technology -v- culture ... and whatever else is on our minds today

I have a problem with bands that become critics’ darlings before I’ve fallen in love with them: I tend to disdain and ignore them. I did that with Vampire Weekend, and Campus has convinced me I was a fool, as I usually am when I do this.

Black Kids, “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You”, from Partie Traumatic.

Count Matt & Kim among the bands cited above. “Daylight”, from Grand, is great.

Why do all of these bands sound like stuff I was listening to when I was 14?

Need to dig deeper: Band of Horses.

And why does Pandora think that the Strokes go with everything from the Mae Shi to Pavement?

“Eve of Destruction”, Bishop Allen (from Charm School)
“Down We Go”, Kepi Ghoulie (from American Gothic) (seemingly no linky)
“What Dreams”, Signals (okay, I owe that one to MNS. Do not miss the video.)
“Ice Age”, Good Shoes (from Think Before You Speak)
“The End and Everything After”, Johnny Foreigner (from Waited Up Till It Was Light)

I also decided I need to further investigate the work of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and British Sea Power.

What’s the point of deploying such a great riff in service of such a lame song?