So I started my vacation not quite how I intended to go on: waking up at 5am and reading copious amounts of Lin/Tenzin and Lin/Korra hurt/comfort on FF.net. It was kind of like ids on parade, but it was exactly what I wanted to read, so I can't complain. Plus, I found some Lin/Tenzin where the worst grammatical error was that no one told the author a new speaker's dialogue should start with a capital letter. I can live with that! (Still no Lin/Raiko fic. May have to do it myself. I'M SORRY.)
Then we flatmates exchanged gifts, and Harvey donned a festive Santa hat. I think![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
suburbannoir got the best picture.
He also ate some pancake, and turned out to be obsessed with maple syrup. He is clearly at heart a Canadian cat, albeit more Rob Ford than the Nice Canadian of Lovely Stereotype.
Anyway,philippos42 asked:
I was thinking of going wide open with "music," then realized I don't remember if you even like music, so I looked at your interests to see what in the music and dance areas you mentioned, and, "dancing like peter garrett," jumped out at me.
Well.
21st - Oils, or alternatively something from Aussie popular music in general
So I'm not a massive Oils fan, because as great as their music is, they kind of peaked around the time that commercial music was banned in my household. And then, when I was at an age to discover them independently, my Dad met Peter Garrett, and they discovered they had a lot in common politically, which troubled me. (Still does, actually.)
On the other hand, I know enough to be outraged when foreigners call them one hit wonders, or when "Beds Are Burning" is reappropriated to be about environmentalism instead of Indigenous land rights. (Yes, songs can be about many things at once. It's just this THING I have!)
Peter Garrett dancing, however, is just a joy.
( Warning: gifs. )
Aaaaaaaaaaaand then Garrett went into Parliament, and politics is all about compromise, so it was pretty disappointing.
And there was some ugliness where his department presided over an insulation scheme which ended ... quite badly for several people, and Tony Abbott (*spit*) said he was responsible for people burning to death in their beds, which is kind of a terrible thing to say to a guy whose mother died that way, Garrett unsuccessfully attempting to save her. (See also: "Beds are Burning". It has lots of meanings!)
SPEAKING OF MUSIC THAT I AM FAMILIAR WITH AND ENJOY! That is also Australian!
I've been listening to a lot of pop and hip hop over the last few years! Which makes my inner '90s indie/alternative music wanker self cringe, but that's okay, because that self is kind of a jerk.
Anyway, over at No Award, I have this big, fairly rambly post about Lorde (who is a Kiwi, but will no doubt be adopted by Australia as soon as we think New Zealand won't notice) and Iggy Azalea, whom I find equal parts entertaining and problematic.
Azalea raises a lot of questions, like, is it still Australian hip hop if you're rapping with an American accent? (The Australian country music scene is currently grappling with this very issue as well.) And why does Azalea get all this pre-album buzz -- helped massively by supporting Beyonce this year -- when Dizzy Doolan has but one single song on iTunes? (It's good, though! Kind of underproduced, like, it feels like a demo. But hey, people aren't exactly throwing money at unsigned Aboriginal rappers at all, let alone women.)
The answer to that question is, of course, is that Azalea started out in the US, and why are Australians so obsessed with cracking the American market anyway? Like, Kylie couldn't do it. And the question of what does/doesn't count as Australian art is complex, and also not really where my head is at the moment.
A handful of Australian hip hop recs:
Yung Warriors - "Standing Strong" - what is that video? Aside from being an Awkward Lip Syncing Party? This was an iTunes free single of the week earlier this year, and I don't normally pay attention to those, but there was a lot of Twitter buzz, so I gave it a chance. Which led me to...
Dizzy Doolan - So her only presence on YouTube is her showreel, but that at least highlights her only solo release, "Indigenous Hip Hop".
Starting out with Indigenous hip hop is kind of disingenuous, because Australian hip hop is quite white, and there are problems with "helpful" white people going, "Oh, Aborigines are black! They should totally be rappers!" Yeah, nuh.
The problem with local hip hop is not just that the performers are pretty white, but also there is a lot of racism in the audiences. Apparently there's a fine line between "it's cool to have hip hop in our own accent" and "it's so great to get all the black people out of the genre they pioneered". This is quite weird to me, because most of the big names are vocally anti-racist. I remember reading an interview -- I think with one of the guys from The Herd -- where one performer talks about doing a song about how racist and shitty Australians are, and looking up to realise he had an audience full of white guys wearing "FUCK OFF, WE'RE FULL" T-shirts.
And, of course, the all-white crews are the ones that tend to achieve the most success. WAY TO BE, AUSTRALIA.
Having said that, I think The Herd are great. For example:
The Herd - "2020" - this, for once, has an amazing video as well. And they get many points for forecasting that Rudd would turn out to be as craven and amoral as Howard in the end. It also features a verse by Jane Tyrrell, who more recently collaborated with Herd member Urthboy...
Urthboy feat. Jane Tyrrell - "Glimpses" is on my iPod, but I never actually listen to it, because it always. makes. me. cry. IDEK, man.
Okay, so a crew who have never, as far as I'm aware, performed with The Herd:
Bliss n Eso (feat. Paris Wells) - "Field of Dreams" - one day I am going to make an Avengers vid to this, and everyone will laugh because it's Australian accents versus American video, but I will finally have the damn vid out of my head.
Related:
Paris Wells - "Let's Get It Started" - actually the song I would have featured here is "Various Small Fires", but apparently that's not to be had on the YouTubes. Anyway, most of the current female singer-songwriters (as opposed to pop singers) in Australia are talented but booooooooooooooooooooooooring. Or, in Sarah Blasko's case, vocally lazy. Wells breaks that trend by being unpredictable and fun.
FINALLY:
Just as with Midnight Oil, it irks me when people call Gotye a one hit wonder. He's been around forever. So:
Gotye - Hearts A Mess - the punctuation of that song title offends me deeply. But it's kind of amazing, if only for the way it's the Sting song that never was.
Then we flatmates exchanged gifts, and Harvey donned a festive Santa hat. I think
suburbannoir got the best picture. He also ate some pancake, and turned out to be obsessed with maple syrup. He is clearly at heart a Canadian cat, albeit more Rob Ford than the Nice Canadian of Lovely Stereotype.
Anyway,
philippos42 asked: I was thinking of going wide open with "music," then realized I don't remember if you even like music, so I looked at your interests to see what in the music and dance areas you mentioned, and, "dancing like peter garrett," jumped out at me.
Well.
21st - Oils, or alternatively something from Aussie popular music in general
So I'm not a massive Oils fan, because as great as their music is, they kind of peaked around the time that commercial music was banned in my household. And then, when I was at an age to discover them independently, my Dad met Peter Garrett, and they discovered they had a lot in common politically, which troubled me. (Still does, actually.)
On the other hand, I know enough to be outraged when foreigners call them one hit wonders, or when "Beds Are Burning" is reappropriated to be about environmentalism instead of Indigenous land rights. (Yes, songs can be about many things at once. It's just this THING I have!)
Peter Garrett dancing, however, is just a joy.
( Warning: gifs. )
Aaaaaaaaaaaand then Garrett went into Parliament, and politics is all about compromise, so it was pretty disappointing.
And there was some ugliness where his department presided over an insulation scheme which ended ... quite badly for several people, and Tony Abbott (*spit*) said he was responsible for people burning to death in their beds, which is kind of a terrible thing to say to a guy whose mother died that way, Garrett unsuccessfully attempting to save her. (See also: "Beds are Burning". It has lots of meanings!)
SPEAKING OF MUSIC THAT I AM FAMILIAR WITH AND ENJOY! That is also Australian!
I've been listening to a lot of pop and hip hop over the last few years! Which makes my inner '90s indie/alternative music wanker self cringe, but that's okay, because that self is kind of a jerk.
Anyway, over at No Award, I have this big, fairly rambly post about Lorde (who is a Kiwi, but will no doubt be adopted by Australia as soon as we think New Zealand won't notice) and Iggy Azalea, whom I find equal parts entertaining and problematic.
Azalea raises a lot of questions, like, is it still Australian hip hop if you're rapping with an American accent? (The Australian country music scene is currently grappling with this very issue as well.) And why does Azalea get all this pre-album buzz -- helped massively by supporting Beyonce this year -- when Dizzy Doolan has but one single song on iTunes? (It's good, though! Kind of underproduced, like, it feels like a demo. But hey, people aren't exactly throwing money at unsigned Aboriginal rappers at all, let alone women.)
The answer to that question is, of course, is that Azalea started out in the US, and why are Australians so obsessed with cracking the American market anyway? Like, Kylie couldn't do it. And the question of what does/doesn't count as Australian art is complex, and also not really where my head is at the moment.
A handful of Australian hip hop recs:
Yung Warriors - "Standing Strong" - what is that video? Aside from being an Awkward Lip Syncing Party? This was an iTunes free single of the week earlier this year, and I don't normally pay attention to those, but there was a lot of Twitter buzz, so I gave it a chance. Which led me to...
Dizzy Doolan - So her only presence on YouTube is her showreel, but that at least highlights her only solo release, "Indigenous Hip Hop".
Starting out with Indigenous hip hop is kind of disingenuous, because Australian hip hop is quite white, and there are problems with "helpful" white people going, "Oh, Aborigines are black! They should totally be rappers!" Yeah, nuh.
The problem with local hip hop is not just that the performers are pretty white, but also there is a lot of racism in the audiences. Apparently there's a fine line between "it's cool to have hip hop in our own accent" and "it's so great to get all the black people out of the genre they pioneered". This is quite weird to me, because most of the big names are vocally anti-racist. I remember reading an interview -- I think with one of the guys from The Herd -- where one performer talks about doing a song about how racist and shitty Australians are, and looking up to realise he had an audience full of white guys wearing "FUCK OFF, WE'RE FULL" T-shirts.
And, of course, the all-white crews are the ones that tend to achieve the most success. WAY TO BE, AUSTRALIA.
Having said that, I think The Herd are great. For example:
The Herd - "2020" - this, for once, has an amazing video as well. And they get many points for forecasting that Rudd would turn out to be as craven and amoral as Howard in the end. It also features a verse by Jane Tyrrell, who more recently collaborated with Herd member Urthboy...
Urthboy feat. Jane Tyrrell - "Glimpses" is on my iPod, but I never actually listen to it, because it always. makes. me. cry. IDEK, man.
Okay, so a crew who have never, as far as I'm aware, performed with The Herd:
Bliss n Eso (feat. Paris Wells) - "Field of Dreams" - one day I am going to make an Avengers vid to this, and everyone will laugh because it's Australian accents versus American video, but I will finally have the damn vid out of my head.
Related:
Paris Wells - "Let's Get It Started" - actually the song I would have featured here is "Various Small Fires", but apparently that's not to be had on the YouTubes. Anyway, most of the current female singer-songwriters (as opposed to pop singers) in Australia are talented but booooooooooooooooooooooooring. Or, in Sarah Blasko's case, vocally lazy. Wells breaks that trend by being unpredictable and fun.
FINALLY:
Just as with Midnight Oil, it irks me when people call Gotye a one hit wonder. He's been around forever. So:
Gotye - Hearts A Mess - the punctuation of that song title offends me deeply. But it's kind of amazing, if only for the way it's the Sting song that never was.
