Thursday 11 December 2008

Oh...heh...quoi?

Camille - Vous (live)


My friend, the musician, liked "Le Fil". She was the one sending me the concerned mail after the first new song of "Music Hole" was released, declaring that this would be the end of fanship as far as she was concerned. I have indicated this with the post about Cat Power: Fans have expectations of their favourite artists. If those expactions are not met, if their favourite artists suddenly find happiness, or mainstream success, or a different style, they tend to react with some kind of disapproval. This occurred to me when I was listening to Camille's "Le Fil" record: that it is kind of arrogant to have expectations.
What I meant to say was that Chan Marshall released a collection of songs n an EP called "Dark End of the Street". Six songs that didn't make it on the "Jukebox"-record - cover versions of songs by Aretha Franklin and Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Pogues. Pitchfork disliked it to an extent quite unusual for Pitchfork, but look at the first paragraph and you'll get your explanation: disappointed fans. Betrayal because expectations are not met. This is the arrogance of fans: you used to suffer for us, Chan, and present material that exonerated sins in a manner usually only found in religion. And now you have moved on to a different place and we are still stuck at where we were when you sang "I hate myself and I want to die". I named my blog after a song that, whenever I hear the opening chords, invokes a landscape I will never be able to paint, photograph or capture in a story. For 2009, I have one wish: I want to hear original material, and I want to be able to listen to Camille's "Vous" and not remember how the entire "Music Hole" record never lived up to that promise and finally get over wanting other people to fight out the conflicts I'd have to confront myself with.

Oh, by the way: Dido has a new album out after five years. It's called "Safe Trip Home" and there has been some discussion about her usage of lyrics of a famous Irish nationalist song but I don't care cause "Don't believe in Love" is one of the prettiest flawed love songs released in the past few years. (the video is only available on YouTube directly but I'll share the song minus video anyways)


2 comments:

? said...

This is interesting...Ill be back in a sec

? said...

Thanks for the song and I'm checking 'Safe Trip Home' out