The Lumineers

xp cant imagine any folk less freaky than The Lumineers

I blame Arcade Fire for all this anthemic "Hey!" bullshit

maybe that's the part I like

My problem with Ho Hey is mostly how generic the underlying song is. Like just stick a rock beat under it instead of a corny mandolin chunk and you have a standard issue soft rock radio song, which is not to say soft-rock radio is inherently bad, I just feel like the ratio of folky schtick to actual folk influence on this song is very, very high.

maybe it's just romanticizing the past and looking to reclaim lost purity and all that garbage. there's a total antiseptic, disneyland vibe with the 19th century this style's going for. there's some pretty cool stuff from the past, but it sure as hell isn't pickling beets in a jar.

they need to bring in dr folkenstein

more slavery, less beet-pickling

Django

xp if not beet pickling, then slavery. you make a good point.

Aside from how terrible the music is I don't see how this is any different than the impulse towards Steampunk or Victorian-era-fetishization in general. It's more than a bit ignorant -- given that it was a horrible time to live in for most everyone, but a lot of the trappings I think are arguable quite attractive -- horse drawn carriages, the clothes, moonshining, fancy beards...

I think the old-time rural Appalachia fetishizing is a bit different from the Steampunk or Victorian-era fetishizing though. Steampunk is more like H.G. Wells or Jules Verne or something, with an element of sci-fi weirdness in it. Also, it's not the horse-drawn carriages, fancy beards, top hats and tails that are being fetishized. This look is a bit humbler, scruffy and worn, kind of hobo-chic. Not to get all Marxist here, but perhaps there's an element of economic consciousness manifesting itself in a generation that has not been able to catch a break. Plus these clothes are probably not hard to find in vintage thrift shops for reasonable prices.

"Vintage 90s. 1990s. Hahaha."

"Die."

hmmm... good points o. nate.

edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros have a lot to answer for imo

I pickle the hell outta some beets but this stuff makes me sick. EIII otm.

Also I like ruffles and lace up boots but this home family sweetheart safety baloney makes me retch.

there's something too cute and insincere about it

"Plus these clothes are probably not hard to find in vintage thrift shops for reasonable prices."

this certainly helps... Additionally, from a fashion point of view these guys are not exactly creating something new and interesting. The clothes in that Stereogum picture are just slightly less primped versions of outfits that have been in every J Crew catalog for 5 years.

suspenders = vintage never should have happened, imo

but perhaps there's an element of economic consciousness manifesting itself in a generation that has not been able to catch a break.

could be mistaken but i was under the impression that mumford & co are all old money

edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros have a lot to answer for imo

Naw, most of that first record, at least, sounds like it's from the 60s.

outfits that have been in every J Crew catalog for 5 years.

I've thought about this connection, too. Or Anthropologie, maybe.

I mean so much wrong here.

http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/the-lumineers-on-their-two-grammy-nominations-is-this-a-joke-20121210/1000x600/20121210-the-lumineers-02-x600-1355172030.jpg

1) Suspenders with white tee shirt
2) TWO guys wearing basically the same dumb hat
3) guy on the right just needs a different face altogether, looks like woody harrelson after a very severe bar brawl
4) girl is smiling like it's a camp photo

this home family sweetheart safety baloney

Coincidence that "Home" is the title of hits for both Edward Sharpe and Phillip Phillips?

I don't entirely hate this kind of music -- rousing sing-alongs can sometimes be catchy -- but the aesthetic as a whole is definitely hard to embrace.

most of that first record, at least, sounds like it's from the 60s.
--Johnny Fever

are you suggesting that e.g. Lumineers/Of Monsters and Men sound old-timey? bc to these ears they sound a lot like "home"

it's funny that there have now been 6 different posters using the phrase "old timey" itt but nobody has traced this trend back to the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack at all yet.

6 different posters including me, i should say

[3) guy on the right just needs a different face altogether,

lol

it's funny that there have now been 6 different posters using the phrase "old timey" itt but nobody has traced this trend back to the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack at all yet.

― big yansh theory (some dude), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 21:05 (3 minutes ago) Permalink

Believe it or not, the following stream of thought went through my head "Haha, yeah, slavery. I should post something about how they should ironically drive railroad spikes or break rocks with hammers on the "hey / ho" part. Wait, does something like that happen in O Brother Where Art Thou? Oh yeah, O Brother Where Art Thou."

are you suggesting that e.g. Lumineers/Of Monsters and Men sound old-timey? bc to these ears they sound a lot like "home"

No, I'm saying that most of the Edward Sharpe debut doesn't sound like "Home".

No, I'm saying that most of the Edward Sharpe debut doesn't sound like "Home".
--Johnny Fever

Oh. Right. Well, carry on then :)

The worst part is that I know and love lots of people who like music like this, and I can't explain to them why I hate it. I think we could also consider adding Ryan Gosling and his chorus of children to this group too.

My friends and I have labeled this stuff "goat folk" due to the vocal stylings. I tend to parse the meaning of each song as "somebody took my mandolin and now I feel ba-a-a-a-a-a-a-ad"

hahah

lol looks like denver is officially the center of the faux-lk movement.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/arts/music/the-lumineers-strange-road-to-the-top-10.html?pagewanted=all
"(Mr. Fraites had already begun wearing his trademark suspenders.)"

Therefore I BLAME YOU.

first the broncos now this

FUCK YOU DENVER

i have a really hard time not thinking of the lumineers as a band made up of special-needs ppl

i'm gonna ride this gravy train all the way to the moon motherfuckers. where can i get some suspenders and a mandolin.

a lotta gems in that article--
“It’s really short and catchy, and people can remember it after they’ve heard it once or twice,” said John Ivey, senior vice president for programming at the Clear Channel radio chain and program director of KIIS-FM in Los Angeles.
^^^this guy has figured it OUT.

*adds John Ivey to hitlist*

With its folksy guitar and its foot-stamping, tambourine-driven beat “Ho Hey” arrived as a startling anomaly in the pop Top 10, where it’s surrounded by Auto-Tuned voices and electronic beats...It’s one more hint of a pendulum swing back toward naturalism in pop.

when this pendulum hits 2*Pi phase, please hand me my revolver

lol "naturalism" -- surely the Lumineers are bigger fakes than any autotuned recording star

they are named after a fake tooth product!

how could they represent anything natural?!

the lumineers CD was in the box at the end of Seven. They are the embodiment of human rage

OK, so we've probably discussed this already, but all this minor-key mining, hat-wearing, suspenders-suspendin', kick-drum kickin', guitar-strummin', wordless-chorus yelping stuff - this, Mumford, Of Monsters and Men and probably a bunch of other stuff on the radio - this is all the Arcade Fire's fault, right? I love the Arcade Fire, tbh, and think they're much more than this, but man, their impact has been as destructive as U2's.

Everybody in these bands, man and woman alike, reminds me of:

http://xfinity.comcast.net/blogs/tv/files/2009/05/blossom.jpg

keep thinking thread title says lumerians, who are infinity better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG_QFQq65t0

i am very cross at this "two dudes wearing hats" business, it's either one dude wears a hat or all three of them wear hats, no splitting the difference. i vote the suspenders guy gets to wear the hat, the other guy can coast on his vaguely cary elwes-esque looks.

lumerians is good, best thing to come out of this lumineers thing