Why Do We Listen To Shit?
11:56 PM | Jeff Fleisher Right this second I am listening to Wavves. The bass is blown out, the guitar is feeding back, and the vocals are almost indistinguishable under a layer of fuzz and tape hiss. It almost sounds like My Bloody Valentine got drunk and stoned while raping their instruments. There seems to be a pop song buried somewhere in the frequencies; gasping for breath from deep down in the shit. And man, the shit is dense.
I’m basking in it though. I’m wading through the shit.
In recent years there has been a wave of musical devolution within the independent music spectrum. Sure, lo-fi recording has always had its indie charm and is rooted firmly in a DIY (do it yourself) ethic. During the 90’s, the primary reason artists opted for a four track machine over a full studio set up was strictly a financial matter. Though, with the emergence of shitgaze (a combination of shoegaze, and well, shit) and No-Fi (noisy lo-fi) music, artists are actually trying to make their music sound shitty. They’re deliberately pushing the needle in the red.
The even idea that playing ones instrument poorly on purpose seems inane, yet hipsters are eating this shit right up. The songs are quickly written, unrehearsed, sloppy and often chaotic. Small labels like Woodsist, Not Not Fun and Fat Possum have quickly dominated the subgenre, releasing limited tapes and records by Woods, Raccoo-oo-oon, and Wavves. Even the “major” indie labels have joined the party, with Matador signing Times New Viking and Kurt Vile and Sub Pop scooping up No Age. Online music publication Pitchfork Media is perhaps the most influential force in the movement, incessantly praising these artists for their distorted garage pop and lazy recording techniques.
Now, I’m not surprised people like the music. Hell, I like the music. The thing I’m concerned with is why we like it, and why it’s being pumped out so quickly by the masses. We know it’s meant to sound bad. We know there are easily a million other pop songs out there that are better, both in clarity and execution. The name of the genre alone serves as a reminder that the music is shitty, and still, art students and Urban Outfitter employees across the world are listening/blogging/scrobbl
Our infatuation with having immediate information at our fingertips (over dependence on technology), immediate and cheap processed foods (fast food, obesity, heart disease, inhumane animal treatment, corporatization), immediate visual entertainment (using television and the internet as our primary means for news, entertainment, and escapism; taking the place of reading anything tangible), immediate produce and groceries (exploitation of migrant farm workers, destruction of local markets and businesses, wasted food), and immediate self infatuation with perception (social networking updates over actual human interaction) have greatly impacted the current state of American culture. In the age of such immediacy, people are sacrificing their health, morals, ethics, education, attention span, and incidentally quality of musical taste based on the unrelenting need for something that’s fast and easy, mass produced and constantly new in a familiar way.
Sure, most of us are guilty of this need for immediacy. We probably pass the buck and blame society for confining us to this convenient, yet destructive lifestyle. Some of us don’t even see this as a bad thing. Some people would be completely comfortable listening to every new shitgaze band that pops up on your friend’s blog for the rest of their lives.
I’m not sure I could do that though.
Sometimes I have patience (yes, the virtue), and if patience has taught me anything, it’s that quality beats convenience every time. Though shitgaze music, fast food, corporations, and technology all make things quick and easy for us, they seem to be ruining the idea of contributing something beneficial to society. These things could be highly positive if used moderately, but we have the incessant need to abuse what seems easiest and that has lead to an overindulgent culture with a desire for anything mass produced.
We can try to fix it though. We need to be patient and confront these problems one step at a time. Take a break from the shit. Go listen to The Beach Boys or something.
