Art-Pop: Reflective or Reductive?

Our first guest article comes from writer & radio host Anna, giving her opinion on that big label.

About two years ago I created a playlist which inspired this article called “avant-garde pop? art-pop?” and that pretty much sums up the way I see the mystical and ambiguous music within this genre. As the way we generate and consume culture has been revolutionized by modern technology, the meaning of the popular has changed; the commonly made distinction between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture, the ‘serious’ and the ‘popular’, has been radically erased. Arguably, the musical movement that catalysed and paved this change (at least in the Western world) was Art-pop and its embrace of the avant-garde, experimental and camp, fundamentally setting apart today's popular culture from any other in time. However, the baggage of this change in contemporary culture isn’t all that light, it comes with great complication and increased ambiguity of meanings and conceptions of artistic movements themselves. The question I’m asking is whether this is true for Art-pop. Why did I decide Talk Talk could be placed into the same playlist as Marina Herlop? How can a singular genre label group Billie Eilish and Arthur Russell together? Do these labels reduce artists and their music for the sake of simplicity or are the semantic ambiguities reflective of the multitude of sonic elements?

Art-pop originated from two main sources: firstly, the increased number of artists taking to music and performance in art schools, and secondly the birth of Pop-Art in the 1960s – both influencing the name. Art schools during the 1960s in the UK particularly offered artists a space to fully embrace their creativity, individuality, and art in their preferred manifestation, influenced by theories of fashion, fine art or even cinema. Parallel to the emergence of pop art in the US, art-pop took on an extravagant, experimental, and avant-garde attitude towards popular culture. Andy Warhol, the Factory, and the Velvet Underground show the symbiotic growth of these artistic mediums, demonstrating their goal of transforming art into a commodity. The nature of this new style of musical identity inferred a tension between ‘high’ culture and ‘mass’ culture; between creativity and commerce, breaking down historical myths made about contemporary art. Artists such as the Beatles, the Beach Boys, David Bowie and Brian Eno first set the theatrical stage on which Art-pop could flourish on. These theatrical and camp performances and embodiments lend themselves to another enormously significant influence of Art-pop: queerness. A transcendental play of queer identity, gender and sexuality serve as foundational stones in the formation of Pop-art hence Art-pop (this will have to be a subject for volume 2). The 1980s and 1990s were for Art-pop it’s time to truly find its form. Artists like Kate Bush, Björk (the personification of Art-pop), Fiona Apple, Stereolab, Kraftwerk and many more subsequently began the critical journey of cementing a new musical genre. From the 2000s onwards, Art-pop has become an increasingly broader term, encapsulating artists like FKA Twigs, Charli XCX, and Animal Collective.

When David Byrne was asked whether what he makes is ‘art’ or a ‘product,’ he replied: “I feel I’m successful when I combine both together, when people forget the distinction between the two. If I can do a video which can be artistically successful and still get shown on TV, then I've got the best of both worlds.” This is the spirit of Art-pop. Inherently postmodernist because of its drawings on avant-garde and Romantic movements, Art-pop is essentially formalism made “socially acceptable in the pop world” as Nick Coleman wrote. In the simplest of terms, Art-pop bridges conventional popular music structures and styles with ‘high art’ and ambitious experimentation. This results in a sound that might initially seem daunting or intimidating, yet it is rendered accessible and grasped by mass appeal through the focus on commodifying ‘high’ forms of art. Due to its already long life, Art-pop has evolved and birthed multiple subgenres like dream pop, hyperpop, and certain contemporary forms of R&B. The plethora of albums that therefore fall into the Art-pop category is overwhelming. Importantly, since the birth of Art-pop, it has been inseparable from fashion and art, creating a sort of triangulation; the holy trinity of art, fashion and pop. Think Lady Gaga’s meat dress, Björk’s swan dress, or Ziggy Stardust. Because of this central influence, Art-pop is almost synonymous with the theatrical, the camp, and the glam in popular culture.

The label Art-pop does run into issues that most artistic labels must combat. Words can both intentionally yet inexplicitly pigeonhole artists into categories of sounds and themes that have little to nothing to do with each other. Labels inherently imply an assumption – whether rightful or not – that what falls under them is linked, whether that’s stylistically or thematically. There should be some sense in the label; some clear communication between the name, its meaning, and the object it claims to describe. However, it isn’t always clear what the connections between Billie Eilish and Arthur Russel are. You could potentially draw out a chart linking the two, it’s possible, but would this giant chart – as it would need to be pretty big - justify the ascription of these artists in the same category? Wouldn’t it just alienate them both from the category itself, and successively obfuscate the genre as a whole? Is one small aesthetic intersection enough? This homogenization of diverse sounds and innovations results in a nondescript term that no longer holds much meaning. Furthermore, through this homogenization, efforts made by artists, whether experimental or not, are diluted and their ambitions blurred into a big murky soup. Essentially their artistic individuality becomes obsolete. Labels like Art-pop homogenize artists who each have a deep individual conception of their music with an array of influences.

Although it might be supposed that the aforementioned triangulation of art, fashion and pop that Art-pop embraces is a physical reflection of its characteristics, art and fashion have arguably become hallmarks of subjectivity in any musical genre. The way that individuality and personality have become a sort of public good; the way in which ways of living have been commodified and how that is reflected through art, is something that isn’t unique to Art-pop as it may have once been. The curation of audiences, the consumer as the ‘product’ and subsequently the artist as the ‘producer,’ and consequently the reflection within the audience of a certain genre through fashion, art, and self-expression has now arguably become ubiquitous in the music world. Whether you’re an Avant-folk listener, rock musical fan, or death industrial enjoyer, we have come to embody to some extent the way we experience music as the self has been moulded to personality. However, this isn’t necessarily a reductive aspect of the genre label, on the contrary: it is a projection of how our egocentric capitalist world has changed the way we experience ourselves in relation to culture.

The nature of Art-pop is inherently contradictory on the foundations of our classical understanding of high and low culture/art; therefore, the presence of conflicting themes and styles should come as no surprise. The label itself is a step in our constant redefining of art and culture, in erasing the standards by which we have always judged art and, hence life. It is a genre made to put forward creative differences and fuse them into one tangible form. The concept itself suggests an ambiguity and undefinable characteristic of sound. It is defined in such a way that it gives artists absolute creativity, reduces all experiences to expression; and reduces it to a form unscathed by external forces as it is above all art. Art-pop deliberately blurs the lines of its borders, which is why – even though it might be hard to accept – Xiu Xiu and Frank Ocean fall under the same category. The term art in itself is one that we know is extremely contested, whether in asking what art is, or who gets to be part of this group. The intentional openness of the term reflects the varieties that fall within it. Moreover, the idea that Art-pop embraces all forms of experimentation is a greater demonstration of the justification for these seemingly random combinations, as experimentation enacts uniqueness.

There is an assumption that comes with labels and that is the sound’s strict coherence to the meaning. This is the way history has taught us to view cultural movements, from Baroque to Surrealism or Jazz to Eurodance. We have strict conditions for what makes one a brick in the wall. I have for too long assumed the meaning to be synonymous with the compositional elements of the music, however, Art-pop is far more than that. It’s a philosophy at heart. A philosophy which merges the self with the commercial to the point of individual obliteration, simultaneously philosophy of aesthetic autonomy. Its paradoxical and fragmented nature is a consequence of our fragmented postmodern life. This in itself is a movement in our cultural world that has spread across genres, blurring the lines of genre isolation as a whole.

Suggestions:

-       Joanne Robertson

-       Marina Herlop

-       Sheena Ringo

-       Satanicpornocultshop

-       The Residents

-       Deakin

-       Gustavo Cerati

-       Jun Togawa

-       Faye Wong

-       Juana Molina

-       Saya Gray

-       Feu! Chatterton

-       Waterbaby

A Penny (or 3) For Your Thoughts?

Secretary Luke Reynolds sits down for a chat with local wizards, A Mean Green 3p Slot Machine, oof, quite a mouthful.

On the 27th of May 2024 I met up with some of the members of A (Mean Green) 3p Slot Machine [3p] to talk about them, their music and the state of the Edinburgh scene. They are a perfect candidate for an interview with a local artist, not only are they technically and musically brilliant, they also represent an emerging psych scene in a post-punk and alt-rock dominated Edinburgh. With a myriad of recent shows, notably Stag and Dagger day festival, plenty of slots at Sneaky Pete’s and an upcoming King Tut’s debut, 3p are becoming a force in the local scene.

When talking to me about the local Psych scene, frontman and guitarist Gordon McGruer said “its an exciting time … as we’ve played more gigs we’ve found more bands like us”. Their first gig was in Bannerman’s, supporting a metal band, and much of their early shows were alongside garage rockers and now, they are finally finding their niche. Key to this has been Curiosity Shop, a group which shares members with 3p, who are aiming to build up more of a scene in Edinburgh and match 3p’s recent “folk leanings”. The Psych scene is already present according to Drummer Duncan Biggar, who refused their role as a unique element in the scene, saying “its not like these bands aren’t around … I really think they just appear to you once you start getting into it, [I’d recommend] bands like Dinosaur 94 and Bütter”. The real issue with the presence of Psych in Edinburgh comes down to labelling. Indeed, Gordon told me that “Psych is a term that can be slapped on anything and so two “psych” bands can sound nothing alike”. This labelling issue may be hurting Psych in the UK where events such as Edinburgh Psychfest have a line up which highlights metal groups like Pigs X7 and the punky post-brexit rock scene (O. or HotWax) due to how wide Psych is. Although, this is no bad thing and, as 3p said, psych influence is so broad it can contain metal and punk groups as well as folkier groups like themselves. Nevertheless, it does make it overall harder to create a defined psych scene due to how blurred the lines are in the genre.

After some time discussing our favourites from the psych scene broadly, like Australia’s King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard and unique bands like Surprise Chef, we moved on to Edinburgh more generally. Principally, we talked about why it stays in the shadow of Glasgow and more broadly why London dominates the UK music sphere. Bassist Linus Sheaff proposing that “there’s a shortage of venues, a real shortage of venues, how many gigs have we done at Sneakys now?” - four in the last few months is the answer - “If we wanna go bigger there’s nowhere between here and something way too big for us”. Indeed, Duncan confirmed that “it’s the (lack of) mid-sized venues, there’s so few compared to Glasgow - they all just get shut down in Edinburgh, even just now the Jazz Bar’s gone”. Luckily, the Edinburgh scene has been afforded some good news as the Jazz Bar is returning in a slightly new form and under new leadership but maintaining the same concept. The same cannot be said for Summerhall, which is a real cornerstone of live music in Edinburgh. Sadly, speculations into its future as an arts venue have begun and rumours of property development and more inaccessible and unaffordable flats are growing. Losing Summerhall would be a real shame for the scene, especially as their Old Lab venue is the perfect size for growing local bands like 3p.

It's not all doom and gloom for new bands in Edinburgh though! 3p, mirroring Young Fathers, could not overstate the importance of Sneaky Pete’s. Furthermore, they had nothing but praise for Bannerman’s which they strongly recommended as a venue to apply to for gigs early on in a bands development. If there was one thing in Edinburgh which the band had praise for though, it would be Sneaky Pete’s sound tech, Gordon. According to 3p’s frontman, his namesake “seems like a man from the future. He looks like me, he’s got the same missing tooth as me, he dresses like me, but he’s just a bit older. He’s come back from the future to hype me up in a Back to the Future Marty McFly type of thing; he’s come to cement our career.”

Throughout our interview it became apparent that, for a local band, A (Mean Green) 3p Slot Machine is unique in the experience and musicianship present and, as such, investigating their older projects was important to see how they got here. Gordon discussed his old outfit Red Heron, who played gigs in Camden’s Dublin Castle and released an impressive self-titled album in November 2022. According to McGruer: “Red Heron was a band that I started when I was 10 or 11 which went from Red Hot Chilli Peppers covers, to Radiohead covers to finally writing our own material. It’s nice to look back on that, it’s some of the first songs I wrote, but I look at it as more immature and a bit more obvious when it comes to what I was listening to and generally into at that time – it was more energetic and rockier too”.  Duncan is part of Curiosity Shop, alongside 3p bandmate Yann McAuley. Like Gordon had discussed with Red Heron, energy was the principle difference between 3p and Curiosity Shop,  “Curiosity Shop never gets to a point in the set where you’re just letting loose and flailing your limbs like you can do with 3p. Maybe one of the reasons Psych gets put on bands is because it is what you call a rock band that takes influences from everywhere. A lot of bands that take influence from jazz or African music or other music from around the world they just call it Psych. So 3p is different because they really take influence from everywhere”. Contrastingly, Curiosity Shop remains within folk as a genre, whereas A (Mean Green) 3p Slot Machine really goes everywhere and anywhere genre wise.

The band has undergone quite a lot of creative changes recently, and it was hard not to wonder how this affected their creative process. Their process seems to be as follows. Typically, Gordon will write a guitar part and vocals, and occasionally a bassline, and then they work out the song together as a band. A major change has been the departure of drummer James Kealy, a member of Glasgow’s Alt-Rock band One Nine Eight, and Duncan Biggar coming in to replace him on the tubs. For bassist Linus this has been a major and positive shift, as it moved them out of rock, “I’m really not rocky, I’m not from a rock background at all. Growing up I played Jazz and Funk so as a rhythm section I find it easy to relate to Duncan (due to his myriad of influences outside of rock). It’s really nice. It feels great!”. This new feel has also affected how Gordon writes his guitar parts, “For me it’s interesting because I have to hold back, even on acoustic, it’s really fun and more rhythmic”. Duncan’s fresh take and unique elements of influence was clear when he told me about his favourite drum part he had written.

“The drum part on Orange - the verse groove - is really nice. I wrote it and I just really really hoped Gordon said yes to it. I play a lot of samba music and there’s this rhythm in the northeast of Brazil called Maracatu and I sort of adapted a Maracatu ensemble sound, using the floor tom as the big drums and the snare as the caixa to make this little groove for the verse. I think it’s my magnum opus. I didn’t hear it was Maracatu when I was playing it, and I was thinking ‘this is fucking sick I’ve just invented something amazing’ and then I was like ‘oh wait these guys have been playing this in Brazil for 200 years’ .” - Duncan

It seemed the band had changed their music quite significantly, and this was obvious particularly from how Amit Brandhuber, who has changed instrument from an electric guitar to a lap steel, discussed how he saw the band. This was principally a textural change, in part caused by Gordon's move from electric to acoustic guitar but also a general move from rockier to folkier tunes. Balance is vital to the five piece, and so because Gordon often provides busy finger picking lines that take up a lot of space, Amit has created a role for himself which he coined as textural guitar, which first saw him play slide guitar and now a lap steel. Amit also praised fellow band mate Yann McAuley for his textural importance as the 

multi-instrumentalist creating soundscapes which are what truly elevates the band in his eyes. When discussing his point of view as a musician he said:

“I’m not all that interested when someone plays technically, for me it’s all about the sound ( of the whole ensemble), and how its produced. It’s the textural choices that really matter. Music is almost just sort of copying with variation and creating new ideas – even when separately those ideas have been done before. A sound is great for that, you can play something in the context of a new sound. It just sounds so different and it makes people feel differently. For me that is my main interest.” – Amit

This love of texture and sound has made the band really excited to record, because it grants them “another level of textural control” (Gordon). They plan on professionally recording the tracks from their demo tape and adding a few new ones too. The original tape is nothing to scoff at though, and is what Duncan light-heartedly refers to as “fancy demos”. Considering the four tracks - which make up half an hour's total play time - were recorded over just two days, and the core of the songs done in just a few hours, they hold up amazingly well. More impressively, Gordon mixed the whole thing in one night, “at the time I was in student accommodation, and I was really surprised my neighbour didn’t complain about the noise. But Snapchat had deleted itself from my phone. He didn’t knock at the time, but it turns out he had an exam the next day and he was so pissed off at me because I was just blasting these tunes while I mixed them”. This new project should be out in the next few months and for the band it is a nice opportunity to archive the work that represents their older and rockier sound, immortalising this part of their writing whilst allowing them to work on their newer softer work. This recorded work may be mastered to tape, something Gordon did with Red Heron, but will definitely have a more lofi, tape-esque texture. Generally, the band adores the work from the golden age of recording in the 60s and 70s, because – according to Linus – “those older recordings sound like a band instead of a series of individual tracks”.

For a band that is clearly thoughtful, when it comes to the scene they are in and the sound they embody, they manage to skirt around the pretentiousness this level of consideration can come with. This is, in part, thanks to their fantastic aesthetic direction, which is predominantly done by Gordon himself. As these posters show they are stunning pieces of art, but also lean into the absurd. Furthermore, their recent press shots show them in front of a public loo and their lyrics speak of the importance of Lidl and the joys of a nice Chickpea dish – in a coriander glaze. This is more than just an attempt to avoid accusations of pretentiousness though. It is an active decision to help avoid one of arts greatest enemies: perfectionism. This humour reminds them that really the whole point of it is to have fun, and by staying lighthearted the band agree it produces their best work.

Finally, they were asked a question which many unsuspecting artists will have to face, and a tough one to answer.  Is A (Mean Green) 3p Slot Machine important to music? This was instantly met by a loud “Nahhhhh” by Duncan. After a bit more laughing the band concluded this:

“Depends what you define importance as, if I go and see a band and I am inspired by it then the scale doesn’t matter. Promoting inspiration that’s what’s important. It’s about making people have fun, making people dance!” – Duncan

Personally, I think 3p Slot Machine does more than just inspire people to have fun. As a creative myself they make me think and consider where I’m going creatively due to their obvious awareness of their sound and aesthetics. Their awareness and how this creates purpose is something I find deeply enviable, but hopefully it will bring them much deserved success and growth in the scene.

All Weather. All Man. All of the Time.

A few days ago I had the pleasure of conducting a short and informal interrogation of sorts on our upcoming headline performers from Glasgow; the band known as Weatherman. The conversation was held through Instagram DMs, and has been transcribed and reformatted as follows:

So - admin of the Weatherman band Instagram page talk to me: are you THE weatherman? Who is The Weatherman? What does this name mean?

Hahaha it’s all of us including manager, it’s a lucky dip.

To whom am I speaking currently?

You were speaking to another member but I’ve just logged on - Matt

Are you the weatherman Matt? And if not, talk to me about the origin of this name.

I’m not the weatherman, I'm not sure if there is a weatherman. Louis (guitarist/lyricist) came up with after many failed, collective deliberation sessions. He probably has a good reason for it that I don't know or have forgotten, but I do know I liked it when I heard it.

Hi (Louis here) the name came after a relatively lengthy process of me and Charlie texting each other potential band names in Autumn of 2022. There is no ‘weatherman’, but ‘weather’ or not people want to read into it is up to them.

Autumn of 2022? So that’s a few years you guys have been a full band or has the lineup changed? What brought you all together?

Lineup don’t change. We strong together weather men. Brought together by love of weather. Love of rain, sun, wind, snow.

Does each member have a weather? For example, frontman is sun and bassist is rain for obvious reasons?

All weather. All man. All of the time. But drums defo wind cause he let rip 24/7.

Wicked. I like that. You guys seem really united and strong together, how does that pit you against your rivals in Glasgow? Is there a friendly competition or is the community all supportive?

Glasgow community very strong. So many good bands… PVC, Escher, Milange, Panda Car

Shoutout the Glaswegians! Now these are you peers but let’s talk delve more into musical influences, your music has received comparisons to bands such as BCNR and Maruja, would you cite them as influential to your sound? And if not who?

Influences range from Randy Newman to Dungeon Synth.

Ah Randy Newman! You’ve got a friend in me!

That’s clearly a diverse range of influences, are you planning on bedding leftfield at any point in the future with your upcoming music to try new sounds or do you feel like you’ve found what works best for you?

It’s more fun to play around with different stuff. The more diverse the better I say!

That’s a promising mindset I look forward to hearing what you’ll be cooking up, have you got a game plan for releases? Can we expect an LP on the way?

We’re very skint at the moment so nothing coming up immediately. No game plan sadly.

It would be nice to get signed first. So, we’re just trying not to be complacent and keep moving forward as a band. Also, BCNR and Maruja are both great and I think the music they put out has opened up some fertile ground for bands generally to get more creative and push their music in a wider array of directions.

Speaking of “pushing” you’re a band that’s been around a few years, in that time what have been the biggest adversities you’ve had to face? The biggest hurdles, challenges and such? Give me 3 band struggles.

Matt has a cuckoo alarm clock set on his phone that has been problematic when I’ve had to share a room with him. We suspect a shadowy organisation is manipulating our minds and music (not sure tho). Louis struggles to see the bright side of life.

In all seriousness, having time to collaborate and flesh out new tracks is a commodity for us at the moment. Being 4th year students money also poses a problem for recording the tracks and getting them how we want them to sound. We really want our sound to be distinct from other bands that are currently doing incredibly well. There’s definitely a lot of imposter syndrome-esque feeling to that aspect as we’re a small band and being compared to similar sounds is inevitable, yet appreciated. - Matt and Eoin

I appreciate that guys, lastly give me 3 reasons why people should be excited for your upcoming gig, I’m on the way to see the smile today; what are you lot doing better than good old Thom and co?

I hope you enjoy the smile! That’s tricky. In terms of doing something ‘better’, I guess it’s inevitable that we’re making music at a time where people like Thom York and Johnny Greenwood are firmly part of the musical foundation that bands can refer to for ideas. Hopefully, we will be better at being ‘newer’ as the cabinet of inspiration is stocked high.

You should be excited to see us if a) you enjoy live music. We’re going to do our best to play well and keep y’all swell - and the support acts are great!

B) We’ll hopefully have some new songs (all new if you’ve never seen us (bonus))

C) We’re excited. So it will be great to see people there.

Cheers for talking to me lads, earth, wind, snow etc, been a pleasure and good luck for your gig!

Thank you!