Kaiser Chiefs denounce 'boring indie'
Posted by Sven on 6 August 2008 - 11:49am.
Is this the pot calling the kettle black?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7541047.stm
There already seem to be new bands coming through wanting to do something different from the landfill indie model, but is that just going to mean copying what came after punk and post punk (which have already been revisited) during the eighties?
Bookmark/Search this post with:
- More from Sven.
- Login or register to post comments
A sign that landfill indie is on the way out?
The NME have recently announced their annual Rock n Roll Riot Tour which in the past has launched the carers of the Kaiser Cheifs, The Enemy and Razorlight. But this this year the headliners will be... Primal Scream.
Clearly even the NME is fed up with the indie sausage machine spewing out uniform identikit new bands.
Kaiser Chiefs
are surely one of the most boring indie bands around today aren't they? They seem to me to be as totally manufactured as something out of Pop Idol - Indie-by-numbers almost.
A red faced buffoon of singer that gives Robbie Wiliams a run for his money in the Norman Wisdom tribute act stakes.
A curly permed bassist a la Zutons, Fratellis, Go! Team, Kooks de rigeur for any self respecting indie band it would appear (even Brendan Benson is having a go in the Raconteurs now!) - a drummer with a slightly "indie" haircut and a keyboard player that wears a pork pie hat!!
Then there's the slightly obscure name with the football reference - hey, every band has to be into footie these days - the stadium friendly anthemic sing-alongs - no, it's all too false for me.
But of course music is all about opinion!
Kaiser Chiefs
is not obscure if your a Leeds fan. And it's not a bad name in my book.
Whilst not a huge fan of the band, I Predict a Riot was excellent and Ruby was pretty good. Bought the second cd and it didn't really work for me.
I think as individuals they're ok. Ricky Wilson was pretty amusing when he hosted Never Mind The Buzzcocks.
I think they're making the same point most of us have recently that it is formulaic and not very creative at the moment. They need the new cd to be good though otherwise it is a kettle & pot moment.
It's rotating and swirling into Hell
This made me laugh:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a119402/kooks-reveal-scouting-for-girl...
and
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a112084/kooks-complain-about-diluted-i...
he's possibly the most deluded man in pop. Twat
ha ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha ha ha ha. ha ha ha. ha ha. haaaa ha ha ha ha. ha ha. ha.
ha. haaa haa ha ha. ha. ha.
Definitely pot/kettle/black territory...
...The Kaiser Chiefs have always been average to me- like most of their ilk, they had a few big hits but not much memorable outside that. An indie-loving friend dubbed them 'uber-bland' and that seems fairly accurate to me. But they are like The Beatles compared to The Kooks; Luke Pritchard isn't even interesting when he's slagging other bands off.
I do think though that there's a limit as to how far you can take this sort of guitar-rock and certainly in Britain, I think that limit has definitely been reached. The NME have started slagging them all off but it was mainly them that hyped up The Pigeon Detectives and The Fratellis ('the most important album you could own' indeed!!) in the first place.
The writer who said...
that The Pigeon Detectives are a 'great British guitar band ****' on their posters must've gone into hiding
Liked the Artic Monkeys?
Liked the Artic Monkeys? Loved The Pigeon Detectives? Then you'll go crazy for the Rhino Firemen. New single "We didn't start the whole ludicous indie-band-with-stupid-animal-name-thing but we're going to bloody well finish it" out now!!!!
A few hits is right
And I'm tired of those already. Funny how there's a hierarchy whereby Kaiser Chiefs look down on The Kooks who look down on The Pigeon Detectives.
I just wonder what might replace this lot as the predominant mainstream rock of today. Will we just get the same bands trying to be 'weird and radical' - Oasis are supposedly getting 'experimental' and 'ambitious' - which is not a prospect that fills me with eager anticipation? Give them a chance I suppose. Or will we get new bands coming through who are more imaginative and interesting? Or will we just get another revival of music from the past - i.e. eighties, just as a reaction? Would that be a bad thing? I guess so long as we don't just get bands all sounding the same.
well, if the new Keane single is anything to go by
The next few years will be dominated by mid-80s billowing shirts and the superficial gloss of a Now 1986 album. It's quite good, but also the sort of thing you'd imagine being released just after a triumphant performance on Live Aid prior to discovering an African influence.
What gets in my clack about the Kaisers is that they seemed like they were happy to finally have some success after being buggered about as an indie band (but then, who hasn't?). Their victory was sweet and you thought 'yay, good for them'. They had some hits, started to grate as a 'new Blur' and then it would appear they feel they're legends. It's an accelerated culture, but really, becoming some kind of pompous, ego-inflated arse after a couple of indie disco floorfillers, when you were willing to 'wank off a tramp for success' is taking the piss. I personally thought they started to look like very old news indeed when Arctic Monkeys turned up.
I think there are worse
I think there are worse things you could be called than 'the new Blur', to be fair...
They deserve their success - they've made some very good records, do a fantastic live set, and to my mind are easily one of the best indie bands out there at the moment. Moaning about other acts won't do them any favours, but there are some pretty unremarkable and samey bands out there, who get a lot of hype because... well, that's all the NME seems to do, isn't it?
The only time I've read the NME was when house-sharing at University, when I borrowed my housemate's copy from time to time, and I must have seen them proclaim about fifty bands or artists the saviours of the music industry. Probably less than 10% are either still going or still enjoying a similar level of success and popularity. I suspect the likes of the Kaisers will outlast many of these.
I will accept
that the Kaisers are the best of a ropey bunch, and being a colossal Blur fan, only someone like me would get upset. They're entertaining and yes, a great live band. Perhaps it's just knowing the leap that Blur made from Leisure to Modern Life to Parklife was far more significant, that I just don't see the Kaisers being as talented.
I could be wrong. Maybe I'll stick with my Franz & Arctics - bands that seem to have a bit more of a spark of marvellousness than stare down the barrel of bad that lurks beneath them.
'best of a ropey bunch'
Damning with faint praise - well hardly praise at all really. I would say KCs are not in same league as Blur at all. Blur moved forward onto new things from album to album and have made memorable recordings that really still sound good like 'Beetlebum' and others. That thing they (KCs) did when they all scream wahhhhhhhhh really grates very quickly.
Too many bands are either unwanted bastard progeny of Britpop or inferior copies of Gang of Four and the like of that era - from nearly 30 years ago. Arctic Monkeys do have something - good tunes and great lyrics most of all but sound a bit too much like the other current indie standard fare perhaps. And 'Last Of Shadow Puppets' sounds good but still too close to being like a copy. Have influences by all means but mix them up a bit - you know like The Clash bringing some reggae into proceedings, or Weller with soul for example.
Give Oasis their due
At least you will give their new experimental direction a listen with interest even if you're praying for a fall.
Whether you hate them or not - you will be listening to their new record either wanting to hate it or love it - unlike the greets the bands listed above.
EDIT
EDIT
Kaiser Chiefs...
the aural equivalent of a lump of lard sandwich.
Indie of today can be fun and sexy
This is CSS with 'Off The Hook'. They are Brazilian. I like it.