Four the last four years, I've been obsessively searching for music on the web and otherwise only for the same reason that I ever listened to music in the first place: it makes me feel good. A better summation is by Berthold Auerbach: "Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." How true. When listening to bands or searching online, I've always looked for quality and sincerity, never novelty for the sake of it. Actually, all I really want is something that "works" for me and what might, hopefully, work for you. It is such a great feeling to be moved by music or art or life, maybe it's what we live for, but to share it with others amplifies those harmonious feelings a million, billion, trillion times. Yet, one man's treasure is another man's trash, even if what they are ultimately trying to discover is the same thing; this is unavoidable.
What I'm getting at is that primordial saying that is so true, often overlooked, but needs to be emphasized regardless (if not just for my sake) again and again: "it's about the music, man." Or maybe, "it's about the art" or "it's about the holy moments you feel by yourself or shared with friends." No combination of style, hubris, or "internet hype" will actually make a band's music worth your time. It may, in fact, make you feel nothing, even amongst millions of devout followers.
I think there is a lot of white noise in the music and art world vying for our attention, at all times, in all places, wherever you walk, in any city or town you find yourself in. This is, I suppose, a result of the information age we live in. It feels more like constant information overload to me, most of the time. But maybe it's still possible to dig through the hype, the aberrant noise, the throngs of fans (or lack thereof), the magazine articles, the illustrious buzz of a new band gaining media attention, to just see something for what it is or, rather, what it might be to you: a single song that simply opens up the clouds and lets the sun shine on you for a moment. If you're lucky that moment will last a little while longer. It may even happen every time you listen to that one song. I say, in complete sincerity, "God bless that song!" and shall we go looking for more of those with our eyes closed.
Anyway, gee whiz, gosh almighty, on with the freakin' music!
Fleet Foxes in their own words: "We're a group of five from Seattle that sing for the fun of it and are into all kinds of music. We'd call this stuff baroque harmonic pop jams. Our names are Skye, Robin, Joshua, Casey, and Christian. We'll make some mistakes along the way but we hope you enjoy our little family business."
In order, here is their Sun Giant EP, recently released by Sub Pop; a mere 18 minutes of music. They are putting out a new album very soon and are currently touring as well.
Rock on wit yo bad self,
Chris :)
