Didn’t See You There: The Growing Divide Between the Mainstream and Independent

Posted on January 23, 2011 by bgibs122

Through the good, bad, and the ugly, 2010 was a fairly good year for both the alternative/independent scene and the mainstream. Lots of new artists, a slew of good albums, great songs…it turned out to be a good year on both sides.

Which is impressive, considering the two of them never ran near each other.

Honestly, 2010 was perhaps the least crossover-y year I’ve seen on record. I even did my research on this; aside from a few leftfield hits (“Bulletproof”, to name one), the year-end Billboard Hot 100 for 2010 was one of the most mainstreamed years in recent memory. Usually, the spread is more even; country gets a few in, a few rock songs chart, and there’s maybe a couple crossover hits, but there really wasn’t a sense of that this year.

That extends to the radio, too. I know that expecting to flip on Radio FM and hear Deerhunter is asking for too much, but there were plenty of crossover-ready artists ready to go. Any Top 40 station that put “Telephone” or “Only Girl In the World” in rotation would have definitely gone for Robyn’s “Dancing By Myself” (it even ranked on the Club chart). Any of the Gorillaz’s three singles for the past year would have made for a crossover hit in past years. Florence+the Machine kind-of had a crossover with “Dog Days Are Over”, but that came on the heels of her VMA performance, and died down a week or two later. As far as I know, the only song that really crossed over at all was The Black Keys’ “Tighten Up”. The lack of mainstream-alternative communication was not for lack of trying.

Looking at the mainstream side of the equation, boy is it mainstream. Of course, I’d expect nothing else, but this is the least experimental year I’ve come across. It’s not that it’s lacking new artists (Kesha, B.o.b, and Taio Cruz are all Top 10 members), but none of them are really anything new (Kesha/Cruz’s club-pop is more or less a license to print money, and B.o.b’s pop-bent rap isn’t exactly innovation). The mainstream is getting more insular.

On the flipside, alternative/independent circles have gotten big enough in their own right that they aren’t having to rely on mainstream appeal for popularity. A nonsense noise racket like Sleigh Bells would have struggled years ago to find an audience; nowadays, they can probably generate enough buzz to land a late night TV performance.

It’s not like the two of them ever got along (fun game: YouTube “[early-mid 90s breakthrough alternative band] VMAS [92-95]” and see how uncomfortable it is for at least one group), but there’s at least been an acquiesce between them. So, why the split?

A large part of it seems to be the internet. The mainstream circle hasn’t really grown or shrunk all that much (well, save the near total and complete loss of MTV), but independent music sources have spiked. There’s the “Love to hate’em” giant Pitchfork.com, but a bunch of others: Stereogum, DrownedInSound, and AbsolutePunk, just to name a very scattered few. These site support everyone from well established groups to artists filed under “You’ve never heard of them”. Then there are sites like IfYouMakeIt.com and Punknews.org, that cater to the little guys. Without internet resources, it’s doubtful that someone in Ohio (like me) could hear from up and coming East Coast groups, but there you have it. Indie isn’t breaking through as often because it doesn’t have to.

And if the indie is getting more indie, then the mainstream is getting, you guessed it, more mainstream. With the formal industry all but sinking from spending nearly a decade sucking at handling the internet, labels have gotten more antsy about in whom they invest. The industry’s out to make money; that doesn’t make them evil, but it does mean that they’re going to focus a helluvalot more attention on hitmakers and potential hitmakers than they will others. Right now, club pop is in vogue, mainstream rock (save two bad bands) is out, so guess which one labels/producers/hypemen give more coverage? Sure, old media (Rolling Stone, Billboard magazine, etc) give some good lip to independent artists, these guys are succumbing to artist’s Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, and music blogs, meaning that unless they get the exclusive hook, their content can be easily ignored.

Does this change much for the fans? Well…not really. Music/music culture hounds like yours truly are having a booming time both in the mainstream, and the independent thanks to the wealth of information that’s available. The indie scene will continue to grow, but will still probably lack the numbers to make a major impact on the industry market. The pop music industry has set itself up for a nasty feedback loop, but that’s a different subject for a different time. Like perhaps next week. See ya!

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Mini Mixtape #12

Posted on January 21, 2011 by bgibs122

So…the first Mini Mixtape of 2011. Hm…what to do it on? What’s a popular topic for songs? Sex? Sure, sex sells…but so many options. Oh, got it! Songs about that special thing you can only do alone.

The Buzzcocks – Orgasm Addict
Kind of a two-fer in that the band’s name sounds like a vibrator, and the song, well, yeah. Still, two fine minutes of punk rock.

Green Day – Longview
Going out with Rosie Palms so often that she might stop returning your calls has never sounded so good.

The Dresden Dolls – Coin-Operated Boy
Perhaps more subtle than the last two, but every bit as fun. And you can even waltz to it if you’d like! But please, pants stay on.

Lady Gaga – So Happy I Could Die
The always over the top Gaga takes “loving yourself” to new heights. But damn if it ain’t catchy.

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Radio Rant: Bruno Mars – Grenade

Posted on January 18, 2011 by bgibs122

Do I have to?

I’ll be honest, I haven’t really been looking forward to this review. 2010 had a lot of new faces, and I don’t think I was as ambivalent towards anyone as I am towards Bruno Mars. He’s a promising behind-the-scenes talent; he’s done some solid producing/song-writing, and he can write a fantastic hook (see: “Nothin’ on You”). But at the same time, his wussy falsetto and smarmy bastard personality make me roll my eyes at him every time. Then again, I did end up liking “Just the Way You Are”, so let’s see what happens with “Grenade”.

“Grenade” begins with Mars’ usual tenor singing backed by piano, because in-case it never came up before, Bruno Mars can play him some piano. I still have my problems with Mars as a vocalist, but he’s pretty good as a performer; he puts all the emphasis on the right places. The lyrics are straightforward enough; there’s this girl (Bruno Mars writes about a girl again, whoddathunkit?) who just blows him off. The verse, while not spectacular, works alright. My one complaint is that the line “Had your eyes wide open, why were they open?” has an incredibly awkward placement, like they needed to fill the space with something, stuck that line there, and never came back to make it something better.

And now, the chorus, in which Mars offers to catch a grenade, get his head impaled on a sword, get hit by a train, or take a shot to the head, all for this girl. Normally, I’d call someone out on rhyming ya 4 times, but, it actually conveys the desperate and–I’ll say it–needy tone of the song. And if I’m being honest, this is a fairly weak chorus. My main problem with it is that the music does a dramatic upswing with clattering drums and strings, and the lyrics are “Hi, I will maim and/or kill myself just for you”. Or “Hi, I will get with the ugly girl in your group, just to bed you” (if only they could have made the video about that…).

Let’s see, the second verse passes without much incident, besides Mars offering to get himself beaten to a pulp for this girl. You know, when did we decide that this was how we wanted our loved ones to feel? I guess it’s a nice sentiment in theory, but saying that you’ll risk serious injury or death for the other person (especially when they won’t do the same) is a trait commonly associated with stalkers and obsessives.

Then there’s another chorus before a very Michael Jackson inspired bridge, where the song picks up considerably. The drama that the music has implied throughout the whole song is finally realized as the bridge builds on itself before calming back down. And then comes the one truly awesome moment of the song, when Mars comes down on “But darling, I’ll still catch a grenade for ya” (trust me, it sounds better than it reads), where the song sounds as immediate as it’s wanted to for the past three minutes. But sadly, it fizzles back to normal about ten seconds later, and the extended outro.

And that’s a shame, because “Grenade” really could have had a strong ending. The song’s been compared to Michael Jackson’s “Dirty Diana” (a concert cover favorite of Mars’), and the comparison doesn’t do “Grenade” any favors. “Dirty Diana” is legendary in the way it builds and more importantly, sustains it’s intensity, a skill Bruno Mars doesn’t have. Yet.

Huh…this is a tough one to call. While “Grenade” isn’t bad, features some of Mars’ better singing, and a standout bridge, it also doesn’t really flow well as a song, and the lyrics cover incredibly familiar ground in one of the clumsiest ways possible. The whole song has an unflattering sense of self-importance, like it wants to be bigger than it just can’t be. Not quite a misstep, but nothing that’s putting Mars ahead, either.

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Album Review: Repo! The Genetic Opera (soundtrack)

Posted on January 17, 2011 by bgibs122

2008’s hard rock/metal movie opera Repo! The Genetic Opera has spent the past two years being pushed as a “cult classic”, a term that’s supposed to mean “so bad it’s good”, but gets confused with “You just don’t get it, man, it’s so awesome“. Will Repo! stand the test of time? I don’t know, but let’s take a look at the music of this thing.

The verdict on the Repo! soundtrack is similar to that of the movie: an interesting concept marred by clumsy execution. To be fair, the soundtrack does start on the high note of “At the Opera Tonight”, which utilizes a nu-metal drum beat (which you’ll be hearing a lot of), a spooky atmosphere, and most importantly, knows damn well it’s a song. The same can’t be said of “Crucifixus”, two minutes of operatic mewling by Sarah Brightman (who plays Blind Mag, and is almost too talented to be here).

As we make our way into the album proper, two things become pretty clear: 1. Repo! is not very good, and 2. Pinning down the exact reason(s) why is a taxing process. On songs like “Infected”, it’s lackluster vocal performances matched with poor melodies and overbearing music. Meanwhile, “Things You See in a Graveyard” is doomed from Paul Sorvino (Rotti Largo)’s chewing on the scenery, and “Legal Assassin”, despite bright spots, is simply too schizophrenic and overwrought to take off.  “21st Century Cure” takes the occasional problems of other songs (noncommittal melodies, rhyming just enough to piss me off when it doesn’t, and shallow mehtul rawking) and puts them all in one three and a half minute package.

Standout “Zydrate Anatomy” comes in a whopping nine songs after the last genuinely good song as a kind of midpoint highlight just in time to keep me from going Repo Man on this thing. The music hits a groove, Terrance Zdunich (Graverobber)’s sing-speak finally hits on target, and the song actually has a hook. However, the call and response trick gets so worn that even the chorus sounds ready to give it the finger by it’s third repetition (“some mighty fine print”).

The “Good/bad” disparity becomes more pronounced on the soundtrack’s second half. Anthony Head (Nathan Wallace)’s embrace of evil in “Night Surgeon” succeeds thanks to the layered vocals on the chorus, and the bite of the instrumentation. Meanwhile, Brightman embarrasses the entire cast on the gorgeously operatic “Chromaggia”. And hell, “I Didn’t Know I’d Love You So Much” is tolerable when I’m not waiting for the movie to finally end.

But there are still problems with the backhalf of Repo!, namely, they’re weak takes on popular artists. I’d hoped “Seventeen” would be less stupid without the godawful visual to go with it, but as a song, it’s still a very poor version of Green Day’s “St. Jimmy”. “Gold” is three minutes of cheesey nothingness, “We Started This Op’ra Shit” sounds like a terrible Marilyn Manson cover, and “Genetic Emancipation” is a hamfisted take on Evanescence.

There’s also a few miscellaneous problems throughout the entire soundtrack. As with every opera/musical, there’s awful character songs (“Mark It Up” is by far the worst offender), and scattered unnecessary numbers. The army of musicians drafted for Repo! have three modes: goth metal loud, goth metal soft, and Tim Burton-fied Italian Opera, which makes the soundtrack feel redundant and played out around a dozen songs in. One of the biggest dealbreakers, though, is how uneven this cast is vocally. There’s Head and Sorvino, who are fine in ensemble songs, but can’t carry a song on their own, but the biggest vocal gap is between Brightman (who has had a 30 year singing career) and Alexa Vega (Shiloh Wallace), who just isn’t good. The fact that the two of them have a duet (“Chase the Morning”) does not help matters.

This leaves Repo! in a bad spot. Out of 22 songs, only five or six are more than tolerable. Going back to the whole “cult classic” thing, a frequent point of comparison for Repo! is The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which has endured for 35 years now. A lot of TRHPS’s appeal is in how it knows it’s bad, but still has fun with it. The same can’t be said for this dour collection, a high two and a half stars.

tl;dr: Big on theatrics, but small on quality, 2.5/5

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