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[tommydski]

That's cool. Hype has always been a massive turn off for me but it's hard to get that stance across without sounding like you are being deliberately contrary. It's not that I don't like things that are popular, I just hate the actual process of making things popular. Especially in music.

By some genuinely ridiculous coincidence, I had my iPod on shuffle and the Thee Headcoats anthem 'We Hate the Fucking NME' came on. Given Rynne's sig and the conversation, that's a highly appropriate soundtrack. 

[pilsner]

Music of the moment has charms that transcend the hype though.  It's a great feeling to a listen to a hook that you've never heard before.  Even with great albums that you've never had the chance to really appreciate, there's often (though definitely not always) a familiarity that might not be reflected in the next new band (obviously I'm not talking about Messrs. Graceland redux here).  More significantly, music of the moment can reflect the latest in the evolution of musical production, instrumentation, songwriting and tastes.  So electic music fans find themselves listening to new albums for the same reason that political nerds read the newspaper every morning.  Staying contemporary is its own reward (for some people).

I think it's funny though when you compare these posts against the arc of musical interests of the protagonist in Nick Hornby's High Fidelity.  He starts out the book obsessively tracking every new band in London and admits near the end that he hardly recognizes some of the bands that are playing at the local small venues (but reaches some kind of spiritual awakening about nice people with crappy music collections). 

[Thrillho]

It's true. Most of the bands I'm excited it about either aren't new, aren't doing anything new, or like Glassjaw I'm just late to the game and so they haven't actually released anythign in six years. I'm not massively into new music. I tend to write more than I listen these days (that is, as far as new stuff, I still buy shit-tons of older CDs).

I still fucking love Gallows, though.

[pilsner]

Music in Britain is atrocious right now.

Meanwhile, on this side of the Atlantic, we've had great (in my humble opinion) albums by Islands, The Kills, Tapes 'N Tapes, The Black Keys, DeVotchKa, Gnarls Barkley, Stephen Malkmus And the Jicks (to name a few) drop or leak in the past two months.  So I'm pretty happy with the State of New Music at the moment.

[rynne]

Staying contemporary is its own reward (for some people).

See, I used to think that, but now, the only thing that staying contemporary has to recommend it is being familiar with new bands when they're in town on tour.  Or maybe picking up some snazzy limited-edition release that will be gone next year.

It's not to say that I'm becoming totally stagnant in my tastes, nor that I'm less appreciative of today's trends than I have in the past.  But the appeal of staying completely current is passing me by---and I consider that a good thing.  It means that I've realized that other eras of music were as vibrant as the current one, so there's no need to stay obsessively focused on staying up to date.  Frankly, I've got no one to impress with ferreting out the next big thing first, and I'm not wasting my time chasing trends when I could be experiencing something older but better.

You know, it's like, I haven't heard Spiderland.  I haven't heard Fun House.  I haven't heard Bitches Brew or Autobahn or In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.  Most of Tom Waits' discography is a mystery to me.  All of Leonard Cohen's is.  It seems like any effort I put into seeking out and absorbing those will be rewarded at least equally to any effort put into staying up-to-date in April 2008.

[Patrick]

I think the only bands I have listened to that are actually still together/alive are Ted Leo, Wilco, and like... Cake. And even Cake are a stretch, the only thing they put out in the last 4 years is a cover album.

[Patrick]

True facts: Never even heard of Portishead.

Edit: I downloaded their debut album. What the hell is this? It sounds like somebody chloroform-kidnapped Kool Keith's beatmaster and got him on an IV chock full of ketamine, and only then was he allowed to make music again.

[pilsner]

He is, they probably live somewhere in the magical 5%.

I can't think of any way to describe the Australian music scene but one imagery does come to mind: driving through a desert. Sure there is the occasional rare shrub or, even rarer, cactus, watering hole or wild animal but it's relatively barren (i.e. boring) and artificial.

Is Nick Cave the shrub, cactus, watering hole or wild animal?  I'm guessing wild animal.  Which would make Architecture in Helsinki the water hole, and The Avalanches the cactus.  Still working on who the shrub is.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

Mick from Crocodile Dundee?

[Tom]

There is more than one of each.

[RobbieOC]

Weren't Men at Work from Australia?

[Patrick]

AC/DC nullifies at least 3 of those.

[pilsner]

There is more than one of each.

Sure there is.  If you count Crowded House.

Fuck.

Crowded.

House.

[roulettescars]

on a similar note, check out this article.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/pitchfork_gives_music_6_8

[Hat]

Is Nick Cave the shrub, cactus, watering hole or wild animal?  I'm guessing wild animal.  Which would make Architecture in Helsinki the water hole, and The Avalanches the cactus.  Still working on who the shrub is.

Are these seriously the only remotely contemporary Australian bands anybody has heard of?

[Caspian]

Is Nick Cave the shrub, cactus, watering hole or wild animal?  I'm guessing wild animal.  Which would make Architecture in Helsinki the water hole, and The Avalanches the cactus.  Still working on who the shrub is.

Are these seriously the only remotely contemporary Australian bands anybody has heard of?

Well, there's a positive spin you can put to this. Everyone's forgotten about Jet!

[Tom]

I for one am a huge fan of Bridezilla and have been since I heard 'em on FBi.

[Jackie Blue]

Are these seriously the only remotely contemporary Australian bands anybody has heard of?

Dirty Three?

I generally actually have no clue where the fuck most bands I listen to are from, so.

[Jepser]

You know, I just use Pitchfork to pick up some band names and see for myself if I like it instead of letting them decide. Screw those reviews, I can make up my own taste.
Now I'm probably no hipster, but what the hell. xD

[rynne]

Rating "Do You Like Rock Music?" with an U.2 is just dumb. Fuckers.

It's official.  Pitchfork gives "Do You Like Rock Music?" a 21.2.

.rruH

Gyah, they did it again.  The reissue of Mantronix got a rating of 8.08.  Like a TR-808, get it?  I assume that it's still a high-7/low-8-ish album, but why abandon an excessively-precise numerical rating system to make a stupid pun?