I’ve been offline for more than a month. No emergencies. Stuff going on, but nothing that really kept me from blogging.
By the way, that liveblogging thing turns out to be harder than it looks. Clearly, it’s more easily accomplished as a group effort. Also, for all the frequent casual talk one reads elsewhere of alcohol consumption while blogging, that was an endeavor that would have really benefited from being smashed.
Anyway, I’m in L.A. this week for reasons that may become clear soon. One of the hot songs right now is “Handlebars” by Denver hip-hop band Flobots. The vocalist sounds a fair bit like Eminem and even more like the vocalist for Urban Dance Squad. Flobots are a hip-hop group, but they have a trumpet player and a violinist violist and they’re decidedly progressively political.
The two alternative stations in Los Angeles — KROQ and Indie 103.1 — are both playing the song. I’m guessing most people are missing the political tones in the lyrics and instead respond to it as being reminiscent of Cake’s “The Distance.” You know, more like the novelty song that rap tunes tend to be on alternative stations than as hip-hop.
Don’t believe me? Why is it that the only hip-hop act that regularly gets played on alternative stations is the Beastie Boys? My theory: they’re white, they’re rock-influenced and they’re funny. But there are other rappers who can score two out of three on this test. I’m just saying, how come the only way De La Soul gets airplay on these stations is with the Gorillaz song “Feel Good Inc.”?
Anyway, the rest of the Flobots album, which came out about seven months ago, is super-serious and political. Check out that front cover: These guys probably protest the WTO, honor the Black Panthers, hug trees, and Damn the Man. And the thing is, the older I’ve gotten, the harder it is more me to take politics in a super-serious fashion. I always try to be pragmatic, a little skeptical, and keep my sense of humor on hand.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good album, kind of a folkier version of Spearhead and Rage Against the Machine. But I think I’ve made it clear over the last few years here that I will almost always tend towards a more pop sensibility. For example, I dared recently to compare picking a U.S. president to picking a Top 40 single. And I kind of meant it.
There was a second song that really jumped out at me. It features soulful female vocals, I assuming from violinist violist Mackenzie Roberts. It starts with acoustic guitar and then the vocals kick in: ba-ba-di-ba-ba. Ah, yes. As I have noted before, ba-ba-ba-ba vocals rock.
So, to summarize. Politics and earnestness, not so much. Soulful female vocals and ba-ba-di-ba-di-bah, rock on with your bad self.
Flobots – Handlebars — BUY
Flobots – Never Had It — BUY
Tags: Flobots, Handlebars
2 Responses
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Oz Says:
It’s a viola not a violin…
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The Pop View Says:
Argh! My screw-up. Of course, it’s the viola.