Mumford and Sons

... 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).