# Indie-classical: for the dinosaurs amongst us :)



## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/culture/2012/07/pernicious-rise-indie-classical%E2%80%9D



> Mellor's focus on how the exercise of superior knowledge is something peculiar to classical music. Mellor writes: "At so many concerts and operas in the UK, if you don't look and sound like you know what you're talking about you may well be stared at, judged and made to feel uncomfortable by someone who thinks they do". But this kind of behaviour is far from the sole preserve of the "arrogant dinosaurs" of the classical music world.


Apparently there is a new modern dinosaur crowd of music listeners, embodied by 'the Pitchfork' revolution. I didn't know this, but half of my fav bands are reviewed by Pitchfork 

The new modern indie-classical dinosaur which has taken over, the old modernist dinosaurs, which have supplanted the wig dinosaurs, themselves overrun the romantic dinosaurs which had witnessed the Wagnerite dinosaurs constipate themselves to death - all of these have now been supplanted by the new indie-classical dinosaur.

The author of the News Statesman article En Liang Khong is an opinionated cellist btw, but it's funny seeing how he comments on how so passé our music taste really is


----------



## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Yes, hipster neo-classical is the height of musical taste. (not kidding)


----------



## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Philip said:


> Yes, hipster neo-classical is the height of musical taste. (not kidding)


What is it ?


----------



## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

moody said:


> What is it ?


http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/8778-indie-classical/


----------



## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

Yay! Another one has evolved 

Moody - here's a taster of some of the hipster neo-classical:

Music for Egon Schiele:






You romantic piano trio buffs will dig.

Rachels' was the split off from Rodan (alt-goth-punk). It's the stuff that impressed us as college kids. They did much more ethereal slow-mo lo-fi:






This piece is from the Sea and the Bells; think Debussy meets Lutoslawski at 3am at a ship's graveyard.

Full on Night: 




They also worked with Matmos - an excellent electronic collaborator to produce the harsher and more fractious version of 'Full on Night'. The trains; the harpsichord sounds ...just mesmerise me.

Even contemporary lieder ..(no!! not sccrreechy operatic falsetto) like songs (with stroh violin!) make it into the hipster neoclassical:






Forward to just over 3.5minutes if you don't have a sense of humour


----------



## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

Same guy from above (playing the Stroh Violin):






Covering Radiohead here with his Section String Quartet


----------



## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Nico Muhly - Motion


----------



## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Lukas Ligeti - Without Prior Warning


----------



## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Beautiful Mechanical ~ yMusic


----------



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Head_case said:


> http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/culture/2012/07/pernicious-rise-indie-classical%E2%80%9D
> 
> Apparently there is a new modern dinosaur crowd of music listeners, embodied by 'the Pitchfork' revolution. I didn't know this, but half of my fav bands are reviewed by Pitchfork
> 
> ...


http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/m...uld-be-about-more-elite-parties-and-private-s

I enjoyed this too, which is a link the article you provided. I think this sums up my thoughts on a lot of stuff I've complained about recently. What an excellent essay.


----------



## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

My thanks to Headcase and Philip, most illuminating but not for me.
As for the ridiculous article by Andrew Mellor in New Statesman, you must be aware that this rag is notoriously left wing I'm sure.
Note all the fuss about private schools, what utter nonsense. Anyone who can afford it, regardless of "class" send their kids to such places because the state education system is now so lousy. This was caused by the Labour Party (Socialist) and has gone downhill ever since.Everyone has to begin going to concerts at whatever age , I started when I was about ten and certainly experienced no unpleasant vibes, quite the opposite , and I certainly knew very little about music then.
The chattering classes mentioned have always been with us , you will find them at parties, in the pub, at your club, etc. talking loudlyand name dropping to impress those about them.


----------



## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

Hi Moody,

Yes - the New Statesman is shocking (unreadable most times for me due to its partiality) but then so is the BBC News replete with all their grammatical schoolboy errors.

As fascinating as the article is, mostly it subsumes the 'avant-garde' uncategorised music which transcends boundaries [fusing classical with pop influences; classical with retro 1930's songs or folk with chamber arrangements for example] which has been happening for decades.

This clip is from the early 1990s:






It makes a comeback everytime the Brodskys release (another) dud album or when Costello does a retrospective. He's done so many retrospectives releases it's impossible to look forward to any :/


----------

