Mumford and Sons

http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/wp-content/media/2009/08/MumfordSons.jpg

There's parallel abuse happening on the Coachella and Pazz and Jop threads so let's just put all the necessary hate here.

which one is the dad

Looks we did their hit single on Singles Jukebox way back in Sep 2009 -- Averaged an ambivalent 6.09; I gave it 4 out of 10 myself

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=1371

http://www.live4ever.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/mumford-and-sons1.jpg

Etc. etc.

I was in a liquor store the other day and dudes behind the counter were blasting them while a customer in his 50s was saying "I love these guys, reminds me of italian opera, it's IRISH OPERA"

there were lots of bottles but alas I threw not one

WELL JEEZ

shoot me now, but i don't mind them.

well i like little lion man, thats about it really.

Cannot fucking stand these guys, but apparently my wife loves whatever single is all over XRT.

these guys are terrible

these guys are terrible

the world did not need a faux-roots british emo band

oh yes it did

not sure if i've heard them, though. do they sorta appeal to people who love the Once sdtk or something?

Maybe, because my wife loves that sdtk too.

ok listening to them now. they are terrible. good luck uk!

I suspect this explains a lot -- apparently these are his parents:

http://www.vineyardchurches.org.uk/about-vineyard-churches.html

'His' meaning Mr. Mumford himself.

um, they are getting big here too, so good luck u.s. now

good luck everyone

I suspect this explains a lot -- apparently these are his parents:

http://www.vineyardchurches.org.uk/about-vineyard-churches.html

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, January 19, 2011 1:33 PM (34 seconds ago) Bookmark

omg is this for real

http://www.vineyardchurches.org.uk/uploads/images/John-&-Eleanor-Mumford-March-2010-252x168-for-web.jpg

"Hahahah...yeah, we're sorry too."

pomplamumf

omg is this for real

Yup:

http://evangelicaloutpost.com/archives/2010/03/dear-christian-sigh-no-more.html

http://crispinschroeder.blogspot.com/2010/06/musings-on-mumford-and-sons-and.html

once sdtrk is a towering masterpiece compared to this shouty garbage

thank u ned; between these guys and pompalamoose everyone i hate is apparently a church planter

and now i longer like little lion man.

literary influences = your assigned high school reading

Literary influences

Much of Mumford & Sons' lyrical content has a strong literary influence, their debut album name deriving from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. The track, "Sigh No More" includes lines from the play such as Serve God love me and mend and One foot in sea and one on shore. Their song "Roll Away Your Stone" also is influenced by Macbeth.

Many of the songs on "Sigh No More" and the title of the album itself are inspired by other authors' works. "You can rip off Shakespeare all you like; no lawyer's going to call you up on that one," Mumford said in an interview.[17]

Both "Timshel" and "Dust Bowl Dance" draw heavily from the John Steinbeck novels "East of Eden" and "Grapes of Wrath" respectively. Mumford in an interview even compares touring to a Steinbeck adventure. "[Steinbeck] talked about how a journey is a thing of its own, and you can't plan it or predict it too much because that suffocates the life out it. That's kind of what touring is like. Even though there's a structure — you know what towns you're going to, and that you'll be playing a gig — pretty much anything can happen." Mumford also in his spare time runs an online book club on the band's official web site.[18]

yeah basically this is all we listen to here sry

They're like if Jedward were quads who made indie folk emo.

i actually liked these guys for a short bit last year then got tired of them fast. think i even voted for the album on 09 ilx poll, smh...

like, the lyrics are abysmal and the style is an uncomfortable appropriation but at least there are hooks there and they use dynamics better than most popular bands

for those that don't follow The Fall thread:

The Fall's Mark E Smith was apparently involved in an altercation with dire banjo wielding troupe Mumford & Sons at an Irish festival earlier this year. In an interview with the Australian magazine Brag Smith complained that The Fall's increasing popularity at festivals means they're forced to meet new bands who are often "ass lickers". Even worse, some of them are Mumford & Sons.

"We were playing a festival in Dublin the other week. There was this other group like, warming up in the next sort of chalet, and they were terrible. I said 'shut them cunts up' and they were still warming up, so I threw a bottle at them. The bands said 'that's the Sons of Mumford' or something, 'they're number five in charts!' I just thought they were a load of retarded Irish folk singers."

<3

"a load of retarded Irish folk singers" is one for the hall of fame

These are one of those bands that, like Airborne Toxic Event, I recognized on the radio based solely on people's objections.

Was just about to link that Mark E Smith story. Love him so much for that. Mumford are the worst.

god, THESE GUYS ARE TERRIBLE

Before 'Funeral', there was just a big nuthin'

i will say that i like them and that i hate myself for it

hahah that kind of does not surprise me

Every kid I know between the ages of like 16 and 25 thinks Mumford & Sons is like the best band on earth right now.

They are already bigger than I think most folks itt realize -- selling out large venues just about everywhere they go, etc. -- and they're gonna get even bigger.

I do enjoy a spin of "Little Lion Man" every once in a while, but generally the album is a snooze.

Every kid I know between the ages of like 16 and 25 thinks Mumford & Sons is like the best band on earth right now

GTFO of Surrey imo

Can't think of a more appropriate Biggest Band In Cameron's Britain tbh.

Kunt and the Gang, obv.

I noticed the Mumford phenomenon in full force at Bestival - hordes of sixth-formers and university students in Jack Wills gear, all with exactly the same Home Counties accent. They went absolutely apeshit but in a way that makes me think they'll look back in five years and wonder what they were so excited about, cf the Levellers 20 years earlier. At least the Levellers represented some kind of counterculture rather than the harvest fair-attending, Archers-loving, posh welly-wearing, Abel & Cole-eating, Magners-drinking, coalition-voting Middle England of the Mumfords.

When I wrote something about indie and class some people retorted "it's not where you're from it's where you're at" but my problem with the Mumfords is that where they're at is EXACTLY where they're from. Their music is their upbringing writ large.

you could have stopped at Bestival tbh

I noticed the Mumford phenomenon in full force at Bestival - hordes of sixth-formers and university students in Jack Wills gear, all with exactly the same Home Counties accent. They went absolutely apeshit but in a way that makes me think they'll look back in five years and wonder what they were so excited about, cf the Levellers 20 years earlier. At least the Levellers represented some kind of counterculture rather than the harvest fair-attending, Archers-loving, posh welly-wearing, Abel & Cole-eating, Magners-drinking, coalition-voting Middle England of the Mumfords.

― The baby boomers have defined everything once and for all (Dorianlynskey), Thursday, January 20, 2011 10:37 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

i don't understand this post, but i did enjoy it

Forgot the Innocent Smoothies but Dorian otm

Divided Britain innit, the two biggest-selling genres at the moment are pop-grime and indie-folk by the looks of things.

They are already bigger than I think most folks itt realize

when I catch 3 dudes hosanning a nu english folk group in a suburban liquor store in rhode island USA, they're pretty big

But Why?

Same reason inauthentic folksy shit is popular anywhere - see also Irish pubs, Tom Cruise in Far & Away.

like it or not they've transcended the niche tho

damn i remember the track of theirs someone posted in cultural pessimism thread

new lows for england

I'm just chalking it up to another sign of god's neglect

like it or not they've transcended the niche tho

My Question was in relation to this.

neglect would beget merely entropy

mumford suggests some sort of deliberate malefaction

Little Lion Man seems like a Pogues song minus Shane MacGowan. ie. a terrible Pogues song

So, basically Mumford & Sons is to the UK what Kings of Leon is to the US: one day you wake up, and they're filling stadiums. (Except, of course, that that the UK was suckered in by KoL, too, long before the US).

looking forward to the burgeoning of Mumford and Sons tribute acts.

there's nothing Irish about Mumford and Sons, don't drag us into your problem ffs. Next you'll be trying to claim Northern Ireland is part of the Republic.

talk to the MES cuz the ILX isn't sayin

Xtians are getting behind this?! There's a F-word right in the middle of "High and Dry""Little Lion Man"!

That's known in the trade as "doing a You're Beautiful" - deploying an F-word in order to add a slight frisson of "unpredictability" to an otherwise MOR song.

maybe this band is awesome but we just can't handle their deep emotional honesty and intensity.

http://crispinschroeder.blogspot.com/2010/06/musings-on-mumford-and-sons-and.html

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, January 19, 2011 6:35 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

As the first song ended I was amazed at how connected I felt to God and to the others in the room of this club I had never been to listening to a band I had never heard. The concert continued in this vein until the encore a little over an hour later. This was not a typical concert by any means. There were so many moments of transcendence where the veil of the ordinary gig in a club were shattered and we came singing together into a larger place where our hearts were opened to something greater.

Earlier that evening I had sung worship songs with a room full of Vineyard pastors but in that dive bar in south Phoenix I was again worshipping to songs I had yet to learn. I left the concert that night feeling as if I had encountered God. I don’t say this because the music was so good or the band-members so skilled but because the music and the lyrics pointed beyond the gig to another place not so far a way and to another person who loves us without measure.

Sadly, I don't love that guy beyond measure, but I thank him for trying.

which ilx poster has the most hatred for mumford and sons?

But Why?

― Mark G, Thursday, January 20, 2011 11:34 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

they may have folksy instrumentation but their songs are basically arena-rock songs, with the build-up-to-a-big-moment dynamics, slick & thick production, unadorned diatonic harmony, and confessional lyrics sung in an exaggerated way

it's a formula that has always had wide appeal for its immediacy, and i suppose maybe the folk arragements magnify it to some people who don't actually listen to folk music or bluegrass music etc, and see that as eclectic or a change of pace

i do kinda like them still tbh

Alice likes them, I'm like "um, that's the sort of thing I should be more into than you!"

Via 'Questions' on my Facebook feed:

Have you heard of Mumford & Sons? They are amazing.

Argh.

Ouch.

As the first song ended I was amazed at how connected I felt to God and to the others in the room of this club I had never been to listening to a band I had never heard. The concert continued in this vein until the encore a little over an hour later. This was not a typical concert by any means. There were so many moments of transcendence where the veil of the ordinary gig in a club were shattered and we came singing together into a larger place where our hearts were opened to something greater.

Earlier that evening I had sung worship songs with a room full of Vineyard pastors but in that dive bar in south Phoenix I was again worshipping to songs I had yet to learn. I left the concert that night feeling as if I had encountered God. I don’t say this because the music was so good or the band-members so skilled but because the music and the lyrics pointed beyond the gig to another place not so far a way and to another person who loves us without measure.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, January 19, 2011 6:35 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

I've seen the light. (And dry-heaved.)

thank u for the testimonial ned it has renewed my faith in mumford & sons & god

Lead singer looks like Tim Tebow. Dealbreaker.

Avett Brothers sound like this now, all sort of clean and kind of whiny. I prefer boringified Avett Brothers over this.

Read that as 'bongified'

lol

I've seen the light. (And dry-heaved.)

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 21 January 2011 18:49 (1 hour ago)

Speaking to God down the big white telephone.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/01/LesterBangs.jpg/200px-LesterBangs.jpg
"I Saw God and/or Tangerine Dream Mumford and Sons"

xpost -- kinda watery.

I still like "Little Lion Man" a lot... but the rest of the album is indeed kind of a bore.

^ this

Little Lion Man reminds me of nothing so much as this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl-CfQvz21Y

^except (vid notwithstanding) I like this a lot more.

wife: "oh i have a new favorite band!"

me: "oh cool! who?"

her: "MUMFORD & SONS!!"

me: "awww"

her: "whaaatttttt? they're good"

man is it a good thing successful relationships don't depend on music taste

can only imagine your battle to prevent her indoctrinating Junior tho

I'm actually surprised none of us from the States at least made a joke about this guy yet:

http://images.wikia.com/muppet/images/2/26/TheAmazingMumford-FacebookProfilePicture.jpg

oh shit http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/02/bob_dylan_to_perform_at_grammy.html

It lives:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzFUbEnjDOY

https://twitter.com/McNeely/status/21634978865483776

i trust u copied that from the other thread and we haven't both been browsing mumford interviews on youtube xp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeDH4OXgCig

is the fat one trying to imitate gervais or does it come naturally

You trusted accurately. And thank you for providing that slice of pain.

follow up conversation

wife: "yeah so they're folk singers... but like, everything is folky but INTENSE folky"

me: "huh?"

her: "like they have more drums and stuff. like a rocky kind of folk!"

me: ".............."

her: "i get chills every time i listen to them"

also i just listened to 4-5 sings of theirs,

these guys seriously make fleet foxes sound like fuckin bob dylan woodie guthrie level genius

mark e. smith otmfm upthread

No results found for "cumlord & sons".
― seminal fuiud (NickB), Thursday, January 20, 2011 12:24 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark

This is now what I think of when I hear this band's name.

So in a few days they conquered the world or something?

http://www.pinglewood.com/2008/February/images/2420.jpg

It was forbidden and perhaps I am glad.

they had the fourth best selling album in flanders last year

They won the Brit Award for Best British Album, dressed like this:
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/51283000/jpg/_51283282_51283281.jpg

guy in black coat looks like the guy from grizzly bear

Um...what's with the drunk guy holding a cloth dildo?

they remind of me the band kings of nuthin from boston

xp that's the new Brit Award trophy, designed by Vivienne Westwood.

Americans always go for stupid shit like this (Exhibit A = The Cranberries). The really weird bit will be when M&S* rapidly grow into the biggest band in Japan, India and Iran.

*DO YOU SEE????????????

It used to be that England would export our unwanted Manchester indie rockers, now it's our copious surplus of beardy folk bastards.

Can't help thinking that if Chris Martin and Thom Yorke had just manned the fuck up a little a few years ago, then a dangerous precedent would not have been set and we'd have avoided all this.

english pop music is shit

Yeah, I'm listening to Tasmin Archer and weeping.

you always do that when spurs win

i mean 'there will always be exceptions' like tinie etc but it does seem worse than usual/ever rite now

English pop music is shit at the moment more as a result of production trends than anything else. If and when the world moves on from "whack in a big Phil Collins sample with filter-disco keyboards" we might suddenly see them coming with something amazing.

not sure how that relates to / explains the mumford debacle

MC Mumford and the Dubstep Sons

tinie still only has one and a half good tracks

i don't really like US pop these days either tho (in the charts i do like 'lights on', 'rolling in the deep' and maybe that latest chase & status thing at a push tho uk-wise)

Had a really annoying Grammys experience thinking that I could listen to Archer of Loaf (All the Nations Airports) while watching with the sound off. But my (American) girlfriend asked me if I liked Mumford, so we turned the volume up. See, she likes it. I think a huge number of people do (obv., no 1 itunes etc). It hits a lot of right buttons for people: a bit different, a bit "real music," a bit "live and crescendo," lyrics that sound like they mean something, a bit of mystery somehow (even the name, for Americans). I imagine, even, that Americans bedazzled by Grammys see this as somehow "Irish music" - with its real guys in a hub sweating and getting carried away with the musicality of it all. There's no much "art" in it, more "soul" - hence Mumford getting a great boost after these awards, and Arcade Fire very little at all.

english pop music is shit

― the philosopher named after a whiskey (nakhchivan), Wednesday, 16 February 2011 00:25 (24 minutes ago)

Yeah, I'm listening to Tasmin Archer and weeping.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 16 February 2011 00:26 (23 minutes ago)

Don't blame this sleeping satellite (of Europe)

I hate myself for reading the evangelical Xian background thing as explanatory of why they suck so much massive balls but reading that tonight made total sense. The worst sub-Waterboys bullshit I've ever heard.

Can't help thinking that if Chris Martin and Thom Yorke had just manned the fuck up a little a few years ago, then a dangerous precedent would not have been set and we'd have avoided all this.

disagree-- they've been a poor influences on other genres, sure, but this irish folk-rock bullshit doesn't really cop from coldplay, of all things. btw, mumford & sons makes coldplay sound like fuckin peter gabriel-era genesis, dead serious

From Twitter

@WadeyWade Ian Wade
EXCLUSIVE MUMFORD FOOTAGE OF SECOND ALBUM SESSIONS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCusJRcbhEo&feature=related

^^^ JUST SOUNDS LIKE THAT IRISH MUSIC MATE

srsly guys Diddly-Aye-Di-Doh not the soul province of Ireland, Scumford sound like a shit version of the Wurzels if anything.

that's connaught iirc

Much to my chagrin, nearly every single one of my wife's friends has cornered me during social events to say something along the lines of, "I know you are into music, you would love Mumford & Sons! They are amazing!". Gah.

One of my best friends was the same at Glastonbury last year. "How can you not like Mumford & Sons?" he said, genuinely incredulous. So I drowned him in a portaloo.

Bonus points if it was the Manics private one.

So I drowned him in a portaloo.

sadly if we did this to every mumford fans, we would lose millions of ppl

WHY IS THIS BAND GOOD

I would dearly love to hear Nicky Wire on the subject of Mumford & Sons. Geoff Barrow's not a fan:

http://twitter.com/#!/jetfury

really?? i would've pegged geoff as a superfan, that's surprising!

I heard these on Radio 4 the other week. Much talk of their diverse influences and all the different instruments they use/d blablabla, some mini interview w the singer, very boring and non-consequential. Because I like the name of the band (it wd be an awesome name for an ivor cutleresque band i think) I listened carefully when they played some of the music, I hoped it would be good. What i heard reminded me of many support bands I have seen in the past, especially around the time the waterboys were big. You'd see an acoustic guitar and a fiddle carried on to the stage and your heart would sink, oh no, god, THIS trash again. I could not remember the tune of the Mumford piece, it was like it erased itself from my brain as it passed, leaving a vague memory of a drab, somewhat folksy sound.

In some way, they remind me of The Darkness, in that I have seen many bands who sound like "that", some who do a better job, even, so why is this lot big? I don't get it.

Marketing and God.

(Which should be the name of their next album.)

I hope this is not perceived as sexist, but it's my impression that most of the people who are crazy about this sort of thing are women. I've always wondered why. Am I right?

I saw them live at a festival last year and their appeal (though not to me) was suddenly really obvious - folky instrumentation + rootsy image + soaring Coldplayesque arena-rock melodies + vaguely religious intensity = £££

Raggle-Taggle and Hum

I understand the appeal of Coldplayesque arena-rock melodies + vaguely religious intensity, but what's so appealing about "folky instrumentation + rootsy image"? This is not a rhetorical question. I am genuinely curious. It is such a turn off for me.

I hope this is not perceived as sexist, but it's my impression that most of the people who are crazy about this sort of thing are women. I've always wondered why. Am I right?

even their male fans have womanly characteristics iirc (ex: Ned's hair)

lol

You're a sick man.

xpost They seem to satisfy some craving for rural authenticity that I didn't even realise was there. What to me is a hindrance - the fact they look like they're playing a harvest fair or going on a grouse shoot - is to many people a huge asset. Don't ask me why this appeals at a time when the country is being shafted by people very much like them. At least the Levellers had some counterculture cachet.

Which is why only dirty smelly hippies liked the Levs but Scumford have clean-cut mass appeal

xpost -- Logical conclusion of all the handcraft/of the earth/'real things' hoohah over the past few years. Basically you've got all these people who want the 19th century plus penicillin.

huge loooool @ harvest fair/grouse shoot comment, so otm

They have the same appeal as Innocent Smoothies and the Abel & Cole organic delivery box.

Thought this line from HMV rep Gennaro Castaldo re: their post-Brits sales boost had it about right:

"With their distinctive sound, Mumford and Sons may already be firm favourites with students and with much of Middle England, but this success will now help cement their appeal with an even broader audience."

Sorry, I just died of boredom while reading that, can you resend via an Ouija board?

I have a feeling that this band is going to be the next Coldplay (in terms of popularity). I don't know if I'll be able to take that; going into a random store, coffee shop, whatevs and listen to it in the background. I tolerated Coldplay; M&S make me want to destroy things. :(

at least Coldplay had the good sense to use a Kraftwerk melody and kinda-sorta rip off Echo & the Bunnymen and '80s U2 at times. there is not one good thing about Mumford & Sons that i can think of

Eno wouldn't touch Mumford and Sons with a fucking bargepole.

don't speak too soon

here come the lukewarm jets

I don't get at all what it is people like about them either. What I see in them is a bundle of signifiers of authenticity - none of which come off quite right, be it the folkiness, the clothes, the intensity, it's all a bit off in various directions and thus a bit repulsive, a particularly inauthentic and ugly take on 'authenticity' - but I guess it's a surprise to me that this (bad illusion of) authenticity was something people so desired.

honestly i'm not sure the folkiness & dumb outfits & irish jigs come off as "authentic" -- i mean, it's almost decemberists-like, and those guys are basically doing music that would soundtrack a high school drama club production -- very un-authentic, right?

I know I could just go to youtube or something and find out - but you all amke them sound so bad I can't bring myself to do it. Do they sound like The Hothouse Flowers?

At this point I'm waiting to see if anyone leaps to their defense or if they remain one of the rare universally loathed by ILM bands.

Too soon for a 'Defend the Indefensible'?

“little lion man” = student disco anthem right now :( Everyone thinks theyre irish too! We have enough shite already, thanks.

all I know is that headbanging while playing banjo should be grounds for immediate dismissal from the Musician's Union. i kept hoping one of those giant vaudeville canes would pull them all off-stage during the Grammys performance

I mean there is a dude in this band that wears a trucker hat in 2011 for major television appearances.

Too soon for a 'Defend the Indefensible'?

looking fwd to TS: Mumford & Sons vs. Creed poll in a few weeks as well

id go for Creed. "arms wide open" is a decent power ballad.

creed is a band rich with lolz. mumford, not so much ... yet?

If we ever get a Mumford equivalent of a "311, I am ready to fight you" moment, then maybe it will be a close vote.

NICKEL CREEK I AM READY TO FIGHT YOU

just not as funny

all I know is that headbanging while playing banjo should be grounds for immediate dismissal from the Musician's Union.

james corden's reaction after their brits performance was great. something like 'wow that was... something. really nice.' couldn't tell if he was taking the piss or was genuinely blown away.

"BRAVE" is what he said lol

btw, mumford & sons makes coldplay sound like fuckin peter gabriel-era genesis, dead serious

― Damn this thread seems so....different without ilxor (ilxor), Wednesday, February 16, 2011 2:08 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

reeeeeeally unsure how to interpret this

RAggh, a ban on people who never talk to me about music coming up and talking to me about Mumford.
Seriously, I'm putting up a sign at my desk now.
FUCK MUMFORD, AND FUCK HIS STUPID BLOODY SONS.

Cancer

reeeeeeally unsure how to interpret this

how so? it's pretty clear

heard about these lads for the first time today--apparently their early albums were vinyl only releases?

I'd forgive a parent for liking this shit, but not a friend. Good to see *challops alert* even some Arcade Fire fans */just kiddin* appalled at having to put up with them as supports at the Hyde Park megashow lol.

btw, mumford & sons makes coldplay sound like fuckin peter gabriel-era genesis, dead serious
― Damn this thread seems so....different without ilxor (ilxor), Wednesday, February 16, 2011 2:08 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

well, obviously the existence of m&s can't literally change the sound of coldplay

so...

what? they make them sound better by comparison? worse? i guess it depends on your estimation of peter gabriel-era genesis

Coldplay have always been basically inoffensive and quite hard to get worked up about, so yeah they do look good in comparison.

i grew up in a time when genesis wasn't an easy synonym for musical goodness/tolerability...

I've got nothing against the banjos and fiddles and whatnot, I just hate the arena-sized group-hug vibe. And that's definitely a very Coldplay thing.

i grew up in a time when genesis wasn't an easy synonym for musical goodness/tolerability...

I think he's using them as an easy synonym for "ambition".

Guitar'n'fiddle Scumbag cover of 'Jesus He Knows Me' would probably finish them off.

sort of wondrin if we should do a shittest uk band of 00s/10s megapoll

But there's a limit of 50 poll options...

how many could actually win tho

toploader
stereophonics
the view
the fratellis
razorlight
hard fi
mumford

idk who else

^^^ certainly the main culprits there. I think that including the Manic Street Preachers or Oasis would probably skew any poll towards them, as they're not only shitty but also horrible wankers.

the zutons
the feeling
athlete
keane
the ordinary boys
the thrills
the magic numbers
the courteeners
the hoosiers
scouting for girls
kaiser chiefs

oh god

don't want to be reminded of any of these

need them for the nineties poll xxp

can only see keane winning from nick's lot

athlete iirc were especially hateful, tho i can't remember any of their actual mp3s

scouting for girls wd get my vote for worst, i think

Toploader, because they have that same "people who don't really listen to music really like them" thing as Scumford.

And even after 12 years, two bars of 'Dancing In The Moonlight' heard over the PA system of a shopping centre can send me into a blind rage.

If I ever see that poodle haired lead singer, my fist will home in on his face like a tossbag-seeking missile.

scouting for girls wd get my vote for worst, i think

Fucking right

Wonder what ever happenend to Hamfatter?

k any more nominations speak now or forever hold your peace

florence and the machine
paolo nutini

yeah let's not be hasty

are we including soloists?

kasabian?

Hello?

(hoping that no-one noms the klaxons)

SFG by a fucking mile tbqf

who were those bastards who ruined 'hounds of love'?

no soloists

don't think i've heard sfg

futureheads, lol xp

a treat in store

they did that 'she's so lovely' song

xpost

Wearing a hat. Playing a ukelele. Growing a beard. Attending a fee-paying school.

^ Kill 'em all

kasabian are contenduhs for sure

I think that including the Manic Street Preachers or Oasis would probably skew any poll towards them, as they're not only shitty but also horrible wankers.

not saying they're national treasures or some shit, but I don't think this is the universal perception of the Manics at all

Scouting for Girls, easily. Plenty of the bands listed are bad, but SfG has the additional horror of the singer's butthurt/jealous creep/imminent restraining order.

...steez.

Pigeon Detectives

Scouting for Girls, easily. Plenty of the bands listed are bad, but SfG has the additional horror of the singer's butthurt/jealous creep/imminent restraining order.

... and this

roy stride
roy stride
roy stride

do not leave off The Kooks

SFG getting a lot of flak here, and deservedly, but there's got to be more hate for razorlight than this? I remember a two-year period where every festival highlights clip on tv included Jonny Borrell writhing in and out of a plunge-neck vest.

just type 'v festival 2007' into yr favourite search engine for inspiration

Correction: 2008 more a cultural pessimism dream-team line-up

morrissey shd do a song titled 'roy's tried'

^^ destined to be underrated post

Like it

ha

i'd never heard of tuncay stridah before, what is he 'all about'

http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=5445971870

i recall the fact of razorlight being ubiquitous, but i think i've more or less excised the reality of it from my mind.

the twang.

although they weren't in the spotlight for long enough to really hit the heights of your scouting for girlses etc.

bloke twang

toploader
stereophonics
the view
the fratellis
razorlight
hard fi
mumford and sons
the twang
florence and the machine
the zutons
the feeling
athlete
keane
the ordinary boys
the magic numbers
the courteeners
the hoosiers
scouting for girls
kaiser chiefs
the kooks
pigeon detectives
kasabian
the futureheads

deleted thrills cuz they're irish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_C24ygT1FM&feature=related o shi forgot that the twang had a danny dyer video.

are the baby shambles eligible?

starsailor

I must have missed "the twang" I have no memory of this band even existing.

#

legend dyer is
n1ck02k1 1 year ago 14
#

fuckin bostin
jtheplayer 1 year ago 14

gorillaz

are the baby shambles eligible?

Well done, I think you've managed to find the only band worse than Scouting For Girls

babyshambles are the only mention so far that i have owned a .rar by

Noah + the Whale not on the list

The Twang have previously been hailed by fellow Coventry native John 'Gaunty' Gaunt as bringing back the spirit of punk rock, thus unquestionably earning them a place in this canon

noah and the whale
gorillaz
starsailor
babyshambles

http://www.gaunty.com/tour.php

I watched the youtube of the twang (it was shit) rather than bringing the spirit of punk rock (eg actually "rocking") they seem to belong to that sub wonder stuff school of "songwriting" where the tunes all seem to be ululations between 2 or maybe 3 notes.

Until now I'd never known that the Fat Magic Numbers were British.

Talking of Coventry, there's The Enemy

The Enemy specialise in music about friendship and social commentary like The Arctic Monkeys or The Libertines. Tom Clarke has said that bands such as The Clash and Oasis have had a "huge influence on our friendships within the band and with our families. These bands taught us to open our hearts" .

.........

Towers of London?

"These bands taught us to open our hearts" IDK what to say about this really. It's kind of stunned me into silence.

"...and with our families" did that for me

Ah, the emeby.

Try again: The Enemy.

There was some interview where to show their distinct/exclusive tastes, they said that the only band they *all* liked was Oasis.

Which is a good way of saying the exact opposite to what they intended...

The Others
The Rakes
The Cribs

Oasis???? taught them to open their hearts? They know their heart is not their gob, right?

I dislike Babyshambles for reasons other than their music - they harrdly ever play anyway.
Towers of London: Donny Tourette is a twunt but has a tiny bit of self awareness and knowledge that his band's situation is ridiculous and hopeless.

Pash/Tom, I read that as "see, we told our parents that although they might think we're crap and we should concentrate on our school work etc, we played them Oasis records and said that we could do that, and they said that we might be onto something"

My shit rural American town has Ke$ha playing a coupla hours away in a few weeks so the local top 40 station is playing her nonstop & last night I was exasperated at the "desperate clubbing" themes of every song but having read that blurb on The Enemy I take back everything I said Ke$ha, you are loved again.

Also SNORE PATROL you bunch of fucking amateurs.

The Cribs had a few moments and I feel like Towers of London were stupid, harmless fun and not taking themselves very seriously so they can't be lumped in with gobshites like Mumford and Razorlight.

You know I already had some mass pity for all you folks thanks to Cameron, but this is now approaching catharsis.

But I am American so my exposure to both was limited.

(xpost)

Joe lean and jing and a jang and a jong...

Had the good grace to fall off the pavement rather than from a height.

Oh god forgot about them.

Biffy Clyro

Right, they suck

I would disqualify Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong due to them being so shit no one would even release their album. They were sort of the Gay Dad tipping point where the music industry realised they were just taking the piss now.

The Cooper Temple Clause on the other hand.

A Hundred Reasons why Hundred Reasons are shite

^^^ Classic ILM.

just type 'v festival 2007' into yr favourite search engine for inspiration

shittest uk band of 00s/10s poll = "Festval" bands poll

There's still a roadsign in Reading that has "home of the Cooper Temple Clause" 'grafitti'd' onto it, (i.e. it almost looks official)

We will need to run this poll 50 times so they all have a chance of winning.

not sure if gorillaz belong on this poll....even if u h8 them they're still pretty different to the landfill mnstrm

yeah i agree

Absolutement. Think we shd have restrictions on number of chords deployed plus shitness of rhythm section.

Wd also save Lawrence and the Machine for a different poll for the same reason.

Should the Wombats be here? Or a little too late? The inheritors of the tradition.

In a perfect world we'd be able to vote for Kasabian as one Platonic ideal of twattery and Scatting for Girls as the other.

Also in a perfect world The Sex is on Fires and the Killers wd belong in this list.

xpost -- The Anacrapsis

Kasabian's pretension make them non-platonic imo: if it's a fault, it's an unusual fault in lummox rock. (but obvs no argument that they must be in the poll)

Nah, Kasabian are part of the noble tradition of Primal Scream-esque would-be space rockers were pretension = "have read a big word in a comic". It doesn't reach to they music or anything.

Talking of Coventry, there's The Enemy

― Tom D (Tom D.), Thursday, 17 February 2011 14:36 (53 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ahh that's who I meant - The Twang are Brummies iirc

Will admit to liking "We'll Live and Die in These Towns" but I am a sucker for a horn tbh

can we add dirty pretty things?

also: the last shadow puppets

the fratellis

Don't think foreigners shd be allowed to vote in case they're misled by the veneer of glamour hanging over exotic Britishes locations like Cov and Chorley.

Dearest Dog Latin: 'never had a girlfriend have you?'

― Stephen Booth, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (8 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

so icey

fratellis is a v gd call

already on the list.

I'd argue against the Wobmats. They put all their good/decent stuff on album 1, and have spent at least 4 years trying to write new stuff!

They didn't have any good stuff in the first place. The Wombats totally belong here.

'chelsea dagger' has probably the most obnoxious hook of all time

still going SFG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlKqbYwZVbo

Think Florence & The Machine have a bit too much presence and star quality and not enough stodginess to qualify for this. I vote for replacing them with The Subways.

xposts
NV, agreed on Kasabian in the Primal Scream tradition (they're even into doltish revolutionary gestures, think they have a Corsican liberation thing?), just think that makes them a bit odd in the landfill indie world.

1-10 of about 81 results for "Primark Scream".

No the funny thing about Kasabian is that they constantly bang on about being into Can and Detroit techno and whatever but they're still firmly in the landfill. Idiocy of fans is a key factor here.

Makers and a revcerenced.

so the poll's up

the landfill that time forgot: crap uk bands of 00s/10s

There's also the school of 'naming your band after mediocre district of London (plural)' landfill indie, cf:

The Holloways
The Paddingtons

Probably The Canonburys and The Newingtons and The Walworths as well.

I don't think fire (or Empire) was a typical landfill single, and there are a few other bits and bobs but yeah ok 90% of the time it's suspiciously close to Hard Fi for a group of philosopher-kings.

I guess I will continue my doomed defence of Kasabian as 'bad and mildly unusual, not ultra-bad and identikit' on the poll.

Bombay Bicycle Club
Detroit Social Club
Cajun Dance Party
British Sea Power
Team Water Polo
Eastern Conference Champions
The Manchester Orchestra
Pete & The Pirates
Naked And The Boys

Glasvegas

dunno if all these bands is British as I'm a yank who downloads the XFM London Alternative Top 40 every month. funny how it all went electro last year

Brother.

I understand that Mumfords is now a band that's fun to hate - but really, they're not that bad. They've got some potential - they can write a decent melody and their harmonies are pretty nice. The singer needs to take himself a bit less seriously though, and the rhythm section needs to loosen up a bit - it seems they basically only have two speeds: a fast trot and a slow dirge. Still, they're fairly bearable as background music.

Lies

ban this monster

How did we forget Glasvegas?

easily

there's prob a separate discussion to be had about elbow/editors/glasvegas glumpen inanity

add one doves

Add one Coldplay.

so huge they block out the sun

oh christ, i these two guys the other day who were arguing about buying touted tickets for elbow @ £100. one was saying it was ethically wrong to buy from touts, the other that hell, someone will do it if i don't. elbow. jesus.

met

was hoping the missing verb would be "punched"

lol

that must be what passes for moral philosophy in asphodel

sooooo who can find the glummest band picture

http://247magazine.co.uk/wp-content/themes/247magazine-images/2010/09/alg_elbow.jpg

http://www.clashmusic.com/files/imagecache/big_node_view/files/editors_24.jpg

conventiom for bereaved charity muggers

n/m

http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2009/01/doves-jetstream.jpg

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/866/low2u.jpg

Lowline are not to be confused with the bands Lowgold or Lowlife or the album Lowlife by another Manchester group you may have heard of called New Order. They are an unsigned act from Britain's premier rock city with some fairly heavyweight support from the likes of The Enemy's Tom Clarke ("the best new band in the country") and The Verve's Nick McCabe ("Lowline make timeless music like no one can at the moment. Music with balls.")

Should have called themselves "Lowballs" then.

searched lowgold and got those reets

they're not even trying any more

Lowline are intense and sinister yet totally up lifting. A group of mates in their early twenties who formed in the spring of 2007, they spent the rest of that year writing, locked away in a warehouse in Manchester’s less-than-glamorous Ancoats district. There are flashes of inspiration from cult legends The Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine, but they strike a rare balance between razor sharp rock and roll, and epic shoegaze. Lowline’s intense guitar sound is underpinned by tribal house tinged drums and fuzzed up bass lines, all combine to make something with energy, atmosphere and spirit.

Their sound embodies the atmosphere of their City, whilst remaining distinctive and innovative, a combination that sets them apart and shows that this is the start of something special.

Urgh look at all these dour fat earnest northern tubbos in big jackets

From time to time I wonder which band I like puts me most out of step with ILX consensus. I think it's probably Elbow.

That's a whole thread of it's own.

i hate this sort of handwringing desperation for a quasi-religious experience at a festival that these guys represent. the arcade fire are like the godfathers of this thing but mumford obv a lot worse. i bet people love this band in ireland.

weirdly just found this trying to find another article....jesus, http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/feb/11/mumford-sons-sigh-more

The pub is filling up: City boys in pinstriped suits, women clutching dry white wines; candles are lit on upstairs tables, voices rise to fill the room. In a back booth, far away from the clamour of the bar, four fastidiously attired young men nurse pints of ale. Mumford & Sons are here on a break from a nearby studio, where they have been rehearsing in ­preparation for an upcoming tour that will take them from Australia to the US and back to the UK for a run of sold-out dates, and which will likely cement their reputation as one of the best live bands in Britain.

the rest of that landfill thread is just shit music for retards, this is the living end

The pub is filling up: City boys in pinstriped suits, women clutching dry white wines; candles are lit on upstairs tables, voices rise to fill the room. Make no mistake: this is a seasoned crowd of gig goers and they will have known that Mumford and Sons will provide a genuine night's entertainment.

In a back booth, far away from the clamour of the bar, four fastidiously attired young men nurse pints of ale. There can be no doubt Mumford & Sons are here on a break from a nearby studio, where they have been rehearsing in ­preparation for an upcoming tour that will take them from Australia to the US and back to the UK for a run of sold-out dates, and which will likely cement their reputation as one of the best live bands in Britain.

BARTONULT

isn't laura barton like the rising star of the hilarious 'g2' section of the guardian?

The crowd danced and whooped and cheered and sang along, and when the set was over and the night's "special guest", the R&B artist Mr Hudson, appeared, the applause swiftly turned to boos. "I think it's a lot to do with the time – people enjoying rootsier music, reacting to manufactured music," posits Mumford quietly.

Springsteen is a crafty campaigner and he will have known his music can send men weeping along the weary way. Try telling that to a solitary candy floss seller in Southend however, he will be absolutely delighted.

http://www.fullhalloween.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/halloween-horror-wallpaper-039.jpg

http://musicimg.cyworld.com/ARTIST/002/047/2047730.JPG

they're prob crap too, but there are 3/5 reasons why the vermin who <3 the mumfords might react like that

the rest of that landfill thread is just shit music for retards, this is the living end

Calm down dude, sometimes people like music you hate, it'll be okay though.

if u r in london in 2k11 then the depravity is more apparent

"I wrote a bunch of songs about a time and a place a while ago, and I've felt like they haven't lasted," ­Mumford explains. "If we were singing about wearing Reebok ­trainers in a certain area … I'm not saying it's bad, I love songs that do that, I love Arctic Monkeys, but I personally can't do it." The lyrics for Sigh No More he describes as "a ­deliberately spiritual thing but ­deliberately not a ­religious thing. I think faith is ­something beautiful, and ­something real, and ­something ­universal, or it can be."

this is the sound of the restoration, gloopily earnest paeans to antediluvian 'values'

there is a lineage of this sort of ruritanian volkish drivel going back to the arts&crafts shit of the late 19th century

nazi cunts fuck off etc

nakhchivan is like our very own FOX pundit

right can someone explain why people are so readily associating this band with tories? are they actually tories themselves? i don't get it

i bet people love this band in ireland.

Of course they do.

right can someone explain why people are so readily associating this band with tories? are they actually tories themselves? i don't get it

1. They're posh. LOL "Marcus Mumford" etc.
2. They dress like latter-day country squires.
3. David Cameron probably likes them, right?
4. Er...
5. That's it?

really? christ almighty there's enough to hate about this band's music w/o projecting politics on them/making shit up, smh

they're hardly alone in being posh musicians or dressing like twats, and if we're going to target bands that we actually KNOW david cameron likes let's fucking start with THE SMITHS

David Cameron is the hippest Prime Minister Britain's ever had

Well, both Morrissey and Marr told Cameron to fuck off iirc, although Moz of course dressed it up in a great deal of flouncing and "do you see what I did there"-isms which made his open letter even more embarrassing than Cameron talking about music

yeah the art of pretend disbelief ppl came out with at the news that someone from 'the establishment' might enjoy a band who are (a) very very widely known and (b) not altogether musically challenging was... tragicomic

would've thought morrissey's views on immigration would make him a perfect fit for the conservative party tbh

really i'm just curious how toryism's been so widely projected on to mumford & sons when it's not overtly present in either their music or their public statements (afaik, am not an expert on their oeuvre by any means) - suspected it was just lazy thinking and this is being confirmed

cameron being an emiliana torrini fan is most o_0 to me cuz you'd prob have to have a genuine interest in music to even be aware of her

(fits though, she's like if björk was bland and middle-of-the-road - iirc she had one or two decent songs though)

I have previously noted that when I questioned Cameron on the last album he had bought (during a passing encounter at the BBC), he came back with a band so hip (Californian alt rockers Modest Mouse), I had to look them up.

lol

Neil McCormick is the Telegraph's chief rock music critic.

Neil McCormick is the Telegraph's chief rock music critic.

never forget: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3645201/Bono-told-me-Your-song-needs-to-be-heard-now.html

xp!

It was clear we were facing an indie tory PM from the point where he picked Perfect Circle by REM on Desert Island Discs, no?

really i'm just curious how toryism's been so widely projected on to mumford & sons when it's not overtly present in either their music or their public statements (afaik, am not an expert on their oeuvre by any means) - suspected it was just lazy thinking and this is being confirmed

It's not Toryism, it's ridiculous aesthetic conservatism, to the point of self-parody. But they're massively popular with Middle England partly for that reason, and it chimes with 'trendy but regressive with rural values' Cameronism.

ie we're not saying they're Tories (although they might be), more that they make a perfect soundtrack to Cameron's Britain.

The Smiths were also hugely aesthetically conservative so it's not much of a surprise that Cameron likes them.

although they might be

I doubt it tbh

It's not Toryism, it's ridiculous aesthetic conservatism, to the point of self-parody.

are they particularly distinct from other shitty indie acts around atm then?

Dear Homies,

Thank you again for reading this cumbersome and pretty sad excuse for a book club. I've given up apologizing for now. So it's a bit of "take it or leave it" I'm afraid.

I was slightly blown away by people's response to The Outline of Sanity. Partly just cos so many people successfully found it! I haven't recorded my reaction to it here, and I'm actually fine with that (this isn't just a cop out)... I feel this book, even more than any others, is so brilliantly written and explained, that any of my attempted commentary won't really add to it. It's also ridiculously dense, and so rich that there's just too much to talk about in a pretty limited blog.

Suffice to say it's changed my life; but I don't expect it to, or even feel that it must, have the same effect on everyone! I think even if you disagree vehemently with what GKC puts forward, it's still a really refreshing experience to read such well considered and intriguing lines of argument. Especially now, on pretty hot topics like 'big vs small business', 'private vs public ownership', 'the man-made vs the natural', etc. The actual political ideal of Distributism, I'm still getting my head around, if I'm honest. But his thinking and his writing are just plain bitchin, in my very humble opinion!

Distributism anyone?

are they particularly distinct from other shitty indie acts around atm then?

I'd say they were even more so. I mean, look at them:

http://www.clashmusic.com/files/imagecache/big_node_view/files/images/Mumford-and-Sons-otw.jpg

xpost to Matt: But does tapping English folk for your influences necessarily equate to aesthetic conservatism, especially given the currently flourishing state of contemporary folk? (There's been a major artistic and commercial resurgence over the past few years, failed BNP entryism notwithstanding.) Sure, M&S (LOL) offer a watered-down version, but pop has always plundered with impunity. I think there could be some questionable assumptions as to what folk represents.

Not really, because when I think of folk I mostly think of protest music or bearded CAMRA lefties. But those aspects don't really come through in Mumford & Sons - like I said upthread they're basically arena rock with folky knobs on. It's badly tapping into a classicism and misrepresenting it in the process. It'd be like a band doing Springsteen and just focussing on a sepia-tinted American past and leaving out all the blue-collar stuff.

The idea that modernity doesn't last has been knocking around in bands like this since Britpop but Mumford & Sons put it really front-centre.

Their involvement with Laura Marling makes me think they can't be all bad

... in spite of the overwhelming evidence that they are

are their lyrics particularly small-c conservative, or is it just a failure of execution? i think what i'm getting at is, is this a definite ethos that they actively push, or is it just conservative in the same way that oasis always were? (and obv you'd never call oasis or their equivalents - brother these days i guess - the perfect band for cameron's britain)

No they probably ARE the latter-day equivalents of Oasis in terms of their position, Brother aren't popular enough to hold that role. They're conservative in the way Ocean Colour Scene were conservative, but with folk instead of mod. And folk is hundreds of years older so they naturally seem more conservative, and you can really sing things like "oh, man is a giddy thing" without sounding a bit ridiculous.

Their lyrics aren't particularly small c conservative from what I've heard.

Lyrics are natural-seasonal-religious imagery, but very woolly: a directly Romantic notion of authenticity. Coldplay, with flowers. Oasis, landfill lyrics more urban, doses of pop-surreal, in a more obvious post-Lennon rock tradition?

Can be hard to figure out what's going on in a Mumford lyric, sompared to The Wombats say. Could be talking to God, could be a girl, could be a mate he's let down.

... or a manservant, valet, groom

"I've really fucked it up this time, Jeeves"

Little Lion Man was a common phrase used among 18th century slavemasters iirc.

I do think there's some significance in them using folk music as a way for posh chaps to bond (yuck) with the common man (yuck). Picking up acoustic instruments and dressing like extras from a Hardy adaptation is enabling some sort of blurring of social position that they would never have achieved if they'd have been all britpop swagger and well into footie.

Maybe they just want to be hobbits.

I think that NZ has enough troubles without us sending them there for filming.

*trying hard not to make shit joke about 'hobbit-forming' or something equally as bad*

"Tragedy struck Mumford and Sons today when a strangely specific earthquake..."

Actually, wait, NZ worships the Fall, yeah? Mumford go down there, they'll be arrested at the airport, charged with being crap and dunked in the ocean.

x-post to the last picture. One of these instruments is not like the other ... It's like a picture of the Band if Garth had a Casio.

You mean the synth-washboard?

Has R. Carmody weighed in on this shower? Mumford-Boden-Cameron West London pseudo-ruralism would seem to be right up his analytical street.

But it's on a tartan rug... probably with a nice Chippendale cabinet underneath (xp)

Has R. Carmody weighed in on this shower?

please god no

I do think there's some significance in them using folk music as a way for posh chaps to bond (yuck) with the common man (yuck). Picking up acoustic instruments and dressing like extras from a Hardy adaptation is enabling some sort of blurring of social position that they would never have achieved if they'd have been all britpop swagger and well into footie.

― ka£ka (NickB), Friday, 25 February 2011 12:47 (17 minutes ago)

^^^

idk lex, this lot are really something special

whether they have admitted to voting tory is beside the point

x-post Ha, the Nord Washboard.

whether they have admitted to voting tory is beside the point

idk, i think when one describes someone as tory, this IS the point

No one has actually described them as Tory on this thread.

^^

lex had first mention today

it's been a common thing that i noticed, that's why i mentioned it

let's hope some of these people saying terrible slanderous things about les mumfords deign to explain themselves on ilx

Need Marcello's infallible Toryscope... perhaps not

Fwiw, I would never have thought of this band as "Tories"

uh it's not like i'm defending the mumfords or even know that much about them, was just wondering what exactly was going on here, but feel free to passantino the thread with disingenuous shit

xp

Whereas came as no surprise that Scouting For Girls guy was a "But we must do something to tackle the deficit" style Lib Dem (xp)

toryism seems kinda wrong anyway, i imagine them sublimating any sense of politics into a 'it's not about left and right' evasive ruritanian stupidity, a sugary mix of wishful thinking and apolitical amnesia about the risible doughty peasant tropes they trade in

cf their ostensibly non-denominational but evidently christianist rhetoric about 'faith'

guessing they are lib dems

I think the point is that it's apposite to have a Biggest Band In Britain who are massive musical reactionaries at the point at which we have particularly hateful Tory government again.

Most recent Biggest Bands In Britain wouldn't scare most Tories I'd imagine, but the Mumfords' image and sound plays into it as well.

Or the Mumfords have tapped into the British record buying public's inherent musical conservatism in a particularly irritating way - see also positioning themselves against anything "manufactured" (for which, read modern).

http://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/image/0067/Parsonage-Garden-at-Nuenen-in-the-Snow,-The.jpg

fuck a modernity, let's get the serfs to start an organic turnip processing co-op and sell it to ocado

nb i'd basically agree w/ lex that tory slurs shd be avoided if the recipients aren't soi disant tories -- explain from first principles (in this case aesthetic bankruptcy) when possible

The decider for these types of things should always be the would-they-play-Zac-Goldsmiths-next-barndance? test imo.

hi-cult forms of heart-of-oak back-to-the-land stuff also on the rise? Feel like I'm hearing a lot more about John Piper over the last year or two, and that Alexandra Harris book, Romantic Moderns (nb not about romo) getting a lot of reviews. Bloomsbury pastoral.

Big Society?

Let's all get together with our washboards and ukeleles and Tyrloean hats and try to put the Great (or at least) the Nice back into Great Britain

toryism seems kinda wrong anyway, i imagine them sublimating any sense of politics into a 'it's not about left and right' evasive ruritanian stupidity, a sugary mix of wishful thinking and apolitical amnesia about the risible doughty peasant tropes they trade in

but this, really, about M&S. Want to try and figure out that quoted-upthread Mumford enthusiasm for Chesterton when I'm not in an office.

You can't spell 'Tyrolean' without Tory *taps nose*

Look forward to their setting of GKC's The Secret People. xpost

Tyro Lean and the Jing Jang Jong

There's already a tribute band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3oWh5G9ysk

oh for fuck's sake

jesus t'night, look at the "Brooker" cut on the lead singer.

holy cow this band is getting popular on the bar jukeboxes...let me just say, mark e. smith was right

Tyro Lean and the Jing Jang Jong

― ka£ka (NickB), Friday, 25 February 2011 14:25 (1 hour ago)

a+

could save a lot of hand-wringing and just napalm the cunts

Tribute bands already? I've never understood the Brit tendency to crank out tribute bands while the artists they emulate are still at the peak of their powers. The U.S. tribute bands usually focus on bands or classic lineups you can't see live anywhere (aside from shitty jamband tributes).

It's because British provincial nightclub bookers are fucking lazy and risk averse.

Makes sense I suppose. Do bands like this do well?

that's because u specialise in industrial level production of pro forma shite, whereas england is able to produce perfectly formed, unique snowflake of finest fibrous alsatian faeces like les mumfs

+ audiences like a night out where 'you know what you are getting'. (+ i guess beaten musicians like some money + attention, even in this odd vicarious form? Can't really blame them. )

Yeah there's a whole industry in this country devoted to catering specifically for people who can't be bothered to take a risk on a night out.

the same pressure must exist in america tho? and it would make sense for tribute bands in a larger country with plenty of places seldom visited by the big bands

Not really, because here in the States there seems to be a pretty strict dividing line between "clubs that focus on live acts" and "clubs that just employ djs". The former usually want to focus on names that they know will draw people in while the latter would rather just pay a dj less. There are tribute bands that break these barriers, but they tend to be pretty popular and based on specific era - early Beatles, first four albums era Metallica, etc etc.

Guesses - size makes it less economically viable maybe? Sons of Bumford can do several pub + clubs Thursday-Sunday, Exeter-Winchester, be back at their desks (guitar teachers? I just don't know) Monday morning.

Are there adaptable local bar bands in the US? Would they add Little Lion Man to their set?

Actually, wait, NZ worships the Fall, yeah? Mumford go down there, they'll be arrested at the airport, charged with being crap and dunked in the ocean.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, February 25, 2011 7:52 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

probably my favorite post in this thread...

Most bar bands I'm aware of stick to classic stuff and are really slow to adapt current hits, I think "Little Lion Man" would have to blow up even more first.

NZ worships the Fall?

yes, especially in Auckland (I should ask LJ about this...)

The only time they hit Top 10 was in NZ, with "Lie Dream of Casino Soul." The following tour there yielded one of the finest live albums in the prime Fall era, In a Hole released by Flying Nun.

(lot more to this story, involving lawsuits and Marc Riley, but I'll let it go for now.)

when I think of folk I mostly think of protest music or bearded CAMRA lefties

Maybe you have to be be English and a certain age or whatever but this seems ridiculously specific. "When I think of rock I mostly think of jet black quiffs or playing piano standing up". "When I think of rap I think of Afrocentrism or 808s".

Think it's barking up the wrong tree with M&S tho. They're basically aiming for Arcade Fire, but more contrived.

this album methinks will be No Fences for the '10s. nice to lol at the UK for once; get the magnifying glass on all the abominable bands from there in the last Idk how many years...

http://i.imgur.com/OKvFd.jpg

lol

this album methinks will be No Fences for the '10s.

I will listen to No Fences 2.7 billion times before willingly listening to an entire album of Mumford.

I am from NZ and I worship The Fall so it must be true.

some days I think that 1981-82 New Zealand pop charts was the final true sanctuary for great pop music

this was #1 for like 5 weeks in 1982:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMHY3GEhdsc

in one way it's kind of like the Jamaican version of that Lady Antebellum song; in another sense, the longest Jamaican hit single to top the UK charts up to that point was "Double Barrel" for two weeks...

(Musical Youth would hit #1 for 3 weeks before the year was out...anything not to talk about Scumford and Nones huh?)

(sorry)

Glad to see this thread has provoked some top-draw Carmodism:
http://in-the-cage.blogspot.com/2011/02/ilm-mumford-and-sons-and-politics.html

later on today i will be escorting Mumford and Sons and the Felice Brothers to what they think is a special dinner in their honor

i will load them all into a converted schoolbus

put a brick on the gas pedal

and point them towards a cliff

could somebody summarize this thread for me

no one likes this band; british ppl say some incomprehensible stuff.

class is discussed, i think

thanks man, sounds like stirring stuff

i did not bookmark it, lets just put it that way

not surprised this goes over the heads of earnest americans but a lil dismayed that english ppl can't see how mumfords are worse than the rest of landfill combined

lex, what is the nature of yr issues with carmody? (nb i have seen his writing before but am not that familiar)

One last thing about NZ: not only did Toots and the Maytals make #1 for five weeks, but Joy Division hit #1 on two separate occasions in '81. The Clean debuted in the top 5 twice, for their Boodle Boodle Boodle & Great Sounds EPs, not so surprising considering they're local boys made good, and of course the Fall hit top 20, but so did the Dead Kennedys, with Too Drunk to Fuck of all things! Craziness!

not surprised this goes over the heads of earnest americans but a lil dismayed that english ppl can't see how mumfords are worse than the rest of landfill combined

that's the thing though, i really don't think they are - don't get me wrong the mumfords are fucking terrible and abhorrent etc, but...so were the futureheads, kaiser chiefs. and so were all the bands in the 90s britpop poll. (kaiser chiefs also much more reactionary lyrically - like that shit's actually overt in their music.)

lex, what is the nature of yr issues with carmody?

ehhhh broadly, projecting political shit into music where it doesn't exist/kneejerk anti-americanism/my #1 pet hate in all of music journalism - seemingly taking everything that surrounds a record into account except how it actually sounds

Really enjoyed reading Carmody - its been a long time, glad he's still around.

Doubt Lex will like his latest post.

wouldn't know where to read it

http://in-the-cage.blogspot.com/

Mumford & Sons aren't worse than most of the landfill indie bands per se, but they're more annoying if only for the ridiculousness of their schtick.

They're going to be much bigger than the Kaiser Chiefs and (certainly) the Futureheads, which doesn't help.

Is all these students going round in fobnail boots a mumford thing? Is that how you spot a mumford fan?

i wasn't asking

xps KCs and futureheads seemed bloody big enough, you really think the mumfords will be bigger? i honestly couldn't name a mumfords song off the top of my head, or even tell you how any go, which sadly wasn't the case for those other cunts

and at least mumfords haven't taken it upon themselves to take a gigantic shit on a kate bush classic yet

They're warming up on "Jig of Life" right now, I can sense it.

Futureheads weren't actually that big at all, the Kaisers were obviously. Mumford & Sons already are internationally popular in a way those bands weren't, and they're distinctive enough from other internationally popular bands to be able to cash in on it for a while yet. Their second album will be enormous.

Amazed to discover that the Futureheads have had six Top 40 singles but they were never anywhere near Mumford-sized, Lex.

Second Mumford album is being recorded in Nashville - of course it fucking is.

Do they need to be there while this is happening?

The danger of merging your digital music collection with your spouse's on one hard drive? Coming home to find this fucking band on there.

mumford are worse than the kaiser chiefs or the futureheads and the reason is that they are BIG RELIGIOUS WE MEAN THIS music

love this band

^^^ not even trying any more

lol

i was holding back until the maximum number of fans of some punk-revival indie bollocks had piled on and then was gonna gently swing round to defending them. this is also known as "the Coldplay Gambit".

are they really pervasive? i listen to the radio, i know a girl i worked with before liked them. she told me about that little lion man song and it wasnt like awful when i listened to it on youtube but yeah its not like i ever wanted to hear it again so i can see why you might resent being forced to constantly. in that same job there was a guy who used to play florence and the machine all the time. i mean.

yeah i would probably pretend that i was bffs w/ half of them or smthng only i would have to do like research

they're on the radio in usa like every 5 mins

i dont listen to the radio because of the advertisements

i dislike Oasis and have no strong opinion on Beady Eye (except: lol beady eye), but here's a choice exchange re: Mumford & Sonz from Liam Gallagher and Andy Bell's Quietus interview the other day:

Do you find it a worrying development that something like Mumford & Sons walk away with Best Album at the Brits?

LG: I think it’s alright but they were fucking ashamed about winning and that’s the fucking sad bit. 'Oh, we shouldn’t be here!' Then what did you join a fucking band for then? They bow their heads down going, 'Oh, we don’t deserve it' like a fucking dick. What’s that about? You must have seen it before so don’t pretend like you’ve just come out of a cider apple factory.

AB: I’ve got nothing against them but I get the feeling they went back to their dressing room and went, 'YEAH!' [mimes air-punching].

LG: Still, it’s better than Take That, isn’t it?

You must have seen it before so don’t pretend like you’ve just come out of a cider apple factory.

Hero.

some amazing quotes

I heard that fucking Radiohead record and I just go, 'What?!' I like to think that what we do, we do fucking well. Them writing a song about a fucking tree? Give me a fucking break! A thousand year old tree? Go fuck yourself! You’d have thought he’d have written a song about a modern tree or one that was planted last week. You know what I mean?

another choice bit

Do you view your relationship with Noel as irreparably damaged?

LG: He hasn’t got people around him going, 'Sort it out' and I haven’t got people around me saying, 'Sort it out.' There’s a lot of people involved in it – without mentioning any names – but I don’t feel the need to go round to his fucking house and have the door slammed in my face. There’s no encouragement from any parties whereas if there was then it would get sorted. But to get it sorted for what? He wants to go on his own and make his own fucking music and be the man and let everyone know that he can fucking flush the toilet without the band or that he can pour his own fucking tea and that’s fine. I haven’t got time for that fucking bollocks in my life.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/47921000/jpg/_47921692_009291201-1.jpg

just got a concert email update w/ this tidbit re: Mumford & Sons-- let the hatred ensue

Traveling exclusively in vintage railcars, the three bands will journey across the American Southwest over the course of a week. The aptly titled Railroad Revival Tour will feature the three bands playing concerts at six unique outdoor locations along the route.

the website is just bafflingly stupid as well

http://railroadrevivaltour.com

shurely they should do this by jumping on and off of passing boxcars? posers

From M&S HQ... Here we are then: another waffle, another dollar. Making stacks on the corner of the blogosphere (done a little sick-up in my mouth just now) dealing Class-A blogs, an' dodging dem Po-Po. Well, not really dodging; the common man he say... Read more

Read more

never in my life have I been less likely to follow an instruction

What in the

Has gone platinum in the US.

Mumford And Sons Vs Dumpy's Rusty Nuts

Good Luck USA

at least we still have dumpy's rusty nuts NV while they get mumford.

God Bless The Goddamned Onion AV Club:

Last fall, The A.V. Club’s own Steven Hyden memorably described English folkees Mumford & Sons as “hokey cornpone-ographers,” a descriptor the band will take to its logical conclusion by embarking on a six-stop tour of the American Southwest on a fucking train. Said train will be composed of vintage railcars from the mid-20th century and also carry the members of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros and Old Crow Medicine Show, because of course it will. The bands will make their home along the rails for these dates in late April, living like the majestic hobos of old as they eat, sleep, and record within the confines of the train’s 1,500 feet. (Whether the musicians will adopt ludicrous hobo names and/or claim to be Woody Guthrie at any point during the trip remains to be seen, of course.) It may seem like the unnecessary fetishizing of a not-too-fondly remembered period in American history (Great Depression-induced poverty is super-fun!), but think of it this way: With per-gallon gas prices threatening to stay at more than $3 for the foreseeable future, the past of railroad-bound vagrancy may be the future of rock ’n’ roll touring. After winding its way through California and Arizona, the tour will stop in Austin on April 26, at the intersection of 4th and Waller Streets. Tickets for all dates go on sale Wednesday, March 9 at 11 a.m. CST; credit card, buttons, magical beans, sniped cigarettes, bartered services, and train-yard punks are all acceptable means of payment.

In "defense" of this bullshit it should be pointed out that their American fans may recognize the band as "hokey cornpone-ographers" and dig it anyway or even because of that.

god that is the best write-up ever, give that guy a medal

hahahahahahahah a ticket costs $55 bucks

or for 150 you get a poster too

my wife would want to see this in Austin but then i'd probably have to go too. should i tell her they are coming to town, y/n?

old crow medicine show actually makes me want to kill

anyone got ilxors wifes email so we can tell her?

hahaha :(

old crow medicine show actually makes me want to kill

yes, okay, but: are they worse than mumford?

eh possibly, they have terrible nasal voices and their lyrics are full of insipid faux-americana signifiers.

http://www.corbisimages.com/images/67/8E005695-5997-4B6E-90B0-2A689153D781/BE067757.jpg

l-r: Mumford, ILX

A look into the future gives us Mumford & Sons in 30 years time after cracking America

http://www.stuarthamilton.f9.co.uk/images/Hillbillies2.jpg

the majestic hobos of old

wake me up when the Mumfords sound anything like majestic Depression-era hobo Harry Partch; until then they can fuck right off

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1370348/Carey-Mulligan-dating-Marcus-Mumford-Starlet-besotted-folk-singer.html

She and Marcus, 24, are currently enjoying a romantic weekend together in Buckinghamshire after spending last week in the Orkney Islands.

The glamour. I wonder if they go around building barrels or something.

Looks like the unholy afterbirth of Matt Le Blanc and Chaz Bono

Marcus Mumford Carey Mulligan - Orcadian Riddims

i like the cave a lot -- it's awesome when it comes on in the car