Aural Intercourse: The glass half-empty

By Mike Prevatt

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to catch hyped Scottish art-pop act Franz Ferdinand perform. The demand for its two 2,000-plus-capacity shows in L.A. was greater than those put on earlier by similarly buzzing British act the Darkness--more on them in a bit--and I was barely able to swap one night's tickets for the other's after something came up (praise Craigslist.org). But I got into one of the gigs nonetheless, and to be honest, I can't recall an hour this year where I was happier--nor can I remember seeing a more ecstatic group of music fans than those of my fellow gig-goers that night.

This says as much about Franz Ferdinand's performance abilities as it does about how dismal 2004 has been so far for popular music. Aside from some choice singles, and fewer great albums, this halfway point for the year reminds us that there's been little to get excited about in the world of pop.

The music industry might tell you otherwise. Album sales are up from last year's dismal numbers, the pop-oriented "American Idol" was the highest-rated TV show of the 2003-2004 season and people are spending more money than ever on concert tickets. But if you took a good listen to music--whether played on broadcast or satellite radio, sampled from MTV or Fuse, or performed at your local radio station-sponsored festival or Coachella--it's nothing but depressing revelations.

Perhaps what is most bothersome is the incessant revivalism and revisionism going on in pop music. I wrote on the topic in this column last year, torn between liking a song because it's a good song, and distrusting it because the music sounds too much like its inspirational source. But as this year's most memorable songs and albums seem to pay more homage than I'd prefer, I'm starting to feel suckered. (The one con I can boast not falling for is the aforementioned Darkness. Ironic or not, that band is downright awful, derivative and lightweight to a fault.)

Even do-no-wrong Franz Ferdinand doesn't seem to fall too far from the punk (or glam or mod or disco--take your pick) tree. As masterfully as it blends its influences, its aesthetic is not what you'd call original. Sure, the structure of "Take Me Out," its remarkably popular single, is unconventional, and few bands could write a melody that catchy. But it still sounds like an update of that late '70s/early-to-mid-'80s post-punk sound so in vogue right now. We want our new favorites to sound like our old ones, apparently. We're not as concerned with artists making sonically novel music--like, say, TV on the Radio.

And speaking of that eclectic act, another problem with many of the notable releases of 2004 is they haven't held up beyond the first few listens. This year, more than any other, I've made a point to revisit my four-star favorites earlier than usual. And sure enough, on that fourth or fifth post-review listen, I felt increasingly unmoved by the songwriting, or less stirred by the musicianship. TV on the Radio's Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes was one such temporary classic where the songs no longer embedded themselves in my head. So was the case with Prince's Musicology and Morrissey's You Are the Quarry. Conversely, there's been only one record all year that, for me at least, has gotten better with every listen: the new, self-titled debut by New York alterna-pop act the Scissor Sisters (also, coincidentally, a revisionist act). Then again, maybe they'll dive on the 10th go-round.

Amid all that cynicism, there are reasons--as I reference a song title from the Crystal Method, whose Legion of Boom also didn't hold up over time--to keep hope alive. While a weekly joy remains the Tuesday record shop trips and checking out the week's new releases, Apple's wildly successful iTunes Music Store has enhanced that endeavor. Regardless of where you shop for your music, albums on the whole have come down in price. New releases by fresher and more underground artists typically release their collections for under $10; the same can be said about most first-week releases at the big-box stores (Best Buy, Target, etc.). Modern rock radio is moving on from nu-metal and its mook-rock associates, given the recent chart successes by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Modest Mouse, Muse, local boys the Killers and, yes, Franz Ferdinand. Rapper Jay-Z's implicit endorsement of mash-ups after the success of Danger Mouse's Grey Album reconciled hip hop and rock in ways Fred Durst and Pharrell Williams could only dream of. And, most promising of all, Creed broke up. Perhaps 2004 can redeem itself yet.

Quickies

Morrissey apparently told English concertgoers this week that George W. Bush, not Ronald Reagan, was the one who should have died. (Some singers' balls are bigger than others.) ... The Council of Fashion Designers of America named this week hip-hop impresario P. Diddy top menswear designer of the year.

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