As for Sufjan Stevens… sure, he can be annoying with his contrived eccentricity, overworked falsetto and fey spirituality, but he does make some quality music. I feel as though there are so many other better targets to pin this on than him. Like Architecture in Helsinki and the Polyphonic Spree, for instance.

Here’s something else: I absolutely, positively cannot stand his taste in music. Whenever he has put on music for me, it has invariably been some band I have never heard of and quickly learn to hate. Seriously. I can’t stand it. I know that he’s going to read this comment, and I totally don’t care. It’s not like I’m saying anything he doesn’t already know.

But here’s another thing: I agree completely with what he’s saying. This kind of retarded third-grade-talent-show fuckstickism isn’t music. It used to be music. Talking Heads was an art band. DEVO was an art band. Their music was a trick to get you to look at something a little differently. From David Byrne’s twisted view of the american suburbs to DEVO’s corporate rock of devolution, there was an oddball subtext that worked.

Every single one of these new indie-rock cocksmacks is the inevitable product of grade-school art teachers that didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. No teeth, no brains, and a can-do attitude toward glitter glue and paper plates.

These folks are the ones that ate the paste and were congratulated when they managed to throw up in the toilet, and not on their smock — Their childhood regurgitations now served up, hot and steaming, to a willing and curiously supertolerant public that grew up with the same art teachers.

disclosure: i am a fan of sufjan. he’s been in my top20 rotation for the past year. i haven’t been to church in 15 years.

i was at the concert that you’re denigrating, and although the costumes were a bit weird for my taste – my music stood on its own. the 14 piece orchestra that accompanied him wasn’t fluff – it was there to approximate how his ALBUMS sound. the experience was POWERFUL…like a rock and roll chamber orchestra.

as far as the christianity bent goes – so what? does it offend you that the man has God in his life? to his credit, his music’s references to faith are ambiguous and NON-JUDGMENTAL – unlike you…who judges EVERYTHING and EVERYONE.

don’t hate the guy because he sells out The Tower and you can’t fill The Fire. your envy is sad.

one day you will don khakies for a corporate casual dress friday. you will become what you abhor (aka – mainstream).

now make fun of my post.

I don’t listen to any of the bands listed here, including whatever Sufjan Whatshisface is doing, but I’m not sure that I entirely go along with the point of view in this post, either. It seems very romantic and vaguely Christian, and preoccupied with questions like “Where’s the meaning? Where’s the guts? Where’s the suffering? Where’s the redemption?” This “gotta go through sin to gain salvation” sensibility seems a very traditional, conservative way of looking at music and art in general.

Those making light, serene, amusing, playful and optimistic art are likely to be quite aware of the grim realities of everyday life. To wallow in synthetic pain and sorrow seems to be a luxury for those without pain or sorrow of their own. Why add to the ugliness and despair? If the bands named above are guitly of being hopelessly twee and childish, then those who harbor a love of “grit” “aggression” and “realness” are hopelessly adolescent. It’s just as self-indulgent, only more disengenuous.

The happiest music seems to have emerged from places and times when people were suffering most: look at the cheerful reels from plague-ridden Medieval Europe, the gandy dancing songs and jug bands of the American South, or the sprightly works of 18th century composers when courts all over the continent were in upheaval. Nearly every kind of traditional folk music in the world is rife with jigs or dances of some kind. Wanna know why? Thangs was hard then, cousin. No wallowing on a comfy couch with a full belly and tastefully weathered thriftwear, that’s for sure.

Dylan was and is a showman/charlatan who uses masks aplenty; any artist worth their salt does this–ask Bowie. Much of the perceived “meaning” or authenticity” is projection on the part of the listener, who is subject to the manipulations of the artist who suggest “sadness” or “depth” by messing with formal elements like tempo and instrumentation. Is Springsteen somehow more worthy because he employs certain masks which suggest a grizzled street poet espousing hard-won wisdom? Has he really gone through more suffering in his life than, say, Boy George?

We should defy this darkness around us–to reflect it is merely to use its vocabulary, to buy into its bleak worldview, and to ultimately acquiesce to its demands. More costumes! More showmanship! More LIGHT! We should be open about our fakery–it’s the only kind of authenticity there is.

~W