Wolfmother
I read somewhere once that, at least for those in the humanities, there are only classicists and medievalists; each can appreciate the other, but on some level, one period will grab your interest and imagination more deeply than the other. You either prefer ionic columns and relief-carved pediments, or vaulted interiors and flying buttresses. Anyway, I have long held that a similar statement can be applied to music lovers, in that one is either a Led Zeppelin fan or a Beatles fan—obviously there are a lot of both, but most people have a strong preference for one or the other. (Tarantino buffs know that the question is actually between the Beatles and Elvis, and it’s not that Tarantino is wrong, I just think he’s tracking on something slightly different—and anyway, I formed this opinion before I saw the deleted scenes from Pulp Fiction.) For disclosure, I prefer the gothic medievals and Led Zeppelin; whether there is some kind of connection between those two I leave up to the reader to decide.
All of that to say: my greatest disappointment with today’s music, mainstream and independent, is that the expansive sound and vast imagination so characteristic of Zeppelin is largely missing. R&B and hip-hip and twee indy pop and alt-country are wonderful and have their undisputed and well-deserving stars, but—it’s just not rock and roll. Rock and roll died sometime in the early nineties (if not before), and then Linkin Park came along just to pee on its grave.
Fortunately, however, it seems like there are a few independent musicians out there who are trying to resurrect the genre. Some of my favorites include Sleater-Kinney, the Wrens, the Kaiser Chiefs, the Electric Six, and the decidedly retro-sounding The Blue Van (who probably deserve their own blog post). Jody Rosen wrote of this phenomenon in Slate recently, crowning the Arcade Fire as the best, but not the only, new gods of rock. Which they are, but it’s become a minor hobby of mine to find indy bands with 70s-era roots and, personally, I think I can go one better with the Australian threesome of Wolfmother.
I know this is probably a year overdue, but I cannot get these guys out of my head. This is not just nostalgia; The Blue Van is nostalgia (excellent as they are—and besides, I wasn’t even alive in the 70s, so is it really nostalgia, or just appreciation of excellence?), but Wolfmother has got that whatever-it-is and is doing something with it. The influences are old, but they’ve made the sound their own and they work
it with amazing proficiency. They achieve the same vastness with three people that Arcade Fire requires nine to attain. And they embrace the same mythical/mystical thematic quality that any Zeppelin fan knows and loves—not only in the lyrics, but even in the album art. This is music not just for the head or for the body, but for the imagination. Rock needs more unicorns.
They’ve been explicitly compared to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, but also to the White Stripes and The Mars Volta. All of these are very fair, but I’d like to remind the critics that “similar” is not the same as “identical.” They’re more accessible than Mars Volta; have a broader sound than the Stripes; less dark than Sabbath; harder than all but the hardest of Zeppelin’s sound. Also, importantly, they have none of that “ironic” distance between themselves and their art form that even Mars Volta and the White Stripes have—that idea of rock as some kind of artifact which can be imitated from the outside or a form to be stripped down and experimented with, rather than something to be participated in. And if there is one thing music needs less of, it is irony. Frontman Andrew Stockdale said in an interview after winning their Grammy award that what he is trying to do is create more “space” in music. However incoherent that may sound, I think I understand what he’s after.
It’s something like what Rosen said of the Arcade Fire: “One of the last things a rocker can do that a rapper or pop diva can't is make an almighty racket…. In the hip-hop era, a humongous sound may be the best way left for a rock band to get the world to sit up and take notice.” Wolfmother has that, but weaves it together with gentle intros and creative interludes and transitions and fantastic solos to create a final product that’s never over the top.
You can listen to the whole album on their website, where they also have a whole list of videos and other goodies. They're also doing a few US shows this weekend and next week, so if you live in Texas or the midwest I highly recommend you find a show nearby and get to it. If pop music is boring you to death, check out Wolfmother and get a fix of real rock and roll.
All of that to say: my greatest disappointment with today’s music, mainstream and independent, is that the expansive sound and vast imagination so characteristic of Zeppelin is largely missing. R&B and hip-hip and twee indy pop and alt-country are wonderful and have their undisputed and well-deserving stars, but—it’s just not rock and roll. Rock and roll died sometime in the early nineties (if not before), and then Linkin Park came along just to pee on its grave.
Fortunately, however, it seems like there are a few independent musicians out there who are trying to resurrect the genre. Some of my favorites include Sleater-Kinney, the Wrens, the Kaiser Chiefs, the Electric Six, and the decidedly retro-sounding The Blue Van (who probably deserve their own blog post). Jody Rosen wrote of this phenomenon in Slate recently, crowning the Arcade Fire as the best, but not the only, new gods of rock. Which they are, but it’s become a minor hobby of mine to find indy bands with 70s-era roots and, personally, I think I can go one better with the Australian threesome of Wolfmother.
I know this is probably a year overdue, but I cannot get these guys out of my head. This is not just nostalgia; The Blue Van is nostalgia (excellent as they are—and besides, I wasn’t even alive in the 70s, so is it really nostalgia, or just appreciation of excellence?), but Wolfmother has got that whatever-it-is and is doing something with it. The influences are old, but they’ve made the sound their own and they work
it with amazing proficiency. They achieve the same vastness with three people that Arcade Fire requires nine to attain. And they embrace the same mythical/mystical thematic quality that any Zeppelin fan knows and loves—not only in the lyrics, but even in the album art. This is music not just for the head or for the body, but for the imagination. Rock needs more unicorns.They’ve been explicitly compared to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, but also to the White Stripes and The Mars Volta. All of these are very fair, but I’d like to remind the critics that “similar” is not the same as “identical.” They’re more accessible than Mars Volta; have a broader sound than the Stripes; less dark than Sabbath; harder than all but the hardest of Zeppelin’s sound. Also, importantly, they have none of that “ironic” distance between themselves and their art form that even Mars Volta and the White Stripes have—that idea of rock as some kind of artifact which can be imitated from the outside or a form to be stripped down and experimented with, rather than something to be participated in. And if there is one thing music needs less of, it is irony. Frontman Andrew Stockdale said in an interview after winning their Grammy award that what he is trying to do is create more “space” in music. However incoherent that may sound, I think I understand what he’s after.
It’s something like what Rosen said of the Arcade Fire: “One of the last things a rocker can do that a rapper or pop diva can't is make an almighty racket…. In the hip-hop era, a humongous sound may be the best way left for a rock band to get the world to sit up and take notice.” Wolfmother has that, but weaves it together with gentle intros and creative interludes and transitions and fantastic solos to create a final product that’s never over the top.You can listen to the whole album on their website, where they also have a whole list of videos and other goodies. They're also doing a few US shows this weekend and next week, so if you live in Texas or the midwest I highly recommend you find a show nearby and get to it. If pop music is boring you to death, check out Wolfmother and get a fix of real rock and roll.
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