Hidden World is simultaneously less “pop” and more “musical” than any of Fucked Up’s prior output. Their hardcore singles were catchy as shit, every one of them a potential mix tape entry, but that is not to imply that Hidden World is some tripped-out, inaccessible post-rock mess, devoid of catchiness. But it is that rare beast, the high-concept punk record, and I’m not sure I get the concept. Seven minute long Oi songs? Lengthy odes to outsider artist Henry Darger? Elaborate fantasy album art? Well, it’s all here, and all definitely floating signifiers–which is probably exactly the concept, as “cognitive dissonance” is a major theme of lyrics and interviews. Which is to say, they’re fucking with you.
The music is fucking with you, too. How many times can you hear a riff played before it isn’t cool anymore? I have to say, this is a single album’s worth of ideas crammed into a double album. Everything.....is..... really....spaced.....out. But, like the name of the B-side of the advance single, the record is full of “Neat Parts.” I would rather have these neat parts sequenced immediately following each other, as in The Who’s “A Quick One While He’s Away,” instead of spread out over 70 minutes, but for the most part, it works. And it works precisely because Fucked Up didn’t wake up one day and say, “Let’s just take the easy way out! Fuck hardcore!” Like The Ramones’ later work, is an established band-sensibility turned inside out to do things it wasn’t meant to do (compare “Beat on the Brat” to “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg”)–this still sounds like Fucked Up...I guess. While it could no longer reasonably be called hardcore, Hidden World has all the overflowing creativity of great early punk: The Ramones, The Misfits, The Germs, Stiff Little Fingers–bands that couldn’t always pinpoint the best outlet for their musical ideas, with strange but beautiful results.
Not everything works. Nearly every song loses momentum at some point, as the churning riffs tend not to go anywhere after a while. The songs “Manqueller Man” and “Fate of Fates” didn’t quite receive the same endowment in hooks as other songs. What also has to be remembered is the extremely limited format of the group–they aren’t Metallica, after all, and their idea of a long song tends to be to meanderingly jam out on minimal difference, instead of constructing a suite of riffs.
Hüsker Dü’s Zen Arcade remains, after untold listens, a record I remain ambivalent about–too much filler, pretentious, seemingly disjunct from their previous or subsequent records while obviously some kind of transition–and Hidden World suffers from all of these problems as well, although there is no knowing where Fucked Up will go next or if it will have much to do with this album. Nonetheless, a mixed-review of this album is not to be taken as equivalent to a review of a uniformly mediocre album. Since I have no clue what the band was going for, I can’t judge it to be a success or failure on its own terms, but any record with this many “neat parts” is so far ahead of the rest of the scene–reminiscent of Poison Idea’s Feel the Darkness, or Septic Death, or Nailbiter in that regard–that it will undoubtedly be some years before it really hits us that we all own an album with this cover art:
7 comments:
This is why the premise of DIY pop-punk and indie-pop has always struck me as ill-conceived . . . . Call me pretentious, but . . . . Blessedly, I have never delved into the indie-pop/pop-punk scene, but from living in New York I have a fair impression of it . . .
Shouldn't you have at least dipped a toe into something before "publishing" your opinion on it? Can you name 10 important indiepop records? Can you name 10 unimportant indiepop records?
Why do people post things anonymously? Obviously I know this person, b/c who would be so snarky to a complete stranger?! Well, it's the internet, and everyone has the right to be an asshole, I guess. The reason I leave the "anonymous" posting option open is so that people don't have to create an account, which is a hassle, but how difficult is it to write your little name at the bottom? (see end of this post for demonstration)
Anyways, although this person has CITED my words, he/she seemingly declined to read them. I am only mentioning the "premise" of something I have "never delved into" and only have a "fair impression of." DUH. Well, I hardly think one needs to be able to name twenty records before saying the things that I say about indiepop. I ALMOST would say that one needn't ever have heard a single indiepop song, and only know the name of the genre, before saying the things that I say about indiepop--that it probably revolves around lo-fi pop songs. I don't think that is controversial.
The proof is in the pudding, of course. The comment challenges my CREDENTIALS, rather than my argument. Typical. Yet oh so tiresome!
Also, how exhausting one's life must be if you read a page-long review of a Fucked Up record, and all you can think of is to then quiz me about my knowledge of this bogus, irritating genre.
Oops, I forgot to do the demonstration. Just imagine this is an anonymous post, and then at the bottom you would write your own name underneath your little ideas.
--Ben
As an aspiring academic, you should never say you could give an opinion on something knowing only its name. How is someone to trust anything you say when you write that something is "bogus" and "irritating" but cannot or refuse to site any knowledge that backs up your words?
When you challenge a researcher on his data, you are not challenging his credentials, but his argument. This is much the same.
Fucked Up is overly produced and holds too much in common with current Emo and mainstream power-punk.
--Anonymous
Now we're talking. But remember, I said you could *almost* say something about indie-pop, only knowing its name. "Almost." So, I think I am not authorizing any irresponsibility here. So, when you say that I said that, keep in mind that I, in fact, didn't say that.
Furthermore, (to take this seriously), I would say that one doesn't need "evidence" that I find something irritating and bogus. These are, definitively, opinions, presented as such--requiring no proof.
I am only making a comment (in my post) about the *premise* of indie-pop (& powerpop, and pop punk). Naturally, from the perspective of indie-pop, Fucked Up would be over-produced. I think that is begging the question, though--b/c what first would need to be proved is that "over-produced" is a real and definable category, and not--OMG--your opinion and preference.
I also don't think music is like "research" and "data."
I also don't think my statement about indie-pop is wrong--that it intends to be write "perfect pop songs," in a different way than what has become mainstream pop. At least, I would accept a similarly uninformed statement about punk music's premise: that it is "loud and angry" or something like that. I certainly wouldn't throw a fit or demand that the person making that statement rattle off the names of 10 records... In fact, in essence, I would be inclined to agree with that description, even though it is somewhat moronic.
Or perhaps someone better informed than I can give a nice summation of the premise of indie-pop. (To show that I am not just being stubborn).
Also, please note that I am not requiring you to name 20 "mainstream power-punk" and 20 "current Emo" records---I take your word for it that these are things which don't require further going into, while allowing you to generalize on good faith.
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