Review Summary: cici un le pipe
Roland Barthes argued that ruling ideologies stripped popular culture of their original meaning, reducing them down to signs which could have mythologies made about them to uphold hegemony. “For The First Time” is the perfect representation of this.
Black Country, New Road are in essence, a collection of signs and signifiers of the critically acclaimed cannon of disruptive, alternative music, stripped of any of it potence, ideology or any ability to disrupt or challenge.
Post Punk, Free Jazz and Neo-classical minimalist are mined entirely aesthetically by a band who either have absolutely nothing to say yet or worse, are trying to say absolutely *** all on purpose. When Ariel Pink is storming the capitol building in a MAGA hat, maybe ironic hipster detachment has ceased to be the cool, EdGy or progressive idea you thought it was.
The worst part of Black Country, New Road may be that the critical response to them has been positive. The same critics who would rightly pan any band of Rockists who came along churning out cliched, retromanic guitar music are now fawning over retromanic, cliched guitar music, simply because of a surface veneer of experimentalist tendencies.
TFW you’ve read what Mark Fisher or Simon Reynolds said about post punk’s modernist tendencies but now think modernism is a timbre rather than an idea. This enables middle aged music critics to still believe they are radical despite the rightward shrift in their political outlook.
This is music to appeal to the worst elitist tendencies of liberalism. This is music for people who take Stewart Lee routines at face value. This is music for people who still like Tony Blair. Now, that’s what I call neoliberalism.
Context is important and contextualised “For The First Time” is the bare minimum you can expect from a band with a classically trained background and levels of individual privilege. The record falls down because it’s as glib as it is smug. Many young bands homage the past but do so with an earnestness that papers over the lack of invention while they figure themselves out.
“References, References, References” may seem like a sly, self aware nod but if you’re aware of the biggest flaws of your record while you’re making it and you do nothing to correct them, what’s the point?
6 tracks, 3 of which were released as singles in better arrangements? The absolute bare minimum. What’s the point?
“Track X” shows what could have been and what could still be for this band. Their obvious musical talent and industry connections will give them countless opportunities to make actually good music but this very much isn’t it.
A hype band for people too cool for hype bands. Palma Violets for your dad. Everything that’s wrong with the way we talk about modern guitar music. ***ing sucks.
