Good Talk.

Where in John wonders if he can pass off posting a facebook conversation (edited for better formatting) as a legitimate article. Today: efficient song writing, society, economy, and a theory on why people hate Hail to the Thief.
A:
PK 14 is really really good

J:
word.
Tell The Children has been lodged in my head for about a week.

A :
fucking great song
that bassline is really slick
simple
but it works

J:
Really efficient songwriting
And I think that sticks out through the whole album

A:
totally

J:
And I think that’s where the Fugazi tie they espouse shows strongest
In something like Eden or Tell The Children
Not writing for excess or flex but to keep it moving

A :
i really appreciate that lately

J:
I think that’s the heart at what the chillwave thing is getting at
The last decade, we’ve had a rise of a lot of absurdly talented songwriters, and there’s a movement to strip back down
And a want for things to strip back down, too. It’s not like it’s a movement with no base in itself.

A :
shit’s just gotten so ridiculous that i feel certain groups such as PK14 get sided out for other weird artists for the sake of the weirdness
there’s not really much base in these canonized artists
i don’t quite get why it’s gone on for so long

J:
The desire for distraction during the worst decade of our lives, I wager
The times around the Bush regime were about cultural obfuscation and misinformation, labrynthine speech

A:
hmm
makes sense

J:
I think the music ended up reflecting that around the time of the second four years

A:
yeah
so this is why listening to “Fear Not of Man” by Mos Def is still relevant today
it kind of all makes sense

J:
Yeah

A:
“the hiphop will get better when the people get better”
goes for every kind of music

J:
True in some respects
At the same time, in this third year post 808s & Heartbreak, a lot of rap content is about the ugly world inside
Instead of the streets it’s the psyche
Odd Future, Death Grips, Lil B
Shabazz to a certain extent, although Shabazz’s contemporary is more likely 13 & God: a meditation on living through these golden ages of hip hop and noticing you’re past the 50 yard line
Maybe the better statement here is, the music gets better when the language gets clearer

A:
right
overall i haven’t had a shitty decade
it’s just been confusing

J:
Well, I don’t mean that on a personal basis.

A:
well
the second part wasn’t personal
i was comparing the mos def thing to your thing

J:
Right. I just want to make clear that when I say “worst decade,” I’m speaking on a strictly socio-economic basis

A:
I totally gotcha

J:
This is also something that makes bands like Liars and TV on the Radio vital
Them, Radiohead, a few others of note- for cutting through that haze of ugly language and escapism
Even if the music wasn’t always great (Hail to the Thief), they were fucking right on the money with their perspective

A:
exactly. they haven’t slacked on that.
the awareness of that band is uncanny.

J:
And I think that’s a large part of these occasional backlashes against their records
Where the music doesn’t really catch up with the message

A:
on occasion definitely
KoL was a tad low-key but i thought that’s what worked for it really well.
you can’t have a Kid A or In Rainbows all the time in this age
i mean
as well as their age

J:
Well, for one, Thom Yorke would kill himself if he had to do that all the time
Those are both hugely existential albums
Kid A is “world closing in,” and In Rainbows is “world slipping away”

A:
yeah. i have a feeling that if they release an album with Staircase or Daily Mail on it, it could be back to that.

J:
King Of Limbs leans more towards acceptance
Where Oh No borders on Oh Well

A:
that might be where people were disappointed.
which, it’s their message, come on.

J:
It’s always been odd to me how much of critical response to music ignores the artistic side
Maybe that’s the flaw of pop music, where it gets seen as commodity and then becomes inflexible

A :
a possibility. i just think people get a little jaded sometimes.

J:
Yeah.