U S and Them
Words by Sarah Baldwin
America just got cool again. Fucking cool. And this is not just because Bush is on the out. The music scene has got good. Really good. There are pop bands. There are independent bands. There are weird bands. Punk, disco, Hip Hop. Iglu & Harley, Kings of Leon, MGMT. The DeathSet, Vampire Weekend, Lil Wayne. It’s an American dream.
Of course, Brooklyn is at the heart of it. It’s dirtier, edgier, rougher than Manhattan. And it’s a lot more fun. Everything innovative that is coming out of New York is coming out of this underground scene. Make it catchy but don’t make it clichéd. Apache Beat and Telepathe and their fucked up pop are quintessentially Brooklyn. But it’s not just New Yorkers who are producing amazing shit. Portland’s Glass Candy have done for disco what Sarah Jessica Parker did for moles. Or Amy Winehouse did for rehab. All over the States cool new bands are springing up. Like SARS. But not deadly or disgusting. Refreshing and beautiful. A fucking cold beer on a stinking hot day.
APACHE BEAT
Dark and destructive. catchy and melodic. pop meets rock meets punk meets tribal beats. It’s weird sure, but it works. A musical train wreck that sounds good. Apache Beat blend the avant-garde, postpunk of Siouxie and the Banshees, with the dark, gloomy sound of Interpol. This is popnoir. This is Brooklyn.
‘We just try and fuck things up a bit’. The full-bodied vocals of lead singer Illirjana clash with the frantic rhythms of drummer Neil, which in turn clash with Phil’s Krautrock guitar. ‘We’re five completely different musicians and we bring in five different types of music. There’s nothing worse than the perfect band.’ And Apache Beat is definitely not the perfect band. But let’s be honest, HearSay were the ‘perfect band’, hand-picked pop perfection. And they were shit. Really shit.
It’s a bit rough, it’s a bit weird, and, like sex, you have to be in the mood for it. Their debut single ‘Tropics’ is true Apache Beat style. Illirjana’s guttural and overpowering vocals. Bongos under deep, distorted guitar riffs. Ghostly synths. That’s what they are, a band of clashes and extremes. ‘We tend to write chaotic love songs or crazy hate music’. And we have to see them live to really appreciate it. ‘We’re dirtier live, we’re more violent live. We interact with the audience more than what you would think and we throw things about and break things’. It’s these shows that have caused the hype and got them the reputation as one of the best of the Brooklyn bunch.
Do they want to be famous? In five years they want to own a jet like U2. Big dreams, especially for a band yet to release their first album. But that’s them. Let’s face it, they’re five New Yorkers. ‘We tend to win people over’. Cocky and self-assured, they think they’re pretty cool. Thankfully, so does everyone else.
GLASS CANDY
Pure Italo-disco genius. Straight from the halcyon days of Studio 54. Euphoria, glow sticks and lamé leggings. And massive mirror balls. Glitter confetti.
It’s like ‘electronic fog’. It’s like ‘warm light’. So say the pair Ida No and Johnny Jewel. Crystal Castles meets Chromatics and Goldfrapp. High on crack. Having just orgasmed. This is feel good music. Ida sings wide-eyed, sensuous, glossy vocals and Johnny plays dreamy synths and hammering punk base. They are a bit freestyle, a bit Krautrock, a bit hip-hop, and a bit new wave. Crazy, colourful, modtastic visuals are their trademark. A synth-electronic wet dream, which somehow keeps its rough edge. A raw, jagged electronic delight.
Thank God disco no longer means the BeeGees and cheesy drivel. There is something elegant about Glass Candy. They avoid the tacky ironic sampling and electroclash scene that ruins most contemporary dance bands. And they don’t give a shit about being ‘cool’. Their dream festival lineup? ‘Biggy rapping with ABBA and Olivia Newton John singing the hooks and DJ Screw opening’. Quite the Molotov cocktail.
This is music that makes you want to dance. With your eyes closed. In your Playboy thong. It’s glam. It’s glittery. It’s a fucking disco revolution.
TELEPATHE
Telepathe’s music is as unusual as a Portuguese speaking black Inuit. Totally weird. Like nothing else going on right now. Anywhere.
Basically these chicks are confused. They like everything. Joy Division, Bjork, My Bloody Valentine, TV on the Radio, Bunny Rabbits, the Klaxons. And the music they make is confused. A total mish-mash of genres and styles. Trying to define their sound is like trying to get a nun to sniff glue. Whilst she’s giving a bus driver a blow job.
Ritualistic, haunted pop vocals with infectious Hip Hop hooks. Eerie whisperings over rousing electro melodies. Incantatory chanting with trippy, jump-up-and-dance drums. Gang Gang Dance meets early Madonna. Sound bizarre? It is. And intentionally so - these girls go against any grain they can find.
‘It sounds like everything but nothing else’, Busy Gagnes laughs. ‘It is pop music but it’s our own version of it’. That’s what they’re about. Fucking pop up. Straight out of the ‘big, huge creative melting pot’ that is the Brooklyn music scene and full of contradictions and clashes. Pop but not pop. Experimental but mainstream.
Born out of this chaos is an exciting and refreshing sound. ‘We want to make the catchiest fucking music ever’. God knows how but they succeed. Telepathe combine a ridiculously-heightened pop sensibility with crazy experimentation. Their music is light-years away from the dross that we usually associate with pop. It’s strange and you won’t know what you like about it. But you will like it.
Posted Thu, December 04, 2008
Comments on U S and Them
iTunes’ing Glass Candy on strength of this recommendation (and the distinct possibility of them being responsible for the soundtrack to some of the more tawdry scenes witnessed at The Box a few weekends back).
Better be somein’.
Posted by: jamieg | 07/12/2008 at 19:49
You said ‘fuck..fucked..fucking’ 7 times. This is what stood out in this article. Other than than it has spiked me enough to check out these new emerging US bands.......... uh again… where are the photo’s?
Posted by: ChloeM | 08/12/2008 at 03:50
Oh god no, Iglu and Hartly?? UGH they’re so rubbish!
Posted by: Leonie | 11/12/2008 at 21:29
This is even worse than Paches’ own writing. Incredible.
Posted by: Natasha | 11/01/2009 at 17:35
Ok, Natasha, a bit uncalled for. This is a good piece, it’s to the point, the and swearing adds to the gritty Brooklyn feel.
Posted by: Kristen | 01/04/2009 at 03:15
Oh and Glass Candy...GOOD CALL
Posted by: Kristen | 01/04/2009 at 03:17