Hipster Jew » indie music

Andrew Bird Plays “Colbert” In Confusing Overlap of Things I Like

Alex - Resident Goy Writer — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 22:52:23 +0000

I have a hard time being a fan of professional whistler and glockenspiel…ist(?) Andrew Bird. He spends almost as long as U2 to release a new album, and to much less popular acclaim. In one sense, that’s admirable, and in the other, it’s sort of pretentious. In fact, “pretentious” is an apt descriptor of Andrew Bird, and I mean that half as the insult it really is and half as a compliment for someone who ultimately delivers on the level of that pretension. About three years ago, after the release of his last album, I was really into him for about a week before it wore off. Now there are times when his songs come up in my iTunes playlist and I feel like his songs are looking down on the rest of my library and skip over them. But there are other times when I’m struck by the exquisite beauty that has gone into crafting the music. I feel the same way about Jeff Koons–I often dislike a lot of his stuff, but I have to respect that he knows what he’s doing.

To some degree, Bird’s rabid fanbase is the same or worse than his music. These are the types of people who could conceivably accuse The Decemberists of being too broad and accessible in their choice of songwriting topics. So being associated with those people is not somewhere I particularly want to be.

And, frankly, shit like this doesn't help that image

But on the other hand, you really can’t ignore the fact that the guy is intensely talented and intensely thoughtful and intelligent. After all, besides being able to play the glockenspiel and whistle in unison, he also plays the violin (plucks and bows), sings, writes the damn songs he sings, and in the most mundane bit of all, plays the guitar.

But being a serious Andrew Bird fan is something like walking around attesting that you have read the complete works of James Joyce and understand all of Ulysses. A) No, you fucking haven’t, and B) No, you fucking don’t. No one does. And to say otherwise is to make a bold statement about how hard the rest of us should be punching you.

What I guess I’m saying is that I was rather surprised and delighted to see Bird appear on The Colbert Report on Tuesday night, even though I know Colbert has featured and hosted lots of musicians outside the mainstream, including Feist, Jackson Browne, David Byrne, and Wilco.

Plus he wears a scarf with a suede jacket. HIPSTER ALERT, amiright?

Anyhow, I encourage you to watch this episode of The Colbert Report which features Bird et. al playing “Eyeoneye” and “Danse Carribe” (as a special bonus song only available online) and watch Bird’s incredibly awkward stage presence, complete with completely random raised hand gestures. And then I encourage you to buy his new album Break It Yourself. Buy, I said. As in, pay cash for it.

Indie labels ‘won’ the Grammys so let’s all get drunk

Chicky — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:23:21 +0000

In a rather interesting factoid, the American Association of Independent Music put out a press release pointing out that at this year’s Grammy’s, artists on indie labels won 34 of the Academy’s 78 awards, five short of an even 50/50 split, and if they had included Adele, who is signed to indie label XL but distributed stateside by Columbia, that tally would have been an even 40. Including Adele, it’s also the fourth year in a row that an artist on an indie label has won Album of the Year. Good on you, indies. Insert your own “I liked indie music before it won 44% of all Grammys” joke here. //prefix mag

What does this mean for you, the indie-music aficionado? Indie is the new mainstream. Mainstream is the new indie. Up is down and down is up. Life no longer makes sense. So you have a few options. You can either cry, bitch and moan about how indie music is ‘dead’, or you can get drunk as shit and sing Shania Twain at the top of your lungs. Because let’s face it, the bands you like are winning awards, which makes your taste in music shitty. Give up and give in to all those pop songs you loved from your childhood (and still secretly love).

And tomorrow, when you wake up hungover, with some hairy dude/chick in your bed, you can start only supporting bands who lose a shit ton of money every year.

The Internet Blackout and an Anti-Corporate Rant

IronyOnRye — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:11:19 +0000

I’m sure by now everyone has at least heard the commotion over SOPA and PIPA, the two acts in Congress that would fundamentally change the nature of the internet. Wikipedia, Reddit, and a bunch of other sites temporarily stopped functioning in order to get the Internet at large to contact representatives and senators and ask them to vote no on these acts. Even Google, while not shutting down, had an email prompt ready for people to click on.

The FBI responded by shutting down Megaupload anyway.

The biggest supporters of these two bills are not the congresspeople who introduced them, but the RIAA and the MPAA, along with a few other media lobbying groups. The MPAA and RIAA can’t figure out a new business model in the internet age (or, to be more accurate, they can’t figure out a new business model that keeps their profit margins intact). For these groups, it’s cheaper in the long run to throw money at the government until a major resolution like SOPA is passed, then they can have the municipalities arrest people instead of having to sue and fight piracy on a case by case civil court basis.

But online piracy has fostered the growth of the independent label, the independent musical artist, and helped in the resurgence of the vinyl format. It has actually led to people buying more music, and not only that, music on a more expensive format. Similarly, independent-minded filmmakers and comedians, like Louis CK, can self-release a new movie online and people are willing to buy rather than pirate it. CK recieved 100% of the profits. People are still willing to pay for entertainment. So what gives?

Well, it has been good for the independent and not the major. Consumers only want to purchase entertainment if it’s on their own terms, not the terms of the corporate. This means no overhead for labels, no agent fees, no rental fees, no DRM, and a guarantee that a significant amount of the sale (like, I don’t know, ALL OF IT) will go to the entertainer themselves, and not to some corporate overlord who farms them out in order to pay for his daughter’s G5 and personal pilot. Hmm, wealthy people dislike those who are given “free rides,” but they seems to have a lot of “free rides” set up in their favor…

Last month I purchased three records from Polyvinyl records, an independent record label that was started by two friends in a garage. My total order was $29, $34 after shipping. I got those three records, a free poster, download codes for all three albums in mp3, a Polyvinyl sticker, and an orange flavored Airhead. Calculating the cost of an mp3 album on iTunes at $10, I got $37 worth of free stuff. If I had bought those things from say, the local electronics store, I would have had to pay anywhere from $45 (on CD) to $60 (if I was lucky to find indie rock on vinyl in a fucking Best Buy), never mind the bonus downloads or the free poster or even the free sticker and free candy. Plus at the register they would have tried to sell me more shit by asking for my e-mail address.

Gee. Is it any wonder why people with tight incomes prefer to pirate?

You can no longer use the term ‘indie music’ anymore

Chicky — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:00:59 +0000

My roommate and I got into a heated discussion about ‘indie music’. In the end, we agreed that it was an antiquated word which is now used primarily to act like a pretentious musical elitist. And I would still use it, except it no longer has anything to do with an independent label, or with non-mainstream music. Why? Bon Iver and Arcade Fire are to blame, as is our continuously changing musical tastes as a young, 16-35 year old demographic.

It started with the Grammys, primarily Arcade Fire. Then it moved on Bon Iver’s rapid fame, including the Kanye West collaboration. And now the nail in the coffin comes with The People’s Choice Awards, the stupidest, most boring musical awards ever invented to sell commercial space.

The nominees include Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, Radiohead, and Florence & The Machine alongside heavyweights like Foo Fighters, Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and, uh, OneRepublic. ~(Stereogum)

The links to vote for the PCA are currently down, but if you are into that type of thing…you can go fuck yourself. That’s not ~~indie~~ ~~hip~~ unmainstream of you.

When the fuck did indie labels become baseball card companies?

Chicky — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:20:27 +0000

This may be the weirdest/WTF moment of indie music in 2011.

As it turns out, the video chronicles the making of a special feature included in the limited special edition of the band’s forthcoming concert film/live album Inni. Each special edition will contain a cut-up piece of clothing worn by a member of the band during the November 2008 London concerts captured in Inni. As the Sigur Rós newsletter points out, the outfits were “painstakingly pressed (but not washed),” so you just might get a little bit of Jónsi’s sweat if you’re lucky. (Via Pitchfork)

So, if I get this straight:

If you buy a limited edition pack of Sigur Ros CDS, one of those CDs MAY OR MAY NOT (15:1 odds) include a GAMEWORN JERSEY by none other than indie superstar Sugar Rios. Some lucky fans will receive a signed Sigur Ros baseball card signed by all the members of the band (odds are 2000:1).

Suddenly my childhood hobbies and my post-college hobbies are merging into some type of weird saliva fantasy.

Which hipster clothing will you win?!?!?!?!

From now on I’ll only listen to musicians that lose money

Chicky — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 17:00:43 +0000

I bet this guy is the lead singer for a band you’ve never heard of.

I’m tired of listening to big name indie acts like TV on the Radio. They make lots of money and get corporate sponsorships. But do they care about their audience? Kip Malone is way too busy letting women throw themselves on him to give a shit about ‘regular’ fans.

From now on I’m only going to listen to musicians who don’t have a Myspace, who don’t have a hit song, and who lose a shit ton of money trying to distribute their music. Why? Because music is a stupid, expensive art and only the truly stupid are willing to invest thousands of dollars becoming the next indie failure. And I respect their stupidity.

If you choose to purchase our music or use one of the ‘legal’ streaming services, here’s an overview of where the pennies go.

SPOTIFY: With Spotify, we’ll get 0.003 EUR/play.

If you listen to the album all the way through, we’ll get 0.029 EUR.

If you listen to the album 10 times on Spotify, we’ll get 0.29 EUR

If you listen to it a hundred times, we’ll get 2.94 EUR

If you listen to the album 1,000 times (once a day for 3 years!) we’ll get 29.47 EUR!

Read more about indie bands getting shafted.

So yeah, I’m going as far away from mainstream indie music as possible. Because indie bands are getting hosed…But that doesn’t mean I’ll stop using iTunes, Spotify etc. Even if Spotify has NO Silver Jews. Their interface is just so seamless and easy to use.

Should we start a record label?

Chicky — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 19:55:01 +0000

I read an article last week in Wired.com about how some hip music blogs have started record labels in order to bridge the gap between indie music lovers and indie music production. Needless to say, none of them actually make money from it.

But it got me thinking. Jdub Records is out of business. The hip Jews of the world need a beacon of hope to look towards. Why shouldn’t Hipsterjew start a Hipsterjew label?

Ignore the fact that neither The Duckman or I have ever done something like this. And ignore the fact that we have less money than a crack whore on welfare. Would you, dear reader, care? Would I care?

Probably not. Because Jdub Records started when 2 20-somethings decided to start a record label. We don’t want to just repeat what they did. That’s not original. And we are more than just a music blog. I for one care much more about comedy and pop culture than trying to be the tastemakers of the Jewish hipster movement.

So instead we will continue to give you updates on all the Hipster Jews who happen to play music out there in the world. We will cover what they do, support them when we can. But don’t expect us to get any wild ideas.

We’ve got real jobs and real responsibilities, durrrrr.

The dance of indie music

Chicky — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 19:00:40 +0000

Wanna up your hipster cred? Need that new cool band to listen to? It aint gonna be easy. Because the indie music world is a game of mirrors, being popular but not mainstream.

It usually starts the same way. Some band posts a song to a music sharing site like Bandcamp or SoundClick. One person sends it to two people, who each send it to four, and so on, until it gets picked up by a music blog like Gorilla vs. Bear or Brooklyn Vegan and then aggregated on the Hype Machine. A week later, the band has caught the attention of record labels, tastemakers, and promoters.

But everyone wants to know, who is this act? They won’t do interviews, so all anyone has to go on is two MP3s and a low-resolution profile picture where they’re too far away from the camera to make out anyone’s face. And still, Pitchfork just gave their song the Best New Music designation. They’re booked for a South by Southwest showcase. Fifteen days have passed, and the band is now the blogosphere’s next big thing—even though the blogosphere couldn’t recognize the band on the street.

This is how underground bands come of age in 2011. “Mystery” is quickly becoming the default PR strategy for breaking indie acts. (Atlantic)

I tried the ‘mystery card’ for about 3 months at the bars. Turns out I’m not cool enough to pull off mystery but still keep women interested. I just look like a drunk creeper. Story of my life.

No band wants to be ‘over-hyped’. It’s why I wont listen to Bon Iver. They’ve already been hyped so much that I think everyone who listens to them are shallow, mainstream music sheep. Yup.

Keep on listening to that obscure music that nobody has ever heard of. Except you, of course.

Most obscure band I know.

A Child’s Hipster Dance Mixtape

Chicky — Fri, 20 May 2011 16:00:07 +0000

I made a child-appropriate dance mix. If you are a mom or dad, teach children, or having nieces/nephews with really unhip parents, this mix is for you. Children love to dance, and adults should be allowed to listen to their own hip music without feeling guilty. Therefore I present to you, my Child Hipster Dance Mixtape.

But first, a few important things you should know:

Children love Michael Jackson, and by obvious association, Chromeo

Children love to dance. They don’t want any depressing indie tunes. They are happy little people. Don’t give them anything from any Love Mixtape you’ve ever made.

Children also love really really REALLY hideous songs like the chicken dance. It is your job to correct this mistake, atleast until they become teenagers and hate all your musical tastes and everything you believe in.

There are only so many appropriate dance-y songs out every few years. Some of the songs on this list are old and ones that you are so fucking bored of you’d rather listen to Madonna on repeat. Children don’t know that, so grimace and bare it.

It those PS122-something kids sang the song for youtube and/or the Grammy’s, then it is child-appropriate.

1) Chromeo – Night By Night (MJ remake)
2) Hood Internet – Billie ‘Wildcat’ Jean
3) Pretty Lights – I Can See it in Your Face (Kids love cat noises and beats)
4) Chromeo – Fancy Footwork
5) MGMT – Kids
6) Neon Indian – Deadbeat Summer (A good teacher wont discriminate against chill-wave in front of children)
7) Justice – D.A.N.C.E
8) Phoenix – 1901
9) Duck Sauce – Barbara Streisand (I know, it is Glee certified and you shouldn’t be seen listening to this song. But once again, the children deserve to hear a great song, no matter how over-played and popular it is)
10) Miike Snow – Animal
11) Pretty Lights – Total Fascination
12) Chromeo – Bonified Lovin (This song is less raunchy than most pop songs on the radio)
13) MGMT – Electric Feel
14) Phoenix – Listomania
15) Passion Pit – Sleepyhead
16) Justice – Phantom
17) Chromeo – Tenderoni

If you have any other songs to add, please feel free to comment below!

HJ band My Jerusalem to go on summer tour

Chicky — Fri, 06 May 2011 16:22:53 +0000

One of our favorite HJs @ SXSW, My Jerusalem, are going on tour this summer across the US. Check below to see if they will be playing in your area (West Coast and Midwest only)- it’s a show you wont want to miss!

And because this music video is AMAZING: