Music Banter - View Single Post

jackhammer · 12-29-2008, 05:14 PM

For Swim:

Polvo - Today's Active Lifestyle (1993)

The problem with living in Britain, especially in the early 90's was a dearth of top quality British bands and a constant ass licking of our music press bowing down at the altar of Grunge. To the more mature of us, grunge was just another step up from hard assed 70's Rock with a slice of melancholia perched on the side.

Luckily it seemed as though many bands in America knew this too and bands such as Big Black and Dinosaur Jr dispensed with power chords and trad. choruses, yet still kept the integrity and intensity of Rock music. A side effect(although this was not a negative) of this was an assimilation of ambience and emotion allied to a strictly non commercial edict.

Bands like Polvo and earlier non mainstream bands such as Slint and Nomeansno were making music that did'nt fit in with the zeitgeist at the time, yet paradoxically have more longevity because of it.

TAC touches upon many musical themes: Indie, shoegaze, ambience, alternative and yet it is'nt anyone of those. It was a sound sadly adrift and unheard. Yet it sounds more succinct today than many albums of it's era that peddled a supposedly 'alternative rock' sound.

Track composition and linear quality are not the primary concerns. A ideal and a tangible sense of time and place give this album a lot more time and appreciation that it probably won't get.

An album that I am very glad to have heard and thank places such as MB that give me the chance.

8/10

12-29-2008, 05:14 PM	#5 (permalink)
jackhammer Ba and Be. Join Date: May 2007 Location: This Is England Posts: 17,331	For Swim: Polvo - Today's Active Lifestyle (1993) The problem with living in Britain, especially in the early 90's was a dearth of top quality British bands and a constant ass licking of our music press bowing down at the altar of Grunge. To the more mature of us, grunge was just another step up from hard assed 70's Rock with a slice of melancholia perched on the side. Luckily it seemed as though many bands in America knew this too and bands such as Big Black and Dinosaur Jr dispensed with power chords and trad. choruses, yet still kept the integrity and intensity of Rock music. A side effect(although this was not a negative) of this was an assimilation of ambience and emotion allied to a strictly non commercial edict. Bands like Polvo and earlier non mainstream bands such as Slint and Nomeansno were making music that did'nt fit in with the zeitgeist at the time, yet paradoxically have more longevity because of it. TAC touches upon many musical themes: Indie, shoegaze, ambience, alternative and yet it is'nt anyone of those. It was a sound sadly adrift and unheard. Yet it sounds more succinct today than many albums of it's era that peddled a supposedly 'alternative rock' sound. Track composition and linear quality are not the primary concerns. A ideal and a tangible sense of time and place give this album a lot more time and appreciation that it probably won't get. An album that I am very glad to have heard and thank places such as MB that give me the chance. 8/10 __________________ It be my music and film collection. “A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”