Emotion, Feeling and Youth (A Lengthy Essay, a Product of Insomnia)

Emergency & I by The Dismemberment Plan

What was it about the 90's, that has made it a such a desirable era? Everyone wants to sound like their favorite 90's indie rock band. It's the same for the late 80's. Everyone tries to sound like Hüsker Dü, Fugazi, Dinosaur Jr., Superchunk, Buffalo Tom, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Matthew Sweet, Pavement or The Replacements. At first, it seems just like blatant copying, done so artists can sell more records. But the more you listen to the seminal bands from this era and bands today, it all becomes clear.

The music of this bygone era is brilliant, and the years following it's end, didn't offer anything like it. Soon, the indie bands of choice became Dirty Projectors or Animal Collective. The only band who took this music to heart in the early 2000's was ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of the Dead, with their brilliant Source Tags & Codes. That's my theory on why indie rock (with emphasis on rock) has such an "infatuation" with a bygone era of music.

Reckoning by R.E.M.

Another reason that the emulation of this music is so desirable, is the feeling of it. It had the ability to forge a personal connection with the listener. The top iTunes comment on R.E.M.'s brilliant sophomore LP from 1984, Reckoning, was written by a user named pkjuke in 2005. It reads: "if you have a sore heart put this album in your ear and take a walk on a chilly night all alone with a pack of cigs so central rain and rockville will remind you that its your fault your heart hurts so much youll feel worse and better at the same time and youll fall in love again thanks rem". No hate on Avey Tare and co., but I don't think there's a comment like that on Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavillion.




You were able to forge a unique bond with the music, because the artists shared similar experiences that you did. A perfect example of this is Emergency & I, by The Dismemberment Plan, released in 1999. Travis Morrison weaved tales of a mundane life on "Spider in the Snow", watched a relationship crumble before him on "The Jitters", parodied the fixation of being invited to a party that so many young adults have on "You Are Invited" (while still creating an emotionally potent song). And on "The City", Morrison watches the city from his roof, and just realizes how boring everything is. It's a perfect record, and a perfect record for those young adults worrying about their future and what will become of them.

This is not to say indie music of the early 2000's was devoid of any emotion. The Strokes and Interpol made songs about drinking and growing old in NYC, and The National have always had some of the most depressing, yet personable lyrics in all modern music. But maybe as musical compositions became more complex, the music lacked a certain "feeling". The earliest Guided By Voices songs were made with cheap instruments and a 4-track. Artists always like to comment on how demos show the musician at their prime, and you'll never be able to catch a moment as raw as that ever again. Bloc Party's Intimacy was one of the most personal break up records, yet the band cluttered it with pointless electronics and effects, therefore, losing some of the feeling that came from listening to Bloc Party.

Again, no hate on artists who make complex song arrangements. These artists make up some of the most talented musicians today. Tame Impala's Lonerism is a brilliant, experimental album, that deals with some personal topics. Passion Pit's Gossamer matched lyrics of suicide and alcoholism against sunny electronics. In 2013, The National released Trouble Will Find Me and Local Natives released Hummingbird. Both of these records were fantastic, coming from indie bands who aren't really part of the underground anymore. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that as a musician, you should never lose sight of your message. You need to preserve that "feeling". Which is what Tame Impala, Passion Pit, The National and Local Natives are able to do. You can include as many bassoons and obscure instruments in your music, but you need to have a reasoning. Some of the best music of the 90's was lo-fi, but the "feeling" was there. Some bands had lyrics full of non-sequiturs (Pavement), but the music was their own, so they had the "feeling". Just always have that "feeling", that makes your music your own.

Artists in the late 2000's thought that they could recreate this, by having crappy recording quality, completely obscuring any lyrics that the band may have written. That doesn't matter, because the lyrics had no stock to them, and were boring. Wavves, Fang Island and Times New Viking are all examples of this (Wavves has since matured and actually makes great music these days, and I have no idea where Times New Viking or Fang Island are). Bands like The Hold Steady were our only hope for rock music, that wasn't afraid to express it's feelings. Just listen to Boys and Girls in America or Separation Sunday. Or The Gaslight Anthem's The '59 Sound.

The Airing of Grievances by Titus Andronicus

It may be unjust to cite this record as a turning point, but Titus Andronicus' The Airing of Grievances is in fact a turning point. It represents the return of the emotional punks, the rock poets and the Westerberg snot. Five friends, who were pissed off and just hated life, led by bearded poet Patrick Stickles bashed out lo-fi, punk music with heart. It had the "feeling", and has now solidified it's place in the indie rock cannon. As a 12 year old discovering Titus Andronicus, I had no idea what to think of them. They warped my brain, making me want to run through the streets and cry at the same time. They were so angry (In the first minute of the opener, "Fear and Loathing in Mawah, NJ", all instrumentation drops out and the band screams "FUCK YOU!") but they were passionate at the same time. Patrick Stickles was a genius as well, able to reference the works of Albert Camus in his lyrics, but not come off pretentious. To further indulge yourself in the philosophy of Stickles, just read one of his many essays he posts on his personal blog.

Post-Nothing by Japandroids

Titus Andronicus went on to make two more incredible albums, The Monitor and Local Business. In a sense, Titus Andronicus kicked open the door for the musicians with feelings to finally make the comeback they so rightfully deserved it. Another record coming out in the same year, was Japandroids' Post-Nothing. A fuzzy, lo-fi rock record that was on a much smaller scale compared to the philosophies of Titus Andronicus. Brian King and David Prowse (guitar/vocals and drums/vocals) sang songs about drinking with friends, girls and worrying about death. They were emotional, and the music could even be classified as "emo". But remember, emo is short for emotional. Sunny Day Real Estate and Rites of Spring are emo, not My Chemical Romance. Japandroids had so many feelings welling up inside of them, and they were all captured here. For 35 minutes, the guitars and drums pounded away and you connected with these two young men from Vancouver. They were worried about dying, so were you. All they wanted to do was worry about those sunshine girls, and so did you. When they quit off girls forever, you better bet that you did as well.

So 2008 ushered in the return of emotion and the "feeling". And it continued! It didn't just stop there! 2009 had Girls' Album and The Pains of Being Pure At Heart's self titled debut. 2010 had Surfer Blood's Astro Coast, Weekend's Sports, Wild Nothing's Gemini, Smith Westerns' Dye It Blonde and Titus Andronicus' The Monitor. 2011 had Yuck's self titled debut, Smith Westerns Dye It Blonde, Iceage's New Brigade and Fucked Up's David Comes to Life.

2012. 2013. One was an excellent year for this kind of music. One is shaping up to be. In 2012, Japandroids finally returned with fantastic Celebration Rock. It was their first album after four years, years of touring, and even almost calling the band quits. It would be unfair to break down the bands I would like to talk about into whatever years they released new material, because many are only finally breaking out in 2013.

Katie Crutchfield, who makes music as Waxahatchee

There was confessional music in the 90's as well. Liz Phair and Fiona Apple weren't afraid to sing about one night stands from a woman's point of view. One singer who seems to have taken their music to heart, is Waxahatchee. The project of Katie Crutchfield, who sometimes recruits her boyfriend on drums and roommate on bass. The music she makes, especially on this year's excellent Cerulean Salt is quite confessional and almost jarring on how personal she likes to be with us. It's very stripped down, much like Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville. She's not afraid to even have lyrics that can be easily deemed "cheesy" ("dark winter morning / you honk your car horn at me") but have a much deeper meaning.

Another example of women in indie rock would be from Mish Way, from the Canadian punk band, Whit Lung. Way sings with a much darker tone than Crutchfield, which is very prevalent on 2012's Sorry. On the song "Glue", she compares herself to a dead horse, being melted down for glue. Most of the songs range from 1-2 minutes and the band goes full throttle every time. The effect of it leaves you almost weary, but you can't wait to listen to it again.

Parquet Courts, performing at Chaos in Tejas

A band who's status has only grown in 2013, is Parquet Courts. Their instrumentation reflects that of Wire's, but their lyrics contain the smart (or smartass) lines that Stephen Malkmus had. The music is almost cheap sounding, with jerky guitars and a break neck rhythm section. Across their album Light Up Gold they made fun of the older generation, but also realized what was wrong with them. On "Yonder is Closer to the Heart", time is measured in balls of lint and laundry receipts which begin to cumulate on the narrator's desk. "Stoned and Starving" is a mission statement, where Andrew Savage navigates Queens bodegas, but the song has a darker side. Similar to Milk Music's pained mission statement, "Illegal and Free". The drugs soon become distractions for the depressing lives that the narrators lead.

Royal Headache's Royal Headache

Similar to Parquet Courts are the Aussie soul-punks Royal Headache. Made up of four friends, all with one word nicknames (Shogun, Law, Joe, Shortty) their music distills many different elements into one fuzzy whole. The instrumentation sounds like Black Flag, and The Ramones, but the Shogun's voice is more reminiscent of Rod Stewart, Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. His voice comes off urgent, and loaded with feeling. Sometimes he's accusing lovers, asking if they're "really in love" or unwilling to move on after the demise of a relationship ("we had a fine thing you and me / don't you agree... and it all comes down to the time we spent"). On the band's self titled debut, they played fast and loud for 26 minutes, with Shogun's voice reaching for the heavens (just listen to album highlight "Honey Joy").


The "bite" of the 90's is returning as well. This was only a thought in 2011, when The Men released Leave Home. But now we have Cloud Nothings and Metz. Metz's music is defined as "sludge-punk", due to it's similarity to bands like Fugazi, The Jesus Lizard, Drive Like Jehu, and other music that isn't recreated that much these days. Cloud Nothings did a similar thing on Attack On Memory which was produced by Steve Albini (of The Killing Joke and Big Black). The sound of it was meaty, but also very catchy. The hooks were fantastic, and you could also hear the bass notes ring out. Not to mention Dylan Baldi's ragged, pleading voice cutting through the music like a knife.

Speaking of The Men, what happened? After making 2012's excellent Open Your Heart (which was basically a study of all things 90's), they went up to the mountains and made the excellent New Moon. And they've taken Milk Music with them! Both Milk Music and The Men started out as scrappy punk bands, before maturing and incorporating more elements of country into their music. New Moon along with Milk Music's Cruise Your Illusion can only be described as Neil Young meets Dinosaur Jr. And it sounds amazing. The Men cite Milk Music as "kindred spirits" and it makes complete sense.

Merchandise, performing at Chaos in Tejas

The new punk spectrum existing today also has a somewhat more new-wave leaning sound. Frankie Rose released the excellent Interstellar last year. It had elements of jangle-pop, shot through The Cure, ending up with beautiful music. The backbone of her music was punk, but she added more elements of pop to create a unique hybrid. Another band who's used a similar formula to Frankie Rose is Tampa, Fl.'s Merchandise whose excellent Children of Desire was released last year and the excellent Totale Nite was released this year. Merchandise used to be a punk band, but now they lean more towards British new-wave/post-punk.

A perfect example of punk and it's sweet side, is Mikal Cronin. You may know him as that guy who plays bass for Ty Segall, but this year he broke out on his own, by releasing the excellent MCII. At times he sounds like Matthew Sweet, sometimes Teenage Fanclub and even Superchunk, when they're at their tenderest moments. Lyrically, Cronin is something like the male counterpart to Waxahatchee, full of self loathing and personal problems. He's also earned a B.F.A. in music, and MCII is full of beautiful compositions, ranging from piano to violin.

Mikal Cronin, performing at SXSW

There's countless artists who I neglected to mention in.. whatever this is. DIIV has the "feeling". Real Estate has the "feeling". King Tuff, Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Vår, King Krule, Kurt Vile, Willis Earl Beal, Foxygen, Lotus Plaza, Deerhunter, Mac DeMarco, Wampire, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Atlas Sound and The Radio Dept. all have the "feeling". WU LYF had the "feeling" before their mysterious break-up. Even more electronic leaning artists like Grimes, Pharmakon, Majical Cloudz and Youth Lagoon have the "feeling".

I don't know how this got so long. Maybe that's what I get after writing after three nights without enough sleep. I'm just genuinely impassioned about this new music and how all these musicians are able to emulate "feeling" the same way Dinosaur Jr., My Bloody Valentine and The Replacements did. So I guess, that I'm just excited. Really, really excited. We're living in this time period of excellent music, that's all around us. These musicians make you excited, and that's the best thing you can do. They have emotion, feeling and excitement. Music sounds better when you're excited.

And I can't wait for what these artists are going to do next.