Rocking the Middle East

April 1, 2010 4:54 AM

Iraq gave us the heavy-metal band Acrassicauda (previously), who have recently relocated to the US and released their first EP. In Iran, indie-pop is a dangerously subversive underground phenomenon, with innocuous-sounding twee-pop bands hiding from persecution by the authorities. And now Afghanistan has Kabul Dreams, a duo who dress in skinny jeans and cardigans and write songs inspired by British guitar bands like Oasis, Radiohead and The Beatles.
posted by acb (6 comments total)

Kabul Dreams is a trio, not a duo.
posted by saladin at 5:06 AM on April 1, 2010

The Beatles was a guitar band? Well, up until Eleanor Rigby, I guess...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:00 AM on April 1, 2010

I can't even tell if this is an april fools joke or not.
posted by Jon_Evil at 6:41 AM on April 1, 2010

Look, I'm sorry. No matter how subversive and hunted and dangerous your band is, if you're going to pose with electric guitars as if you are playing them, at least make it look like they're plugged into something. Some trailing wires going off into the distance. Something. Please.
posted by griphus at 7:00 AM on April 1, 2010

I can't even tell if this is an april fools joke or not.

Articles posted 31 March and 20 March, so I'd say not. The Iranian documentary 'No One Knows About Persian Cats' (mentioned in the "indie-pop" link) is getting a lot of coverage in the UK at the moment.
posted by Infinite Jest at 7:20 AM on April 1, 2010 [1 favorite]

The Likely Pulse of Metafilter: Sure, go ahead and be cool and liberate yourself, as long as you do not in any way resemble what we might think of as a hipster or else we'll assume you're doing this for purely ironic reasons or because you have a trust fund.
posted by setanor at 7:40 AM on April 1, 2010 [3 favorites]