Summer doldrums. Really? (And then, a rant.)

Summer doldrums. Really? (And then, a rant.)


We've hit a lull in music for the summer months. Right when we should be hip deep (in hip shaking) pop froth I cast my peepers along the horizon and come up with nary even a mirage in sight. Believe it or not the only thing casuing me to slick up the nether regions right now are a trio of garage tracks (Mannequin Men's "Massage," "Never Lived By Myself," and "(Us And) All our Friends Are So Messed Up" off their new disc Lose Your Illusion, Too) and baby, that just ain't right.

This is not to say there are not already a number of contenders for Summer Song '09 -- none of which The Trib nails, by a long shot -- but it is to say nothing fresh is hitting my internal airwaves, and I find this confusing. Seriously, we're at a point where 20-year-old MJ jams are knocking everything else aside new music-wise.

SPEAKING of new music, I came across one of the sloppiest blog defenses for a band's buzz EVAR. The band in question is The Rural Alberta Advantage, and they are a polite, nice sounding little combo whose most recent release came out on Saddle Creek recently and has suddnely set critical pants (inexplicably) afire. This post defends the sudden spotlight using dubious logic and "facts" steeped in opinion. Now, I have zero against The Rural Alberta Advantage but puh-leeze, claiming "Hometowns, their debut album, is considered by many to be the best album of 2009" is incredibly wrong. And their summation on how this band in particular -- and all bands by extension -- get the buzz they deserve is laughable.

It’s that simple; there is only three parts to it. Do something amazing. Have the right person or people see it or hear it. Let the word-of-mouth trickle through the internet.

O.K., Hometowns is not amazing. Nice, yes. Faceless? Uh huh. Politely unassuming? Yup. Amazing? Hardly.

HERE IS WHERE CREDIT IS DUE: The second and third points are right on though. In this case (hell, most cases) most credit for point number two AND three are due the publicist. Period.

What you should know is that a publicist lives and dies by the bands they work with. In The Rural Alberta Advantage's case, they were smart / lucky enough to be adopted by a firm with a good track record of promoting excellent bands. And thaat's why they're getting this massive and sudden buzz that will, sadly, just as massively and suddenly disappear, but that's life in the internet music age, right?

Also, I feel it needs to be said, Passion Pit is the 2009 version of Black Kids. Another sad but true fact.