I ask myself the same question “how in hell is this band not more well known?” The answer though is pretty clear, these bands have two options…option (a) give up creative and control and do what the guys in the suits tell you to do or option (b) create what you want, when you want and stick your middle fingers up their corporate asses.
That brings me back to the question at hand, can you be Indian and indie at the same time. Believe me when I say I’ve tried. I’m sure my peers still don’t get what I see in indie music, according to them as long as its loud and you can head bang to it, that its good but I’m here to tell you my friends……you’re probably right, but hear me out when I say that by not asking more from your music, aren’t you just a thoughtless sheep that goes along with what’s popular at the moment? Break out of this safe, protective bubble you’ve created around you and explore the dark, seedy underbelly where the music is raw and exciting and sometimes even scary.
New dilemma: Forming a band with people with the same taste in music as you. The countless number of people that refuse to jam with me just because I won’t agree that linkin park is the greatest band around. Indie is a dirty word around my band mates and as soon as it is mentioned comes the cries of “people won’t listen to us if we play these songs”. So what I ask isn’t it better to play for 10 people music that you like than playing music that sucks to a crowd of 1000. I know, I know taste in music is a person’s personal choice but hell this is my blog and this is my taste. Peace.