Mysterious 'buzzband' Neon Indian 'unmasked'... Signs 2 Lesfe Records...What is Meaningful Rock?
I feel like we’re at a time where ‘popular indie bands’ achieve more critical acclaim than ‘popular mainstream bands.’ Although the popular bands outsell the ‘indie’ bands, they both have exposure and acclaim from similar sources. Is there any difference between these high-selling white acts with male lead singers?
Popular & ‘respected’ mainstream bands:
1. U2
2. Coldplay
3. Radiohead
4. Dave Matthews Band
(…a few others)
Popular & ‘respected’ indie bands
1. Death Cab for Cutie
2. Arcade Fire
3. The Shins
(…a few others)
Whenever one of these indie bands releases an album, people are like ‘omg! I can’t believe it’s #1 on iTunes! WTF? They r indie! I used to listen 2 them, but not any more.’ When it comes to music that white people listen to, I think popular mainstream and indie bands are fighting against all of that Soulja Boy type of stuff, so it’s probably time for them to unite into one genre.
MEANINGFUL-CORE MUSIC: Presented by HIPSTER RUNOFF
MEANINGFUL-CORE music can be described as
1. music that makes a general mainstream consumer think that his/her life is more meaningful
2. music that an alt or mainstream person can talk about in a conversation and make them seem ‘with the times’, ‘interesting’, and ‘on a quest for self-awareness.’
3. music that is structured to seem directly meaningful, cryptically meaningful, or if the singer just looks/sounds earnest and meaningful in some form
4. music that is made by a predominantly male band, with a male lead singer (the voice of a male offers more meaning than a female can offer)
5. music that is created by a band who ‘meant it’ on their first album, then experimented, then ‘got mainstream’, then ‘meant it’ in a cool-dad kind of way later in their career. (no matter what, they always sold out large venues)
6. music that music critics respect, and you can put on a mix CD for a person of the opposite sex to make them think that you ‘understand love, life, and everything else that could make a relationship work.’
I think meaningful-core can help explain how the popular mainstream bands and popular indie bands have merged into this one classification. Zach Braff was an innovator by lumping meaningful-core hits into the Garden State soundtrack. At that time, consumers began to think that the music within their iPod should ‘give them a more meaningful soundtrack for their lives’.’ Each song can make an event like looking out a car window seem really amazing.
DCFC: they look like they really ‘mean it.’
Meaningful-core bands can take your existence to the next level. They will help you relate to more people who are searching for meaning in their lives’. Meaningful-core will help you connect with impending sexual partners in a meaningful-kind-of-way. Their albums are important snap shots of the global economy of feelings.
Other bands or artists can have a ‘meaningful core hit’, but it doesn’t always mean that their other stuff will be interpreted as ‘meaningful on a mass scale.’ For example, that Iron and Wine dude covered ‘Such Great Heights’, but I think only girls liked that song and that guy. A band like Death Cab can gimmick mainstream bros and entry-level altbros in with lyrics like, ’so this is the New Year… and I don’t feel any different. :-( ‘
Meaningful-Core bands are able to transcend our society as a whole. They transcend media outlets, and they re-think ‘antiquated methods of album distribution.’ They have a sea of fans who are into being their fans. They have street teams.
Americans first learned that Coldplay was [Highly meaningful] when the music video for ‘Yellow’ showcased a rising sun throughout the duration of the video.
Subgenres of meaningful core:
Cryptically meaningful bands in an artsy-ish way
(These bands may or may not achieve success in sales, but garner a lot of critical acclaim for being really meaningful)
1. Sigur Ros
2. The Microphones
3. Animal Collective/Panda Bear
4. The Avalanches
5. Boards of Canada
6. The Books
(These bands appeal to people who want meaning through conceptual stuff that is less approachable to mainstreamers.)
Earnest Electro meaningful
(After people ‘fell in love with the Postal Service’ they were searching for some replacements of earnest electronic music.)
1. The Notwist
2. The Go Find
3. Air
4. Frou Frou
5. Lali Puna
6. only the song “Digital Love” by Daft Punk
7. Only the song “some one great” by LCD soundsystem
“leave me paralyzed, love” - the Notwist
Mainstream rock bands that add ‘meaning’ to mainstreamers who think they are really unique in a ‘I still wear a ying yang necklace’ kind of way
1. Incubus
2. Linkin Park
3. Creed (R.I.P.)
4. Tool
******
The Shins sing that 1 song about Caring being Creepy, right? Soo true (and so random)
******
So in conclusion, people are looking for meaning in their lives’. They want to know why they are here, and why their perspective is more special than yours or mine. Music offers a wide range of products that can help users believe that they are more unique, more authentic, more alterntive, more mainstream, and more intrinsically meaningful. While we all have different interpretations of ‘what it means to mean something meaningful’, we can all find an artist that helps us to feel like we truly connect with what it is that connects those of us who ‘understand the human condition.’
Meaningful-core songs are in 25% of iPod commercials. (25% is dedicated to upcoming female stars, and 50% is dedicated to ‘dancey fun stuff that alternative people listen to.)
Filling this iPod with meaningful-core music could make your head start secreting the gel-form of meaningfulness.
Plz elaborate on or refine any theories proposed in this bl0g p0st.
<3 yall r smart. Yall should be consultants 4 EMI/Geffen/SubPop/XL <3
<3 When Soul Meets Body <3
62 Comments
notwist fr lif.
gr8 post
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this post is so meaningful… so tru :’(
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Carles, our souls have touched.
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carles you are ether ru paul jone rivers both or jesus
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Carles: I have a problem with my meaningful gland. I listen to lots of Meaningful-core that mainstreamers like as well as alts, meaningful old music, meaningful jazz, and even meaningful minimal techno. Alas my head has been free from meaningfulness gel-form for weeks now - what should i do?
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i r meaningfool!
best post 4 alt tymes!
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Some good points but…
Have you considered that maybe some music somewhere actually is meaningful? That maybe it expresses an idea you haven’t thought of before? I guess not, seeing as you already know everything which has ever / could ever be thought.
So therefore I conclude that REAL music is just constructed sound and the ONLY kind of music which true ‘alts’ and therefore ‘more meaningful’ people should listen to is dance or some variant.
It’s a total fashion foo-pah to care about anything anymore or think anything in your life means anything, everything is an image man! We should all just go cut ourselves and read fashion mags whilst cutting ourselves somemore! Then have some meaningless sex with strangers cause sex doesn’t really mean anything anyway then kill ourselves in a great big pile!
Woo for being alt!
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//////////Reply by Rich Dissonance
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
http://www.cultofsincerity.com/
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ILY BECAUSE YOU POST AT ALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT <3
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has long been one of the more entertaining bands of the last decade, The band hit the big time in 1994 with their album “Under The Table And Dreaming.” Their second album, “Crash,” helped the band achieve its first Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance for their song “So Much to Say.” .Before My friend and I used to attend their concerts even their tickets are often sky high; Now we found a site where we can compare tickets prices for FREE in order to save some Dollars!!!
http://www.ticketsreview.com/concerts/dave_matthews_band_tickets/
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blog about alt oreo cookies
http://www.stylesightings.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/img_4356as.jpg
mmmmmmmmmmmm
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haha well all the stuff you wrote kinda made me feel guilty not bcause i listen to the listed music except U2 since im a child but its more the thing that i DO think that music makes me feel meaningful :/
what i dont get is… if youre meaning it in a sarcastic way about all that what you worte or if its criticism of those ppl who feel better to know more alt music (which is dump ass).
what i want to point out is that it doesnt matter what music you listen to and if its alt-making or meaningful O.o… its a feeling which is caused by the music and makes you…. oke sometimes meaningful…but it still makes someone happy (the music…not beeing meaningful O.o).
music is made for emotional moments. doesnt matter if youre sad, happy or on drugs… its makes you feel something dot finish fish sea spongebob kelso hf
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HRO hates art.
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the more alt u get the more lonely u get :(
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FGGT ELECTR0 IS TEH MEANINGFULEST-CORE!!11ein!!11
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Should Uffie mean more to me than Justice?
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i listened to the first arcade fire album the other week
haiti made me feel meaningful
i was like ‘yay’ inside
it was that monumental
it was like the first time i had tomato soup on a winters day
i got a boner
fuck that shit we should all listen to rage and hit people RAWK
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oh yeh and aminal collexive are rate meaningful i listened to fireworks on november the 5th and it was just like guy fawkes was standing next to me like ‘im in yr gunpowder, sploding yr parliament’
might’ve been the crack and poppers, rly
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ps: re: alt oreo cookies
arent they just cream then biscuit then cream?
racist
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the electro recession stuff that yu predicted is probably going to have clay stopmotion and face paint videos, plus spoken word and what people used to think aliens would talk like in 1978.
maybe that’s going to be meaningful core?
lol death crab for cutie
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good post.
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Pretend to be a mainstreamer for 1 week.
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Dave Matthews Band has always been critically maligned, and is certainly not a “respected” mainstream band unless you’re counting the opinions of frat douches. And I don’t think you are.
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EPIC POST!
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never ceases to amaze me.
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long post
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sorry did i just see incubus lumped in with the shameful-est bullshit to ever be expelled by the alt genre? do musical chops matter at all to you carlos or just hypothetical renderings of artists’ accessorizations? have you ever written a song?
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no one respects
- coldplay
- dave matthews band
- U2 (after the 90s)
- death cab for cutie
OBVIOUSLY you’re one of those people who used to be into ben gibbard shit, since you blog about them so much. I can’t relate to you in this long post.
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Carles,
have u evr heard of that Chilean/German microhouse/minimal techno/(blog-house?) d00d Ricardo Villalobos? He’s probably the most meaningful techno d00d in the whole world. He made that fabric mix that P4k loved, but I think he might have been overlooked due to lo-fi mania. u should srsly listen 2 him. I would [HIGHLY RECCD] him.
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OH MY GOD CARLES THERE IS A NEW DJ MOMJEANS TRACK OUT ON THE INTERWEB
BUT HE IS NOT DJING OTHER PEOPLE’S MUSIC, HE IS SAYING “STEVE AOKI IN THE HOUSE… BLOODY BEETROOTS IN THE HOUSE”
it made me rofl-lolz so hard i thought i might throw up.
entitled: land of the giants
(land of the momjean techno voiceover career jumpoff?)
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=13220812
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The bands on your popular and respected mainstream/indie bands list are the sort of bands that if you have a mainstream GF/BF you respect a tiny bit more for liking, but if you have an alt. GF/BF and they like those bands you seriously consider getting rid of them.
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i can’t believe nobody has asked yet if this post is about justice.
btw, great post carles. but also remember a lot of meaningful core is a gateway to someone finding their inner alt. some of them are valuable transitional musicians in making the jump from MNSTRM to alternative. what got U into ‘indie’?
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The 6th anonymous pretty much sums up my sentiments.
And no, Uffie shouldn’t mean more than Justice, since Justice’s ’stress’ video was indirect social commentary, therefore politics > Uffie as of now, unless she appears on some pro-abstinence commercial.
Looking out a car window with meaningful music playing is oscar worthy.
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i kind of think minus the bear is a meaningful-core rock band coming from the indie side, lots of white people like them too.
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yr cool like dat. now i’ll start reading this blog
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i miss the strokes
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//////////Reply by Suzette
//////////Posted November 19th, 2008 at 12:17 am
@Anonymous, don’t worry. They’ll be back in the studio in early ‘09…YAY! :D
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aren’t vampire weekend the new strokes?
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death cab is lame hes probly a closet ghey
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gr8 post carles ILU
i think that searching for more meaningful music is directly disproportionate to ‘altness’
this post is a good mantra for ‘entry level alt bros’
DEATH CAN FOR CUTIE
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I will just give one example of the many I listen to; one of my favourites. No words or shit like that: FOUR TET.
Find it and enjoy it; I would recoment the album ‘Rounds’.
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can hip-hop/rap acts be meaningful-core?
What about the wu-tang clan or the roots?
Is carles racist for making meaningful-core a mainly white genre?
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great post!
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can you let me know where these bands stand on UR pie chart of coolness or whatever. I don’t want to be a laggard NE more.
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LOL.
U2 IS HILARIOUS FAIL.
BONO IS A FAGGOT OF MONOLITIHIC PORPORTIONS.
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I THINK YOU ARE THEODOR W. ADORNO OF THIS CENTURY /
HE WROTE “LE CARACTERE FETICHE DANS LA MUSIQUE”
LOOKS LIKE YOUR THEORY
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//////////Reply by ifuckedthatcow
//////////Posted April 16th, 2009 at 1:14 am
@SPRINGMILK, omg carles ur like adorno x 12 + 1030. ur the ‘king of authencity’. keep ‘it’ up ^^^
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//////////Reply by ifuckedthatcow
//////////Posted April 16th, 2009 at 1:18 am
sometimes i feel ’so pomo’ like all ’sincerity’ is lost and the world is ‘all a pastiche’ of ‘meaningless style’. feel ‘alienated and honestly detached’. feel like i am become ‘commodity’ and lost ‘value as human being’. should i go out shopping 4 more am appy or something more?!
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epic post x 100
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Avalanches? Meaningful? And here I was thinking that they were a party band. Thanks for setting me straight.
Funny post though.
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ah crap. im in a meaningful band and i dont know how to get out. any suggestions?
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you’re a n00b.
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Nooby Mcn00bson.
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Meaningful-core song of the past:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4XCGeckA-E
Makes my hrt cry.
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TOKIO HOTEL IS MEANINGFUL ROCK
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HRO gives my life MEANING best post ever and the
thing that really makes me sad is tthat i didn’t read HRO 4 apprx. two weeks cause sometimes I don’t check my reader and would have missed this EPIC BANGER of a post [big ups 2 tha Adorno comparison, Springmilk, CRLS nails the pomo post-anxiety that i'm sure we all feel]
except that i had to scroll through appx 2 weeks of shit and
Wilco - Poor Places. So meaningful.
also, according to p4k, which creates the contemporary canon, DC4C isn’t really respected.
CRLS I love you
also, when are u going to post about violence? will violence be big in 2K10?
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Not to state the obvious, but:
Radiohead are on an indie label now. Plus they’ve always had a more indie audience/aesthetic, which would explain why Coldplay has more fans.
and Death Cab have been on a major-label for the past 3 years.
and they haven’t made a decent record in at least 5.
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the books.
moar.
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fuck dmb
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anonymous said:
“the more ‘alt’ you are the more lonely you are”
couldn’t have said it better myself
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carles, are you for real?
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carles is more slavoj zizek than adorno
btw stay in the theory closet, ur knives dull when ppl see them
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//////////Reply by left hand shake
//////////Posted January 18th, 2009 at 9:01 am
@Anonymous, WORD ////////// except here I think he’s more agamben
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//////////Reply by ifuckedthatcow
//////////Posted April 16th, 2009 at 1:24 am
maybe m0wr badiou. anti-p0m0 yall.
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IZ twenny onez, so my OpiNION is STINKzorz ((OMG SOOOO OLD))–
N IZ a moozishun, so IM 2 meaningful–
but srsly, have you ever written a song? i understand that “fashion” and “electroshite” are both difficult words to rhyme, but yr too ALT to rhyme, i bet, rite?
plz, go spend some more time making yr hair “perfectly disheveled”
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Like meaningfulcore and other metal bands? I really do…
Meaningfulcore bands are soooo heartfelt, and I love Slayer too.
You can find all kinds of bands that hate authority here, links, reviews and interviews to bands. Everything is so screwed up these days with the economy and the bailout, how about a little free entertainment to ease your worries?
http://musicblognetwork.blogspot.com/
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Y’all forgot Bright Eyez
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//////////Reply by JJJJJJJJJJJ
//////////Posted June 9th, 2009 at 2:04 am
@sam,
good point. I actually think conor oberst was deliberately trying to create something others would think was meaningful but didnt actually have alot of personal authenticity or meaning to himself…
He was creating an fictitious persona, or at least becoming a characature of himself through bright eyes. I saw him live and it was quite obvious that it was mostly just an act.
It worked alright though because he actually is a pretty good songwriter (much much better than alot of artists in this post). But his albums were all ruined by the pretentious bull-shit he included too better sell the persona he was creating.
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1 listens 2 meaningfuly only music.
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[...] meaningful core bands. [...]
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