after listening to another 10 songs or so, i have to say i'm a little surprised this band has taken up anyone's attention much at all
― kenny logins (goole), Monday, 21 June 2010 16:44 (thirteen years ago) link
you're forgetting that the inferior Dirty Projectors took up even more attention last year
― mdskltr (blueski), Monday, 21 June 2010 16:45 (thirteen years ago) link
I only know one Dirty Projectors song, and based on that song I find it categorically impossible to believe that there exists a person who would like CocoRosie more
― HI DERE, Monday, 21 June 2010 16:46 (thirteen years ago) link
which song HI DERE?
― dont forget B.Manning's shout-out to Dock Ellis (Drugs A. Money), Monday, 21 June 2010 16:51 (thirteen years ago) link
"Stillness Is The Move"
― HI DERE, Monday, 21 June 2010 16:51 (thirteen years ago) link
(waiting for jjjusten to show up and go "actually I have the entirety of CocoRosie's discography, they are wonderful")
― HI DERE, Monday, 21 June 2010 16:52 (thirteen years ago) link
is it really just the idea of it that's supposed to be so compelling? old-timey singing over old-timey samply type music, that's... it?
because i can definitely see that being something potent, whether there's racially creepy content thrown in or not. but it isn't, there's hardly one good musical idea at work here and every song i've heard is that same idea.
― kenny logins (goole), Monday, 21 June 2010 16:52 (thirteen years ago) link
as they were described itt lo these many years ago, the sound i imagined was basically like what sleigh bells turned out like, or lol tonetta
― kenny logins (goole), Monday, 21 June 2010 16:54 (thirteen years ago) link
ugh Jamie Stewart please never talk, I actually like some of yr records
― Simon H., Monday, 21 June 2010 17:02 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm not gonna trust the judgment of the dude photographed sucking on a horse's dick on anything, tbh.
― HI DERE, Monday, June 21, 2010 12:09 PM (54 minutes ago) Bookmark
I almost don't want to ask...
― dont forget B.Manning's shout-out to Dock Ellis (Drugs A. Money), Monday, 21 June 2010 17:04 (thirteen years ago) link
Ten In The Swear Jar is still better than any Xiu Xiu record. He should've never broken up that band. xp
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 21 June 2010 17:04 (thirteen years ago) link
Xiu Xiu fans: Evaluate this (profoundly NWS) picture of Jamie Stewart.
― HI DERE, Monday, 21 June 2010 17:13 (thirteen years ago) link
Good Friday is a CocoRosie song worth having.
Xiu Xiu guy sounds like a prick.
― Haunted Clocks For Sale (Dorianlynskey), Monday, 21 June 2010 17:20 (thirteen years ago) link
Very glad to read Brandon and the contributors of that article going to bat for CocoRosieI like Jamie's contributionAntony's thing is OTM although he didn't have to point all his fingers all at once
― The Bartered Bride (Ówen P.), Monday, 21 June 2010 17:42 (thirteen years ago) link
"I have concluded that the reception of CocoRosie in the US reflects the denial of a greater feminist issue, an ecological issue, a racial issue, a spiritual issue."
Yeah, that must be it.
― Haunted Clocks For Sale (Dorianlynskey), Monday, 21 June 2010 17:51 (thirteen years ago) link
Haha, remember when every ILM thread was like the above?
― admrl, Monday, 21 June 2010 17:56 (thirteen years ago) link
xp I feel the same way, tho.That statement isn't talking about "I don't like CocoRosie"but rather the way that that band gets taken down so often and with so much vitriol
I think the running thread with all the contributors of the Stereogum pieceis that it's easy for people to write off a couple of ostensibly privileged womenwho do experiment, and do reveal so much of themselvesCocoRosie have put themselves in a vulnerable positionand the majority of music publications have turned it into bear-baitingmost of which is unenjoyable, unfunny pollution
I wouldn't go so far as to express that this is a result of "music journalism misogyny"as is intimated
― The Bartered Bride (Ówen P.), Monday, 21 June 2010 18:03 (thirteen years ago) link
never heard a note and judging by their photos/sleeves I don't think I want to
― in my day we had to walk 10 miles in the snow for VU bootleg (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 21 June 2010 18:04 (thirteen years ago) link
Thanks for stopping by.
― The Bartered Bride (Ówen P.), Monday, 21 June 2010 18:06 (thirteen years ago) link
Anyway kudos to j0hn and Brandon for being a couple of straight guys who're willing to rep for some crazy bitchesLightening the load off us faggots
― The Bartered Bride (Ówen P.), Monday, 21 June 2010 18:07 (thirteen years ago) link
I wish I hadn't asked...
― dont forget B.Manning's shout-out to Dock Ellis (Drugs A. Money), Monday, 21 June 2010 18:07 (thirteen years ago) link
I don't think bands get ripped apart just for being female/experimental/revealing. Look on Metacritic - the mainstream rock mags have all been fairly polite - "a step back in the right direction" (Q), "hard going, but one can only applaud their ambition" (Uncut). I don't see any bear-baiting going on.
― Haunted Clocks For Sale (Dorianlynskey), Monday, 21 June 2010 18:11 (thirteen years ago) link
I thought bears were big fat hairy gay guys
― in my day we had to walk 10 miles in the snow for VU bootleg (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 21 June 2010 18:11 (thirteen years ago) link
Sorry, gays don't read Q or Uncut
but in seriousness I did notice that that with Grey Oceans people have replaced "pretentious" and "insufferable" with "over-ambitious"
― The Bartered Bride (Ówen P.), Monday, 21 June 2010 18:24 (thirteen years ago) link
In all honesty, the only reason CocoRosie was ever on my radar in the first place was because of this thread, which was not going to paint them in a very positive light.
― HI DERE, Monday, 21 June 2010 18:25 (thirteen years ago) link
xp re: bears, yes, and apparently in the 17th century people used to tie dogs to them and things
― The Bartered Bride (Ówen P.), Monday, 21 June 2010 18:26 (thirteen years ago) link
what Q or uncut say about 'weirdo' or women artists (and who cares) is a whole other question apart from whether CR are any good or not
― kenny logins (goole), Monday, 21 June 2010 18:30 (thirteen years ago) link
I was just using them as egs of titles who might be expected to recoil from Coco Rosie. I went on Metacritic looking for egs of the "vitriol" Owen P is talking about and came up empty.
― Haunted Clocks For Sale (Dorianlynskey), Monday, 21 June 2010 18:32 (thirteen years ago) link
I would have thought Jamie Stewart was too old and experienced to make such juvenile comments (and I don't even think that really is him blowing that horse in that pic).
― Becky Facelift, Monday, 21 June 2010 18:45 (thirteen years ago) link
Though I don't know why I would think old & experienced necessarily = thoughtful & smart
― Becky Facelift, Monday, 21 June 2010 18:46 (thirteen years ago) link
My dislike of the CocoRosie sisters and their albums and their whole thing has nothing to do with me being male and hetero. It's all about my finely tuned bullshit detector, and those girls fucking stink like bullshit.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 21 June 2010 18:57 (thirteen years ago) link
But, you see, they have put themselves in a vulnerable position by stinking like bullshit.
― Haunted Clocks For Sale (Dorianlynskey), Monday, 21 June 2010 19:03 (thirteen years ago) link
This.
And that since their debut, little of their music has struck me as particularly... good.
― sean gramophone, Monday, 21 June 2010 19:03 (thirteen years ago) link
Like, I get that people who like Grey Oceans are bummed that not everyone agrees. But to write essays explaining how it's because we're sexist buffoons is pretty fucking enraging. I wish these contributors did a better job describing the pleasures they find in the music. (Some do try to do this, but largely it isn't precise enough.)
Given that Cocorosie are a band that, to outside eyes, stink of scenesterism, the NY-loft-microcosm vibe of many of those Stereogum contributors also doesn't help. I'm surprised Sean Lennon didn't chime in.
― sean gramophone, Monday, 21 June 2010 19:10 (thirteen years ago) link
Meanwhile, here are two Cocorosie songs I like a lot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A57DFvq8zcE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRQZMreM5Qs
― sean gramophone, Monday, 21 June 2010 19:12 (thirteen years ago) link
Nobody is accusing anybody of being misogynist
― The Bartered Bride (Ówen P.), Monday, 21 June 2010 19:26 (thirteen years ago) link
Listening to "Jesus Loves Me" for the first time was a deeply upsetting experience, particularly in the wake of the Kill Whitey thing.
― HI DERE, Monday, 21 June 2010 19:27 (thirteen years ago) link
Anyway, this isn't really my fight. See you over in the Scout Niblett thread.
― The Bartered Bride (Ówen P.), Monday, 21 June 2010 19:28 (thirteen years ago) link
not digging their aesthetic at all. broken old-timey folk with crappy loops/noise/digital effects = no thank you. sonic ugliness prevents me from caring about what any of their lyrics are actually about.
― in my day we had to walk 10 miles in the snow for VU bootleg (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 21 June 2010 19:29 (thirteen years ago) link
actively seeking out the one where they talk about how Jesus doesn't love their nigger friends or their nigger wives is a mistake, don't do it
― HI DERE, Monday, 21 June 2010 19:31 (thirteen years ago) link
No?
as women Cocorosie are dismissed because their visual presentation frustrates many male writers’ abilities to sexualize them ... don’t be Aryan muscle-boys...
I do apologise for tarring all the writers with a single brush. Rereading, there are many for whom my criticisms don't apply at all. I was blinded by the other bullshit.
― sean gramophone, Monday, 21 June 2010 19:31 (thirteen years ago) link
don't really get where racism angle figures into this either - re: the original article is it really so surprising some pretentious twee indie folkie girl would feel out of place/threatened/uncomfortable in yr average hip hop club...?
― in my day we had to walk 10 miles in the snow for VU bootleg (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 21 June 2010 19:32 (thirteen years ago) link
hahaha um oh okay NOW I get it
o_O daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang
― The Black Keys - white boys can still throw down (crüt), Monday, 21 June 2010 19:33 (thirteen years ago) link
aside from the shitty music and racism this makes me sad because I love yoko ono
― The Black Keys - white boys can still throw down (crüt), Monday, 21 June 2010 19:34 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah i like a lot of the people giving approving quotes there! whaddyagonnado
― kenny logins (goole), Monday, 21 June 2010 19:37 (thirteen years ago) link
this reminds me a little of the time I had to ignore the many awesome directors backing up Polanski (though obv the offenses are not in any way comparable)
― Simon H., Monday, 21 June 2010 19:42 (thirteen years ago) link
lol nice caveat there
― kenny logins (goole), Monday, 21 June 2010 19:42 (thirteen years ago) link
the full lyrics to that song:
Jesus loves meBut not my wifeNot my nigger friendsOr their nigger livesBut jesus loves meDat for sure'Cause the bible tell me soRead your bible good and wellDon't forget about that apple spellDon't fall in the wishing wellWishing for heaven and gettin' hellWash behind your ears don't smellCover them freckles don't ask don't tellKiss your papa but not too longHold his handDon't do no wrongJesus loves meBut not my wifeNot my nigger friendsOr their nigger livesBut jesus loves meDat for sure'Cause the bible tell me soHush don't cryDry them tearsTime'll wash away all them yearsScar or a bruisePick and chooseWhen you're all grown upYou'll have the bluesLife'll give you that wedding ringFancy cars and diamond thingsYou best believe in Jesus' wayAnd never fall asleep forgetting to prayJesus loves meBut not my wifeNot my nigger friendsOr their nigger livesBut jesus loves meDat for sure'Cause the bible tell me so'Cause the bible tell me so
Read your bible good and wellDon't forget about that apple spellDon't fall in the wishing wellWishing for heaven and gettin' hellWash behind your ears don't smellCover them freckles don't ask don't tellKiss your papa but not too longHold his handDon't do no wrong
Jesus loves meBut not my wifeNot my nigger friendsOr their nigger livesBut jesus loves meDat for sure'Cause the bible tell me so
Hush don't cryDry them tearsTime'll wash away all them yearsScar or a bruisePick and chooseWhen you're all grown upYou'll have the bluesLife'll give you that wedding ringFancy cars and diamond thingsYou best believe in Jesus' wayAnd never fall asleep forgetting to pray
'Cause the bible tell me so
what it's supposed to be: A satirical take on the contradictory nature of religious values
why it fails: Because it uses the word "nigger" for no reason other than a hateful evocation of black people, yet uses much more restrained/sensitive verbiage to talk about issues surrounding the arbitrariness of some bible rules as well as the sexism and homophobia, it explicitly singles out black people for disdain and derision in a manner wholly out of keeping with the rest of the song, completely undercutting any meaningful message it's supposed to have with a very strong, palpable undercurrent of "btw if you are black, fuck off; we don't want you listening to our music".
This is the type of hamfisted, unthinking point-making you do when you are either a sheltered kid who has heard of racism but have never actually experienced it or a self-absorbed person who lacks the empathy necessary to translate your experience into terms that make the experience relatable rather than repellent and offensive to others who have gone through similar experiences. Had there been parity in language with references to "faggots" and "bitches", the point of view would have been better defined and the narrative less confused; as it stands, you have a song by some people who hate religion and black people but only realize that they hate religion.
― HI DERE, Monday, 21 June 2010 19:45 (thirteen years ago) link
holy shit @ lyrics
― call all destroyer, Monday, 21 June 2010 19:49 (thirteen years ago) link