Envy & Other Sins

[TheMuffinMan]

Round three of music-that-TMM-listens-to-and-are-awesome-but-no-one-replies-to-his-threads

This weeks edition: Envy & Other Sins, a british whatever-the-fuck band that's claim to fame was winning some stupid making-the-band TV show and got a record deal, which sounds fuckin stupid but unlike typical reality TV I think these guys actually deserved it

YouTube - Envy & Other Sins Highness

This is their first single "Highness", which is pretty fantastic, from their debut album "We Leave At Dawn", which you can hear a good bit of on their myspace:

Envy & Other Sins on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

Other songs of interest being "Morning Sickness", "The Company We Keep", "It Gets Harder to be a Martyr", orrrrrr, really their entire debut album is GOOD SHIT. Though, the songs marked "demo" on their myspace are really inferior versions, those particular songs sound much better in their studio recordings.

Also I hate you and none of you are going to reply to this thread

 

[shrekdog]

sounds good bro

i like highness and man bites god a lot

 

[Massive Attack]

Round three of music-that-TMM-listens-to-and-are-awesome-but-no-one-replies-to-his-threads

what are you talking about? loads of people replied to your margot and the whatsits thread.

anyway, guys that dress like they're decadent poets from the 19th century + one of them has a beard + indie rock + the odd organ + english regional accent = done before. I'm pretty tired of hearing the same thing being recycled over and over again. But... whatever does it for you.

 

[TheMuffinMan]

> one of them has a beard

If he didn't would you be complaining that he was clean-shaven and lack-of facial hair has been done before?

> indie rock

I'm sorry that music has particular genres and the fact that they play instruments and sing thus means that they have to fall into one or the other

> english regional accent

their place of origin is really a stylistic choice, I know, what unoriginal tarts

 

[Massive Attack]

> one of them has a beard

If he didn't would you be complaining that he was clean-shaven and lack-of facial hair has been done before?

> indie rock

I'm sorry that music has particular genres and the fact that they play instruments and sing thus means that they have to fall into one or the other

> english regional accent

their place of origin is really a stylistic choice, I know, what unoriginal tarts

The beard thing was a joke.

Most indie rock is completely generic; they aren't doing anything new or creative. What's worse is these guys try to put in the piratey sailor storylines and bullshit that The Decemberists did almost 10 years ago. In fact it was probably done even before them.

It's most likely put on. Like mockney.

 

[TheMuffinMan]

because if it's not new or groundbreaking, it can't be good music

they don't sound like The Decemberists, so I really don't get what the big to-do is of how they dress in promotional pictures

 

[Massive Attack]

because if it's not new or groundbreaking, it can't be good music

I didn't say 'groundbreaking'. By 'new' I mean, it should have at least SOME creativity, which it doesn't. This shit is just a boring rip off of a few other bands and has no originality at all.

 

[TheMuffinMan]

you know what else is generic, your complaints.

I could talk about any band and go "nothing new, lacks creativity, probably a rip-off of some band I've heard of before that I'm not going to list, but I assure you they exist and are old and thus this is pales in comparison to this other band's old and originalness"

 

[Massive Attack]

you know what else is generic, your complaints.

I could talk about any band and go "nothing new, lacks creativity, probably a rip-off of some band I've heard of before that I'm not going to list, but I assure you they exist and are old and thus this is pales in comparison to this other band's old and originalness"

"but I'm not going to list"
post punk revivial plus the decemeberists and the kinks.

and try me. no doubt you're just going to list bands that all sound similar to each other.

 

[TheMuffinMan]

boy it sure is unoriginal to be japanese and play guitars and look like john lennon, oh no now your taste in music is shit?

 

[Massive Attack]

boy it sure is unoriginal to be japanese and play guitars and look like john lennon, oh no now your taste in music is shit?

what are you talking about? Les Rallizes Dénudés? You haven't even listened to them.

 

[Bukkake Sensei]

sounds like panic at the disco, but with a better singer and slightly more gay

 

[TheMuffinMan]

what are you talking about? Les Rallizes Dénudés? You haven't even listened to them.

 

[Massive Attack]

 

[Bukkake Sensei]

Okay, in all seriousness: Chris, Galen, you both look silly. You are trying to rationalize your individual tastes in music based on a variety of objective factors and it just can't be done because you're talking about something completely subjective. Music is not rational, it is about expression, and that is maybe why I lean slightly towards Galen's side of the argument. Originality and expression are related in a way, and while we can agree to disagree about a number of bands (I know neither of you would like Pain of Salvation) I will say that even if a band is using a formula that's been tried and tested hundreds of times before, if they are being artistically honest with themselves it will be apparent in the sound of the music. And I don't hear it...

 

[TheMuffinMan]

I don't have an issue with any criticism of the music so long as I feel like someone's actually making a point, but all I see if Galen go into threads and call out everything as generic for not being original/experimental, and then lists bullshit complaining how it's "nothing new"

See, I didn't even have an issue of with your comment "panic at the disco, but gay", but "lol decemberists did it 10 years ago, you know, when I was 4 years old, and also they have british accents = SO OLD" is prissy bullshit to me.

 

[Vayne Mechanics]

music is original? lol

 

[Bukkake Sensei]

music is original? lol

The idea that music can't be original is ridiculous to me. It's a little more nuance than merely arranging the same scales and chords time and time again to create similar sounds.

I don't have an issue with any criticism of the music so long as I feel like someone's actually making a point, but all I see if Galen go into threads and call out everything as generic for not being original/experimental, and then lists bullshit complaining how it's "nothing new"

Galen I admit is a little obsessed with avant-garde music and I don't blame him for it, although originality for the sake of originality has never appealed to me. John Cage's 4'33'' was considered to be avant-garde and I think it's the biggest farce in musical history.

Any music of any genre can by good as long as it has some kind of soul. This is why pop bands so often fall short of this requisite -- they're born and bred to sell tickets and climb charts, not to express anything significant or move the audience any particular way. Likewise, this is why Jeff Buckley is so excellent. Not a great singer or guitarist, but he puts so much raw, honest emotion into his music that it doesn't matter that his most famous song is a Leonard Cohen cover.

 

[Vandread]

lol OPINIONS

Anyway, these guys are alright, it will probably take a few more listens to see if I really like them or not though.

 

[shrekdog]

does it really matter. you can bitch all you want, and no doubt you're probably all right to some extent or another, but in the end what comes out of it. i know for sure that galen for example has had some really valid arguments against my musical tastes, but it doesn't change them at all

im going to sit in the corner and listen to candi staton now