Electronic music, distinct from electronica and noise and techno, is somehow coming back around, even though I remember concept being pretty popular in, say, 1970s Berlin, and the 1980s, and oh yeah, in the early double-aughts when bands like The Postal Service and DNTEL started to make noise, similar to The Human League and the Pet Shop Boys before them.
Now, here we are, not even done with the decade, and somehow this trend is making a resurgence. Brooklyn / Philadelphia's Cold Cave has broken onto the "scene," and suddenly everywhere I turn are white kids playing KORG and MOOG synths, again.
I'm baffled that Cold Cave has managed to snag a deal with Matador Records.
Don't get me wrong. I like Cold Cave, I do. I have a copy of their Cremations compilation from Hospital Productions, as well as Love Comes Close on Heartworm Press, which is now out of print (SCORE).
I suppose I'm just bothered that a "super group" featuring Max G. Morton, Caralee McElroy (Xiu Xiu), Wesley Eisold, and Dominick Fernow (Prurient) would get signed to a major label after only 18 months (most of which was just Morton and Eisold).
It's not that I'm bitter or jealous, but that this whole sythn-pop cum darkwave noise hybrid seems a little tired on my end of the spectrum. Spartanburg, SC has Backseat Dreamer (Stickfigure Records), and 27 miles away there's Culture Prophet who, while less dark / more dance, has managed to carve out enough of a following to continually book paying gigs as well as tour Europe.
I played a show in Asheville, NC, Saturday night. Aside from the facts:
1. Incompetent "promoter" switched the venue less than a week prior.
2. No one got paid.
3. Two-plus hours of laptop techno-glitch-pop are too much.
4. The '90s rave scene is dead. Anarchist coffee shops are not appropriate venues to attempt a resurrection.
Two of the bands on the line-up were doing roughly the same sound. One of them had basically discovered 1984 and stuck with the sound. The other was a little darker, more inventive, but still basically a synth-rock duo.
I know people like to dance in public (for some reason), but what is it about this genre that won't seem to go away? I don't mean to nitpick. Most of the artists or bands I've seen attempting this do it well-enough, but in my eyes, not enough to stand out from one another. Head Trip Conception is good, but not any better than Backseat Dreamer who I sort of like better than Cold Cave (if only because I knew Sean years before Cold Cave even existed).
New Order did this decades ago. It's still a genuinely enjoyable sound (when done with some depth and thought), but is it really something that deserves a major label debut? Anymore, who even needs a major label? Sure, K, Kill Rock Stars, and even to a degree Sub Pop are still alive and kicking, but what good is a major label anymore? Aside from the potential tour support, distribution, and lightening the burden of album production, labels don't need to grab someone for them to "make it" anymore. Wolf Eyes were a pretty big deal before they signed to Sub Pop for Burned Mind, y'dig?
I won't lie. I'd love to be on a semi-major label if only to get a second national tour booked. I'd love to have someone else help foot the bill for endless amount of blank cassettes and norelco boxes. The digital age has greatly reduced the need for studio time. Sure, a good studio with competent engineers never hurts, but it isn't the end all be all anymore. Johnny Cash couldn't hook up a condenser mic to his laptop and go for it. The studio was his only hope. Now is not then, however.
Case in point: Cold Cave.
18 months of obscure cassette, vinyl, and CD releases were more than enough to get this band national attention. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have famous friends, does it?
Is this sudden explosion of interest really due to them being in the right place at the right time? (e.g. Brooklyn + Philly / RIGHT NOW) Can I just blame Pitchfork Media and be done with it?
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