A Higher calling? Taste and Morality

Sometimes it seems as if the world is falling in on itself, and some of those times it gets you to thinking how it doesn’t happen more often, how the complex situations and tenuous bonds that we rely on don’t spiral into chaos on a more regular basis. The world itself seems to be giving us a continuing demonstration of its power over the lives we have built on its vast and varied surface and yet we as a race are still vying for control and are forced into positions where we feel we must risk our lives for the ideals of freedom. Think what you may about the increasing frequency of natural disaster’s spreading their destructive fingers through the world, think Mayan prophecy, think El Niño, think a vengeful god repaying us for our glutinous expansion or just think plain cold hearted bad luck, but please think something, please take stock and let it sink into our brains that maybe all we have isn’t a given and could well be taken away at any minute. Yet no, as a country we still seem resigned to repeating past mistakes and waltzing around another Middle Eastern country under the banner of democracy executing our own special brand of justice for all. Now I’m not pro or con war in general but I am fully against hiding behind one agenda to achieve another, if we want to go back to some good old looting and pillaging taking what we need from the people who have it with the fear of military might to bolster our claim then “fuck the morals does it make any money” but let’s not get in to another complicated deception trying to achieve a supposed good dead while reaping in the benefits through the back door, especially while the people of Libya are speaking of “needing to die for their cause” because that level of devotion to the fight for the most basic of democratic freedoms makes our petty whinging and complaining look pathetic.

From that straight to some whinging of my own which of course is totally pathetic and ultimately still very irritating, my gripe is with taste. Whenever you start a new job there are many things to learn and to get accustomed too, people’s names, where things are, how to make the best coffee and questions of actual work. There is a process of fitting in with the accepted norms of the new place and possibly starting to make your own. It’s easy to forget how the little things make up the feel of a place and how having to deal with something new can be quite a challenge. I am speaking primarily of the stereo. Now in The Three Tuns the little sanctuary of a kitchen Simon and I would always have the radio tuned to ‘Classic FM’, the sounds were inoffensive and filled the room with a comforting noise that would never really draw a line between us never really peak a change to our mood to add any inconsistency to the tone of our work, the same cannot be said for my new place of work. The I-pod dock that looms its musical dominion over the prep area has been an offense to my senses and definitely not a neutral and entertaining comfort. M People at 8am followed by an entire Robbie Williams live at Knebworth and without a hint of irony a “sticking with a live theme” Nickelback concert. Of course there are positives an afternoon making Crab cakes with Coltrane to while away the hours or peeling a sack of spuds with ‘Dub Side Of The Moon’ to help me through, but ohh the inconsistency. Is there such a thing as artistic superiority, I have always believed that there is, that while there are merits in all music we cannot deny that there is a higher artistic pursuit in the music of Radiohead than the approach of Take That, that while Jack Johnson may be bright and breezy he can hardly match the emotional significance of Bill Callahan. Here in lies the problem, music is drawing a line between people rather than being a unifying force, my musical snobbishness forces me to look down at the foolish cretin who just pushed play on James Blunt and they look at me with confused distain when I have finished playing a Frank Zappa album. Maybe the radio is for the best because no matter what rubbish blurts out at least it’s someone else’s fault.

Far from blurting rubbish we see the appearance of the much talked about, raised on the shoulders of the NME release of  ‘What Did You Expect From The Vaccines’ by The Vaccines  with last year’s explosion of Surf-pop/rock who would have thought that a bunch of young Londoners would have a pop and not only succeed but manage to imbibe the release with the sense of English pessimism and fatalistic grumpiness. The album is catchy, very catchy starting with the one minute excellence of ‘Wrekin Bar (RA RA RA)’ we are left pumping our fists in the air and eager for more. There are some lovely turns of phrase in the lyrical style that is honest and quite cheeky while the music manages to draw influence from up-tempo and the more morose end of Punk without seeming cliché. Big shouty choruses and flag waving rhetoric, coming to a summer festival near you.

higher up the bill at those same festivals but I’m sure with a more nonchalant attitude will be these won’t give it up ‘Angles’ by The Strokes  They possibly could be called Indie elder statesmen now but without any of the good charm of growing up or showing any sense of musically moving on. Heralded as the saviours of guitar music some 10 years ago now the band have been bickering and bitching through 4 albums without ever really capturing any of the exciting freshness of their debut while there are brief moments of plinky plonky face grinning loveliness on this album it really doesn’t gel together at all, very little cohesion between the songs and very few new sounds to make us think that these stroppy new Yorkers have anything more to offer. 5 years since your last release and let’s face it you’ve hardly re-invented the wheel, I didn’t hate First Impressions of Earth as much as everyone else seemed too but it would appear my patience has run out.

Coming back from a critical slating with much more swagger are the Canadian miserablists with their new offering ‘Degeneration Street’ by The Dears  after getting the old band back together again after a hacked together version of the band delivered a disappointing last album it seems the united front has learned from past squabbles and are back on form. Being labelled as miserable might not be the greatest accolade but The Dears wear it well and have always been a fan of melodrama and at this album they stretch it to its limits with songs such as ‘Galactic Tides’ a mammoth Muse esque titan of a song that soars higher and higher into the impossible eater but then is brought back down to earth with the uncharacteristic bounciness of the next track ‘Yesteryear’ which tempers the head over heels full on wackiness that they are prone to soar into. The band seems unified and has touches of Springsteen and The E Street Band about them and on a whole is a joy to listen to.

I’d like to finish with a short live review of ‘Elbow’ at The Brighton Centre   I had already laid down the warning to my girlfriend that this is not the most inspirational of venues but with an excellent weekend behind us we headed to the sports cavern with a smile on our faces after all this is the triumphant Elbow and my 14^th time seeing them live. The crowd are most certainly getting older although we do see some unlikely youngsters hanging around. It’s disappointing that we heard one women casting off the support act ‘Villagers’ as teenage angst as it reminds us that Elbow are now in the territory of the Radio one crowd of musical close mindedness, and the last I heard teenage angst didn’t include myopic tales based on ancient Greek myths but there you go. Garvey and the boys take to the stage and it is immediately evident that Garvey’s voice is stronger than ever as he effortlessly delivers ‘The Birds’ the opener from the new album with a charismatic clarity that is him all over. The Banter is great and the show is imbibed with a panto style to and fro between the audience and Garvey who is a natural at setting the tone and speaking of love without making you want to scratch your eyes out. Jutting into the crowd the stage allowed Garvey to interact and make the venue seem small and as Guy and Craig Potter decamped to a piano in the middle of the audience to play ‘Puncture Repair’ and ‘Some Riot’ back to back I could almost forgive them for not playing anything from the first album. This band clearly belongs to the people now but they will always have a special place in my heart.