The New Direction of Music...and how it sucks ass

Five years ago, about the time I had discovered the so-called indie rock scene, everything seemed well in place. Bands like Spoon and And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead seemed like legitimate rock bands, that is they played delightful gigs to audiences that so desperately wanted to see their new favorite band. But nowadays, indie rock bands only seem to produce great records when they're far below the 'Pitchfork' radar. Three years after Spoon released Kill the Moonlight, the band churned out Gimme Fiction, which to me sounded a bit bland but still had a few redeeming tracks like "My Mathematical Mind" and "The Beast and Dragon, Adored." But, two years after Gimme Fiction, Spoon dumped Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, one of the worst things I've ever laid ears on. All of a sudden, songwriting and texturing were thrown out the window. Britt Daniel seemed, by 2007, to only be concerned with his stage stance or his pop hooks. Who is to blame for all this? I hate to say it, because I am a faithful reader still, but Pitchforkmedia.com is surely to blame.

Pitchfork is to blame for idolizing hipness. They give adburdly high ratings to absurdly bad music that cahes in on Americans' low attention spans. How can Girl Talk, The Go! Team, The Books, The Decemberists, Death Cab, even COLDPLAY win respect by a once selective review site? Bands like Girl Talk and Dan Deacon, who party around and jump into their audience and have giant stage orgies are ruining American music. At one point in time, it seemed difficult to get any rating above an 8.0 from Pitchfork. Now, all you gotta do is write some basic dance beats, clutter the 'songs' with samples or electronic blips or bliss, add an attractive singer with a popstar voice and BAM! you've gotta winner!

I personally think that Girl Talk and Dan Deacon are the antiChrist. They make the most thoughtless, corny, hokie, phony, self-obsessed music ever made. This dawned on me last night while I walked from my house to downtown listening to the new Mogwai album, The Hawk Is Howling. Not only is this the best all-the-way-through Mogwai record, but it is completely transformative. Walking around at night, I thought to myself, "The rest of the world doesn't have a fucking clue!" This is why I listen to music - for that indescribable feeling that comes from somewhere between the brain and the heart - something special. 2005 was the last time I can remember hearing 10+ albums per year that were THAT evocative. Since I've been in college, I have seen the beginning and worsening of a great demise in 'indie' music. Now, it seems, no one wants to listen. They just want to dance. So, the new hipsters bring unlistenable dance-pop trite to the table, and the comparison between 2008 and 2002 almost makes me laugh...because I instantly wanna cry. Or take a shit.