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Originally Posted by !@#$%!
YLT? wtf
that’s a terible comparison
yo la tengo uses drone and noise and improvisation but they mainly do, you know, SONGS. like, shit you can sing to, with evident catchy pop melodies.
if you’re talking bowery electric’s first album, that sounds more like bardo pond, and yeah bardo pond gets great word of mouth around here and for good reason. but they did it first and they’re from THIS side of THAT pond anyway.
if you’re talking about BEAT, then okay, they’re trip hop tinged and that’s going to invite transatlantic references, yeah, for obvious reasons.
don’t mean to shit on them, but you sideways shitting on ylt or their fans for vague commonalities is both misguided and unfair. agh! APPLES AND ORANGES.
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WHOAH
First of all: I wasn’t sideways shitting on YLT. I love YLT. And I think “And then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out” has some comparably spacey, droney moments to it. Also some disco inflected moments, though non as trip-hoppy as “Beat,” sure. I was just using them as a more accessible example of droney art-rock that got more attention. (Although My Bloody Valentine would have probably been a much better band for that purpose.)
Secondly: Transatlantic? HOW, SYMBOLS?! We’re talking about NEW YORK and NEW JERSEY here.
Third: YLT’s drone is absolutely not always in a catchy sing-along pop tune. Absolutely not. It’s of the reasons I love them. Try singing along with “We’re an American Band,” which is nowhere near their most droney track, but contains mumbled-through-lyrics buried under feedback and a sprawling distortion-drenched solo that fills like 80% of the song’s space. I love it. It’s my favorite Yo La Tengo song, actually.
My main point is that Yo La Tengo made similar sounds sometimes, are also from the same region and are hailed as indie rock royalty, while you rarely hear Bowery Electric discusses with the same reverence. If people can get into “And Then Nothing...” they should be able to get into “Beat,” and get that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Fuck it, pretend I said “FLYING SAYCER ATTACK” instead of YLT. That probably works better.
But goddammit, the compairison works fine for the purposes of what I was trying to communicate, which is that Bowery Electric is underrated in the larger picture of drone-heavy avant-indie from that era.
ETA: Apples and oranges are FUNDAMENTALLY COMPARABLE. They’re both fucking FRUIT, they’re both SWEET AND/OR TART and the’re SIMILAR IN SHAPE.