HIPSTER RUNOFF

Just want 2 know what I'm supposed 2 b.
Hard 2 b some1 else other than me.
Trying to be some1 who I actually wouldn't mind being.

Should I be 'nip slip' M.I.A.?

Should I be a zany electroJungle JokerAlt Zebra?

Maybe I'll be a freshman student at the University of Texas who just moved to Austin and is learning to experiment with 'being alternative'.

[Photo by Tokyo Bopper]

Wonder if I'll have time to make my 'entity from an alternative underworld' costume :-(

[Photo by Glam Canyon]

Guess I'm just gonna be 'oops I crapped my pants' Justice

[Photo by Gade Mode]

HLP M3 YALL//////////

Lately, MTV has been doing these in-depth investigative journalism pieces about parts of the world no1 has ever heard about. I wanted to share these rlly informative pieces with yall, because I assume that if you read this blog, you are one of the most culturally-connected persons within your local community. You are a first-line tastemaker, and you deserve to know about [EXCLUSIVE] stuff like this.

Please note that these videos are [HIGHLY RECCD], not only because you get to see John Norris' never-ending-quest to be a lil alt, but because you want to understand what it's like to participate in the revolution that is a geographically-contained creative renaissance.

Note: HIGHLY RECCT VIDEOS MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE IN YOUR RSS READER
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Un-Earthed Location #1: A small American city called "Portland, Oregon."
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Did this video almost make your head explode, too? SRSLY. I rlllly hate Portland and any other 'second tier' cities that claim to be culturally relevant by playing up the whole 'alternative gimmick.' There is an excess of shitty musicians who are Starbucks/Chili's employees in every city, so I hate when a city's personal brand revolves around 'sounding like they really mean it when they make their shitty music/attend their shitty, awkward concerts.'

I'd say Austin, TX is pretty good example of 'shitty city who is gimmickifying it's underwhelmingly-alternative brand', too. Most of the music in Austin, TX is more approachable indie fodder than the Portland concept crap, so I'll give the edge to Portland when it comes to 'moderately alt cities that major-city-alts-want-to-move-to-bc-they-think-their-life-will-be-simple, yet-authentic,yet-still-as-alt as they feel comfortable with.' No matter what, we all need an alt-city full of alts to feel comfortable around without the high-cost-of-living that major metropolitan areas have. Don't you feel like you have met a lot of people who have idealized Portland and Austin as 'heaven on alt-earth'? Like they imagine settling down with a humble-&-emotionally-connected trophy alt who is done with his/her 'partying phase' and ready to start buying well-designed carriages for their newborn babies (lil alts).

Common traits of overhyped 2nd rate alternative cities:

• Perception of being 'green'
• Perception of a bustling 'local economy'
• A high 'basically unemployment' rate (this figure represents people who are over 30, but still have the jobs a 16 year old would have)
• An excess of corporate and independent coffee shops
• An excess of people with too many tattoos working in independent coffee shops
• An excess of coffee shop employees playing RLLY gimmicky 'interesting' music in coffee shops during their shifts/playing the albums of their friend's band who sound exactly like _______
• Overhearing the 'future plans' of people who work in these coffee shops to start their own business in design/food/recordstore/boutique/other alternative biz idea.
• An excess of people in bands that have shows in an excess of venues
• An otherwise stable maintream economy which allows the alternative population to work in the service industry. While this usually happens in all cities, the minorities in the service industry are replaced by these aging alts.
• Overhearing all of these people talking about stuff that was cool between 2 to 40 years ago. They basically have a 2 year delay on 'what is currently cool' and usually just rely on 'liking aesthetics/bands that are from before 1985.'
• A handful of decent bands, a few imitators, and a bunch of krappie bands that have tied their identity to their home city and guilt their friends into attending their show/post a lot of myspace bulletins to impressionable local-17-year olds.
• They attempt to assert their city-wide inferiority complexes by having excessive representation when it comes to liberal activities, particularly 'marches.' Examples include Gay Pride Marches, Anti-Racism Marches, Marches Against 'The War', and general Marches Against Stuff That Exists Because of Conservative People.
• These cities have significant populations of 'cool dads' and 'free spirited moms' by choice/believe in their personal images, as opposed to the real-city versions of these parents who are simply 'participating in a gimmick which they have no control over.'
• A lot of these cities have a major university or a well-branded liberal arts school with a progressive identity which the 'hip side of town' feels like they need to cater to in order to keep up sales of vegan wraps, pizza-made-from-only-organic-ingredients, and interesting t-shirts.

N e ways. Do yall like these types of cities or what? Am I wrong? Should the Mayor of Portland 'show me around the alt side of town' and then 'take me on a tour of their business district'?

I think a lot of cities/hip communities within a city all have some of these traits. Did I miss n e traits?

[PLEASE NOTE: I DO LIKE STARFUCKER FROM PORTLAND, BUT I WILL STOP LIKING THEM WHEN PEOPLE START CALLING THEM 'THE NEXT MGMT' AND THEIR RCRD LABEL FORCES THEM TO CHANGE THEIR NAME. ]

[PLEASE NOTE: I MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE GONE THROUGH AN EXISTENTIAL PHASE WHERE I LISTENED TO A LOT OF THE MICROPHONES AND HAVE DECIDED TO NOT TAKE ANYTHING FROM PORTLAND SERIOUSLY IN ORDER TO FORGET THE PERSON WHO I USED TO THINK I WAS IN 2KNEVER.]

[PLEASE NOTE: I H8 95% OF THE PEOPLE I HAVE MET FROM PORTLAND. I THINK I JUST DON'T LIKE PEOPLE WHO THINK WHERE THEY LIVE IS ANY MORE/LESS INTERESTING THAN N E WHERE ELSE.]

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Unearthed Location #2: A country called France

Can some one please explain the differences between the bands JUS-TICE and JEW-STEESE? If they are going to use an American world, I think they should say it like a proud American. "Justice" was a concept invented in America, so it doesn't matter how.

N e ways, this video is s00 true. Those Frenchies are stealing our culture and selling it back 2 us. SOME1 NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS. Our American alternative celebrities are letting us down. Also, the American government should ban foreign artists from utilizing our memes and media from the past in order to make money off their art. America should probably ally with Australia in the ElectroWar.

Journalists need to stop focusing on geographic locations, and start realizing that
we all live on the Internet. There's no such thing as a 'city' n e m0re, yall. We're all citizens of Blogville/the blogosphere/the memesphere/the information super fagway.

In conclusion, we need America to unite as a nation to create popular alternative music. Carles is doing his best to help the United States by working hard on the HIPSTER RUNOFF debut EP.

HRO is sooo mainstream. I can't believe I still blg abt all of these mainstream bands that are alllll over MTV.

I'm just searching for authentic authenticity. :-(

A couple of years ago, I was at some pre-blogosphere house party in Austin, and happened to wander into a packed room with a band playing hit after hit after hit. The band's name is L.A.X., so naturally, it took me a good 3 years to find their web presence on google, instead of the Los Angeles airport.

Can you go wrong with cute girl voice plus dude on vocoder?

LAX has been through a few lineup changes, but their sound is definitely worth blogging about. Just for the sake of cross referencing, I could see people who are into Ladytron, Gil Mantera's Party Dream, or any thing else that sounds like "A house beat making love with synth."

They're probably my favourite Austin band.

MP3: L.A.X. - Come and Get Me

Visit LAX's myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/dancewithlax

I've been a Josh Rouse fan for a long time. Unfortunately, I've only had the opportunity to see him once, right around the time that "1972" came out. If you look back on Josh Rouse's career, I think "1972" is a pretty definitive turning point in the type of music that he has released. His early music told stories about unhappy families and people in the Midwest. These days, he can write songs about a guy named "James" who can't stop hanging out at the bars, or a "Hollywood Bass Player." His newer songs are flawless, though, pretty perfectly written and produced. Good enough to catch the ear of most musicphiles.

It's a whole new Rouse since he moved to Spain, and you can tell that he's pretty comfortable with his new life and the songs he continues to add to his catalog. Josh took the stage, took some time to tune, and just started to churn out his recent hits. I particularly enjoyed the acoustic driven "Carolina," "It Looks Like Love" followed by "It's the Night Time," and of course, the sweet bass line in "Come Back." Also, "Love Vibration" was a nice touch during the encore, since by then the crowd had downed enough premium beers to move past some of the awkward silences between songs early in the show. Secretly, I was hoping for him to perform something from "Under Cold Blue Stars" or "Dressed Up Like Nebraska."

Overall, Josh Rouse is on top of his game. If you've been a fan at any time of his career, you should definitely see him. While it's a shame that his career didn't bring him the notoriety of a Damien Rice or John Mayer or Ryan Adams, it shouldn't skew your appreciation for his music. If anything, it's a great opportunity to see what type of music an artist will make when he's able to function with complete control of his environment and creative direction.

And if you don't believe that he is good, how about checking out Josh Rouse mentioned in John Mayer's blog about a year ago:

This CD is KILLING me lately. By Josh Rouse, called Bedroom Classics Vol. 2. I'm not sure if it was really made in his bedroom, but it sure feels classic-y. I've been hearing this guy's name for years, usually used when trying to equalize my success with his. Can't argue with that attempt. I've had this CD for about a year now, and every time it comes on, I flip. Except before now my flipping went un-noticed by me. Ever flip like that? Anyway, I'm flipping on the outside now. I probably don't even have the best Josh Rouse money can buy, but if that's the case, more to my point. I want to tour with him. Booking agent man, can we tour with Josh Rouse?

Here are some MP3s from various points in Josh Rouse's Career:
MP3: Josh Rouse - Hollywood Bass Player
[from "Country Mouse, City House" (2007)]

MP3: Josh Rouse - Winter in the Hamptons
[from "Nashville" (2005)]

MP3: Josh Rouse - Miracle
[from "Under Cold Blue Stars" (2002) This album is one of my favourites of all time.]

Visit JoshRouse.com
See what people are saying about the Austin show at the Josh Rouse Message Boards

Buy Country Mouse, City House at Amazon.