Savages

Against Music’s Reductive Obsession With Newness: A Defense of Savages

Cometh the hype, cometh the backlash. Like a lot of the music press, Flavorwire has been enthusing over London four-piece Savages ever since they emerged last year. Out this week, their debut album, Silence Yourself, delivers on the promise of their first singles and killer live show. But with the release of that album, a counter-narrative is emerging, especially in their native UK. It stems largely from the sort of contrarians who haunt Internet comment sections (and celebrity Twitter feeds), but also appears in the occasional (semi-)professional review: Savages are derivative and dull, goes the argument, a rip-off of post-punk/goth luminaries like Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division. They’re not doing anything new. … Read More

A Selection of New Bands for People Stuck in the '90s

One of the more chastening aspects of getting older is watching the creeping advent of cultural conservatism laying its clammy hands on your generational contemporaries. We warned against the dangers of such conservatism and its attendant revivalism earlier this week in lambasting Foxygen’s new album, and it’s kinda terrifying to start to hear people say things like, “Oh, all the good albums were made in the ’90s.” If you’re also hearing similar things, we humbly suggest that you introduce your friends to the bands after the jump, bands whose sounds recall various ’90s acts while managing to avoid sounding like tiresome cover acts. Who’d have thought it, eh? … Read More