February 9, 2011

Old and Jaded: Getting Things Kickstarted

This is the first Old and Jaded, but let’s not make a big thing about. So there will be no paragraphs-long explanation about what this will consist of week in and week out. It’s freeform. Or as freeform as a weekly column on a snarky, indie music website can be.

You know, when described as such, Buzzgrinder could easily be mistaken for Pitchfork. I guess the amount of elitism (read: none) is what separates the two and makes the ol’ BG a website I’ve been visiting for damn near seven years and Pitchfork a website I can’t tolerate for more than seven minutes.

Unless it’s their Kanye West review. Sorry Sean, but the new Yeezy is insanely good.

I know this guy. He is a hipster. I called him a hipster. Hipsters do not like that. So, in response, I get a link to this fucking five-page hipster dissertation from the New York Times. Mental note: Never call anyone a hipster again.

But it got me to thinking. I used to be on the inside track of music. Right around the turn of the century, 2001 or 2002. The usual stuff around that timeframe: listening to Death Cab for Cutie before The OC broke them, absorbing anything on Vagrant records like kids a decade before absorbed Sub Pop and a decade before that absorbed SST and Dischord.

Then I simply got too old for that shit. All the really decent venues in town closed down, and my favorite bands were always on bills (usually as an opener with a 15 minutes set) with a slew of other bands that I just downright hated. Spending $30 to see Piebald and mewithoutYou is totally worth it unless I know that like, $20 of that goes to that dude from Say Anything.

You know, the one that’s balling the chick from Eisley. Seriously, though — Jesse Lacey, Chad Gilbert and now Max Bemis? Little scene slut, that one is.

Anyway, it also didn’t help that all the kids were listening to bands who wore neon-colored T-shirts, sported headbands and rapped terribly in their songs.

I was a man without a musical nation. But instead of expatriating my ass to somewhere that made sense, I just gave up.

It’s gotten even worse now that I have a kid. I fucking spend most of my time listening to lullaby renditions of Radiohead or The Cure. THAT’S WHAT’S HIP TO ME NOW.

But that is all gonna change. The plan is this: Every week, I’ll take a suggestion from the peanut gallery (and hopefully, I’ll actually get suggestions and not look like a total dumbass) on a new band I should try out. They should have formed in the past five years — or rather hit their stride in that time.

So I’ll listen to it and then talk about it the next week, as well as random music musing I came up with. Is this a bad idea? Probably. But what the hell, let’s give it a shot.

Listening to: Bad Religion – Recipe for Hate
Drinking: Bushmill’s Irish Whiskey

Photo by Peyri Herrera, via Creative Commons license.

17 Responses to “Old and Jaded: Getting Things Kickstarted”

  1. On 02/9/11 4:19 PM, josh hagquist said:

    Great post. You speak my language…thank you! If you want bands to check out…might I suggest Gates from NJ. They have been in constant rotation for me…and I think they are awesome.

    http://www.gatesnj.com

    Keep up the good work.

  3. On 02/9/11 5:37 PM, kyle u said:

    how does every single buzzgrinder post not fall into the Old and Jaded category

  5. On 02/9/11 5:44 PM, kyle u said:

    oh damn, peanut gallery suggestions?

    Then by all means:

    CSTVT (formerly Castevet, but not THAT castevet, hence the name change/vowel omittance)

    http://www.myspace.com/romancastevet

  7. On 02/9/11 6:04 PM, Sean Cannon said:

    so true, kyle. so true. and i don’t mean on the cstvt part (but they’re pretty good, too).

  9. On 02/9/11 6:06 PM, alan said:

    like.

  11. On 02/9/11 6:16 PM, Don said:

    I applaud this venture. Calling the chick from Eisley a little scene slut made me laugh. a lot. as for my peanut gallery suggestion, Touché Amoré. these dudes are passionate and have been working their asses off.

  13. On 02/9/11 6:39 PM, josh hagquist said:

    the average age of the normal buzzgrinder reader is probably between 28-38 (i could be wrong)…unless someone posts something about mychemicalromance or panic at the disco…then all the 13 yr old “fishers” hit the site and complain that everyone here is jaded and old. comic relief. did i mention that the guy from panic is a douche’?

  15. On 02/9/11 7:24 PM, Seth Werkheiser said:

    Wow, this is spot on. I like albums from 10 years ago and my back hurts when I go to shows.

  17. On 02/9/11 7:32 PM, Gigi said:

    I love your jaded point of view. To someone my age it’s almost fresh. I dig.

  19. On 02/9/11 8:34 PM, josh hagquist said:

    Seth! I don’t care what people say on here about you…I still think you’re the man. :)

  21. On 02/10/11 6:57 AM, Mikkel said:

    May I, all the way from Denmark, suggest Marvin’s Revolt?

  23. On 02/10/11 9:02 AM, Jay DiNitto said:

    Counting down the remaining minutes until the Eisley mom totally gets all up in this permalink…

  25. On 02/10/11 9:32 AM, travis j lee said:

    “Spending $30 to spend Piebald and mewithoutYou”

    Should be — “Spending $30 to see…”

    Just saying, i’m old and jaded now, too.

  27. On 02/10/11 12:26 PM, Dylan said:

    I like this, keep doing it

    I second CSTVT

  29. On 02/10/11 2:51 PM, Brandon Day said:

    Love this. I’m right there with you. There’s some good stuff coming out of the great NW right now. I’d check out Kelli Schaefer and Drew Grow & The Pastors Wives. It makes my old man ears happy.

  31. On 02/11/11 3:09 PM, monstrothewhale said:

    Joe Pug. Learn about it.

  33. On 02/11/11 4:06 PM, Sam said:

    jonathan tyler and the northern lights

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