February 5th, 2008
Our Brother the Native and Musical Sabotage
Pedro hasn’t stopped talking about how good Our Brother the Native are, and damn it, he’s right. Their philosophically titled album Make Amends For We Are Mere Vessels is out on February 22nd on FatCat.
What do they sound like? I Prefer the Obscure Remix sums it up:
“Although the songs vary wildly in style, mood, and length, OBTN now share more in common with bands from the post-rock era such as Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and most notably Sigur Ros, rather than Animal Collective and Coco Rosie.
The three teenagers hail from the US (two from Michigan, one from California) and they have a huge future ahead of them. Most of the Youtube footage I found doesn’t do them justice, but check out their myspace page to get a flavour of what they do. MAFWAMV will certainly be one of 2008’s album highlights.
But I have a tiny beef.
Once in a while, over the gorgeous, soaring, epic music that these ridiculously precocious chaps make, comes a faraway blast of screeching. It’s a bit like a boy pretending to be Diamanda Galas if she joined Napalm Death. I remember using the phrase Musical Sabotage to himself once, after we’d been to Fourtet at Wonky (remember that?) in the Guinness Storehouse a few years back. Having heard the global noodlings of Pause, I was so disappointed when Kieren Hebden spent the entire gig messing up his fantastic tunes with pneumatic interruptions. It was unbelievably grating - to the point that it sounded like he was sabotaging his own music. Don’t get me wrong, I like bleepy scratches and asymmetric chaos (Squarepusher, Authechre, Aphex Twin, m’lud) as much as the next music geek and have a high tolerance of cacophony - but Hebden’s live approach, on that occasion anyway, completely undermined the original music.
Any other examples of musical sabotage? Or are there any acts who are almost perfect, but wrongfoot it with one tic or embellishment that’s a step too far?
February 5th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Not entirely gone on Our Brother the Native yet, the screeches do nothing for me.
February 5th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Niall, I think the music is amazing, but the screeches take away from it.
Anyone else you can think of who has added something to their music which has a negative, rather than positive effect on the whole sound?
February 5th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
You’ve already mentioned Four Tet live who is a big culprit.
Can’t think of any others off-hand..
On the flipside, the new Foals album has horns on it which add rather than detract but the hardcore fans are up in arms over them.
February 5th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I think the screaming and screeches are awesome, they do A LOT for me.
I must admit I am surprised by most people’s opinions of the vocals when they hear the album.
February 5th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Ok, ok I am convinced. First Pedro, then IPTOR, now you. My respect for your collective good taste means I will do my best to get my hands on this one as soon as I can.
I totally agree with Four Tet and Musical Sabotage. I saw him at Benicassim, just after Pause was released and I had the same impression.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Some people I know write off the Ys album because Joanna Newsome occasionally goes off the vocal register with the odd screech. If you ask me that’s their loss.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
I think Beck has just about something annoying in anything he’s done since ‘one foot in the grave’, but that’s just me….
February 5th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I love the new Our Brother The Native album too, especially the screeches. I love the way they completely mess with their sound and have loads of blood-curdling screams and screeches in the middle of these quiet-loud-quiet Sigur Ros passages. And it really messes with people’s heads when you play it on the radio. More bands should put blood in the music like this.
February 5th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Many artists sabotage themselves with dodgy lyrics. I’m far too sensitive; if I hear a cheesey/cringey lyric, the song is ruined! Morrissey is a classic offender. So too are dozens of hiphop acts, with sexist/racist or I’m-the-man lyrics. Same goes for much of ragga (typical lyric: “Kill the batty boy”!).
I know you will completely disagree here, Sinead, but I think PJ Harvey sabotaged herself on her last record with her vocal style. To me she sounded like a little abused girl singing in a closet!
Also - my own personal prejudice here - nearly any use of a flute is wrong! (I am sensitive to high pitches.) Same goes for pan-pipes. Although that goes without saying really.
Rant over.
February 6th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Niall, I like the Foals stuff, even though they’re getting hyped to heaven.
Pedro, a few people I’ve talked to about it can’t bear the vocals, but love the music.
Red, I think you’ll love it. Fourtet should knock that stuff on the head.
James, I used to feel that way about JN until I saw her live. Also never had so many baby kicks at a gig as at that one.
Morgan, yes Beck is indeed guilty, and it’s often done in the name of being wacky and just doesn’t work.
Jim, I knew you’d love it. Bet you get some interesting texts into Phantom about it
Sylvia, agreed re the racism/sexism stuff. Puts me right off. Yeah, I love the Polly record, but not everyone liked what she was doing with her voice.
Not even flute samples? What about the Beastie Boys?
February 6th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
How about that Charlatans album a few years ago that Tim Burgess delivered in falsetto? Painful! It sounded like a bag of cats drowning.
Or every good pop tune Justin Timberlake has ever destroyed by insisting on doing his human beatbox. He is not Rahzel, and he does not have dope skillz.
Kele from Bloc Party using a vocoder to make himself sound more like Cher?
I could go on, the list is endless Sinead.
I think I mentioned in my review of OBTN that the vocals are pretty off-kilter, but I expect them to slot into place in a more conventional manner on future recordings. It’s just something they have to get out of their system. They’ll tire of it themselves in time. Kids.
John Barnes on ‘World in Motion’?
See, endless!!
February 9th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
I actually love the vocals. They seem to suit the music perfectly.
May 29th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
[…] US teenagers - John-Michael Foss, Chaz Knapp and Josh Bertram (who sent the above piece) - who make eerie, exceptional music. Their album, was released last week on Fatcat. For more information on the band, including […]