Member of the Wedding – Chapter & Verse
Imagine if you didn’t want to punch Adam Green for every stupid, facetious, cleverer-than-thou lyric which ever ruined one of his songs. I know, it’s tricky, but I think I can help: meet Member of the Wedding.
Although Rory’s vocal delivery sounds for all the world like Green’s cocky, disinterested baritone on this debut EP by Member of the Wedding there is none of the lyrical wanking about which makes the latter’s stuff so unlistenable. It’s less anti-folk, too and more a sort of wayward leper, cut loose from the world of old fashioned rock ‘n’ roll for dressing too sharply and drinking too many martinis. So maybe Adam Green meets Richard Hawley then, with a little bit of Jonathan Richman thrown in to muddy the waters.
Lyrically this is really strong. It’s witty and acerbic, without being smart-arsed. No Idea is downright mean, but enjoyable with it, a character assassination delivered with splendid relish. Friend of a Friend is similar, albeit more of a mixed volley, and laced with a little less venom. In fact, this kind of musical ranting gives the impression of a band annoyed and disappointed with large parts of the world – the sort of people who shout at the TV and throw crisps at the news. And yet I get the strange impression they’d describe themselves as optimists underneath it all.
Biting cynicism, flat, suave delivery, and grumbly, unpolished guitars – this really is right up my street, isn’t it.
Member of the Wedding – Leave the City Behind
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Ahhh…also reviewed this, absolutely brillaint!
I don’t think I’m quite as smitten as you, Ed – you gave it 5/5, didn’t you? – but I definitely think this shows bags of promise.
Unfortunately there isn’t much that appeals to me in that particular song.
It strikes me as contrived and emotionally vapid, while the amateurish arrangement and performance is terribly ill-judged.
I’m not detecting those bags of promise, regrettably, so no full marks from me.
If I were you, NineBall, I would be tempted to go away and practise writing comments in a way that doesn’t make you look like a pompous cock.
whoop whoop mathew!!!!!
It’s my period. Nobody better fuck with me today, or there’s a whole ‘nother can of whoop-ass where that came from.
nineball, all music, to a greater or lesser extent, is contrived. It has to be, else we would just end up with random noises and howling all the time.
saying that, this is pish.
Period? That means it’s ass fuckin’ week.
Bit harsh, Matthew.
If I just said this song is childish shit would I still sound like a pompus cock?
I agree that slagging a song for being contrived is a bit difficult cos music is by its very nature contrived, the vast majority of art is.
I’m not really a fan of this either, it’s not up my strasse, but it has its place. It would sound good in a movie, one of those low-budget ones where a sensitive american dude is “leaving the city” and loading his beat up car with cardboard boxes full of appropriate books. He’s leaving cos his girl has left him, he’s lost his job and he has to move home to “find himself”. That’s pretty much Garden State actually – it should have been in that movie.
Oh, and Rampant Chutney. Yes, you can use the term contrived to relate to the result of any organised effort, however that’s not the common usage of the word, as I’m sure you’re aware.
So kindly fuck off with your “random noises and howling” bullshit.
You have absolutely no idea what the thought processes were behind it, nor what the band were trying to achieve and, while the lyrics may not be to your taste, they are not childish in themselves. So no, you’re right, if you said it was childish you would sound like a fucking idiot, not a pompous cock.
Whether you think it’s shit or not is up to you.
Wowser! I really like this track now; I’m too scared not to.
GOOD!
Rarrgh!
Well, thank you for being so gracious as to allow me an opinion. Well done.
Perhaps next you’ll try and construct a cohesive argument to counter mine instead of just slagging me off.
For the record I haven’t formed an opinion on the lyrics themselves. I didn’t really pay much attention to the content of the lyrics while I was listening.
I maintain that the performance and arrangement are poor, and that an artist submitting this as a finished artefact strikes me as petulant and immature – “childish” – in attitude.
Sorry, I suspect I’m sounding pompous again. Maybe I just have low threshold for tolerating terrible music.
i think nineball and toad should get a room
who is nineball?
For fuck’s sake.
The reason I didn’t argue is because there was no argument to counter, just a series of meaningless insults – ‘childish’, ‘ill-considered’ and so on – without the slightest hint of how that relates to anything musical.
As to your recent assertion that someone submitting something you don’t enjoy is childish or petulant (did you look that word up before you used it?), well, that’s just a non-sequitur. There’s nothing to argue with.
Read your comment again. It’s just insulting, without being at all constructive. How is an artist supposed to try and avoid those pitfalls in future, when the criticisms are just insults, not actual arguments? ‘Ooh, we must be less ill-considered and childish in future.’ What the fuck does that even mean?
Imagine some Art Cunt looked at a photographer or an illustrator’s work and said something like that: not only would it be insensitive, insulting and downright shitty, but there’s no way the artist in question can even learn anything from it, beyond how to take a put-down delivered ostensibly for the sake of someone else’s sense of self-importance.
If you’re going to be that mean and that casually arrogant then make an argument, make some suggestions, describe what is generating your opinion or your reaction or just don’t fucking bother.
You know, you’ve convinced me.
This is a work of unbridled fucking genius. I’m an idoit for not seeing it in the first place.
Roll right fucking over, Beethoven, and all that.
not that i want to speak for toad, but he doesn’t care if you like it or not……he just doesn’t like why you don’t like it.
i think it’s a question about styles!
Can you imagine how dirty their make up fuck will be?
i reckon they would just talk themselves into a frenzy
well… Garden State was a horrible movie, made me want to kill every child under 25 simply to watch them die. so I’m trying desperately trying to not imagine this song in it.
I do like it. I don’t find the arrangement amateurish, but rather traditionally modern-folkish and the twist at the end caught my eye/ear. I thought I’d hate the vocals when I first heard them, but it really did grow on me.
I’ve listened to a boatload of demos at this point (omg, I’m about to celebrate a year of music blogging, Matthew, you BASTARD!!!)and no, I don’t find this performance particularly amateurish either. In fact it sounds like Robin Grey, no? I love him. This shows a lot of promise, I agree.
As to comments… well, the general feeling as I’ve sussed it out here, is to take it easy on the unsigned, new artists… slag off on the ones who should really know better by now.
that said, when nineballs and Himself go at it, they’d better have the cam running, that will be pure youtube gold
… mmmm dirty ass fucking, DC hit the nail on the head didn’t he? what other reason have we for coming to this blog, boys? xoxo