[kj] RE: DARKNESS/Rapture/interpol

[Alex Smith]

"Then other friends wonder why the NYC scene is being so heavily mined for
new acts when it's clear there's no one (at least found so far) that's
GREAT."


Well, I'm not going to back that sweeping condemnation, being that very my
favorite bands (apart from Killing Joke) are both NYC bands (notably
Firewater and Skeleton Key), though both date back to the mid-90's, so don't
get included in the "new crop of NYC bands".

In terms of genuinely "new" bands, I *do* quite like the Rapture, the Yeah
Yeah Yeahs and Radio 4 and even Interpol (however begrudgingly). I think Ted
Leo/Pharmacists are pretty great as well. I think New York bands are getting
attention now due to the shameless retro-fixation that's currently all the
rage. NYC hasn't had a proper 'scene' of bands since the early 90's, really.
It's simply gotten too expensive for any struggling bands to really
establish roots, let alone a thriving comunity of bands (which is why
Williamsburg in Brooklyn became a more fertile ground, though even that's
succumbing to overkill and gentrification). That said, people (myself
included, to a degree) love to invoke NYC's storied musical past, which
spawned the original mid'70's CBGB's scene (Ramones, Television, Blondie,
Talking Heads, Patti Smith, etc.), the whole No Wave/Mudd Club scene (Lydia
Lunch, Mars, DNA, Glenn Branca, etc.), the fertile hardcore scene (Murphy's
Law, Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, etc.) and the sort've "pigfuck/post-No Wave"
gang (Sonic Youth, Swans, Rat at Rat R, Pussy Galore) and that scene's
offspring (Prong, Helmet, Surgery, Cop Shoot Cop, etc.) After that, the well
ran dry, and the Giulliani years closed a lot of venues. The advent of the
Strokes et al. seemed to pump a syringe of adrenalin back into proceedings,
but the original coolster hepcat cutting edge element of NYC has been long
dormant otherwise.

Alex in NYC


----------
>From: Amy Moseley <amyr@jump.net>
>To: gathering@misera.net
>Subject: Re: [kj] RE: DARKNESS/Rapture/interpol
>Date: Tue, Sep 30, 2003, 11:47 AM
>

>> I'm really frustrated by Interpol, because like you may remember, I thought
>> they were a criminally uninspired and derivative live act, but I quite like
>> their album....however unoriginal it may arguably be. Moreover, they've
>> become a HUGE draw here...they've just added a second night (both sold out,
>> I believe) at the Roseland Ballroom....which is a pretty big room.
>
>I have friends that are into Aerial Love Feed and Stellastarr* which
>are both pretty good.  Then other friends wonder why the NYC scene
>is being so heavily mined for new acts when it's clear there's
>no one (at least found so far) that's GREAT.
>
>There is at current no US band younger than oh say, fifteen years
>old that I really really like.  That's very sad.  Shit, maybe *I*
>should start playing in earnest again!
>
>--Amy (bass, keys)
>
>-------------------------------------------------
>This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/
>_______________________________________________
>Gathering mailing list
>Gathering@misera.net
>http://four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/gathering