Fat Freddy's Drop
So, Simon Sweetman's live review of Fat Freddy's Drop (he really, really didn't like them) seems to have touched a nerve amongst some in the Wellington music scene. A few (actually, quite a lot) have come out in support of Sweetman - says Josef...
the perfect music for the iPod generation who wouldn't know good music if it bit them in the ass.
And Hugh...
Thank goodness someone has seen the elephant in the room and had the courage to say it like it is. FFD as individuals may be talented, but the group sound is noise and inutterably boring. And the incessent chirping about how good they are is the ultimate sadness. Well done Simon
But, likewise, the FFD supporters are also out in force. From a guy called guy...
Your douchery has no limits. FFD are awesome. Regardless of what you think. You.. not surprisingly are not.
And Seb says...
How about realising the success they have had. They must be doing something right for them to do as well as they have. You just have poor taste in music.
So, what do you think? The Drop, hot or not?
[Updated - the poll, which wasn't working for some users yesterday, should be ok now. Vote away...]
Is liking them more than UB40 supposed to be good or not? I'll take the fire ants over UB40 any day! But I quite appreciate the Drop most days
That is for you to decide. ;)
Fat Freddy's Drop are (mostly) very nice people, but seriously, they're the Grateful Dead* of C21st Aotearoa. Their musical chops (the "style") are solid-ish if not over-long, indulgent and ultimately boring, but their lyrics (the "substance") are fucking embarrassing, inane, inconsequential rubbish. However, they've worked incredibly hard to get where they are, and they TOTALLY deserve their legion of uncritical feet-shuffling head-nodding "Fred-heads".
(* or possibly the Marillion. Or Phish. Or something.)
Unfortunately, just like Dead-heads, Fred-heads can't really explain why they think FFD is so good, and they treat you with incredulity when they discover you don't like their beloved band. "You just don't get it, man" etc.
Also, just like Dead-heads, you really don't want to spend too long in their company unless you get somehow absorbed into their weird cult-like zombie BORG group mind thing.
Having said all that, though, I would take FFD over the Black Seeds any day. The Blacks Seeds are a musical abomination, they're the UB40 of C21st Aotearoa and even then I feel a little bit bad labelling them as such because UB40 actually have made ONE good song ('Ivory Madonna').
This whole thing with Simon Sweetman conflicts me terribly. I agree with him on this 100%, but I'd already written him off earlier in the year when he said that the Leonard Cohen concert was the best one he's ever been to (for the record, I thought Lenoard Cohen was super super awful.) So how do I reconcile this? #trialsofmodernlife
Fred-heads! I like that.
I can't really get excited about them one way or the other. A handful of the songs are pretty good, but done to death, and the others are forgettable but inoffensive.
I know that people slag off FFD and The Black Seeds as "barbeque reggae", but is there really anything wrong with that? What is one supposed to listen to at a barbeque: barbeque black metal, barbeque free jazz or barbeque ambient glitchcore? I often prefer music to be challenging and complex, but sometime mellowness is called for.
And it least it's better than bloody alt-country *ducks*
BBQ Thrash. I sense a niche...
Missing the point WIN.
"Barbeque Reggae" means that it is ONLY good for a bbq, that they're stultifyingly boring and/or offensively vapid when you are expected to actively pay attention.
And they are good BBQ Reggae, I guess, although personally I would prefer some gunuwine Jamaican stuff.
Barbecue, barbecue, barbecue. With a C not a Q.
Thank you.
O RLY?
BBQ!
If you spell it "barbeque", you have to pronounce it "bar-bee-keh".
Will do from now on.
Thank you, I knew I couldn't be the only one thinking that.
Ahem
...ummm...as per my Wikipedia citation link?
I swear on my grandmothers knitted legwarmers I have never seen it spelt "barbecue". Usually when I say things like this, I get shoes thrown at me and told "shuddup, its probably one of your south island things" but I swear it isn't. I mean, The BBQ Factory isn't called so for nothing!
Yeah, its not the BBC Factory is it? ;)
It's abbreviated to BBQ because that almost sounds like bar-be-cue.
Srsly, barbecue comes from the Spanish word barbacoa. The barbeque spelling is probably influenced by the "BBQ" abbreviation.
But if enough people spell barbecue with a Q, eventually that'll make it into the dictionary (and it looks like that's happening).
It's still wrong, though.
How is it wrong? Language has always been a continuously evolving entity, with new words and ways to spell things being invented all the time. 10 years ago they were still argueing over the best way to spell email.
But hopefully we can agree that anyone who missuses they're, their, or there is a complete nincompoop.
It's just wrong cos I say it's wrong, yo.
They're probably done to death in New Zealand. I saw them live in Copenhagen late last year, on a Sunday nite, and it was a sold out and awesome gig. I had no expectations of it being much good, but they blew the whole room away - probably about 1,000-1,500 people. I was surprised at how many locals had heard of them.
FFD are the new Shihad
You're gonna have to explain that.
Shihad are the new Dance Exponents.
Dance Exponents are the new Smokeshop
Shit, really? OK. Shihad have been generating the same kind of interweb forum nonsense for years, for exactly the same reasons. They're both very popular in NZ and both bands music tends to polarise opinions.
First saw them in 02. They were amazing, were tight and read the audience well. The notes were sharp and clear. Last time I saw them they bored me to death. They just sounded like Mu had preprogrammed their entire set. And then put the band underwater.
I'd like to think I just got bored of them, or my musical tastes grew in the meantime, but I suspect they got self-indulgent on the back of praise and album sales.
they suck, end of story, hyped up pc nonscience for cafe goers to listen to
while broing themselves to sleep, and theres
nothing more lamer than having john campbell in your music video!
Wow, that comment is almost enough to make me like them. If Fat Freddy's Drop is for people who like cafes and good grammar, then I'm all for them.
Besides, if there's one thing "more lamer" than using a linguistic construction that even a Lolcat would reject as sloppy, it's using the term "pc" to refer to anything other than a Personal Computer" or "Police Constable". I do somewhat appreciate the neologism "nonscience", though in this case it seems irrelevant. Yes, the members of Fat Freddy's Drop are musicians rather than scientists, but what is your point? Your rhetoric is as imprecise as your punctuation is woeful.
DOG'S GO WACKO FOR SMACKO!!!
I'm afraid I'm with Roger on this. As far as I'm concerned, the only good pop is pop about science. I generally only listen to music about science, and I can say that this has made me a better person.
For example, today I have listened to "I am a scientist" by Guided By Voices, "Science" by System of a Down and "She Blinded Me with Science" by Thomas Dolby.
If Fat Freddys Drop want to get with the new millennium, I highly recommend they introduce some science into their tunes.
DROPPIN' SCIENCE LIKE GALILEO
Have you listed to 'I Am a Scientist' by the Dandy Warhols?
At least you didn't mention Coldplay. Though I suppose a Mad Professor remix could be interesting.
Someone start the BBQ/C debate again. Far more interesting.
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