DiScuss: Is this News? - Yours Truly, Indie Mob

additional point, it really did all stem from pitchfork didn't it! maybe it is all their fault?

I find these kinds of debates really hard to call.
Fundamentally, Wavves (he?they?... I think he) was performing in front of what looks like hundreds, if not a couple of thousand people when he had that "breakdown" (looks more like too many shandies in the sunshine really). If you don't want people to talk about it, then do it somewhere a bit more private. Simple as.

As for the reputation thing. He probably owes any career he has already to the freeform nature of the internet. Music fans talk amongst themselves and spread the word. That's how it works. If you act like a cock it'll get talked about too. But I really don't think it'll be talked about in years to come or anything. Look at Pete Doherty, he does far worse and as much as people hate to admit it, he's still probably discussed on websites like this more for his musical output than the other antics, which get pretty boring pretty quickly.
Everyone's free to loose the plot once in a while, which Wavves did slightly, but it's not like he shot himself on stage or something. I think it's far more unnecessary to write long articles in outrage about it. That won't make it go away.

Susan Boyle though is different because it was almost pre-defined that what is happening now was always going to occur. The media is a complete vampire at the moment with stories like hers. Again, she's probably not nuts either, just tired or freaked out or something. But the more worrying thing is the way the media seems to systematically set these people up for a fall these days.

Wavves just got wasted and acted like a cock. I won't be losing too much sleep over it.

and promote his album pretty nicely? No such thing as bad publicity etc etc.

and i feel id never have know the name Nathan Williams if it wernt for this write up. so yeah, make of that what you will.

Errrrrr...

"Hi, we're Wavves. I'm having a serious mental breakdown right now. My blood is like a soup of adrenaline, dopamine and diazepam, so... if I start behaving weirdly, don't go away. I'll do my best to compose myself."
...
"Oh, I was just acting like a douche? Sorry, let me take a deep breath and count to ten."

Can't see this happening, really.

Lazy journalism then isn't it. Weren't Spiritualized playing at the same time? I would of been watching them if I had been there anyway.

well written.

...you know those 'influential Bloggers' are merely adopting an approach perfected by the British print media many years ago.

i said this in the piece you linked to (thanks!) but i think it's worth repeating: while the aggregate may not believe that what happened at primavera is news, among the demographics of the sites that you're talking about it most certainly is. ('wavves meltdown' was a huge google-driver for us.) yes, that group when you relate it to the population of the planet is tiny. but the internet's potential for cocooning means that among a small, rabid, bored-at-work-so-they-surf-a-lot group of people, artists who are lauded by pitchfork (like wavves) can have the same stature as susan boyle--quickly elevated to fame, covered to the point of excess, plagued by people looking for them to fail no matter what. look at any of the "big" indie blogs' threads on this band and you can see how they serve as a lightning rod. for now, anyway; a band that can inspire a 100-post thread in one month can have tumbleweeds rolling through threads about them the next. it's the nature of the internet, and it can be pretty devastating for any musician that wants to have anything resembling a career.

we're an evolution of that which we follow. Thus, I do not think the same way as my US buddies and I exist in neo-capitalism... comprendes?

Wavves is good. Really good. It's not like he just put out Funeral or Automatic for the People or anything like that, but he makes great music. Putting that aside, the dude has gone from being absolutely nobody, to one of the more talked about acts around, in Vampire Weekend-like time. How would you handle it if your practice-after-you've-run-all-your-errands-on-Saturday band suddenly, and without warning, ended up at Primavera? Pretty fucking scared. That's no reason to do drugs, but he probably would have lost his shit without the drugs.

Also, P4k actually summed this all up best a few weeks ago in the review for Eminem's Relapse: "Let's think big picture here: In some corners of the indie community, people quibble about whether Wavves are overhyped, even though 99% of America have absolutely no fucking clue who they are."

Really this is all a little like that episode of South Park where they destroy Britney Spears for the harvest. It's news because it's something that happened involving a musician that people on Pitchfork and the like listen to, but other than that it's just nonsense that it's been covered to death. Leave Nathan alone.

Wow – I’m so glad to see this covered somewhere. Especially on DIS.

I have a love hate/ thing going on with Pitchfork.

The rot seriously set in when I heard an anecdote about a Pitchfork journo shouting “I write for Pitchfork… We made you!” at a Dan Deacon gig in the US.

But I think the style of writing that Pitchfork deploys is seeping into plenty of other publications. It’s the alternative music writing equivalent of people using the word “like” in sentences a lot. It’s infectious and perhaps springs from insecurity. And it comes from the US.

For me, it also creeps into my language when talking about music with other friends. I find myself saying “shows” and “records” more.

And I say I like the Wavves album because I listened to it once and did like it but maybe I like the idea of it more because Pitchfork said it was great.

This depresses me.

But I think it’s a little like me wanting to hear something from one of my favourite labels. I like the idea of the music before I actually hear it.

Am I being brainwashed?

I suppose it’s a natural thing with music. Someone initially justifies a band by giving it the thumbs up, and then others will follow.

I think what’s irked me about Pitchfork recently is that they seem intent on creating a kind of ‘Pitchfork Canon’ of music, which seems just as cretinous as all the millions of genres that the NME tries to spawn (New Rave bla bla bla). And because they’re bloated by an ongoing round of the same labels (who pay for advertising) and PR companies, then bought into by people like me it just feels…

Boring.

Like they neutered something along the way.

You get the feeling that if someone on Warp or Domino farted into a microphone, then Pitchfork would pen a headline to celebrate.

But they can afford to be self-important, because this is then deemed newsworthy by the millions of websites and blogs aping the Pitchfork style. It’s seen as the originator. Which is completely fair.

This all sounds too miserable though. Pitchfork is quite amazing and has opened my eyes to a lot of great bands. Plus, they have a Sonic Youth week starting today.

I was just trying to be honest about my feelings towards it.