Wednesday, February 11, 2004

The hegemony of rap and hip-hop seems to be complete, given the genre's near-sweep of the Grammys on Sunday night.  The only winning exceptions that I noted were Evanescence - never heard their music, never even heard of the band until Sunday- and Coldplay, who are just fine, I suppose, but are clearly a mass-consumption distillation of more experimental bands like Radiohead (noting here the irony of distilling one of the most popular bands in the world).   I certainly believe that the OutKast album is one of the year's best, and these days my car radio is tuned to the local hip-hop station.  However, this sort of acceptance by a body widely acknowledged as being woefully behind the curve indicates that hip-hop forms once so cutting-edge (e.g. Missy Elliot/Timbaland, Jay-Z, etc) are in need of a creativity infusion.  Last Sunday's New York Times Magazine feature on Timbaland and The Neptunes only confirmed this, somehow.  Actually, I know exactly 'how' - Timbaland references Coldplay and Dido as the "illest" music of the year; certainly that retreat into rock/singer-songwriter forms bodes ill (in the most literal, non-vernacular sense) particularly when falling from the lips of one of hip-hop's most innovative producers and writers.  It will be interesting to see what sort of response the U.S. release of the Dizzee Rascal CD garners.  Certainly it is much more "avant" than what I currently listen to on the airwaves.  Even I am a bit put off by it, and I'm a reasonably adventurous listener.  By the way, I think "White Flag" by Dido is a quite excellent song, actually.  It possesses that dedication-veering-into-obsession quality not heard in pop since "Every Breath You Take," only for the ladies this time.  And, like the Police classic, I'm convinced that "White Flag" will become a wedding reception/prom night/valentine mix tape staple for those blissfully unaware of its near-pathological subtext.   There's nothing too very wrong with melodic, adventurous pop music, though.  In fact, there's a tremendous amount that's right about it, when done well - the rush of hearing a great song come on the radio is an infinitely renewable pleasure, it seems.  With OutKast, Missy, etc. it seems as though hip-hop has finally transcended genre, and is nothing more or less than popular music, circa 2003/4.  I heard "Hey Ya" the other day on my local public radio station, played by the most staid, ill-informed, cloth-eared DJ in town (John Aielli, if you live in Central Texas). Everybody loves "Hey Ya," from my uber-hipster friends, right down to my eight-year-old niece and my mom.  When's the last  time that happened to an objectively great song? Anyway, things go on outside the mainstream.  I picked up new Soul/Jazz Arthur Russell compilation today, as well as the most recent release from Rachel's, Systems/Layers.  The Arthur Russell is a true mind-blower, so sweet and tender, yet so brave, experimental and unblinking.  I understand that the comp of his unreleased stuff, Calling Out of Context, is even better, if that's possible.  I'm looking forward to picking that up next week.  4:17:51 PM