A Paler Shade of White---Sasha Frere-Jones Podcast and New Yorker article Criticizing Indie Rock for Failing to Incorporate African-American Influences

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also battles has a black member whose dad is an accomplished and revered jazz musician. they're coming from a different place than basically every single band mentioned here or in sjf's article.

Jordan Sargent, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 04:42 (sixteen years ago) link

Even without that, Battles has gone on the record saying they basically discovered weird detours of hip-hop and electronic music via the same internet that everyone has.

Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 04:45 (sixteen years ago) link

strongo saying that asking arcade fire to embrace black music rather than what they like is just as retarded as asking trae to embrace springsteen is the most otm thing said here.

Jordan Sargent, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 04:54 (sixteen years ago) link

the same trae who rapped over 'smells like teen spirit' on his last mixtape?

and what, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 04:57 (sixteen years ago) link

whatever maybe trae is a strawman use yung joc or styles p or whoever you want.

Jordan Sargent, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:02 (sixteen years ago) link

not like rapping over 'smells like teen spirit' is embracing a whole culture of music (which is what sfj is basically asking for, tho i doubt you read this article). especially in that two/three month kitschy post-'party like a rockstar' period.

Jordan Sargent, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:03 (sixteen years ago) link

Most rap dudes already love rock though.

Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:04 (sixteen years ago) link

You've seen 'em at Arcade Fire gigs or Battles or Metallica or Mellencamp?

curmudgeon, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:12 (sixteen years ago) link

Metallica, sure.

Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:21 (sixteen years ago) link

it's funny that LCD are brought up as one of the ignored strands of indie getting rhythm; I wonder now how the arcade fire record would've turned out if james murphy had've produced it, as was the plan.

haitch, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:24 (sixteen years ago) link

I wonder now how the arcade fire record would've turned out if james murphy had've produced it, as was the plan.

lol what.

Jordan Sargent, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:25 (sixteen years ago) link

ok wait don't answer that i don't feel like derailing this thread over some brooklyn vegan rumor.

Jordan Sargent, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:25 (sixteen years ago) link

xxx-post

Swizz Beats worked with Metallica, Joe Budden raps over Metallica, Lil Jon sites Metallica as in influence for the new record.

Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:25 (sixteen years ago) link

where does hot chip fit into this?

Roz, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:31 (sixteen years ago) link

hey, i'm just going off an interview i read. they're definitely getting remixed by him, i know that much. (xxp)

haitch, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:34 (sixteen years ago) link

The heavily compressed frequencies of indie rock cause iPod headphones to vibrate, literally massaging Nick Southall's writing career.

Curt1s Stephens, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:34 (sixteen years ago) link

yeah hot chip.

Jordan Sargent, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:35 (sixteen years ago) link

um white stripes?

Dimension 5ive, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:36 (sixteen years ago) link

this is really easy backseat driving for us, as we don't have a "point" to make, and we've had a night to think about it.

da croupier, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:38 (sixteen years ago) link

and sfj didn't 3 years?

Jordan Sargent, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:40 (sixteen years ago) link

didn't have*

Jordan Sargent, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:40 (sixteen years ago) link

ant dude give me some time, i only just clicked on this thread

Dimension 5ive, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:40 (sixteen years ago) link

um

Dimension 5ive, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:40 (sixteen years ago) link

uh

Dimension 5ive, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:40 (sixteen years ago) link

okay i got nothing

Dimension 5ive, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:40 (sixteen years ago) link

and sfj didn't 3 years?

I assumed this was written in a Bangsian fit of spontaneous inspiration

da croupier, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:42 (sixteen years ago) link

oh maybe. i was just referring to the ilm thead started by sfj (linked here by john d.) that basically introduces the idea brought up in the article.

Jordan Sargent, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:44 (sixteen years ago) link

from 4 years ago actually.

Jordan Sargent, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:44 (sixteen years ago) link

"About five years ago, indie rockers began to rediscover the pleasures of rhythm."

-SF/J

bears repeating

da croupier, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:46 (sixteen years ago) link

whatever maybe trae is a strawman use yung joc or styles p or whoever you want.

-- Jordan Sargent, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:02 (45 minutes ago) Link

the same yung joc who said on the radio he listens to gnarles barkley & my chemical romance and that his fav album is tougher than leather? the same styles p who gives props to the ramones & ended his last album with 3 rock remixes? etc etc big surprise ol' j sargent not knowing wtf hes talking bout as usual

and what, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 05:59 (sixteen years ago) link

haha okay ethan, yung joc really listens to my chemical romance.

Jordan Sargent, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 06:02 (sixteen years ago) link

and again, ending your album w/ 'rock remixes' does not equal the ideas brought up in the article.

Jordan Sargent, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 06:04 (sixteen years ago) link

You hafta keep in mind that since at least the mid 90s, contemporary rap & r&b is processed and packaged and mtved etc right next to / in the midst of the hated 'alternative rock' and pop-punk and assorted jock-rock etc which is all anathema to alienated pre-indie-kids. It doesn't help that then the jock types embrace both sets of icons - rappers and rock stars - as equal expressions of unadulterated power and whatever, sexual potency, enjoyment. It isn't the blackness which our hopeless boring white indie heroes retreat from; instead its just power--incarnated as the chosen representatives of a dominant culture which sells sexiness (not sex) as potency (both male and female) wrapped in a suffocating corporate marketing gauze. etc.

The problem is that the alternatives turned to are so reactionary; authenticity, purity, solitude, etc.-- I don't have any answers from this point, and I'm tired, but I think it looks more promising to start here than from like, 'um why don't white indie pplz like black music.' Anyways all of this was just a restatement of someones point up above but there have been a lot of intervening posts and people are still ignoring this so there

walter benjamin, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 06:05 (sixteen years ago) link

im sure he was just pretending to like my chemical romance in order to impress famous internet music critic sasha frere jones, indie pop musician john darnielle, and noted gay porn star jordan sargent

and what, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 06:05 (sixteen years ago) link

though it did impress venerable city paper writer ethan padgett.

Jordan Sargent, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 06:23 (sixteen years ago) link

Which Celebs would you invite to a circle jerk/gang bang

strgn, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 06:33 (sixteen years ago) link

what an embarrassment of an article
the lame white guilt, the "i have black friends and/or musical influences!" middle eight, the arbitrary binary construction and segregation of 'white' music and 'black' music, the misconceptions of what it means for music to 'have rhythm', the ignorance/omission of the numerous bands who show musical diversity in all sorts of ways, etc.
painful to read

sleepingbag, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 06:39 (sixteen years ago) link

also indie types are crap at playing their instruments

electricsound, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 06:53 (sixteen years ago) link

Once again, Pavement.

Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 07:12 (sixteen years ago) link

sleepingbag OTM

GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 07:14 (sixteen years ago) link

sleepingbag OTM

OTM. He also conveniently fails to note that hip-hop, too, has lost most of its rhythmic zest. Now it’s all about the linking, resinous beats and — obligatory these days — the thinny VSTi synths. No wonder people are sick and tired of it.

Jeb, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 08:00 (sixteen years ago) link

Exactly what is the problem here? Is there a rule that says R&B or funk elements have to be incorporated in every single song written today?

Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 10:28 (sixteen years ago) link

this has been a simon reynolds meme since forever and it's sorta racisty.

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 10:36 (sixteen years ago) link

I also wonder what is this guy doing at all those indie gigs? It seems he is expecting stuff that the rest of the audience prefer not to hear at all.

Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 10:43 (sixteen years ago) link

the smiths had some funky jams.

(there's a quote for the ban max r thread)

max r, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 10:44 (sixteen years ago) link

didn't dance music make all these sort of arguments redundant anyway?

black guys influenced by kraftwerk and new order, black and white producers developing jungle, raves having racially mixed crowds, etc...

not so easy to tag certain styles as "black" or "white" now.

max r, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 10:49 (sixteen years ago) link

great work, keep it up.

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 10:51 (sixteen years ago) link

Ban ILX.

Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 10:52 (sixteen years ago) link

Rap is obviously the "blackets" genre ever. Sampling doesn't count as "influence".

Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 11:01 (sixteen years ago) link

Oh for fuck's sake.

Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 11:01 (sixteen years ago) link


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