music_phantom13

Here's what it comes down to, as far as I'm concerned. They are certainly not a bad band, and I don't think anyone with the slightest interest in indie music simlar to this would say that. They make some pleasant melancholic, simple, melodic music with nice beats. I would also fully agree that there is a sort of hypnotism about there music that makes it more enjoyable to listen to than what I might here from other bands in the same genre. However, the simple fact is, this sound has been overdone. Regardless of whether a band is doing it a little bit better than their peers, there is so much like this flooding the market. The deciding factor really is two things: first, the beats. They manage to write these soft melancholic songs that make you want to move. The other thing that sets them apart is that they actually made an album. I can't honestly say that about a lot of bands these days, as it is becoming more and more rare (in the indie rock scene) to find artists that can make something flow this well together, truly writing songs for an album rather than to get a few songs on everyone's playlists. Without those two factors, that makes you want to move when you listen to this, this band wouldn't be much different than the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Big Pink, and the whole list of indie acts coming from Scotland right now (think Twilight Sad). But are they really worth this hype? Absolutely not. I do think I realize why they got so popular though. A lot of "indie" music people are teenagers that are only listening to music, again, like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Stars of Track and Field, and that sort of thing. If you only compare them to those bands, then they do stand out, in my eyes, as one of the top bands. They are one of the only ones, as I mentioned, to have a beat like this and craft an album. So they garnered all the press from magazines like AP, which only cater to that type of sound (though I still don't understand how they are the absolute best of those bands from this year). But when you compare them to different new music, they just can't compare. For example, Lightning Bolt creates experimental rock to blow your mind; Timber Timbre is in the same vein with very simple blues but ingenious lyrics, a fantastic unique singer, and incredible diversity; Dalek writes cruel, realistic, dark lyrics and creates an abrasive, assaulting soundscape to rap to; Animal Collective uses tons of sounds at once to create a childish yet mature music where they pour forth everything they've got at once. When you put them up against bands like these, they don't seem quite as amazing, at least as far as I'm concerned.

As for Pitchfork giving them best new music, they **** up a lot, and I often find myself wondering if sometimes they all spend a day smoking crack before writing reviews and choosing music. I don't think they're all bad, but I don't trust them completely because they sometimes choose truly awful bands to hype.

EDIT: Actually the beat part doesn't apply when talking about some bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs obviously, but holds true for a lot of the melancholic Scottish indie bands.