Saturday, June 13, 2009

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

I'm a Tight Pants Wearin' Ass (Expletive Deleted), But Not Really

Hello everyone, much to my surprise and dismay I, Kurt, am a hater, or so popmontreal.com declares. In a review of the timeless act Ninjasonik, the writer states that they are "easy to love hard to hate (unless you're a hater)." Of course with such hits as "Somebody Gonna Get Pregnant" and "Tight Pants" (with it's brilliant hook "I'm a tight pants wearin' ass (expletive deleted)) one might ask: what's not to love? Well besides poor grammar, 1990's Seattle SuperSonic throwback jerseys and dancing on par with the contestants of "So You Think You Can Dance?" not much. They make questionable music, coupled with even more questionable lyrics. Then this group does remixes of other songs that are not just remixes (no, no that would be far too simple), they take the songs and change the words as well. In one case, a remix of The Death Set's "Negative Thinking," has the group suggesting that another "crew" was attempting to imitate their tight pants wearing style. Ultimately the band is entrenched in the superficial nature of the scene present today, I believe the examples above denote that fact quite well. Does this assessment make me a hater? Perhaps, perhaps not. However, I am sticking with this appraisal and risk the title of hater.

In other news, I just watched Beyonce's music video for "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" in its entirety recently and it was awesome. The frantic, broken robot sounds masquerading as a beat is terrific, it is for me at least. As a fan of noise music, circuit bending and other random sound manipulation I appreciate the music in this song. However, I'm at a loss to understand how someone that is not a fan of sound manipulation or noise can enjoy listening to the song, especially while referring to a majority of what I listen to as "artsy crap," whatever that means. Next the minimalist background is outstanding, a white background with three women dancing incomprehensibly. Speaking of the dancing, have you seen the the dancing? It's intense to say the least. Basically the dancing is impossible to describe in words, but I will briefly attempt to do so. Beyonce and her back-up dancers make jerky, nonlinear movements that are completely aesthetically unpleasing and yet difficult to take one's eye off of. Now, the lyrics of the song are a subject of contention because, if I'm not mistaken, at the release of the song Beyonce was, in fact, engaged. This bit of information robs the song of much of its message, but worry not, plenty of "single ladies" continue to sing the song loud, following Beyonce's lead without this knowledge in mind. Above all else my absolute favorite part of the video is Beyonce's inexplicable gauntlet. Is she going to into battle to fight for her ring? Is it a symbol for the ringless hand and the hostility it has caused? Perhaps Beyonce is going LARPing when the song is finished to vent her frustrations. In any case, I think it is safe to discuss how absurd it is.

Well that's that then, good 'morrow friends,
Kurt (of The Bridal Shower)

Lovelies