You've seriously disrupted band relations!
August 19, 2013 7:02 AM   Subscribe

Leaving the UK shadow-cabinet earlier this year, Labour MP Tom Watson confused many by unexpectedly tipping a two-piece garage rock band from the Peak District called Drenge in his resignation letter. Drenge (rhymes with grunge), comprising Eion (b. 1991) and Rory Loveless (b. 1993), a band who cite England's heartbreaking loss on penalties to Argentina in 1998 and Anti-Social Behaviour Orders among their influences, were "not totally overjoyed" about this. Their response has been a series of feral, vaguely disturbing videos that highlight the oddly crap aspects of modern British life, some festival appearances, and a number of droll interviews. Is British music finally climbing out of what Dorian Lynskey calls its deadeningly conservative, R&B-goes-to-Ibiza period? Probably not, but Drenge's debut album, released today and currently streaming on the Guardian, at least provides something loud to play at the neighbours.
posted by Sonny Jim (21 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Like em. Rock and/or roll.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:36 AM on August 19, 2013


Drenge (rhymes with grunge)

No, it most definitely doesn't. The band may pronounce it that way, but if, as reported, they got the name "from a Danish 1977 drama film," then they're doing it wrong. (The film is excellent, btw.)

It's pronounced draing-eh.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:41 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]


And to continue with the linguistic getoffmylawnery, what does "tipping" mean in this context? Praising? Mentioning?

(Good music! Thanks!)
posted by Now there are two. There are two _______. at 7:45 AM on August 19, 2013 [3 favorites]


Thanks for the post!
All hail the less than three minute rock song! This 48 year old Mumford&Sons hater thanks you very much!
posted by kneecapped at 7:49 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]



As long as England continues to produce bands like Alt-J and Teeth of the Sea, I think they're doing just fine...
posted by gwint at 7:51 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]


The writer of the Guardian piece doesn't know the difference between Indie and Alternative.
posted by Ironmouth at 7:52 AM on August 19, 2013


Can this be bought somewhere other than iTunes?
posted by cmoj at 7:55 AM on August 19, 2013


The 8 minute song is pretty good too!

no itunes? (please!!): Apparently Amazon.
posted by kneecapped at 8:01 AM on August 19, 2013


The writer of the Guardian piece doesn't know the difference between Indie and Alternative.

CLUTCH THE PEARLS
posted by Sys Rq at 8:02 AM on August 19, 2013 [3 favorites]


what does "tipping" mean in this context?

Kind of saying "watch out for...". A tip-off is like inside information. So if someone is 'tipped for the top' it means those in the know think they'll go far.

This makes me wish I was 17 again. Oh the bored anger of youth. So much more fun than the tired "meh" of approaching middle age...
posted by billiebee at 8:06 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]


As long as England continues to produce bands like Alt-J and Teeth of the Sea, I think they're doing just fine...

Savages, Public Service Broadcasting, Allo Darlin', Joe Gideon, Bo Ningen...all on their first or second album, all quite different, all great. Throw in Frightened Rabbit, British Sea Power, Foals, Zun Zun Egui, Django Django, Everything Everything and a few others that I've forgotten and there's plenty of decent British music out there - and I'm limiting myself to mostly indie/alternative bands that mostly play guitars.
posted by Infinite Jest at 8:16 AM on August 19, 2013 [3 favorites]




Ironmouth, in the UK they have been used interchangeably for 10 years. "Indie" doesn't mean like Magnetic Fields and Belle & Sebastian, it means specifically Bloc Party and the Cribs who make arena-ready rockin' pop in the vein of the late 90s britpop.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:20 AM on August 19, 2013


The writer of the Guardian piece doesn't know the difference between Indie and Alternative.

Pray expand.
posted by rodii at 8:44 AM on August 19, 2013


"Alternative" is still in use? I thought that term went out of fashion 15 years ago. Even in the mid-90s bands hated that term.
posted by Hoopo at 8:46 AM on August 19, 2013


"Alternative" is still in use? I thought that term went out of fashion 15 years ago.

I think you'll find that Alternative is here to stay.
posted by Copronymus at 8:56 AM on August 19, 2013


Allo Darlin'

Every time I think of them, I am reminded of this blog post by Tom Ellard of Severed Heads. It's about the fake girl-with-acoustic-guitar twee-folk used in supermarket ads, but applies just as well to Allo Darlin', including the comment about the vocal equivalent of cross eyes.
posted by acb at 9:11 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]


Ironmouth, in the UK they have been used interchangeably for 10 years. "Indie" doesn't mean like Magnetic Fields and Belle & Sebastian, it means specifically Bloc Party and the Cribs who make arena-ready rockin' pop in the vein of the late 90s britpop.

Specifically, “indie” here typically means something superficially cribbing from post-punk/new-wave (in having guitar lines described as “angular” and a sense of agitated urgency), only with the existentialist/Marxist/situationist subtexts from that period completely removed and replaced with a sort of sexualised narcissism. Indie bands are invariably styled to within an inch of their lives, their image managed by marketing professionals. Another thing they have in common is a certain vocal style which goes with the urgently angular guitar work, the Indie Yelp; a sort of shouty falsetto glottal stop, as if to demonstrate the preternatural skinnyness of the vocalist's jeans.
posted by acb at 9:39 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]


Sys Rq: "if, as reported, they got the name "from a Danish 1977 drama film," then they're doing it wrong."
Indeed.
posted by brokkr at 9:40 AM on August 19, 2013


Though I broadly agree with acb and Potomac Avenue, I sorta feel like the definition of indie can sometimes be wider than they suggest. Like for example this is an indie club that plays stuff like Belle & Sebastian and the Magnetic Fields on high rotate (though I guess they call themselves indie-pop). And those definitions would exclude your Blurs and your Oasises...

but applies just as well to Allo Darlin', including the comment about the vocal equivalent of cross eyes.

Definitely some truth in that (e.g. Tallulah), but it's not like that's their entire thing (see e.g. once Capricornia kicks in a minute in, and even more so the stuff on the forthcoming album which is rockier and has male lead vocals on at least one track). [Plus you gotta give them points for being an Australian band sounding like they do and having songs called Tallulah and Some People Say....]
posted by Infinite Jest at 11:08 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]


Indie in the UK was traditionally a business-oriented term for music issued on an independent or independently-distributed label. There was some angst around the definition in the mid-80s UK music press because their indie charts, drawn up along these lines, would fill up with PWL acts (Kylie, Jason, Rick Astley etc.), whereas they and/or their readers seemed to want it to mean something more like acb's definition.
posted by GeorgeBickham at 9:34 AM on August 20, 2013


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