I spend a lot of time looking in the mirror. About 90% of the time, I use my ‘mirror-time’ to flex my pectorals and hurl confusingly encouraging invective at my be-towelled torso. The other 10% of the time is used to sculpt what I hope is a fairly accurate self-image. And, aside from the requisite physical observations ('You are stupid, stupid, STUPID! Look at your fat, stupid ugly, face, fatstupiduglyface!' is common one) , I’ve learned the following things about myself:
- Unlike the delectable philanthropists at Urban Outfitters, I am not a tastemaker. I don’t have particularly good tastes, and people never look to me to shape theirs; I have a terrible time identifying greatness (or even significance) in art.
- I absolutely, absolutely cannot think on my feet. Really, I function best when I have lots and lots of deliberation time.
These observations, as far as I can discern, are entirely true. Whenever I explain this to people, there is never a strategic pause: I am not baiting people for compliments. These just happen to be two of my irrefutable, immutable qualities.
And it’s really not so bad: my taste in music isn’t groundbreaking, or necessarily even conversation fodder, and I’ve always been at peace with it. I’ve never felt left out for misunderstanding great records or bands. In fact, I’m pretty convinced that I actively seek lacklustre bands.
For example, Her Space Holiday are a mundane band I absolutely adore. They’re not spectacular in any sense – they have sappy, melodramatic lyrics that border on embarrassing if read aloud without musical accompaniment; their music is fairly bland electronic indie rock; their primary songwriter, Marc Bianchi (see image below), was a member of proto-screamo band Indian Summer, whose discography tends to be more collected than appreciated. Her Space Holiday are, to most, a pleasant afterthought; inoffensive music that you’d feel equally comfortable playing in a pre-K nursery or an opium den.
Yet, still – I am completely drawn to them. And, I suspect that most people adore a least a few bands that are mundane by consensus – and it’s extremely difficult to explain why. But I suspect that mundane music serves a very specific purpose; which, ultimately, is how mundane music has survived musical natural selection (and is evident amongst all genres and eras).
See, mundane music can be entirely subversive. When music is suitable for all occasions, as inoffensive music typically is, it gets played during all occasions. And, when music is played often, it will, inevitably, seep into your subconscious. And, unknowingly, this mundane music will become a part of your daily life; it will quietly come to define a period of time in your life, and the events and emotions contained therein.
And this is why, after almost a half-decade, I still find Her Space Holiday irresistible. I certainly listen to them less than I did several years ago, but there’s still an emotional chord struck whenever I listen to them. And consequently, I listen to bands like Her Space Holiday more frequently than I listen to, well, current music or influential music (save Anal Cunt, who are both current and influential, and the soundtrack to every important moment in my life).
Which leads me to my next point: I am completely dim-witted. I absolutely cannot formulate ideas on my feet, and, instead, seem to come to realizations far after they’ve become evident to the general public.
One such realization, after being bombarded with MGMT’s ‘Time to Pretend’ in bars, was that is was a dead ringer for Her Space Holiday’s ‘Sleepy California.’ Feeling that I’d stumbled upon a truth hidden in plain sight, I lazily googled ‘Her Space Holiday’ and ‘MGMT’ within the same string. Turns out another blogger on the AM Music Blog had also came to this discovery – in February.
Anyhow, it’s still a comparison worthwhile knowing, and especially important to me; aside from plagiarizing Her Space Holiday, MGMT is effectively plagiarizing the soundtrack to an entire era of my life. MGMT must die.
Don't believe me? Listen for yourself. (Mp3s pilfered from AM Music Blog).
MGMT - Time to Pretend
Her Space Holiday - Sleepy California
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