Indie Trends: The Mainstream Zenith (December 2010)
by Chris Polley
Now that the best-of-2010 brouhaha has simmered down, we can look to the future that 2011 has in store for us…right? Well, not quite. The way this feature works, by reflecting monthly on the notable releases of the past thirty days, we are just now getting a chance to look at what was thrown up on the shelves of our local record stores in December of 2010. And by “our local record stores”, two of the three covered below could either imply that independent shop with the quirky name across town or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, any number of conveniently located Best Buys or iTunes best-seller charts. You see, while last month’s retrospective focused on the old farts that came back by Turkey Day for some bloggers’ phoned-in remarks about their legacy (Eno and Stereolab, for instance), in order to get recognition for releasing a record in December, you either had to score an effects-laden blockbuster movie, be a member of arguably the longest-running and most successful rap collectives in history, or be the only artist to receive Pitchfork’s Best New Music honor for that month.
Daft Punk “End of Line” Tron: Legacy OST [Walt Disney]
First came the enigmatic French duo Daft Punk’s take on the cheesy sci-fi sound, which turned out to either be not cheesy enough or too cheesy in the wrong way to really make much of an impression on anyone but the average fanboy. It seemed like a gimme: how do we simultaneously satiate the nostalgic action figure-collecting nerds and the music loving twenty-something who doesn’t listen to dance music but had “One More Time” play twice at his/her wedding? Have Daft Punk score a reboot of the Tron franchise, of course! Not only would it rake in the dough but it had the potential to make the soundtrack matter again to the mainstream population who had given up on the concept since the late 90s. Alas, such an honor went this year to Trent Reznor (of all people) instead and while Tron: Legacy wasn’t a flop, the bland neon pulsing underneath the stock strings and whizzing cars didn’t really scream innovation, something that had for so long been a part of Daft Punk’s DNA.
This is not to say the score is bad: rather, it’s perfectly okay. It’s pleasant enough to hang delicately in the distance like an ominous but soothing succession of reprised melodies and restrained crescendos, but it’s simply not incendiary or even subtle enough to make it anything worth writing home about, which is exactly what everything prior to Tron: Legacy OST was for this hallmark group. Their arrival at the mainstream zenith wasn’t an extraordinary disappointment; it simply wasn’t worth the trip. Conversely, the pyramid at Lollapalooza was an event that proved just how larger than life the composers could be as performers, but when they’re relegated to the background by a very conventional corporation, it can’t be that much of a surprise that their potential isn’t reached. On the bright side, we can surely look forward to a fat-wallet budget for whatever the twosome dreams up on their own next.
Ghostface Killah “Purified Thoughts” Apollo Kids [Def Jam]
Just like the aforementioned artist wasn’t a stranger to the spotlight before December, the attention afforded to Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah’s latest despite the abundance of focus on year-end list-making isn’t exactly a shock. In fact, this might be a pretty subjective conjecture, especially considering that Method Man had his own primetime TV show for a short while, but I do believe a new leaf is turned for a hardcore rap group when they’re the subject of an in-depth journalistic profile on NPR. It’s not that they haven’t been riding the mainstream zenith wave for over a decade; it’s just that through the lens of indie, it might be a new era for the various solo careers of Wu-Tang, because we’re not just enjoying the silly cameos from RZA in various Hollywood B-movies and we’re not just looking back at their early work and respecting the theatrics of the dearly departs ODB. We’re actively seeking an historical overview of one of the most wildly unpredictable but also steadily consistent crews in a community that is becoming way more pop than hip-hop, way more milquetoast than venom and spit.
On a very classic-sounding LP, Ghostface is holding true to the sentiment that one shouldn’t try to fix what ain’t broke. In said NPR piece, one of the most striking recurring themes amongst the interviews with various members is that what mattered more to any of these guys was staying true to their art (and as they are conscious of their place in the mainstream, Wu-Tang as a brand). More so than the paycheck, more so than the hardcore front, more so than the lyrical content itself, they cared about the aesthetics of their sound. They did not want their production to be too smooth or atmospheric nor did they want it to be so out there and experimental that it went against everything that made the group’s signature cohesive-yet-eclectic sound so appealing in the first place. From here on out, this kind of intensely intimate and honest thinking won’t just be a secret hiding amongst the creative wordplay, but rather takes Ghostface and co. to a new high point that keeps them in the eye of the masses, but gives infinite more indie credence than the majority of the skinny slackers from Brooklyn.
Off! “I Don’t Belong” First Four EPs [Vice]
How’s this for disparate genres falling under a single motif? The tricky part here is that a paradigm shift is in order if you want to continue down this path of redefining the idea of a mainstream zenith. For instance, purists may see Daft Punk’s foray into Walt Disney world as more of a soul-corrupting nadir than any sort of optimistic climax of career. Likewise, Wu-Tang getting the “so what’s the deal with ___?” treatment on the whitewashed landscape of NPR could seem like a sort of hip hop culture death knell. Personally, having fallen in love with Daft Punk via MTV’s oft-forgotten 12 Angry Viewers and never really considering myself a part of the Wu-Tang worship-base, punk supergroup Off! is the closest I get to any sort of personal prejudice. And I’ve never more than casually listened to any of these musicians’ original bands: Black Flag, Burning Brides, Redd Kross, and Rocket From the Crypt. But dammit, I was curious when I was a youngster about this whole anti-establishment thing, and those three Fugazi records I have are damn near perfect I tells ya!
And I’m pretty sure I hate Vice, the label that has taken to compiling OFF!’s first four EPs for the indie mainstream’s consumption, so much so that they earned the last coveted spot on Pitchfork’s Best New Music of 2010 list. But that’s not the reason I hate Vice, though other more devout punk fans might see it as the site’s diminutive and token appreciation of a genre otherwise left uncovered, especially since the death of Jay Reatard, despite its thriving in many underground circles. Really, one could argue that without Vice’s cumulative release of the band’s new songs, Pitchfork and thus countless other blogs and media outlets would have left punk in the dust where it has been for so many years. On the other hand, the never ending paradox about punk rock is that its whole purpose (certainly more intensely than any average indie rock band, not matter how DIY or lo-fi) is to subvert the mainstream, but it can never get its just desserts because of its steadfastness to remain a part of the unknown and anarchic culture that begat it.
When it comes down to it, though, I’m pretty sure Vice (with its fame-whore attitude and glossy stylistic tendencies, both online, in print, and in many of their roster choices) isn’t what punk rock was all about. Then again, despite my appreciation for the godfathers of punk, I am not a punk rocker. So maybe I should just keep my mouth shut and let each zenith be attained, regardless of long-term cultural impact or artist (d)evolution, because 2011 is here and there’s new horizons to watch out for, and as long as you’re not a total asshole, you’re going to like some of them.