Alright. It's been a long week, and I've subjected myself (and you) to unspeakable horrors, enough to test the sanity of any rational person. There are some bands that I intended to cover that I never got around to covering; Winds of Plague, for their bone-headed combination of tough guy hardcore, death metal and black metal signifiers; Millionaires, for being teenage girls that are as insulting to and dismissive of teenage girls as BrokeNCYDE; the entirety of the "Punk Goes Crunk" compilation. But, for the sake of my soul and my faith in humankind, I think it is time to bring this to a close. Fortunately, I've saved the best (and I do mean THE BEST) for last!
HOLY SHIT!!!!
This band amazes me on so many levels. If I had only heard the song, and not seen the video, I think I would still be blown away by their combination of crunchy metal breakdowns, auto-tuned clean vocals, and the rave-up at the end of the song(!!). But the video takes it to a whole new level! These kids are not just at the forefront of a new musical movement, but they've come up with their own AMAZING stage moves!! I've seen nu-metal bands play their guitars barely off the ground before, but that was more of a slumped-over kinda thing; and of course, Robert Trujillo, current bass player of Metallica, is renowned for his crab-walking skills. However, what is on display here is something far beyond anything I've seen before. Not only do these guys squat down and play their instruments mere inches above the ground, but to throw in that weird jerky head movement? Genius! There are so many amazing moments in this video:
"Wooo!" @ 0:58
hopping around @ 1:00
CRABBING @ 1:18
running in place?!? @ 1:37
more ultimate crabbing @ 2:41
DANCE PARTY @ 2:45
To be honest, I think this song has broken my brain. Congratulations, Attack Attack! You have freed me from the shackles of logic and sanity and sent me into a fantasy world of mascara, tattoos, heavy guitars and ravey synths.
woah! this is great.
ReplyDeletethat ending took me completely by surprise despite having read the whole post first.
the "woo" at :58 is amazing.
i wish i hadn't looked up punk goes crunk on youtube. jesus.
dude, are we really just old and out of the loop? do kids actually listen to all this cracked out music?
ReplyDeleteso many extra layers of nonsense and confusion compared to 5 years ago. i think somehow it's some combination of half-baked ideas from these bands, record labels feeling desperate, and the sheer scale of the internet and all the cultural cross-wiring that comes from it's existence.
also, at various points in music history there's always been a movement around 'shock' culture. but now that that has run it's course the only way to 'shock' people into being interested in something is to confuse the hell out of them by appealing to different emotions and ideas in them simultaneously.
the bands get these ideas because they're taste in music is more diverse than ever. the record labels marketers think it's genius because confusion can sometimes be an excellent marketing tactic. and young audiences are taking it in because they're so overloaded with total randomness from the internet as it is that they're basically numb to this shit.
watching music culture being broken down and spat back out in this way is quite the spectacle. it's like the ultimate nihilism.