Tired of The BubbleGum Crap? Well, Anna Yvette Answers her Own Question with BubbleGum Music!

I have received enough response from this article that I am going to cross out what I have written. I spoke to the artist herself and she was very upset that I had blasted her band and her music. I think her band is good, but I think I didn’t make my point with this article. I am not taking it down, but I am showing goodwill by admitting I may have pushed the button onto someone’s feelings who didn’t deserve it. Nonetheless, I will continue to write as I have done in the past. I got work so there won’t be too much going on for a lil’ bit.

Titties. Tame Music. You want a better Review? Give me better Music.

Never. Ever. Ever. Never. Please. No. Fucking. Way. You would call yourself the anti-thesis to bubblegum pop music and then show me this type of music. It is this type of hyping, to reason that somehow this band stands above the rest on the edge, only to fall into a pit of monotony & soft-core guitar work & vocals that has now run rampant in every Americana/ Hipster bar in the Northeast. Also, she showcases a great deal of “bosom” exposure in her fan introductory page on Facebook. She has an amazing body, but I think both the advertising and the photo permits an aura that her music may only be catchy enough only with a supplement of boobies to stand alongside her musical talents.

Things Bands Should Not Do Case #37: Do not pose as something against the mainstream marketing & production of music ( “Tired of the Bubblegum Crap”, was the gracious 1st line of the advertising to introduce this band), and then unveil yourself with partially covered bosoms and a Myspace introduction song with these intense once-in-a-lifetime lyrics:

“Maybe I should change the way I look… Maybe I should feel like everyone else”

Really bad lyrics. How many songs have started off with “Maybe” or “What if” or something about a woman following the crowd but with the essence that the singer is somehow independent and against the crowd. I am not trying to shoot down her talent, but this is the pure example of bands who are trying to stem the tide of the mainstream sweetness that gets bombarded from my drive home from work ( when I ever get a car) and replaces it with the underground tastes that is familiar with the same type of pop music they strive disassociate from their “vibe”.

Leslie Gore: I put this in because she says maybe; and its a good song:)

Her sound and production is really good. It does remind me of Dave Matthews a little bit. But it is so tame that if mainstream music needed more members for its Casey Kasem Club, Yvette will probably get a handwritten letter and a lunch date with Avril Levine.

The song “Promise” sounds like a compromise between Kansas and Jewel. When I listened to Zombie Party, I thought it was pretty good, but at points it could’ve hit me in the face, the song promptly stands rigid as a decent bar song. But if I had a dime for every song I heard from a live bar band I thought was decent, my bank would close my account because I would then be an asshole for depositing so much change.

This music is good, but how is this isn’t better than bubblegum music I have no clue. Acoustic instruments, piano interludes, Americana vocals and violins CAN a mediocre song make!

I really don’t see her music as bad. But this is NOT better than bubblegum music. It might have an edge here or there, but like a papercut, it’ll get you riled up for a minute, then you remember bands who are actually playing something different:

Esthero in 1998, when she was probably only 17-18

If anything, it only justifies that most genres, regardless of their appeal, talent pool, and marketing, presents a great deal of people who pose themselves against other genres claiming to be superior. The sad fact is a lot bands are hitting the neo-Americana and hipster music scenes to produce music that is different from mainstream. Yet these new sonic pioneers have failed to witness the deterioration of music in GENERAL is the essence that both mainstream and non-mainstream music have a lot of horrible music. A lot: I’ll go on to say that my band sucks ( but I will weep in my pillow once the post is written).

But in addendum and conclusion to all of this, my hypothesis to the bad music that has risen and permeated throughout the industry is due to too many people pretend to bend the envelope into a territory of greatness by comparing themselves to the simplicity and cookie-cutter designs of corporate music structures. For every band that goes against the grain of the 50 Cents, or invokes disdain of Jack Johnson in their ballads, or re-invents sexuality in contrast to the submissiveness of MTV Video vixens, fails to compare themselves to their own limits, their own styles, and their visions of what they can offer to music. When they pay more attention to how different they are, in some fucked up ironic way, they end up becoming just a tame & and unrecognizable as the other millions of bands that now exist in the new Myspace arena. And as I finish writing this post, I am slowly forgetting the band I was even reviewing. Whether they become famous, they are just another blip on the radar of bands trying to make a name for themselves, falling short of even writing the first letter on the wall, falling short of doing something better than what has already been done.

“Almost Nobody Agreed With You…” – Ourstage & 85% of Voting Population Just Called Me a Fuckface.

  

“I picked my favorite bands, and no one fucking agrees with me. If it happens one more time, I’m gonna go Martial Law on a mothafucka quick!”

– Dick Cheney after judging on Ourstage .com

I have no qualms with the judging system on Ourstage. Like I said in my previous post(s), I really enjoy the system and think that it welcomes a great deal of competition without coercion from hype or label marketing schemes.

I only have a problem with the comments made after my voting. And the comments aren’t the problem, but it is the reason that these comments come up that bother me.

Example: I have to vote between band 1# ( I’ll keep it anonymous; I don’t feel like hurting egos) and band 2# ( I loved you more, but lets keep it objective.). I have to listen to the song for a minimum of 15 seconds each, but because it downloads quick, I have the ability to traverse through the song up to the ending if I want to ( traverse = move the thingy around to different parts of song).

At first, I thought band 2# blew chunks of shit, while band one was just plain sucking Jane. The last sentence sounded like an BDSM porn; believe me, the music initially sounded horrible enough that 2 girls 1 cup would’ve been a better waste of my time.

But upon getting into the good part of the song from Band 2#, I realized that I was the asshole who didn’t know what he was talking about, and I grew insanely fond of the song. Band 1# on the other hand got a little better, but they had this Alice-in-Chains double-vocal revival that was off the mark and boring enough that I was itching for the 15 second-limit to be over.

Case in point. Band 2# was better. Way better than Band 1#. I listened to Band 2# for 5 minutes ( it was a long song) and added it to my favorites. I picked the “by far” button for band 2# ( which means they are by far better than band 1#).

When the page refreshes for the next two bands, the website showcases a small comment on how many people were in consensus of my decision of band 2#. And when the tally came in, it said that only 15% had the same musical opinion of this song.

What gives with this bullshit? The other song was atrocious; if I were to pick that song over the better song, I would smile about how cool I am, and then blow my nuts off with a shotgun. It would be hard to point a 2-foot barrel into my crotch, but if I vote on music that bad, it probably isn’t a good intention to pass my intelligence off to my kids.

Getting away from rants and coming back to objectivity, I am not sure if the judging meant that the band is usually picked, or if it meant that the band is usually picked over the other band. Not many people use Ourstage, and I would think it is highly unlikely that there is enough judging that two bands can square off multiple times. I could easily email them and ask them this question, but I am a jackass and will stay willfully ignorant and arrogant of my own shallow existence.

Anywho, I think it could be more that I picked the highest praise for the band ( by far ) and not many other people ( the other 85%) did the same thing. Even if the last thought is a resolution explaining Ourstage’s voting habits, some of these top 10 bands make me question quality of music the voters are usually immersed in. But if you have anything to say about Ourstage or how the top bands make it, leave me something and I’ll add it.

Shot in The Dark: Red Knife Lottery

Ashley Chapman and Dan Yingling of Red Knife Lottery

When I first listened to Red Knife Lottery, they actually were a random album download from a friend. I didn’t really know what it was, and probably left it there for about a year before it came time to start throwing away shitty albums. Going through my music, I usually give albums a few seconds listen before the recycle bin needs to be fed.

The album, So Much Drama (2005), was on the chopping block of the soon-to-be-disappeared albums from my squeezed hard drive. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks!

Bam! ( Writer falls to the ground. He is shaken, but not stirred)

“What was the thing that hit you, writer of this blog?” says the Rhetorical Question! He just doesn’t get his existence in the world, does he?

“Why, a fucking ton of bricks! Weren’t you reading the former part?”

RQ – ” But, I don’t see any bricks. I am confused; I am looking around and all I s…”

It’s a joke RQ. Actually, it really was the first goddamn song on the album! Now Rhetoric, go sit down over there while I talk. I might need you in the future. Does this count as Gonzo literature?

The band is fronted ( guessing from the MySpace page) by the very beautiful Ashley Chapman ( hey, look who updates his blog!). Listening to it at first, you think it is good but have that feeling that its going to soon bore you with the same Noise and Alt. Hardcore ( think: At The Drive In ) that it pushed on you in the beginning of the album.

But somehow her vocals, along with the clash of the high-toned guitars ( sometimes a little to high on the hertz, but I can take some earbleeding), pushes you into listening to each siong over and over again.

Nicole’s voice reminds me of the Yea Yea Yeahs, but if only the reminder could be embellished with Karen O and the gang doing a shitload of coke, playing a gig pretending to make a genre called neo-Emo, but actually doing a hell of a job at it. Their time-signatures change around a lot, but they have that decent pop-punk speed and 2 minute song structure that keeps you head-banging from one track to the next.

Their MySpace page has some newer stuff. Starting this blog made me think of them. After all this time, I am still surprised this band is still off the radar ( Their main site, http://www.RedKnifeLottery.com, doesn’t work; they have 2 youtube vids). But as my first post of a Shot in the Dark, I am happy to give this band the inaugural award.

You can check out their Myspace page here. I think So Much Drama might be their best song from what I’ve heard. This is one of those bands that are probably really good live. If anyone has been to any of their live shows, pass it by me.