Bohemian Suburb Rhapsody

February 28, 2010 5:21 PM

Veteran Australian pop satirist New Waver, best known for covers of pop songs rewritten from a pessimistically neo-Darwinian point of view, has a new album out. Titled Bohemian Suburb Rhapsody, it looks at the subjects of gentrification, the explosion of revivalist styles in "hip" music, contemporary white-collar culture, the ideology of the "creative class" in the post-industrial age and the resulting oversupply of cultural products, through the medium of cover songs and musical montage. The album is free for dowloading from New Waver's web site; there is a more detailed explanation here, and a video for the song "Hey Dude" (which explains the dynamics of gentrification through the medium of a Beatles cover) here.
posted by acb (14 comments total)

That reminds me, if I hear one more redeveloper spew some shit about how "creatives" are going to save my broke-ass city... and how their restaurant will feel totally different than all the other restaurants in town when a group of creatives sits down next to me... [shudders]

I am giving media the best years of my life.
posted by limeonaire at 5:36 PM on February 28, 2010 [4 favorites]

Apropos of the linked song "Media I Gave You All The Best Years Of My Life."
posted by limeonaire at 5:38 PM on February 28, 2010

Also, this manifesto, linked from the longer explanation, is most excellent.
posted by limeonaire at 5:51 PM on February 28, 2010

Blaming hipsters for gentrification is about as stupid, pointless, and misdirected as blaming Usain Bolt for all the child labor used to make his Pumas.

Who do you think is raising the rents?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:57 PM on February 28, 2010 [2 favorites]

Supply and demand. The presence of hipsters (or, rather, of music venues, bars, cafés, art galleries and other such things; see also: Stuff White People Like) makes an area more desirable to live in for people with disposable income and leisure time, and increases demand and the asking price of accommodation.
posted by acb at 7:13 PM on February 28, 2010

I learned quickly in my karaoke career that midi arrangements of Money for Nothing sound atrociously bad. Apparently this is less apparent to other people.
posted by ropeladder at 7:33 PM on February 28, 2010

Blaming hipsters for gentrification is about as stupid, pointless, and misdirected as blaming Usain Bolt for all the child labor used to make his Pumas.

Who do you think is raising the rents?

Who's blaming hipsters for gentrification?
posted by limeonaire at 9:09 PM on February 28, 2010

Who's blaming hipsters for gentrification?

"This is about hipsters' unwitting role in the thirty-year transformation of inner Melbourne from ghetto to real-estate bonanza."
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:50 PM on February 28, 2010

That sounds accurate to me. Hipsters and artists have a role in gentrification, much as yeast has in the baking of bread. They're more of an ingredient than an agent.
posted by acb at 2:11 AM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]

Love these guys. We're Gonna Get You After School (mp3 link) is one of my favourite pieces of sneering bad-disco misanthropy.
posted by jodrell banksmeadow at 5:39 AM on March 1, 2010

And gentrification is...bad. Right. Because slums should STAY slums, permanently. The model for inner city neighborhoods should be Detroit, because at least the rents aren't rising, and nobody is being forced out.

After all, nobody wants to lose the opportunity to say "look at those blighted inner city neighborhoods! There's nothing that can be done! Isn't awful?"
posted by happyroach at 7:38 AM on March 1, 2010

And gentrification is...bad. Right. Because slums should STAY slums, permanently.

Gentrification doesn't eradicate slums, it relocates them so that they're even further away from public wealth (like parks and hospitals) and workplaces.
posted by stammer at 3:09 PM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]

Operative phrase here: unwitting role. Nothing linked herein is blaming hipsters for their role in gentrification.
posted by limeonaire at 4:06 PM on March 1, 2010

Most culture now is made with PCs, and their ubiquity means we are flooded with their output: novels not read, music not listened to, documentaries not watched, spreadsheets not studied and games not played. There is such an over-supply of culture that in polite company it is considered a duty rather than a pleasure to consume it.

true
posted by fleetmouse at 5:17 AM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]