Having a lazy Sunday, and picked up The Observer. In the review section there's an article on American bands intelligent lyrics and music, and berating the lack of English 'representatives' in this field of clever music
Sorry, that's not a great description, I am not great with words, and articles like this make me very angry. You can find the article online here:
It's articles like this, that over hype, good but not amazing bands, and totally fail to acknowledge the existance of many a fine band. The bands mentioned are all pretty good, and some of them do write pretty fine lyrics. But they're not the greatest, please mention Will Oldham, Nina Nastasia, Jason Molina... absolutely no need to bring up Vampire Weekend. Infact all the article does is pander to a trend of in vogue American bands - see my point below about how US bands are making the Mercury trendy albums of the moment
The fact is, America's 'music industry' is big enough to support a relatively self sustaining alternative to the mainstream. The UK isn't, and with Myspace diluting the pond of 'diehard' fans over a million decent bands, it's even harder. But that's fine to a certain degree, it actually means there are probably even more great bands from the UK, though relatively undiscovered. What completely stunts the growth of these bands is the media's insistence that bands only exist over a certain level and in a certain framework
Soundtrack to this post: The Good Life, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
