Retrospective Musings on Music

So about a month ago everyone compiled their best of 2009 and best of the 'noughties' lists - and, don't worry, I'm not going to do that now - which had the effect of making me go back and listen to some of my favourite albums of the past few years, and download a few classic songs I didn't realise that I didn't have. Though in some ways it maybe started off a bit shakily, the noughties was a great decade for music: the rise and fall of 'indie' from Is This It and Up the Bracket to the teenyboppers-with-guitars that are now inflicted upon our ears; the proliferation of electronica and its many forms; the rise of dubstep; folk revival; and just some really great artists, albums and songs. But looking back, which artists will really be remembered in years to come as driving music forward, pushing the limits, innovating, being the vanguard and not the zeitgeist?

I offer three suggestions amongst many possibilities:
1. M.I.A.: If we live now in a truly post- (or post-post-) modern world, then M.I.A. is one of the first artists to truly capture it in such dazzling style: the fragments of cultures, lives, technologies, worlds, all colliding is right here in her samples, ultra-modern electronic sounds alongside ancient rhythms and sharp, witty and sometimes damning lyrics sung with the confident swagger of a decade that saw no limits, for both better and worse. 'Paper Planes' become one of the defining anthems of the decade, with its combination of a Clash sample, gunshots, and biting satirical lyrics that made you think politics whilst joyfully singing your heart out.
2. The Knife: The present and the foreseeable future are electronic, and The Knife have not just embraced this but used electronica in previously un-thought ways. Not simple dance or pop music, on Silent Shout, the swedish act found away to capture mood, atmosphere, weather, and the world in epic yet intimate, grand yet subtle ways. Just as classical symphonies and programme music used 'traditional' instruments to evoke everything from claps of thunder to hidden sorrow, so The Knife harness the possibilities of new, electronic technology to do the same thing. Hauntingly beautiful soundscapes of rain and wind, desparation, loss and sorrow stretch the boundaries of electronic music to startling effect. And it doesn't stop there: their new electronic opera recently premiered in Copenhagen, and from the youtube trailer promises to be a spectacular new take on an old form.
3. Animal Collective: Taking something from a huge range of genres and constantly evolving, this is innovation itself, and surely the sound of the future. Dispensing with traditional popular music styles, the Collective manage to create music that is catchy, listenable and of great beauty, evoking mood and emotion in an entirely new, unique and original way. Challenging on first listen, you come to realise that this is only because our ears are thus far untrained to their sounds, and on repeat listening they are an utter revelation. Not for nothing was last year's Merriweather Post Pavillion one of the most feted album releases in years.

Big questions about Art.

One of the best new arts events in London is Showcase London, a fortnightly exhibition of new and up-coming talent in the multi-faceted wonder-bar that is Café 1001, in the Truman Brewery, Brick Lane. There's none of the pretentiouness and snobbery that you get at many exhibitions, and instead of champagne-quaffing poseurs wondering around with permanently raised eyebrows demonstrating their tasteful disdain, there's a relaxed atmosphere, great music and a mixed bag of people, some of whom have just popped through from the bar, some who have come to support new talent, and some who are genuinely interested in art. Normally, the display is pretty impressive, but this week's offering was notably weaker... I can't be the only one who gets incredibly irritated by empty, sledgehammer symbolism and trendy news subjects obviously shoe-horned into mediocre works? Oh well, I guess democracy, beauty in the eye and all that...

But everyone should check it out next time anyway, it's completely free. What else are you doing after work on Wednesdays?

Rant Time

Though I stated previously that I miss Grenoble - and I do - I wouldn't go so far as to say that I "pine" for university life in France. French life has it's pros and cons, like life anywhere, but I personally prefer the party attitude we have here in Britain (social conditioning, the youth of today, etc etc shoot me), even if it would be improved by collating it with French wine (at french prices). I wrote an article for my student newspaper about the comparisons between student lifestyles en France and over here, and on student's attitudes. I tried to make it balance, but the general thrust was despite some advantages across the channel, I'm a big fan of student life en Grande-Bretagne. However... when it came to print, the question mark in my title (La Vie en Rosé? - note the [removed] alcohol reference) was gone, and the subtitle suggested I pined for a french style attitude in the UK. Those who know me will know this isn't true, but the editing (of my admittedly overlong piece) basically made me seem like I was categorising us British as drunken and sexually immoral and the French as superior (which I'm sure is how they see us)... This was NOT my intent at all, I was trying to dispell the image of life in France as an ideal. Ah well. I guess we're all misrepresented sometimes, and it would seem petty to bring it up. So I'll just put it on the internet for anyone to read...