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I've been thinking a lot lately about how I often like a bunch of bands from the same area or city, and how they frequently have a similar sound. Why is that? What causes it?
For example, Montreal, Canada: a hotspot of indie rock, and home of Pop Montreal. Also home (or former home) to Arcade Fire, Feist, Wolf Parade, Islands, Stars, the Dears, the Stills, the Classic Brown, Land of Talk, Metric, and so many more — just ask Montreal blogger Andrew Rose!
Out of these bands, we've got a lot of classic pop sensibility, gorgeous (and often similar) female vocal styles, and a lot of dark beauty. Do the similarities arise out of cross-breeding amongst the bands? Why do so many of them sound similar? Is it because they're close to each other geographically? In a recent interview, Wolf Parade told me that hardly any of the bands in Montreal are actually from Montreal, which Land of Talk confirmed. So, is it the weather? Their Canadian-ness?
Malcolm Middleton |
What about Glasgow, Scotland? Seems to me like bands from Glasgow fall into one of three categories: soft and pretty (Belle & Sebastian, Camera Obscura, Trashcan Sinatras), dancey and clubby (Franz Ferdinand, Dogs Die in Hot Cars, Sons & Daughters), or classic highland folk-influenced stuff (Malcolm Middleton, Arab Strap). Why does it feel so easy to push everyone into one of these three categories? Is it because I haven't heard the other bands coming out of Glasgow yet? It seems like MySpace is doing a really good job of getting bands international exposure, but maybe I'm wrong. If they do really all fit into these three categories, is it because of the Scots themselves? Scottish drinking habits? Or is it because of Glasgow? I was there recently — it’s cold, gray, wet, and industrial. Why do all the bands seem to come from Glasgow, when Edinburgh is all of 40 minutes away, and much nicer, more relaxed, more picturesque? Is it important for a band to be from a difficult place to make good music?
Do musical movements pop up in certain places because of the people involved, rather than the location? Is it sort of like the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the art world, when all the painters moved to Paris? Or like the Beat poets in San Francisco? Does this explain Florida's ongoing obsession with punk rock? Or Chicago's love of jazzy lounge?
Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes |
If you live in a smaller city like Omaha, Nebraska (where Bright Eyes is from, and Saddle Creek Records is based), do you end up sounding like a Saddle Creek band just so you can try to get signed to Saddle Creek? Is it because so many talented musicians in the area have worked on Saddle Creek records? Or is it because you can't get away from the all-powerful influence of Conor Oberst?
Say you're in an up-and-coming band, and you know you have to move from Backwater, Kansas to somewhere else to make it. In the US, New York and Los Angeles are the two biggest destinations for up-and-coming bands. If you're equidistant between NYC and LA, which do you choose? New York is an expensive city. It's on those lists of most expensive places to live every year, right? But a lot of bands and musicians move there anyway. Which bands choose NY over warmer, cheaper, Hollywood-driven LA, and how does that affect the overall sound of the bands coming from these places?
New York: home of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, the Strokes. Grittier rock, dirtier glamour. Fiercely competitive and hardworking bands. And don't forget Brooklyn, currently home to more bands that you and I can count together, and whose overall sound seems to be more pop, electronic, experimental, and cutting-edge, with bands like Asobi Seksu, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, +/-, Dirty on Purpose, Nada Surf, and the Hold Steady.
Earlimart |
Los Angeles: home of the slick and the polished. The super-clean production in LA sometimes makes me think of plastic surgery for bands. "Welcome to LA. We'll clean you up, give you all expensive haircuts, take you clothes shopping, hire a photographer who can make everyone look hot, and then we'll produce the crap out of your sound until hardly anyone recognizes it as you anymore." The thing is, it often works. Well, not necessarily for indie pop so much as for commercial radio and the like. The indie rock bands looking to get signed often fall under the spell of trying to make themselves look and sound like an LA band, though, which I think is a mistake. Of course, there are lots of exceptions to this, because LA is huge and sprawling. Silversun Pickups, Earlimart, and Giant Drag are certainly not preening during all their off-stage hours.
Obviously, there isn't any one answer. I think the environment definitely has something to do with it: how hard it is to live somewhere, how badly you want to be there, and how hard you will work when you're there. You don't hear about very many indie rock bands coming out of Hawaii, do you? Maybe you don't need to write many songs about angst when you live in paradise. But is that why the cities nearest the Arctic Circle (read: long-ass winter nights) not only have higher alcoholism and suicide rates, but also produce some of the prettiest music you'll ever hear (like Kings of Convenience, Radio Dept., Sigur Rós, and the Lionheart Brothers)?
I also think like is attracted to like. It's easier to gig with other bands that have a similar sound, isn't it? Easier to get someone to listen to you if you can say you sound kinda like a band they already know and love.
What do you think? What makes an area have a "sound?"
Posted November 2006
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tarabud commented, on November 27, 2006 at 8:04 p.m.:
This is such a great article blog! I see the truth in the regional sound. Sentinel our band, sprouted in Long Beach, CA, and it did have that sunny-seaside-dream-pop flavor, but as the main components of the band moved to San Francisco, and found like minded bands who favored us playing with them and mirrored us better than in Southern CA- our sound has evolved through the live shows, not to mention finding new musicians to play with. It has become more rock driven, and a tad grittier. I believe musicians, cannot help be influenced by each other and by the collective unsconscious that Carl Young always spoke about. I would say, it's in the air, and the way in which bands are mirroring eachothers best qualities.
~Tarabud