ivyTunes: The Mussy-Haired, Reedy-Voiced, Straight-Outta-Cambridge Indie Rock Smackdown
In our third installment of ivyTunes, we witness an epic battle of the bands that, shockingly, interests some people outside the Ivies. Our critic has the mic:Ivy Leaguers tend to come out on top. They pass through the imposing gates of their storied northeastern universities and go on to become presidents, surgeons, CEOs -- even bloggers. But never before have they become the "best unsigned band in America." Until now.
You heard right, Ivy League music fans. [Crickets. Tumbleweed.] Earlier this fall, Salon's Audiofile blog invited unsigned acts everywhere to submit previously-unreleased MP3s to its inaugural "Song Search" contest. A panel of critics and bloggers then whittled the hundreds of painfully hopeless (trust me) hopefuls down to 10, who competed two at a time over the course of the subsequent five weeks for the votes of Audiofile's readership. "Celebrities" like Rob Thomas weighed in from time to time, and last week the five first-round winners went up against each other in a bloody, no-holds-barred cage match. And guess who won?
Bishop Allen.
In case you don't know, Bishop Allen is a Brooklyn-based indie band beloved by the MP3 blogosphere for its polite, quirky pop and gimmicky plan to release one EP per month for all of 2006. (They're two short with 11 days to go. Cram, guys, cram!) To be honest, Bishop Allen's stuff doesn't bother me -- it's well-crafted and charmingly off-kilter, if completely inoffensive and somewhat samey-sounding (listen here). Which was a pleasant surprise considering that BA cofounders Justin Rice (of Andrew Bujalski fame) and Christian Rudder graduated from, um, some school up in Boston. Well, in Cambridge actually. No, not MIT. The other one. I mean, look at these people. -->But, alas, nothing gold can stay. Like the good Ivy Leaguers they are, the boys of Bishop Allen, it seems, bent the rules a bit in their quest for world domination. According to Salon, "in what was surely an oversight, the band's 'Like Castanets' had been available for purchase online as part of an EP, and thus contravened the Song Search 'Terms and Conditions,' which specify that 'the track must not be sold anywhere on the World Wide Web for the duration of this contest.' " An oversight, surely. Meaning bye-bye Bishop Allen...
... and hello The Main Drag, the new "Song Search" victors. Not that a whole lot has changed. In a surprise turn of events worthy of M. Night Shyamalan (I mean that pejoratively) the Main Drag is -- spoiler alert! -- also heavy on the Harvard. The winning song, "Jagged Gorgeous Winter," was written by John Drake (recent alum), Matt Boch (senior) and Adam Arrigo (who just graduated from some school called "Tufts"). Although the group cites pretty much every cool indie band as an influence -- Arcade Fire, The Books, Animal Collective, Broken Social Scene -- they're clearly obsessed (to the point of shameless imitation) with the uncoolest indie band of all: Death Cab for Cutie. Arrigo, the singer, was either born with the same thin, sweet, desperate voice as Ben Gibbard or has labored mightily to perfect his impersonation. Really, it's a little eerie. On the plus side, the songwriting is accomplished, the arrangements dynamic and the production packed with smartly skewed electronic elements. But the "best unsigned band in America?" What say you, commenters?
(Need more Ivy League indie? Check out The Main Drag's sister act, Blanks. They also drop some hip names as influences -- Talking Heads, Prince, XTC and Gang of Four -- but end up sounding a lot like Hot Hot Heat. Still, the expertly assembled "Pouncer" and "Kodachrome" are many, many cuts above the usual campus-band dreck. Worth a listen.)
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December 21st, 2006 at 11:18 am
suuuuuuuuucks
December 21st, 2006 at 11:44 am
Great point Adam, I hadn’t thought about it like that!
December 21st, 2006 at 1:31 pm
outlet, columbia’s sex magazine, came out with a second issue and it’s SUBSTANTIALLY better than that shitty first try. may be worth another look.
December 21st, 2006 at 5:16 pm
The above commenter identifying him/herself as Terri Schiavo is the funniest thing I’ve read on this site in weeks. I really have no idea why I find it so amusing, but I’m still giggling.
This has been a completely useless comment.
December 21st, 2006 at 8:15 pm
LOVE Bishop Allen
December 22nd, 2006 at 12:09 pm
Congrats, msb! You’re commenter No. 3,000.