FacebookTwitter

i like people who wreck. homes.

By on Sep 20, 2007 in Music

this may come as a shock to many (or not) but i like michelle branch. and vanessa carlton. they write catchy pop music. let me say that again: they write catchy pop music. the state of women in music today is dire. DIRE. and i feel that michelle branch and vanessa carlton get unfairly lumped into the britney and avril camp. they are both musicians and artists as opposed to marketing ploys. and because they write the words they sing, they are a voice in music today that is rarely heard: the voice of young girls growing up. in vanessa carlton’s song “white houses,” she sings about losing her virginity. from the joy of new, bestest friends to crush and obsession with insignificant details (“he’s so funny in his bright red shirt”) to the disappointment of the aftermath; the disappointment of growing up. i’ve seen one tree hill and buffy and...

more pitchfork + bad religion

By on Sep 18, 2007 in Music

i admit it. i was spurred to search pitchfork for bad religion reviews after hearing that a friend’s hipsterific brother stopped liking bad religion after pitchfork called their lyrics ‘politics for seventh graders.’ (let’s not even get into the fact that this person blindly follows pitchfork …) the previous post on their review of los angeles is burning was just my first foray. next in google’s “more from pitchforkmedia.com” is: the process of belief: well i respect them for not dissing too hard on br; on refusing to give their readers what they want: “You want to see your friendly neighborhood elitist thoroughly skewering a band long past its prime.” (what does that say about their readers? only 28 year olds in girls jeans one size too small plastered on by the modern marvel of spandex can make good music?) at least, they...

once upon a time pitchfork media reviewed los angeles is burning ….

By on Sep 18, 2007 in Music

Read the article here. “The irony of it all is that the band’s call-and-response vocal arrangements are straight out of a Baptist church house, as are the rich harmonies and the reliance on one man– in this case, Graffin– to testify to (and for) the congregation. Bad Religion’s magic doesn’t stem as much from their political lyrics as from the airtight arrangements and thick, sweet harmonies that bring the lyrics to you, and interestingly, are also the antithesis of the social rebellion the band advocates. A case could be made (and sometimes I make it) that the band resorts to the very things it deplores in order to get across a message, and that in the process, they demand a kind of allegiance that a cynic might call unhealthy. But if Graffin and Gurewitz are willing to return to the well to help the innocent climb out, the end certainly justifies...