LCD Soundsystem - Live at MSG

So one more band from my time calls it quits. Its sad to see them go, but like the White Stripes its comforting to know they managed to do it on their own terms. These guys however have the luxury of creating their own funeral party on one of the worlds biggest stages rather than enduring a prolonged breakdown that started in the Canadian badlands.

It leaves someone like me, a 22 year old music nerd in Australia with a music landscape that's becoming short on heroes that I can call my own. Like of course there are still great bands that are coming out with new awesome music that I really like. But there's always a sense that they're belonging to the kids (who are coming up from behind :P) that are younger than me. Maybe that's a misconception on my part, but its how I feel anyways. I mean lingering from my high school days there were a collection of bands that both became the the soundtrack to my life around that time and blew up big time in the indie sense.

So The White Stripes and LCD have called it a day. Kings of Leon I don't wanna talk about (suffice to say that the band who made Aha Shake Heartbreak, an album which more or less soundtracked the summer of my graduation is no longer there). The Strokes have pretty much fell off (still need to give the new album a propper listen, but needless to say we're never getting something of Is This It? quality ever again). Arctic Monkeys are still great, but they're more interested in being just another band these days rather than the creating of youthful anthems that were on "Whatever.....". Franz Ferdinand are still quality but seem to have vanished. Thank god TV On the Radio are still bringing the awesome (more thoughts on that soon.)*

But this is the rockist side of me talking. Indie music is always going to have lower benchmarks for success, and that's fine. It allows for different ideas to be experimented and run with without the pressure for commercial appeal and success. And that's fucking sweet. But at the end of the day, these were the successful bands that could be claimed as our own and we could turn to the baby boomer elitists and mainstream rock fans and say, "fuck you, this is how we do rock and roll and its just as good, if not better than yours, and its fucking cooler too."

As such its a disappointment to see them go. No doubt there will be a band as awesome to take its place soon enough. The only question is, are they gonna have a resonance with me like my high school bands did? Man, growing up is kinda shitty haha.

LCD Soundsystem - All I Want

*I only remembered Arcade Fire after, they're kinda on top of the world atm, would have put it in, but it'd have fucked up my rhythm haha

Best.Of.2010 Honorable Mention - Brothers

When writing about Black Keys, its usually mandatory to mention whether or not they’re switching up styles, expanding their range and whether or not they’re working with Dangermouse this time around. Such emphasis is placed on sound and style these days, ideas over execution.

However I’ve always had the opinion that when approaching a new project, artists have two (not mutually exclusive) options. You can either change your sound a bit, or do what you’re already doing, but do it better. Brothers is the product of taking option number two. Its clear from the opening stomp of Everlasting Light, Brothers is the work of a band at the peak of their abilities.

While I’ve always enjoyed the Black Keys, their albums have been non-starters for me. I usually get bored about halfway through. However, Brothers is a highly diverse, fresh and interesting album despite not departing from their sound, a testament to both loosening up and having fun, despite the frequently depressing subject matter. The album knocks, like few other modern rock ones do these days. And as was said by the Weiss, “A vote for the Black Keys is a vote against the Kings of Leon”.

The Black Keys - Everlasting Light