[NewMusic] The breathtakingly bad John Zorn

[Matt Davignon]

There was an article in the East Bay Express 2 weeks ago about a guy
who adopts unkown East Bay indie rock bands, works on their image,
'tweaks' their lyrics, gives them bedhead (the hairstyle, not the act
in the location) and soon they become the darlings of the local indie
rock scene. I thought it was odd because in many cases the lured
audiences still think of themselves as 'non conformist', but they
still respect the bedheaded guys in torn jeans more than people that
look like their friends.

I guess I'm with Jacob wondering why some 'experimental' groups (ex:
animal collective, all the bright/wolf/black/eyes/dice bands) take off
while others don't. I don't know enough about AC to accuse them of
hipsterdom, but I think their music largely serves as a marijuana to
bring people in from the indie rock crowd. What I heard sounded
similar to a modern Throbbing Gristle. (And TG was part of what got me
into experimental music.)

Matt

Sarah <21grand at 21grand.org> was like:
> - Well, there are different ways of creating a "fully codified end product,"
> which I agree that most people gravitate towards, people want to be told
> what to think or how to think about something that they might not
> understand. In general, the type of people that are attracted to things
> avant-garde want to feel smart and "in the know."
>
> There is the creation of the watered-down version; the insertion of familiar
> idioms/tropes
>
> There is also the contextual approach - via manifestos, articles, image, PR
> etc. Hence the hipster appeal - these people are part of a certain scene,
> have a certain image that is "edgy" but more widely accepted - thus through
> the signification of image and scenesterism, the much talked about "most
> people" don't have to think beyond "this is cool."
>
> sl