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Narrowminded Anglosaxons?
Curious how so little (if any) albums from non UK/US/CANADA/ANGLOSAXON COUNTRIES made all these end of year lists (except the occasional Sigur Ros...)
I know you can't listen to everything that come's out all over the world but do people on this site not listen to any non english-speaking music?
Bring-on the Non-English speaking top 5s:
1. Einstürzende Neubauten - Perpetuum Mobile (came out in belgium in 2005)
2. Berlin Super 80 (awesome 80s underground rock and electro compilation)
3. Bertand Burgalat - Portrait Robot
4. Noir Désir - En public
5. Françoiz Breut - Saison Volée
and the non UK/US/CANADA/ANGLOSAXON but english speaking top 5s:
1. Syd Matters - Someday we will foresee Obstacles
2. MAsha Qrella - Unsolved Remains
3. Emiliana Torrini - Fisherman's Woman
4. dEUS - Pocket Revolution
5. Hushpuppies - The Trap
what you say is completely true
however foreign language music has little exposure over here anyway, unless you seek it out. you've got to remember anyway that there's so so much 'anglosaxon' stuff to consume that it's usually most people's first port of call.
where to start anyway??????
yes but...
"Where to start?" is one of the ideas of this thread. If Dis users recommend great non anglosaxon albums here then it will probably be a great place to start!
Einstürzende Neubauten were way ahead of their time and have remained true to their industrial/experimental music while still evolving. I don't know/own everything they've done (they have such a huge discography), and I don't like everything I've heard, but Perpetuum Mobile is great.
Surely people can come up with at least 5 great albums from non US/UK/CAN even if they're sung in english???
ha - in response to my own question
i like the following bands from scandanavia :
refused
t(i)nc
randy
turbonegro
noxagt
raveonettes
germany:
alec empire
atari teenage riot
france:
m83
ntm
but all of those are fairly well known and are all english speaking, apart from ntm
Anything but narrow-minded
I don't think it's a case of anyone being a narrowminded anglo-saxon. The fact that so few bands from non-anglosaxon countries make a substantial impact in English and American media is primarily down to the language barrier and the fact that most continental or non-anglophone bands receive very little promotion from their record labels in those countries. Just to take an example, I can't see Arctic Monkeys having much crossover appeal to a French or German audience (certainly not to the extent that they've experienced in England) so the same would apply to any French or German band playing in England.
Secondly, you have to take into account that rock and roll is a much more embedded part of the culture in countries such as the US and England and countries like Italy, Spain et al don't really have a tradition of making that vein of music which immediately limits the amount of credible indie or rock and roll based artists that will emerge. I'm no expert on this but, as far as I'm aware, the driving musical forces in Europe are more closely aligned with hip-hop and electronica than guitar-based music.
Thirdly, a lot has to do with quality. Sigur Ros are the best example of a non-anglophone band winning mainstream acclaim in the anglo-saxon media. The reason they did so was because they are so good.
sadly
the Arctic Monkeys will be huge in France...
You think?
Perhaps, but I can't see it happening.
we will see...
The single has sold very well in all good record shops in Paris !
Has it?
Oh well, there's my example trashed.
narrowminded ;-)
Using the word "narrowminded" was just an attention grabber.
I know that Non english speaking bands get very little mass public attention in anglosaxon countries because they're not promoted at all over there.
I find it surprising though that in a community like drowned in sound where people "hunt down" new and exciting music and don't wait for it to be fed to them, there are still rarely non anglosaxon bands that make these end of year lists.
Sigur Ros are indeed good but lots of other non english speaking bands are just as good and deserve the attention.
Sadly Arctic Monkey are getting big in belgium too, even if they'll never be number one.
Notice how nobody has posted a top 5 English speaking albums from non UK/US/CAN/AUS yet either... So is it just the language barrier???
I believe so...
A fundamental appeal of music, especially for the fans that frequent communities like DiS, is to experience catharsis in the lyrics of a song. If that song is not sung in their native language, it can provide impedance. It is a pity because I'm sure there's plenty of non-anglophone bands that deserve attention.
The lack of non-anglophone entries in the top 5 is accounted for by another consideration - this site, even though it caters for all musical veins and genres, is still primarily tailored towards guitar-based music and is frequented predominately by fans of that kind of music. I notice from the top 5 list that you posted earlier most of those artists aren't guitar-based. Maybe that's an explanation?
it depends
in my musical phases, I've found that a quality band is a quality band no matter where you are from.
perhaps not necessarily indie bands, but dance artists and metal bands, like say Kraftwerk, Hardfloor, Sven Vath, Clawfinger and Meshuggah.
singing in english will always help, the english and american markets are huge
There's been loads
of German/Finnish/French/Dutch house/electro music this year that should be in lists... and a couple of Japanese records like OOIOO and maybe Boris... Japanese music always takes like 3 years to get released here if ever though.
kent
Only know and really like "Hagnesta Hill" by Kent. How does this new one compare?
it's called Du & Jagdoden
For me it's musically their most personnal album.
I'd really liked to understand the lyrics..
afrirampo
kore ga mayaku da was one of the best albums of the year
brujeria
should release a new album.
I have a guilty pleasure in Emiliana Torrini. I love her voice! (face)
Jovanotti - Buon Sangue (Italian hip hop (kinda)) is my favourite non-English album of the year though.
There was a great record from Denmark...
... by Under Byen, 'Det Er Mig Den Holder Traerne Sammen'. And 'Little Things' by Hanne Hukkelburg is one of my favourites of 2005. And Like A Stuntman's 'Fresh Air...'
cool
What type of music do these two danish acts play? I'll look into it...
DUNGEN!
DUNGEN!!!!
Kent had a very good album in swedish.
John Wayne Shot Me ( dutch ) had a great album in english.