Date with the Night - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Time for Heroes - The Libertines
Title and Registration - Death Cab for Cutie
Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes
Bauhaus - All We Ever Wanted Was Everything
I’ve admittedly been in a weird space this summer. Normally, I’d be tucked away in my bedroom reading books and listening to whatever CDs I could scrape and scrounge for, waiting for the heat to pass, but this year, I’ve been at a friend’s cottage. Well, to call it a cottage wouldn’t really be fair. It’s bigger than most people’s houses.
The people that live around here are rich-rich, and it’s been an… adjustment for me, to say the least. They have things like boathouses that are bigger than the apartment I’m renting in Toronto in the fall, and they talk about sports like polo or how they’re going skiing this winter in the Alps. But which Alps, the French or the Italian?
I feel like I’m an alien undercover, and I have to try so hard not to be found out. I’m a Paranoid Android, so to speak.
But the MUSIC this summer! Every new single has been like a revelation. I wish I had time to hit a show or two, but since this is the last summer before I start my real life as an adult, I’m committed to trying out cottage life. (Spoiler alert: it’s not really my forte).
I’m obsessed with Karen O from Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Isn’t she just the coolest chick to ever rock the planet? I saw them perform on David Letterman last month (June 26th if you’re looking for the rerun), and I immediately added them to every best-of list for this year. Date with the Night is such an energising track, and Karen O’s gritty voice makes it feel like you don’t have a single care in the damn world, like it’s okay to just let go and dance.
I’ve always wanted to be someone who didn’t give a shit about what others thought about me. To wear what I want to, to cut my hair like I want to. To say “fuck it” to the establishment and to the patriarchy and just rock. So I salute you, Karen O, and I can’t wait to see what else this band has in store for us.
You all know I love Brits like Jim & Jules, so it should be no surprise that I’ve been loving The Libertines. Time for Heroes is the perfect song to end the night with, with its catchy, off-beat rhythm and Pete Doherty’s velvety voice. He’s one of those lead singers who looks like he attracts all the trouble in the world, but you’d still follow him into the deep.
I feel like this band is going to be huge. They’ve got that gritty, garage sound with Doherty’s vocals, and their edgy but luxe style is just the icing on the cake, so to speak. I managed to catch a recording of a performance of theirs on Top of the Pops.
Did you see the stylish kids at the riot?
They were shoveled up like mulch, set the night on fire.
The kids I’ve been meeting here have been interesting. I’ve been showing them new music, because all they listen to is whatever’s on the radio. It’s funny how there are people like them, who listen to music because it’s what’s on, and then people like us, who go out looking for the most obscure album because of how it makes us feel.
And no, I don’t buy into the label of “musical elitist,” because I don’t think any music is inherently better or worse, and I don’t judge people on what they love. Some people love whatever comes their way, and some of us are more particular, that’s all. There is no scale, no measurement. What feels good is what feels good.
But we can’t not talk about The White Stripes. Elephant is technically their fourth album, but this brother-sister (or is it husband and wife?) duo feels like the powerhouse of the year so far. Their monochrome red and white colour palette is just the right amount of too much.
Seven Nation Army starts off with a simple, gritty lick that’ll get stuck in your head in the good way. I’ve been hearing guys with guitars on the beach all summer practising this tab, and still, even though listening to a guy practice guitar at you is not the best way to spend a day on the beach, I don’t care, because I freaking love this song. Jack White’s crackling voice fits perfectly over the distressed strings, and sounds simultaneously like it’s being played from the garage next door at the same time as an anthem in a stadium.
This new wave of indie rock gives me life. From the Britpop and grunge that stemmed it, like Blur and Nirvana, Pixies, and Radiohead, we’re seeing a new generation of artists who are blending catchy tunes with rough, gritty sounds and vocals, and I believe it’s a sound that’s going to spark a whole new era of music.
Speaking of the history, though, I’m sprinkling in some Bauhaus for you today, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything.
Oh, to be the cream.
I’d better get going. I’m at the public library right now to use the computer because there is no Internet anywhere out here! (Oh, the horror!) But I just burned a new CD and I’m playing it at the beach. I’m calling out each and every one of you to spread the news, too! Together, we can make indie rock the biggest thing of the… early 2000s? What do we even call this time?
Catch you later!
P.S. Want to read them all? Sign Up to the mailing list and get a PDF of XOXO Chuck!
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