The song from This Is Hardcore I really wanted to post was “Glory Days” but it doesn’t have a video, so I went with this one instead. “A Little Soul” is Jarvis Cocker’s conversation between himself and his own absent father, his father telling him not to turn into him and that he was a bastard when Cocker was a kid. He sings, “You look like me/But please don’t turn into me/You look like me/But you’re not like me I hope”. Christ, what a sad, fearful song for him to write, but a sentiment we can all relate to. That fear that you are going to grow up and repeat the same mistakes your parents made is the whole point of the song.
And that is sort of what makes This Is Hardcore so wonderful. Every song is sad and every song is dark, yet every song is catchy and driving and slick. It’s like all this lyrical sadness layered on top of fucking awesome rock music. God, I love it so much. So so much. I have no idea how many hundreds of times I’ve listened to it since 1998.
After bitching about being sad last week, let me start this week with a music video because it means I don’t actually have to provide you with any meaningful content. You might get a letter later, not sure. We’ll see.
I’ve been listening to this Monarchy record a bit recently and I am a little mixed on it. I like the music, but the dude’s lyrics are kind of bullshit sometimes and kind of good other times. And when they’re kind of bullshit I get pulled right out of the music. Too bad. But I really like this song and I dig the astronaut video all in close up that they probably shot in a dark room. Simple, nice effects, cool song. A smidge emo, but who isn’t a smidge emo right now?
If there’s anything that fans of electronic music and metal like more than the extreme subgenrefication of their beloved music types I don’t know what it is. Take heavy metal for example: we’ve got death metal, black metal, thrash metal, speed metal, doom metal, sludge metal, prog metal, power metal, new wave of British heavy metal, new old school death metal, new wave of American black metal, tech death metal, blackened thrash metal, blackened death metal, nü-metal, metalcore, slamcore, mallcore, deathcore, thrashcore, crabcore, who knows what the fuck else. That’s just off the top of my head. I’m sure I’m missing something.
The same is true of electronic music. House, acid house, tech house, trance, psy-trance, progressive trance, electro house, disco house, minimal tech house, electroclash, gabber, horrorcore, progressive house, Detroit house, Chicago house, Miami house, booty bass, drum & bass, dubstep, brostep, EBM, synthpop, futurepop, ambient house, italodisco, ghettotech, goa, witch house, grave wave. Christ, I could keep going and going and going.
For me this extreme diversification has always seemed totally unnecessary, especially as the differences between genres become smaller and smaller to the point that they are basically indistinguishable. Is this band futurepop or EBM? Or is it EBM with synthpoppy overtones and some dubstep inspiration??? Did this band release a deathcore record and are they straying away from their traditional NOSDM roots by incorporating some slamcore elements?! DID MACHINE HEAD REALLY RELEASE A NÜ-METAL RECORD?!? (They did and it broke my heart.)
See how stupid that all sounds? Not just stupid, but utterly pointless and fruitless?
Then what the hell am I doing proposing yet another subgenre? I have my reasons!
First, for me, House music breaks down into two categories: serious and not serious. I tend not to think of it as it sounds—it’s four on the floor for dancing and was inspired by Disco? it’s house—but whether it is taking itself super seriously or not. No one seems to take that into account, and I think it’s the most important factor defining house producers. Are you going to take this shit seriously (Euro House, I’m looking at you) or are you going to have fun with it and fill it with silly lyrics and idiocy?? I much prefer the latter.
For those of you who grew up on the Moon and have never heard of house music or have some sort of poor understanding of the music, house is a genre of electronic music that came out of Chicago in the early 80s. Specifically, the name comes a club called The Warehouse where the music first really became popular. Or from the fact that DJs made it in their homes. Or from the fact that these records were the DJ’s “house” records, in the way that a restaurant has a “house” wine. Whatever. It is characterized by a four on the floor beat, off-beat hi-hats, drum machines, driving basslines, and a strong Disco influence.
Here are some examples of what I am talking about, all of which have been on the site before.
Le Le’s “Breakfast”
Duck Sauce’s “Big Bad Wolf”
The 2 Bears’ “Bear Hug”
Detroit Grand Pubahs’ “Sandwiches” (CLASSIC!)
See what I mean? These guys are making dancey as hell beats but without a serious face in the mix. I love it.
But then what do I call it? It seems unfair to lump it in with all the other subgenres of house music. The difference between these guys and some coiffed dick head is like the difference between a Gwar show and a 6 year old’s piano recital.
The subgenre needs a name. I originally thought I would call it “Goon House” since to me “Goon” is sort of a good name for that and the words sound nice together. Goon House. Goooooon Houssssse. But Michael said that it reminded him of Jersey Shore douchebags and Charles said he thought of MSTRKRFT, which is, I guess, kind of close, but not exactly right. I went to talk to Steve about it and bounced around Clown, Silly, Goofy, Nonsense, whatever this, whatever that, but nothing was clicking. Panty House? No. Bouncey House? Nope. Light House? That’s actually kind of good and funny, but I am not sure. Fun House? White House? Jack House? Takk House?
What the hell do I call it? What do you all think?
This rules. A tribute to the 80s in all the best ways, how great is it when the woman’s mouth becomes a spider?! The juxtaposition of the neck shot with the champagne splashing into glasses?! The neon titles?! The Miami Vice steez throughout?!
Does anything else in the whole world put the taste of the 90s into your mouth harder than this track? Actually, I can think of one other (and I’ll post it soon), but damn. Even this video is 90s it hurts with the shitty computer effects and colors and crap? Holy shit.
Last summer at some point, Charles and I got all 4 Loko’d out and went to this really weird 15th Anniversary party for the movie Hackers—which is awful—and they played “Halcyon & on & on” like maybe 8 times over the course of the night? Luckily, I quite like the track so I didn’t find it so terrible. There was a noticeable paucity of rollerbladers there that night, unfortunately, but it was still and fun, weird party that I would never go to again. Funnier on paper than in execution, but not everything can be a million dollar idea. Still, we had fun.
Another day, another Underworld video. This track comes from their 2010 album Barking, which I have been listening to on the train on repeat the last couple weeks. I’m pretty sure it’s the only thing allowing me to desperately cling on to the last vestiges of my sanity. In fact, I am listening to it right now. And it is really good.
I hope you’re all back to work post-Thanksgiving and not feeling too holiday hungover. The holidays are a mess, but I hope you managed to find some joy in yours. Here’s a brief, incomplete list of things I managed to accomplish.
Sleep.
Eat.
Drink.
Talk to my family.
Nothing creative or productive at all.
I think those are all good things to do, except that last one but whatever. Also, I listened to this Underworld record MAYBE 10 times. Maybe more. I just can’t get away from it.
Just another amazing track from Pulp’s 1998 release This Is Hardcore. I was listening to this on the train home today and it got stuck in my head so I am sharing it with all of you right now because it is wonderful. I often wish my life were like the lyrics of a Jarvis Cocker record, and, sometimes, it is.
I’ve never seen this video before, though I have listened to 2007’s Oblivion With Bells like a thousand times. Unfortunately this video is for the radio edit of the track and about 3 minutes shorter than the album cut, but that doesn’t really matter since it’s still an absolutely fantastic piece of dreamy dance music.
The concept is simple; shoot them performing twice: once where they don’t move too much and they’re lit hard to one side, and again with a strobe where they’re moving. Sync, overlay, and intercut. I particularly like Darren Price’s sombrero. Rick Smith looks like he’s having a particularly good time. And, well, Karl Hyde, Karl Hyde is Karl Hyde, the singular voice of electronic music for me.
I was chatting with Charles on the IMs this morning about the M83 show he went to last night (he offered his extra ticket to me but I couldn’t go. Lame). This morning he said that it was a little weird for him because in his brain M83 has always been this perfect, inhuman thing, sounds that could not possibly come from a real person. He called it a “faceless future made from city lights, smoke, and slow motion.” While I don’t have the same relationship with M83 he does, I do feel the exact same way about Underworld. In 2007 they toured for Oblivion With Bells and again last year for Barking, but I never went to see them. Why not? I guess I was a little afraid that, like Charles with M83, that I would “hear the seams,” that they would be knocked from this exalted place in my brain to just a bunch of dudes who make really awesome music that I enjoy immensely.
It is funny though, that this really only applies to electro-oriented bands. The exact opposite is true of more traditional type bands. For example, the first time I saw The Magnetic Fields perform, I feel like I gained a much better perspective on their music, like somehow it made a lot more sense than it had hours previously. That is partly why I am so excited to see Jeff Magnum in January. You see it performed live, you hear the intonations, you hear the singer’s voice, you see their faces as they play, and it adds to an experience I already enjoy.
I don’t know why seeing Underworld wouldn’t be like that also, but it just feels different. Listening to Stephin Merritt play “Papa Was a Rodeo” live is different than hearing Underworld perform “Push Upstairs” live. One is a song I can digest, chords and layers and movement, whereas the other—in my brain, at least—is a sonic landscape perfectly tended and built.
I don’t know. Maybe I should just go see Underworld the next time they roll around and see how I feel.
