I understand that Cat Power is untouchable around here, but voice wise she is the godmother of twee....how different is Feist's voice from Cat Power anyway?
― Iago Galdston, Wednesday, 17 April 2013 23:04 (eleven years ago) link
I was thinking the other week that it's pretty remarkable that the peak moments of Cat Power's Covers Record still really hit me even after the ten million inferior imitations of the last ten years.
― the kind of man who best draws girls' eyeballs (Merdeyeux), Wednesday, 17 April 2013 23:08 (eleven years ago) link
I don't think of Chan Marshall's distressed and distracted tones as anything remotely to do with "twee". I saw her on a bill with proper actual solid gold tweeists Girlfrendo 15 years ago and she was Diamanda Galas in comparison.
― Michael Jones, Wednesday, 17 April 2013 23:08 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah to me this descends from more of a The Sundays --> Frente --> "Don't Falter" lineage.
― Tim F, Wednesday, 17 April 2013 23:15 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRdyDSbWg7w
― Chuck E was a hero to most (s.clover), Wednesday, 17 April 2013 23:15 (eleven years ago) link
so sad that this quintessentially ~blue state~ panglossian idiot child music derives from the work of mo tucker, when mo herself has quite correctly realized that milquetoast liberalism is destroying america
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Wednesday, 17 April 2013 23:27 (eleven years ago) link
^ sage
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Wednesday, 17 April 2013 23:39 (eleven years ago) link
mo does seem a precedent, "after hours", "i'm sticking with you". also cutie pie 80s indie stuff like camper van beethoven, beat happening and they might be giants.
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Wednesday, 17 April 2013 23:43 (eleven years ago) link
honestly the mo songs have a much darker core. tmbg def are a precedent, but not so sure of the rest. its not like you need to draw a direct musical lineage through actual bands. they're all really drawing from the same wellspring of children's songs, raffi, etc, and just going different places with it.
the part that baffles me is why anyone would choose to buy an album full of this stuff. otoh i could see casual listeners picking up a catchy 'viral' single, so this is perhaps a v. digital itunes-era phenom to begin with?
― Chuck E was a hero to most (s.clover), Wednesday, 17 April 2013 23:59 (eleven years ago) link
its not like you need to draw a direct musical lineage through actual bands. they're all really drawing from the same wellspring of children's songs, raffi, etc, and just going different places with it.
yeah, that's probably true. still fun to connect the imaginary dots.
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Thursday, 18 April 2013 00:02 (eleven years ago) link
"1, 2, 3, 4" is a bit of an aberration even for Feist, she's not generally so relentlessly twee
― anonanon, Thursday, 18 April 2013 00:04 (eleven years ago) link
Seriously though dudes Mint Royale's "Don't Falter" is like a paean to iPods that didn't yet exist.
― Tim F, Thursday, 18 April 2013 00:07 (eleven years ago) link
admittedly I agree use of 1234 in the apple commercial was the turning point
― anonanon, Thursday, 18 April 2013 00:10 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G0sOA6hTg0
― Chuck E was a hero to most (s.clover), Thursday, 18 April 2013 00:11 (eleven years ago) link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_music_used_by_Apple_Inc.
so it basically started around 2007 w/ Feist/Imogen Heap/The Bird and the Bee/Yael Naïm? it seems like earlier Apple ads were heavier on classic rock/pop and obvious Top 40 picks (also more black people!)
the ipod campaign's message was once something like, move your body around to this (which will be so individual and distinctive of your personal exuberant body because it's an ipod). so maybe the question is, what about apple's market share changed to make the other thing (1 2 3 4 etc.) worth putting front and center?
― j., Thursday, 18 April 2013 00:13 (eleven years ago) link
Simon Reynolds' "Against Health and Efficiency" is probably relevant?
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Thursday, 18 April 2013 00:18 (eleven years ago) link
iphone came out around then, so maybe they pivoted to less "edgy" music as they targeted older potential customers
― anonanon, Thursday, 18 April 2013 00:21 (eleven years ago) link
turned out more people were into cute & comfy than hot & sweaty
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Thursday, 18 April 2013 00:28 (eleven years ago) link
more potential pod people, i suppose
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Thursday, 18 April 2013 00:29 (eleven years ago) link
for me this is the definitive example of this stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwtmfeyTNV4
― anonanon, Thursday, 18 April 2013 00:29 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFaee49YjMw
― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 18 April 2013 00:37 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1G7O0wVhls
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Thursday, 18 April 2013 00:40 (eleven years ago) link
FORD FEIST-A
― is cereal a soup (get bent), Thursday, 18 April 2013 01:12 (eleven years ago) link
Ford Fiesta song also features prominent use of an under-discussed twindie signifier: woozy but uplifting Elephant Six horn section. Would be interesting to figure out by what channels that went mainstream, seems like for ages it really signified bedroom recording, four-track, living-room-party type bands directly getting it from E6 records and then suddenly it was kind of everywhere.
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 18 April 2013 01:15 (eleven years ago) link
About four years ago I realised that everyone was vaguely fond of Beirut in an "I like that advert" kind of way...
I feel this website is relevant:
http://approachableindie.com/
― Tim F, Thursday, 18 April 2013 01:22 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIOW9fLT9eY
― balls, Thursday, 18 April 2013 01:23 (eleven years ago) link
beirut are complete shit
― I have many lovely lacy nightgowns (contenderizer), Thursday, 18 April 2013 01:26 (eleven years ago) link
Number one indie dinner soundtrack after The XX ime.
― Tim F, Thursday, 18 April 2013 01:26 (eleven years ago) link
Belated OTM to Tim's Frente point. Their New Order cover is virtually year zero for this aesthetic.
― Deafening silence (DL), Thursday, 18 April 2013 09:10 (eleven years ago) link
weirdly that approachableindie site seems totally sincere
― Eyeball Kicks, Thursday, 18 April 2013 09:29 (eleven years ago) link
never hear beirut in this role, weirdly. the xx were ruined for me by being indie dinner default choice.
― Tioc Norris (LocalGarda), Thursday, 18 April 2013 09:44 (eleven years ago) link
No Surprises also seems to me to be a big song in the development of this genre. Replace Thom's weltschmerz with someone cooing along in a baby voice and there you go.
― dschinghis kraan (NickB), Thursday, 18 April 2013 09:57 (eleven years ago) link
i tried to find that coke ad from a few years back with some sickening cover of the beatles "all together now" but i couldn't.
― Tioc Norris (LocalGarda), Thursday, 18 April 2013 10:02 (eleven years ago) link
was it the Beatles?
― Sarushima baby jive (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 18 April 2013 10:14 (eleven years ago) link
It's this ad for MS with Lenka that urges me to smash things up..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ2cftjyHys
― mmmm, Thursday, 18 April 2013 10:18 (eleven years ago) link
urges me to smash something
― Sarushima baby jive (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 18 April 2013 10:23 (eleven years ago) link
I don't think "Don't Falter" belongs here. It apes Saint Etienne with it's 90's pop charm.
― mmmm, Thursday, 18 April 2013 10:23 (eleven years ago) link
For some reason the worst of these songs for me are the ones with confessional, "dysfunctional" lyrics, like they're just angling to be in this movie - http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1174730/ - or this one - http://www.imdb.co.uk/title/tt0449059/ - or basically anything with Alan Arkin and a brooding teenager
like omigod, what an unexpected pairing! Whimsy and darkness! It's almost as crazy as a bloody battleground scene filmed in slo-mo with tender orchestral music over the top!
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 18 April 2013 10:28 (eleven years ago) link
Surely the Jose Gonzales Knife cover with the bouncing balls is the point at which this all went supernova?
― Matt DC, Thursday, 18 April 2013 10:42 (eleven years ago) link
key text:
http://www.kicktickets.com/img/original/Event/1933.62b83113548dacf31843b6540f2c0e8d.jpg
― Tioc Norris (LocalGarda), Thursday, 18 April 2013 10:46 (eleven years ago) link
oops that's huge.
The other turning point (following on from Feist 1234) was that "I'm not invisible" song, which didn't exist before the advert, and everyone wanted it.
Did it chart?
― Mark G, Thursday, 18 April 2013 10:48 (eleven years ago) link
that bloke covering tears for fears in donnie darko.
― Tioc Norris (LocalGarda), Thursday, 18 April 2013 10:50 (eleven years ago) link
as far as "meaningful cover of meaningless dross" crosses over with "xylophone folk tells lovely story about sharing data with your pals"
― Tioc Norris (LocalGarda), Thursday, 18 April 2013 10:51 (eleven years ago) link
I guess this is manic pixie dream-girl music, though good luck getting a real manic person to wait for a roomful of pianos, xylophones and ukuleles to be mic'ed up and coordinate brass sections and string quartets before singing languidly over polite twinkling about idk curling up on the sofa with you or whatever lyrical conceit it is that makes people's wallets open
― susuwatari teenage riot (a passing spacecadet), Thursday, 18 April 2013 10:52 (eleven years ago) link
yeah pixie music is right. my theory is this sound was invented in Iceland, i just wish they could have kept múm
― dschinghis kraan (NickB), Thursday, 18 April 2013 11:00 (eleven years ago) link
I guess this is manic pixie dream-girl music
there are men involved sometimes too. innocent smoothie's office must be full of this.
― Tioc Norris (LocalGarda), Thursday, 18 April 2013 11:04 (eleven years ago) link
Oh totally, I didn't mean it was made by actual manic pixie dreamgirls, what with them being a fictional trope - just that it comes from the same place
(but possibly an even worse ratio of people who actually want to believe they are a special creative pixie : people who've realised other people's cynical pixie simulacra sell and constructed their own)
― susuwatari teenage riot (a passing spacecadet), Thursday, 18 April 2013 11:10 (eleven years ago) link
I think most people like some of these artists* and they tend to be more diverse than their presence in these ads suggests but imagine how enervating an entire compilation of this stuff would be.
*Like a maximum of three or four artists each and never the song on the ad.
I think Apple's move to this stuff from 'vaguely hip-hop beat-beaty slightly rocky dance music' probably coincides with the launch of the iPhone. It's also wrapped up with the need to secure early adopters and wanting to evoke some kind of aspirational coffee-drinking fashionable tech startup lifesytle in those people.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 18 April 2013 11:16 (eleven years ago) link
Seemingly every E4 youth drama is sponsored by some kind of tech company pitching a product or service directly at teenagers and they *never* use this sort of music, it's usually a sort of grimey frankenstep hybrid.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 18 April 2013 11:20 (eleven years ago) link