dum dum girls – put a sock in it

the internet does funny things. countries are not more than a domain ending now. you can listen to punk bands from bejing without having been there. without knowing anyone in australia you can listen to the newest australian bands. a band from south africa is the new hype in europe without ever having played outside their hometown. but also scenes stop existing. where one band used to inspire those who listened to their earliest efforts and them starting own bands then, trying to do likewise and by thus establishing the sound of a scene nowadays bands in china get inspired by bands from london. bands in new york try to get this french sound. no more madchester, no more seattle, new york, chicago, detroit, san diego, sheffield, brighton, brussels.
i was listening to zee avi lately. a girl from malaysia who put up videos of herself on youtube, got invited to do a record and has now an album out in the u.s.
her music couldn’t be more american. a little fiona apple here and a little norah jones there and you’d never guess that you’re actually listening to a girl from borneo. only when she sings in malayi you start to wonder.
and that’s another thing: bands or musicians not only sound like they are form some more likely place on earth, also the lyrics deal with the everyday problems of the homo cosmopolitiens. broken hearts here and everywhere. i’m really not a big fan of keeping up traditions, especially when it comes to a peoples or nations “culture and heritage”. but the image projected is that every place on earth is the same. the people might look different and the weather might be different but their lifes are not much different from yours.
i miss the lyrics that informed you about the specific problems of the artist in their time and country. lyrics that actually had something to say. the music might have been universal but the lyrics told you very specifically where the artist was from.

that i only experience by the postage rates today. when i discovered the dum dum girls i asked her, as there is in fact only one dum dum girl and her name is dee dee just llike dee dee ramone and how cool is this!, where to get the record from since it didn’t have a distributor by then. she answered me that i could order from her directly for some bucks plus a little fortune on postage. i think i would have ended up paying like 30$ for her 12”. so i passed. fortunately the record got a second press and a distributor and i was able to buy it in a record store in my neighbourhood. for way less.

dum dum girls myspace