The Cotton Jones Basket Ride
I was saying in the pub recently that it’s been a while since I’ve heard anything new that’s really grabbed me, so this was a very welcome discovery as I browsed the sites on my blogroll. The Cotton Jones Basket Ride is the new project of former Page France singer Michael Nau, and if I recall, that band fell from grace somewhat once their overly Christian lyrics became obvious.
I find Nick Cave’s somewhat distorted religious subject matter a little tricky at times, so I can see how this sort of thing could be a problem. I’d have a problem listening to a song whose lyrices advocated the dismantling of nationalised healthcare or neutering spastics as well, so it’s silly to pretend that this sort of thing doesn’t matter.
Consequently when I listen to the Cotton Jones Basket Ride I find myself trying to maintain just a little bit of ignorance as to exactly what they might be singing about. The music is a beautiful mixture of folk, soul and gospel and I don’t want my enjoyment of it to be ruined by religious messages which, frankly, I find tiresome and annoying.
Musically there is so much to enjoy, however, that this line of thought is rendered pretty superfluous. The gently whispered female backing vocal, the easy confidence of the rhythm section – it’s all brilliantly executed, and wonderfully satisfying. It soothes and calms at the same time as it cheers, like an unexpectedly sunny evening.
They’re in the middle of releasing a series of EPs with Quite Scientific Records, the latest of which can be purchased here, and the next of which appears to be slated for release in early 2009. As soon as I get paid, I am going to be there with bells on.
The Cotton Jones Basket Ride – Had Not a Body
The Cotton Jones Basket Ride – Once Again, She’s a Window Hog
See, that’s the ‘part’ part of part & parcel when you’re dealing with music that flirts with (or positively dry humps) this sort of indie-esque post-modern Appalachian/American Gothic vibe — the tradtional religious/spiritual aspect. It’s what gives the music its lightness of touch, it’s emotive lift (if you will) on occasion. It’s exactly what I like about this kind of music – same applies to Gospel & Soul – when all the right elements hit the same target & the genuine belief in the subject matter (no matter how ‘hidden’ or coarsely metaphoricalised) shines through with astonishing melodies/harmonies/whatever as an enveloping backdrop.
I kind of think that certain aspects of ‘folk’ music (especially that which apes ‘traditional’ ‘folk’), founded as they are from ‘religious’ or ‘sprirtual’ cultural topsoil, are all the poorer for it when they harness the style but jettison the content. The tradition of these songs (regardless of personal belief) is an integral part, if you ask me., & I enjoy them in equal measure when held up against ‘non religious’ similars for the sake of comparison.
There’re many ways around coming across as overtly ‘religious’, as you know, & even the likes of Alela Diane or Marie Sioux or Fleet Foxes or etc. are excellent examples of those who plough their own brand of ‘spirituality’ via their back-porch reminiscing ‘traditional’ style.
In short I like the above, I like Page France (I’m not so sure their religious message was ever ‘hidden’; they have some very overtly obvious songs about Jesus in their cannon), & as long as it isn’t evangelical in it’s grinning insincerity I tend to dig ‘religious’ folk music (just so long as it’s got a cracking tune).
You don’t – ahem – religiously tune into Songs Of Praise on the BBC of a Sunday, then, DC?
I have to admit I didn’t really dig this.
The god-bothering seems to be sufficiently buried so as not to bother me, so it’s not that. Just didn’t really like the tunes.
No, Dylan, I do not. However, I am Welsh. Religion does not bother me at all as it is as much part of the landscape of this country (Wlaes) as the music that spread it.
I don’t know if religion’s still as much of the landscape as it was. Most of the chapels are bingo halls or bargain pound shops now, aren’t they?
Cwm Rhondda’s only got two lines now and it seems like Ikea’s where most people go to worship on a Sunday..
The religion is still there, mate. It’s like leylines. You can’t see it, but it’s there.
I don’t find anything off-putting about songs that are inspired by the musician’s authentic “religious” beliefs or that express an honestly-held religious sentiment. Quite the contrary. So long as it’s not intolerant or proselytizing. I think of Sufjan Stevens’ record Seven Swans as an example. It’s all about his Christianity, but it’s entirely personal and non-judgmental, and it’s beautiful I think. In fact, there’s something admirable about an artist writing self-revelatory music that makes no concessions to the known contrary beliefs of much of the audience.
I know that it’s left its historical mark on the landscape in the manner of a glacier slowly grinding out its indelible imprint, but I don’t see it as any more of a living entity in today’s Wales than anywhere else in the UK. Religion’s a minority pastime now rather than a universal belief system.
Talking about Cardiff and the valleys – home for me (I shouldn’t really comment on the areas I don’t know so well – such as that odd place north of Merthyr) – the two biggest factors in shaping the social and civil history of the area have undeniably been religiion and coal.
But both are now memories, consigned to history.
Max Boyce sang And the pit head baths is a supermarket now…, and he might well quote me if he writes a new verse for that song and say the chapel’s a bingo hall now.
Apart from funerals. Funerals back home are still very ‘chapel’.
Wow, I wasn’t familiar enough with Nick Cave to know about the Christian influence and I have to admit that I’m a little glad I’ll be missing his show this weekend. I do find it difficult to overlook musicians’ religious declarations but that’s purely a personal thing and not something I’m particularly proud of, I just find it hard to shake.
Gospel music is lovely and has a time and place and I don’t have to be in a church to enjoy listening to it — it’s explicitly Christian and I expect it (and respect it). However, a man who sings “No Pussy Blues” wanting me to understand how writing songs is akin to conversing with god — well that strikes me as odd and yes, a bit offending to my intelligence. Yes, people can and should be multi-dimensional (and sexuality and faith are not necessarily enemies) but aside from an explicit genre of religious music why do I care what an artist’s spiritual/religious/denominational beliefs are? Give me a break, that’s just evangelism gussied up in streetwalker’s clothes. But, perhaps this is a very cynical, American take on the issue…
Tart, it’s not really that you should “care what an artist’s spiritual/religious/denominational beliefs are.” There’s no reason why you should care. It’s just that the value of a person’s artistic expression should not be discounted based solely on what inspired it. It’s a fine line, I agree. Music that tries to “evangelise” (whether religiously or politically) is shit because it disrespects the listener and insults the intelligence, but it strikes me as overly defensive to dismiss all music that is inspired by religious faith as “evangelism gussied up in streetwalker’s clothes.” The partisan nature of so much religious discourse in the States tends to breed that kind of defensiveness I guess.
I think I get C&B’s point.
Most pop songs are love songs, but you don’t have to be in love with the singer to appreciate and enjoy the song.
C&B, point taken. And yes, it’s our black and white thinking that riles us, I agree. I love “No Pussy Blues” and now I’m really pissed off (and a little disturbed) that it was written perhaps with god in mind. (A comment in an interview taken out of context is a very dangerous thing.) Overly defensive? Guilty! I soooo wanted to love Nick Cave. Guess I’ll have to settle for you all instead. xoxo
None of this really applies to Cotton Jones, of course, who, as Dylan noted don’t really delve into this sort of territory too much on first listen. Maybe it’s there but I haven’t heard it yet, so apologies for hijacking their thread.
C&B – there’s a lot of brilliant music that evangelises on a political platform, and it’s ludicrous to suggest that it insults anyone’s intelligence in any sort of inherent way. Some of it might, but expressing a passionate belief in something, be it love, politics or some god or other is a part and parcel of artistic expression.
I am not complaining about people putting religious messages into music exactly, and some of it I love, but there are definitely times when it is sufficiently clumsily wedged into the song that I find it impossible to overlook. Maybe when people sing songs that come across as so traditional that the subject matter actually came with the music, as DC sort of suggested, then I can handle it, but modern songs with religious messages almost all make me turn off immediately, no matter how heartfelt. But then, I am pretty anti-religious.
“C&B – there’s a lot of brilliant music that evangelises on a political platform, and it’s ludicrous to suggest that it insults anyone’s intelligence in any sort of inherent way. Some of it might, but expressing a passionate belief in something, be it love, politics or some god or other is a part and parcel of artistic expression.”
Maybe. Still, it makes me very uncomfortable when music is used to exclude or divide people, even when I agree with a song’s polemical content or admire it’s cleverness or effectiveness as rhetoric. Too often, “music that evangelises on a political platform” is mere propaganda, and while “expressing a passionate belief in something” is indeed “a part and parcel of artistic expression,” what happens when the “something” is “nationalism” or “white supremacy” or “irredentism”? I prefer universality, not in the sense of the “lowest common denominator” but rather in the sense of basic humanitarianism.
Amen.
I don’t think I agree at all. The political or religious content can completely drive a wedge between me and a piece of art, but I would never argue that it shouldn’t be in there.
Some of Billy Bragg’s best songs are his political ones. What about music that protests against regimes that we consider oppressive? What about songs that protest the war in Iraq? I confess I haven’t like many of them, but that’s generally because the musicians lack the skill to weave in deliberately topical lyrics in an uncontrived way. Road to Peace though?
What about the Clash singing White Riot – a very tricky thing to sing about. That may not have been divisive in lyrical content, but the results were quite divisive. How about Pearl Jam’s brilliant Bu$hleaguer? What about virtually all protest music?
If music contains a message you don’t like then that is part and parcel of what music is, and the content of the message is entirely relevant to whether you embrace or reject that music. It’s like disapproving of Guernica because of the political message.
Incidentally, that comment is one of the key things wrong with the American press. The idea that all statements are equal, regardless of basis in fact, and to draw any sort of conclusion regarding the veracity or relative merits of conflicting statements is in some way showing bias. It’s just nonsense. You can’t go through your entire life not drawing conclusions and not having opinions. It’s nuts. Some things are bullshit, and need to be described as such. Failure to do so is giving one of the biggest freebies imaginable to liars, charlatans and thieves. It’s a fucking disgrace.
here is my opinion.
it is not as good as dr. dog but similar.
please listen to:
http://hypem.com/search/dr.%20dog%20the%20world%20may%20never%20know/1/
said and done.
Did I say, or even marginally imply, that “all statements are equal, regardless of basis in fact, and to draw any sort of conclusion regarding the veracity or relative merits of conflicting statements is in some way showing bias”? I’m pretty sure I did not. I enjoy bashing away at bullshit artists just as much, if not considerably more, than the next guy, and I’m rarely criticized for not drawing conclusions or having opinions. The point I was making wasn’t about politics as such, nor was I suggesting that vehement political discourse is without value. On the contrary, in many ways political communication is probably of far greater social value than “pure” artistic communication. I was simply addressing the fact that I don’t really like music that is used as a polemical tool or instrument of propaganda. Such music is too, erm, utilitarian for my tastes. “What about music that protests regimes or policies that we find oppressive”? Well, what about it? Such music is propaganda, isn’t it? And sometimes very effective propaganda, which is fine if I happen to agree with the underlying message. But then I’m responding to it more as sloganeering than as music, and at that point it’s lost something for me because it’s trying to persuade me of something, rather than trying to reveal something to me.
I am not trying to blame you for the ills of the American press.
But you do say this:
And taking as an example any sort of explicitly political music then most of them are trying to persuade you of something. It can be more or less oblique about it, but it’s all trying to be persuasive, and often in a pretty direct way. Elvis Costello’s Tramp the Dirt Down? Great song, and only one way to read it. Holiday in Cambodia is pretty fucking explicit, but no less a great song for it, and perhaps more so.
Maybe we’re both saying the same thing, in a way. Maybe the reason I get twitchy when I hear certain overtly religious music and not other songs which might, when I sit down and analyse them, be just as evangelical is the same as your reaction to political music. I would guess it is more about the integration of the lyrics and the music. Most post 9-11 political songs were rubbish because they were too overt, too explicit and, well, too deliberate. The message came before the actual song ever really took shape, and maybe that’s what causes the problems.
That said, if I hear something really plainly religious it can often put my back up irrespective of how effective that marriage might be, precisely because of the content. But I don’t see that as a shortcoming of the art itself. Books and paintings can cross this gap pretty effortlessly without being dismissed as mere sloganeering, and actually I was recently on the verge of writing a post lamenting the loss of political music of genuine quality recently.
Art is discourse – how can discourse avoid politics or religion, or, maybe more accurately, why must it dance around them? Surely that’s half the point. Obscure, impressionistic lyrics and oblique storytelling might be great skills in themselves, but there is more than one way to write poetry – not that I mean to over-state modern pop songwriters’ writing abilities.
Ruth On Tuesday,
I want to fuck you & have your babies. Dr. Dog are brilliant. End of. Next.
Ah, true love.
Isn’t it sweet?
Good music and good songwriting is good music and good songwriting, simple as that.
If they’re writing about a love of god, a hatred of the tories or the trick to baking a light yet moist victoria sponge makes little or no odds; as long as the alchemy involved in getting the words, music, arrangement and performance in balance is correct, and the finished song comes out good.
Look, baking a good song is just like writing a good cake.
You can’t add too much egg or flour or rum (All good cakes have rum, right?) or the cake will come out dry and stale or depressingly stodgy.
But the right balance of egg and flour and rum with a splash of coconut and a drizzle of cinnamon and even sometimes a measure of golden sultanas will make for a delicious cake.
Unless you don’t like sultanas, which is fine.
Save for that last bit about the rum and coconut cake (which sounds quite good about now, admittedly), this whole chat reminds me of an occasion I had with a friend in Portland. We were sitting in a public park when some Jesus nut comes around preaching to everyone in the park, forcing us to listen. Later on, my friend and I are visiting her sister and she tells her sister how mad she is that we had to listen to the Jesus nonsense. But then her sister says, “well, we’ve got freedom of speech – he had as much a right to preach as you had to not listen or walk away or argue.” And then we had an “aw, shit” moment, because that was true.
I agree that good political punk and the like are just as much propaganda as this overtly Christian sap, but the difference is that a lot of political musicians are very obviously so and wind up preaching to the converted in playing for their fans. Religion isn’t quite as bold in pop music, and (for example) if an indie band turns out to be thanking Jesus in its lyrics, the religious aspect might come as a shock and seem sort of out of context. I almost expect bands to be politically left, but I almost never expect bands to have a Christian message, and even though religion and politics aren’t always related, being American I tend to associate Christianity with right wing politics by default, so when I realize a band is talking about God I tune them out because I instantly assume we’re not politically aligned and they’re full of shit. I’m a bad judge, but so are a lot of people. C&B pointed this out.
I’m not sure if I expressed that properly, might read a bit jumbled. Anyway, I also think religion in pop music is tough on those of us who aren’t religious because while the average music fan can get very attached to music and lyrics and follow a band very closely, he may not follow religion on his own terms, so music can be a sneaky way of making religion acceptable to a fan otherwise not interested in religion, making it seem more effective as propaganda than political music, which is usually quite bold and honest about what it is.
I don’t think I expressed that well, either. Fuck, then. In any case…Page France was a Christian band?? That one slipped by.
Oh, Christ – nearly forgot. Seeing as this is a music blog, I like that first song you posted, Toad.
Ruth – Ruth on Tuesday should be your new name!
China, I don’t think this lot are doing any preaching. This all came up only because I mentioned the minor controversy surrounding Page France. I don’t know them either, so it’s all news to me really.
I think your absolutely right about expectations. You really wouldn’t expect a right wing indie rock band, would you, and the audience for indie rock is probably not all that right wing, so there is a degree of political pre-filtering taking place there. I’ve certainly heard a couple of very pro-America songs which have made think ‘yeah, yeah, fuck off’ and never listen to the song again. Most of the patriotic stuff we get over here is pretty apologetic, so it tends to happen less: either ‘England is shit but I’m from here so I kind of like it anyway’, or alternatively ‘look at what you are doing to this country which you profess to love’. This kind of attitude is creeping in American songwriting a bit at the moment, but that’s a whole different discussion.
I think the Christian message may struggle from, like you said, its very rarity. Over here we don’t really talk about it and in the States it’s so often confrontational that as soon as it comes up in a manner that seems any more than the mimicking or reinterpretation of old forms, which happen to bring that baggage with them, then it jars.
But again, I have a lot of time for overt messages in music as long as a/ it is done well as a single coherent piece of work, as Victoria Sponge up there mentioned and b/ you accept the fact that by including a strong message, the very content of that message may completely turn people off.
Oh, and I tried the new Dr. Dog album specifically because Ruth recommended it so highly and really didn’t like it that much. So it goes.
oh my!
matthew listen to easy beat. you just must, you really must.
from a cheeks are red, ruby tuesday.
Then you are a cloth-eared cock. That album is brilliant.
&, China, YES Page France have a Christian leaning.
Sample lyric from their song Jesus:
I will sing a song to you
And you will shake the ground for me
And the birds and bees and old fruit trees
Will spit out songs like gushing streams
And Jesus will come through the ground so dirty
With worms in his hair and a hand so sturdy
To call us his magic we call him worthy
Jesus came up through the ground do dirty
I will sing a song for to you
And you will stomp your feet for me
And the bears and bees and banana trees
Will play kazoos and tambourines
And Jesus will dance while we drink his wine
With soldiers and thieves and a sword in his side
And we will be joy and we will be right
Jesus will dance while we drink his wine
Jesus will come through the ground so dirty
With worms in his hair and a hand so sturdy
To call us his magic we call him worthy
Jesus came up through the ground so dirty
I’m sure that was hymn number 55 in Come And Praise; the little school hymn book we were forced to sing from during morning assemblies when I was a kid.
No I’m not, I’m ace. I can prove this with charts and graphs.
I wouldn’t know, Dylan. I was slitting the throats of first born up until the age of 10.
YFSP.
Oh, you’re a methodist?
Easy Beat is good, Ruth. Sounds like a slightly more cheerful Sparklehorse.
well, listen to the whole album easy beat and then judge. listen to it again and again and see if you don’t love it. You WILL be proved wrong.
Also, just for my tuppence worth, I have a few Christian friends and one of them sent me http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/glimpses/2008/shepherdsdog.html recently. It reminded me of the possibilities, the interpretations and the hope that music can bring to different ears. For me, the song Jezebel is one fo the most beautiful re-tellings of a biblical story; to take a whorish character and see her as a victim, as misunderstood was a superb piece of songwriting. Sam Beam has said that he is not religious, but that he grew up with religion. As Dylan said, this is the magimix of music. Each of us has our own experiences of politics, religion and state making us argue for or against a cause. It is important to have an opinion, yes, but it is vital that we are reflexive about such views.
I work at a gallery where we had Louise Bourgeois’ most recent work. It was an exhibition full of blood, of childbirth, of ‘nature’. It created a cacophony of reactions; anti- abortion, pro -abortion, old women whose husbands weren’t allowed to see their child being born, cultural differences about children, men, need and birth – all of it incredible. For me the reactions illustrated the importance of the art, the different levels of understanding and the emotional responses at the heart of this.
Art IS this diversity of messages and it is only by seeing, listening and experiencing those messages that we learn, that we challenge ourselves and our opinions.
As an athiest (with a little a), I find it all too easy to ignore Christian music and regard it as propoganda of a sort, yet I sat listening to Bach’s The St Matthew Passion (and we musn’t forget the influence of Bach etc. on bands such as The Fleet Foxes and many others) and when travelling I have embraced cultural and religious music from different continents.
All society has the ‘sacred’ and the ‘prophane’ and all music and art is surely responding to society at any given moment. I hope that none of us would be prejudiced enough to snubb wonderful music and musical influences due to our prejudices, which we must remember is a cultural construction as much as religion and politics itself.
OK, i’m done now!
I did not know that about Seven Swans by Sufjan Stevens, which is a quite simply stunning record. I couldn’t give a rats ass if the person is singing about politics, religion, love, hate, fear – if the songs good then it’s good. Maybe I’m a basic human being but regardless of the fact that Michael Stipes lyrics are – for the most part – made up jibberish, I love REM, especially early REM. I do love words, poetry and how they come together, and I do prefer when lyrics are a bit cryptic and a bit intorverted. BUT if Sufjan Stevens went and wrote a blatant preacher album or a political rant – I wouldn’t discount it for its content. And given that religion is one of the most controversial subject matters in the world, I see no reason not to sing about your beliefs or what upsets you. Maybe I’m missing the point as usual.
No, I don’t think you are – you and I are basically agreeing on the principle of the thing, and slightly disagreeing with C&B I believe, in that I really want people to write stuff they feel strongly about no matter how controversial or polemical that becomes.
Where you and I diverge, I think, is that I am sometimes unable to enjoy music with an obvious message that I fundamentally disagree with. I still do not blame or criticise the artist for including it. I agree with Ruth on that – it’s almost the very point of art in the first place. I don’t intentionally discount this stuff, as you mention, it’s just a basic, emotional clash with the message sometimes but as Ruth also points out, that is the very crux of interacting with art. The fact that this clash sometimes takes place is an important part of the artistic experience.
It is, of course, assumed that the art we’re talking about is at least reasonably good to begin with. Shit art, irrespective of content or message, is just shit art.
Seriously, Ruth. Can we just bang?
I think our disagreement, such as it is, is kind of fading almost to nothingness here. I also “really want people to write stuff they feel strongly about no matter how controversial or polemical that becomes.” I just don’t want to listen to it. That’s all I’m saying. I love Sufjan Stevens, but if he were to write a “blatant preacher album” as Anonymous puts it, I would tune it out because I just don’t like being preached to. The externalisation of religious faith (maybe “religiosity” is the word?) makes me feel manipulated. I do very like it very much, however, when an artist grapples with his or her own internal beliefs about faith, politics, love, or whatever else, and tries to resolve those beliefs with humanity. I was just listening to Nick Cave’s As I Sat Sadly By Her Side and I think that tune just completely embodies what I’m getting at. That song is all about faith and pain and love and disappointment and anger, and it shows a really profound level of self-understanding. It never preaches or purports to judge the listener, though, and it makes no claim to self-righteousness. It’s just an incredibly powerful expression of one man’s struggle with his own conflicting feelings about god and our responsibility to one another. That song actually makes me weep, which is extremely rare.
Christ DC, you could at least have the good graces to send flowers first. I pity poor TWoTH, I really do.
Never mind manipulated I feel angrily defensive, which is more a function of the religious climate of the moment than anything else, and not the songwriter’s fault. But then again, no song is without its context…
Ruth’s really very pretty DC, as well as having an excellent taste in music and being utterly charming.
Which is a polite way of saying that the answer is probably no.
Matthew, are you trying to tell us DC’s a bit of a minger?
Never met the man. One of the ironies of the internet age – me, DC and C&B have all met the Builders & the Butchers largely because of Toad things have never actually met one another, and yet I’d consider both to be friends despite this. In fact I rather envy the fact that they are likely to meet up for a few beers in DC shortly.
DC in DC to meet C&B. ROFL. Or not.
what do you mean ‘an excellent taste’ are you trying to say that not all my music taste is excellent?! how rude!
Yeah right Ruth, I gave you a really hard time in that post, didn’t I. You must know the Law of Toad by now – agreeing with me shows excellent taste, and disagreeing shows a lamentable lack thereof. It’s just the law of the riverbank.
This is all going a bit Calexico now isn’t it?
I am merely agreeing with one of Ruth’s “excellent taste”s that Dr. Dog are a fucking top band & Fate is a fucking brilliantly well crafted album. Sure, it’s summery, retro-actively 70s, schizophrenically all over the place genre-wise, BUT it’s a cracking good time from start to finish. No pretensions, no grandeur, no fucking about, just good old music with a bit of spunk in its pipes. Just because I am using the langauge of the nightclub doesn’t mean I don’t respect her, her culture, her traditions & her right to bare arms on hot days when long sleeved blouses leave her clammy & somewhat fuddled. In a cute, yet independent, way of course.
Christ. You two have met, haven’t you? Did Norris get away, DC? Are you stalking someone else now? Should Ruth be afraid?
Anyway, Dr. Dog. One man’s Summery pleasure is another one’s lightweight pop, I think, in the sense that breezy and enjoyable can come across as fluffy and insubstantial if you don’t actually take to the songs themselves. I can’t comment on whether or not it’s well-crafted, but I just didn’t find it compelling. It was one of those albums I listened to again and again waiting for that moment when it grabbed me and demanded to be listened to, but that moment never arrived.
Ah well, that’s just how it works sometimes I guess. But I did give it a very fair chance because I knew Ruth was dead keen on them. Just never quite happened.
LIGHTWEIGHT POP?
pah
matthew, I am going to put the ‘easy beat’ album on cd and send it to you. give me your address this instant!
You know where I live, Ruth. Opposite Peter, but the number is two higher.
oh! woops!
and i was feeling so proud of myself for sounding severe!
I don’t actually have peter’s address. what number? i know the rest i think
I’ll send you a message on Facebook.
The stern was quite good actually. I was quite scared, although it spared DC having to go mental at me. Not that he won’t anyway, necessarily.
Matthew Toad
The Whithers
49854 Eidelschnau Boulevard
Edinburgh, England (tee hee)
1066E 2008Q
Toad Hall, I think you’ll find.
Anonymous was me actually – stupid internet cafe.
anyways, I’ve got to be honest. I don’t care if somebody’s message is something I disagree with or don’t like. If the songs good I’ll listen and acknowledge it as being good. I may not like being preached at – in fact could rant about that for hours – but I would not find it a good reason to criticise a piece of music or art. You are free to make your own mind up on anything and everything. That’s the wonderful thing about life. If the music and song are good, the message would not infuriate me, if it was truly a representation of the artists feelings and beliefs. For example – I hate the manics – but i hate their music, not their political messages. I can live with other peoples beliefs. I guess the question I have is why does a message in a song that you disagree with bother you so much?
ps I really like CJBR – didn’t give them much of a chance but Ross at my work was raving so I gave it a go again – think they could make a fuckin great soundtrack to a film. it all sounds so familiar. but it’s really enjoyable.
I don’t know why it does, Euan, I don’t know. But I don’t find it “a good reason to criticise a piece of music or art” as you say above – actually, I like that people are writing about proper stuff rather than standard, meaningless shite about ‘being there’ for someone, whatever the fuck that is supposed to mean.
But if a message is really strong and obvious in a song, and that message is something I really strongly disagree with, then it jars me out of the mere aural experience and becomes more of a literal dialogue. But since you can’t argue with a song I find myself wanted to argue with it but not being able to because it’s just a song, and then just having a tantrum and skipping to the next one.
That said, I think it’s good that songs do this. I’d rather that than endless teenage melodramas or banal platitudes any day of the week.
i don’t think you should put off buying any of those eps too long.
they’re pretty limited.
Well limited or not, I don’t get paid until next week, so there’s not much I can do until then. Nudge appreciated though.