♥☮☯♫ PC MUSIC ♫☯☮♥ ☺☺☺ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°✌

The vocals sound "terrible" or crappy as an inherent part of the production strategy to me. They're deliberately out of tune and out of time, and then excessively auto-corrected to accentuate the fact. The euphoric lyrics "that's the feeling, I want it forever, all the birds sing, they sing together" is presented not only as completely fabricated and synthetic, but flat and banal; the vocals are utterly at odds with the content of the lyrics.

I mean, I really don't see how you could read it as anything other than a parody, at best, a blank parody, but still.

You don't think that there is any sincerity in the lyrics? That the lyrical sincerity plays off the nervous, melancholy production and tune to evoke something a bit more complex? You think it is just parody?

They're not out of tune, that's just how white British sing.

STOP TALKING ABOUT WHITE PEOPLE LIKE THEY ARE OF ONE BODY AND ONE MIND ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE ONE OF THEM FUCKING JESUS

you heard him, if you're white stop fucking jesus before you start to post

There's a kind of psychedelic aspect to what they do, which is the most appealing and possibly the least pop. But even that isn't especially pushed forward far enough to make it really grab me.

In all seriousness, are we really moaning about manipulated vocals in electronic music today?

I don't see how you can hear those synths and come away with flat, banal and parodic. Is PC Music's problem the privileging of the synth over the holy Voice?

Is PC Music's problem the privileging of the synth over the holy Voice?

its problem is the sound it makes

actually on-topic: vocal quality is subjective and out of the purview of this... discussion, but the problem with that song upthread isn't the vocals, it's that it sounds like an already bad stargate track sped up to get around copyright filters

vocals aside, i think that track is pretty brilliantly constructed, there are a couple tricks that make it sound a lot more complex than it really is (like each section starting with the last two beats of the progression, and where the chords change).

PC Music's problem is that their music is irritating.

Can you link the Stargate song in question, or an example?

I like the Danny L Harle track. it sounds like Eighth Wonder, I don't get why people would think it's intentionally made to sound crap

wait, no, not stargate, it's this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIh5AHxh-Ok

you have no ears

Imago, I'm not denying it's an energetic bit of music and fun in its way. I've got a fair bit of time for PC Music and I can't really see how the vocals are out of place here. But to call this parody-free is surely missing the point. It's clearly intended in many ways as a comic joke or a play on genre and I guess that suits some and not others.

*cosmic

to me it's not that far from Rustie playing around with cheesy trance sounds & rhythms in another context:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9z2SKcr7_c

xp

That music is even worse than the other one.

ha, i agree with katherine there, totally. but LMFAO is doing it completely one-dimensionally, whereas both the Danny Harle and Rustie tracks are referential without it just being a joke or parody, to my ears anyway.

xp

Obviously I have no problem with vocal manipulation for the record, except here it's presented in the form of a snarky meta-commentary.

Don't mind the synths half as much, they sound really cheap.

Come to think of it, there is another obvious frame for PC Music, which was mentioned above - punk and Malcolm Mclaren. Now mannerist Situationism.

to my ears, which admittedly were cut off years ago by an angry music fan, the track upthread is a lot of self-conscious frippery around a central synth line that is the kind of thing stargate (and their imitators) ran into the ground in the late 2000s/early 2010s, which is presumably when the pc music guys started paying attention. "miss independent" (ne-yo, not kelly) is another example

Far less mendacious and far more interesting than the Sex Pistols imo, although it does make me wonder what the PIL moment will be

as far as the referential/snarky/meta aspect I didn't care for that either when nadia oh did it; fortunately for the world and for me she didn't get critical attention long enough to say something stupid in public

I think people are referring more to things like the Duck Rock album than the Sex Pistols / PiL in this case.

Far less mendacious and far more interesting than the Sex Pistols imo, although it does make me wonder what the PIL moment will be

― the discussions, the slanging matches, the banter, the lot (imago),

..

Each year there is a new fad and a new style, but the result is the same, the destruction of the environment

― saer, Wednesday,

Since time began the serenity was under attack. Our reserves are low, and there are many of them, both in number and in thinkpiece

This thread has little to do with PC Music and a lot more to do with ILM's lifelong inability to get to grips with the more playfully extreme modes of eurocentric electronic music.

I don't think that having no time for arch Crazy Frog music is a failing, exactly

Our only hope is that they fade so quickly, giving up brief respite to repair our battered saplings before they regenerate, with a new name, a new manifesto and the cycle of destruction begins again

arch Crazy Frog music

dammit this is the first thing that makes me wanna hear pc music

There are some nice swirly synth bits in the middle of that Danny L. Harle track but yeah the vocals are annoying (as in, they annoy me - is that rockist?) and the whole song does feel like he's come up with this hook but has no idea what to do with it. Like the bit with the buildup just falls totally flat.

Interesting that Rustie came up in the Meaghan Garvey piece (and again today), was never won over by his albums but 'All Nite' and 'Zig Zag' are the closest things to PC Music I can think of that I actually really love.

"the discussions, the slanging matches, the banter, the lot (imago)
Posted: June 10, 2015 at 10:47:05 AM
You'd get those chord-changes and synth lines in a Jamie XX song? Kthx"

Bahahahahahahahaaa

Man constantly ascending line by steps is not the same thing as "chord changes" it's like fucking crazy pills town in this thread

Also just to get this out of the way,

"the discussions, the slanging matches, the banter, the lot (imago)
Posted: June 10, 2015 at 11:04:02 AM
Is there such a thing as terrible vocals? Or just vocals you don't like? I suppose terrible vocals occur when a vocalist fails to do what they think they're doing, hut I don't think this is the case here."

Yes. Yes, there is such a thing as terrible vocals.

Can't believe Gavin, Leeds is going to try to fuck the vocals of that PC music song

like each section starting with the last two beats of the progression, and where the chords change

i changed my mind about this, the downbeat is the downbeat, and the main synth rhythm just starts an 1/8th note note after the 1. i really like how this motif works in the track, the melody is super hooky & rhythmic too, it sounds to me like it was written instrumentally first with the words forced in later, which makes it sound awkward in a good way.

k thx carry on.

arch Crazy Frog music

dammit this is the first thing that makes me wanna hear pc music

― da croupier, Wednesday, June 10, 2015 6:24 PM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^

this thread constantly being bumped convinced me to listen to the new album. it sounds too thin to really enjoy but i could imagine every song here being on a sophia coppola sdtrk which is a good thing afaic.

the best of this stuff is perfectly fine as indie pop but is guaranteed to kill the vibe at an Actual Dance Party

One day I will DJ for all of you in a sealed chamber with a reinforced steel booth

I'm in if you guarantee its airtight and everyone promises to hyperventilate

http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1362639118l/123933.jpg

L'enfer, c'est les auteurs

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7ha2vl2GS1qe75iho1_1280.jpg

When I think of snarky vocals I think The Fall, I do not think of this.

anybody else want to do a bit of couch therapy while we're on?

i feel like this is more pastiche than parody

I was thinking pisstake, but pastiche works.