Hey all, I'm trying to find a folk-punk sound in the general vein of the Minutemen and the Mekons (but more folk) and Uncle Tupelo (but more punk). If anyone has ANY idea of the sound I'm describing, or ANY idea of a band that might sound like this, I'd be utterly grateful. Thanks.
Looking for a Sound...
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Basstrap
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You ever hear of
And You'll Know Us By the Trail of Dead?
Their cd, Source tags and codes is great.
Kinda punkish but with some great dynamic twists and stuff.
And You'll Know Us By the Trail of Dead?
Their cd, Source tags and codes is great.
Kinda punkish but with some great dynamic twists and stuff.
Basstrap said:
Yeah, that got pretty hyped up a few months ago upon its release, including a ridiculous 10.0 by Pitchfork (http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/recor...the-trail-of-dead/source-tags-and-codes.shtml) I never quite understand its appeal--I enjoyed a song or two (Hand in the Heart of the Matter and the title track closer) but overall sounded like bland emo.
I don't really know the sound I'm looking for, but I can hear it in my head. I've been listening a lot to the Mekons and the Minutemen, two fantastic bands. But as I was listening to the latter's Double Nickels on the Dime (brilliant album) I realized I liked the folkier songs by far the most (History Lesson pt. 2 and No Exchange are some of the best songs ever.) I've been looking for something along those lines, but I'm mainly ending up at brash early 80s post-punk like X and the Meat Puppets and The Saints, which I enjoy but are not what I'm looking for. Hence my question.
By the way, one of the Mekons' best songs is "Blow Your Tuneless Trumpet," railing against a certain "dublin messiah scattering crumbs." You more fanatical Bono followers may want to avoid that one
Anyway thanks for the suggestion Basstrap. If anything else occurs to you or anyone else I'd be grateful to hear it.
KingPin
The Fly
Are you kidding me? The new Trail of Dead does not sound "emo" at all, at least not by the currently accepted definition of emo. Current emo is represented by The Get Up Kids, Saves The Day, Bright Eyes, Juliana Theory, Dashboard Confessional, and older material by The Promise Ring and Sunny Day Real Estate. Trail of Dead sounds vastly different, and is much closer to a mix between Sonic Youth and The Who.
If you don't like them, that's fine, I understand that, but to write them off as an emo band is simply incorrect and unfair to the musicians in the band. The songwriting, arranging, compostion and production is miles ahead of the "emo" genre led by the bands I mentioned above. I wouldn't give it a 10.0, but I would definitely give it a 9.
As to your request, try Veal, or Damien Jurado and Gathered in Song.
Glad to see other pitchfork readers here!
If you don't like them, that's fine, I understand that, but to write them off as an emo band is simply incorrect and unfair to the musicians in the band. The songwriting, arranging, compostion and production is miles ahead of the "emo" genre led by the bands I mentioned above. I wouldn't give it a 10.0, but I would definitely give it a 9.
As to your request, try Veal, or Damien Jurado and Gathered in Song.
Glad to see other pitchfork readers here!
meegannie
Blue Crack Addict
KingPin said:
I love him. Just got Ghost of David this weekend. "Ohio" is my favourite song of his by far, though.
KingPin
The Fly
meegannie said:
I like "Honey Baby" the most personally... by the way, to mug222, his latest CD is more rocking and less folky... the name of the album is I Break Chairs... by Damien Jurado and Gathered in Song.
KingPin said:
Please--perhaps in intent, but they are miles, miles, and miles away in terms of execution. To these ears, they really do sound like a second-rate emo band fronting as a punk-rock outfit. Have you read the lyrics? Trash, in my view.
But obviously they do have a good number of fans, so I am not trying to insult your view, just to provide my own.
Thanks for the suggestions, which I will definitely check out, and agreed that it is nice to find other pitchfork readers.
(as a footnote if anyone else is interested in pitchforkmedia.com: please please please do not judge by today's eminem review, as it is a load of pretentious bullocks and the worst review I've ever read there.)
KingPin
The Fly
I'm not familiar with Songs:Ohia... but I think I'd like him, because I'm a big fan of Hayden, early Pedro the Lion, Damien Jurado, Denison Witmer. etc.
I'm not saying that Trail of Dead are as good as Sonic Youth (who are a bit over-rated, I think) or the Who (who were brilliant until their last few albums)... that would be a bit much. But I do think that they're closer to those kinds of bands than those in the emo scene. Think about it... most emo has whiny off-key vocals leading to cracking off-key shouts... jangly guitar picking bursting into distorted power chords... simple bass and drums that is hardly noticeable... stops and starts that are predictable and get tired quick.
Trail of Dead are quite different from that. From the vocals (not stellar, but on-key, and not nasally or whiny) to the guitar work (more mature, less predictable and stereotypical) to the intricate bass lines and thundering Keith Moon-ish drumming. Not to mention the arrangements and composition being light years ahead of your average emo band.
If you're going to call them an emo band, you can hardly call them second-rate. You'd have to call them an adventerous, groundbreaking first-class emo band.
I'm not saying that Trail of Dead are as good as Sonic Youth (who are a bit over-rated, I think) or the Who (who were brilliant until their last few albums)... that would be a bit much. But I do think that they're closer to those kinds of bands than those in the emo scene. Think about it... most emo has whiny off-key vocals leading to cracking off-key shouts... jangly guitar picking bursting into distorted power chords... simple bass and drums that is hardly noticeable... stops and starts that are predictable and get tired quick.
Trail of Dead are quite different from that. From the vocals (not stellar, but on-key, and not nasally or whiny) to the guitar work (more mature, less predictable and stereotypical) to the intricate bass lines and thundering Keith Moon-ish drumming. Not to mention the arrangements and composition being light years ahead of your average emo band.
If you're going to call them an emo band, you can hardly call them second-rate. You'd have to call them an adventerous, groundbreaking first-class emo band.
meegannie
Blue Crack Addict
mug222 said:
I completely disagree with their Ed Harcourt review.
If you are on the Pitchfork Boards (http://www.dragondata.com/~mich/yabb/YaBB.cgi) then you know that this discussion was a daily occurence for months (and I mean MONTHS) after the album came out. Each side has good arguments, and I don't feel like rehashing either. But rest assured that there is no "right" opinion of Trail of Dead, and you and I seem to be on complete opposite sides of the fence.KingPin
The Fly
Yeah, good call. No, I don't hang around the Pitchfork boards. Perhaps I should... I think I like a few too many mainstream bands to be accepted there, though.
Yeah, the Trail of Dead thing goes either way. There's a bunch of artists that are just raved about that I think are useless (Strokes, Death Cab for Cutie, etc.) No worries at all. No point arguing about this when I'm guessing we probably have more similarities in our musical tastes than differences.
Although I do like that Elbow album. I forget the review though... I think I thought the rating was a bit low at the time, but I could be wrong.
Yeah, the Trail of Dead thing goes either way. There's a bunch of artists that are just raved about that I think are useless (Strokes, Death Cab for Cutie, etc.) No worries at all. No point arguing about this when I'm guessing we probably have more similarities in our musical tastes than differences.
Although I do like that Elbow album. I forget the review though... I think I thought the rating was a bit low at the time, but I could be wrong.
KingPin
The Fly
Just checked, they gave Elbow a 7.4, which is a fair rating, I think.
meegannie
Blue Crack Addict
mug222 said:
I think the reviewer listened to three songs. Maybe. To call it "watered down singer/songwriter sensitivity" completely ignores the lyrics. There is far more "intellectual content" in Here Be Monstors than in the derivative, angsty, pretentious i'm-an-indie-kid bands this guy listens to. Saying he doesn't have a sense of humor is just undeniably, fundamentally wrong. Of course, this is coming from the same person who gave Phantom Planet a fairly decent rating, and it doesn't get much worse than that.
I usually don't agree with anything on pitchforkmedia, though.
meegannie
Blue Crack Addict
And I love Ed's cat.
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