Everything Everything

It was not intended to be funny.
I am perfectly serious.

Henry Plainview wrote: Also, I think it's hilarious that you love this band so much that you probably had an erection while you wrote that, but you think the Paper Chase's singer is too annoying. :P

Yep, I had to change my trousers after hitting "post". Paper Chase is fine in small doses but that whiny american indie voice does tend to grate after a while. Could be an accent thing. One of the things I like about EE's vocals are the complete absence of faux-american accents which blights a lot of our homegrown indie.

Listening to the album on myspace, remember now what made me so excited earlier. I repeat, I have never been so excited by a new band this way.  I still don't want to believe this is for real, this can't be happening, where the heck did these guys come from!    The vocals are quite terrible, but I am too blown away by the arrangements to care.  If there's a Gentle Giant in the 21st century, Everything Everything is IT.  In saying so, I am fully aware of the guffaws this statement is going to attract in several quarters. I don't care, I am sticking my neck out on this.  So...what do you do, Trouserpress, and where could I meet you?   Just jk. 

Trouserpress wrote: rogerthat wrote: If there's a Gentle Giant in the 21st century, Everything Everything is IT.  In saying so, I am fully aware of the guffaws this statement is going to attract in several quarters. Bang on the money. I think the major difference is that GG, though they obviously encompassed a hugely diverse range of sounds, were normally rooted in blues like the majority of popular music at the time. EE take a similar approach but their sound is often rooted in hip-hop, which is way out of the comfort zone for a lot of people on this board. I think that might be one of the reasons they're not catching on round these parts.

Yeah, GG were a lot more 'rock' than this band.  I have been saying it for sometime that new, amazing progressive music will not come from rock as we know it because that's a stagnant and saturated form.  There's some way for Everything Everything to go before they can have their Acquiring the Taste or Free Hand but this is already an incredible debut and, dare I say it, better than the self titled debut of Gentle Giant.

Henry Plainview wrote: But his voice is so whiny too! Maybe it's the accent plus the falsetto, although I'm generally not a fan of falsetto in any circumstances. I'm curious now, what UK indie bands fake American accents? I only know about popular UK music when it intersects with the US.

I can't really give you an indie example as I'm no expert on the UK indie scene, I just latch on to anything interesting which comes my way. There's always been a tendency for British vocalists of any genre to adopt an American accent when singing. Cynics attribute this to a desire to be more palatable/marketable in the states, but it's just as likely to be down to our ears becoming accustomed to American musical imports (especially of mainstream music) leading to aspiring musicians subconsciously imitating the sounds they've grown up with. Mind you, this is all just idle speculation. All I can say with any degree of certainty is that I like EE's vocals, though I can also understand how they'd drive other people up the wall.

Henry Plainview wrote: don't remember any hip hop at all? I listened to the whole album, am I insane?

It's not always blatant but the influence is assuredly there. Take another listen to Schoolin'.

Henry Plainview wrote: But I don't want it to be indie rock!

My mother always used to say to me "'I want' doesn't get". Mind you, 'indie rock' is a far from useful term for EE's music. So far they've eluded categorisation to the point that their album is apparently listed as 'unclassifiable' on iTunes. I doubt they could be paid a higher compliment than that.

rogerthat wrote: Yeah, GG were a lot more 'rock' than this band.  I have been saying it for sometime that new, amazing progressive music will not come from rock as we know it because that's a stagnant and saturated form.  There's some way for Everything Everything to go before they can have their Acquiring the Taste or Free Hand but this is already an incredible debut and, dare I say it, better than the self titled debut of Gentle Giant.

I think you're right about the level of stagnation in rock now. It comes to something when even avant-progressive bands seem to be imitating old bands... There's nothing wrong with keeping old musical traditions alive but that's what they are now. If you're looking for genuinely new sounds, you've got to start looking beyond rock.

I hope EE do keep it together long enough to put out several albums as I feel certain they've got a lot of development still to do. This isn't a perfect debut, but it gets closer to perfection than most, and certainly closer than GG's debut managed, in my opinion (and this is coming from a die-hard GG fanatic). It has that 'first album' quality of "here's all the best songs we have at the moment arranged in what we hope is a satisfying order". Their next album will hopefully have a greater sense of cohesion.

Henry Plainview wrote:   harmonium.ro wrote: Henry Plainview wrote: I still managed to make it through half the album while PAing, but the music sounds too much like indie rock. But IT IS indie-rock But I don't want it to be indie rock!

Well stop, then.

Trouserpress wrote: I can't really give you an indie example as I'm no expert on the UK indie scene, I just latch on to anything interesting which comes my way. There's always been a tendency for British vocalists of any genre to adopt an American accent when singing. Cynics attribute this to a desire to be more palatable/marketable in the states, but it's just as likely to be down to our ears becoming accustomed to American musical imports (especially of mainstream music) leading to aspiring musicians subconsciously imitating the sounds they've grown up with.

Edited by Henry Plainview - September 01 2010 at 16:31

Just thought I'd mention that Everything Everything are playing their album Man Alive in full with the aid of a small orchestra tonight. The concert will be streamed live here. Should be good.

Vocals sound somewhat like a mix of Chris Martin and Tim Smith with extra crazyness. I love them!