So recently there has been lots of talk about how there's no one that can rock in the new generation. This post is for examples of people that can. Hopefully through this we can all either find new music that we enjoy or those who have them can solidify their opinions against my generation.

My first example will definitely be the Black Keys. Dude's got great soul in his vocals and rich guitar tones.



Just realized that's a Dano, no? Wonder if that was used in recording this track or just a aesthetic choice for the vid.

This next one has a nice little interview which demonstrates that they are straight up kinda guys just playin music.





Here's Dan in his side project. A great example of the soul in his voice.



Sorry if I was excessive with the videos! lol

I, for one, don't think the case is that no one in the new generation can rock at all (though I'm a little older... around Dan Auerbach's age, probably). I've argued that here before, too.

There's a different thing that bugs me about some new artists (and certainly what has emerged as the new rock and roll press), even if I like them. That irritation has been caused by being involved in all of that and putting up with it firsthand.

I think I posted this here before, but an examination of the problem with the modern underground music biz:

http://www.culturemagazine.ca/music/2000_2009_making_sense_of_musics_lost_decade.html

The Black Keys built up a fan base over a number of years. They received good notices but it was a gradual build up.

Now, in the age of blogs, bands are hailed as a new big thing after recording a couple of mp3s and playing one or two shows... It's more about people flexing their muscles as tastemakers and hypesters than the music a lot of the time, and most of the acts can't measure up and peter out. Major mags like SPIN, Rolling Stone, etc on to People and the Wall Street Journal take their cues on what's "hip with the young folk" from these sources. So, when someone says that youngs can't rock anymore they probably only know what they see being presented as representational - as "the cream of the crop" - in bigger outlets... and most of it lately hasn't "rocked," per se. Vampire Weekend (who I do enjoy) made it onto Saturday Night Live based on what? A number one single? A few articles proclaiming them the next big thing? I understand the perception, and the reasons for it... that's what I complain about.

But yeah, about Dan Auerbach - he takes a classic thing and makes it vital, modern and his own. I've been waiting for a GR cover story on him!

I thought the recently deceased Jay Reatard (what a shame... the rock and roll lifestyle...) managed to wrap up punk, garage and some classic rock bits in speedy 3 minute bursts of energy that were cool.

http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/episode/4-jay-reatard

I think p90jr's comments about hype are dead on.
As for my cranky old man input, many bands that seem like the next big thing, the "new sound in rock" are only new to people who did not hear the influencers of those bands. Vampire Weekend (and I do like them as well) must sound great and fresh to a kid who never heard the Police, for example.

I'm just glad that the Internet allows me to find a lot of new bands on my own, thanks to tips from forums and websites.

I'm not out to solidify any opinion against new music or anybody's generation...but the Black Keys don't rock my world (not saying they don't have talent)...bring on the next example...

Yeah, in having to defend why I like Vampire Weekend to a couple of young friends who hate them I had to say that they remind me of The Police, The English Beat, General Public and a bunch of stuff I liked in 1983, along with the afrobeat things they directly rip off. Those guys asked "why not just listen to the afrobeat stuff instead of rich Ivy League kids ripping it off?" I have no problem with the rich Ivy League kid version of afrobeat. "Authenticity" is another thing that drives me nuts these days...

Younger music writers just have a stake in claiming the landscape as their own, either by finding "vital new bands" before anybody else or rediscovering old stuff that never got its proper credit. That's always been the case... do they have more influence these days? If not over the public then over other aspects of the media and the business? That might be the question.

I think the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is a good rock band.

I liked the Kings Of Leon a little more in their garage rock days as opposed to the newer U2/Springsteen-anthemic thing they've incorporated (I guess you have to work up the sound to fill those stadiums) but they're a good, real rock band. I had to play "Use Somebody" while filling-in with a cover band at a Casino resort a few weekends ago and the crowd would go nuts instantly every time at the first few chords that got strummed.

I'll chime in and say that there's always good music out there somewhere, in a number of styles; doesn't always mean it gets on the great big Grammys/network TV/Hollywood BS radar screen level of success that a variety of mediocre semi- to non-talents enjoy.

right on.

Is that the argument? I thought the contention was that there wasn't anything really new.



OK, these guys are fun, for a while. If you had told me that these were basement tapes from 1966 I would have believed every minute of it. As a product of the current decade one can only surmise that this is a project of historical preservation. There's nothing wrong with that, most Jazz you hear these days is basically doing that; paying homage to the originators of the style rather than creating any new stylistic elements. But it has to be understood as imitation, not innovation. I like the sound of Black Keys, nice voice, good tone, good groove, but it gets old almost immediately for me.

Who else you got?

Scott Fraser

I'm sure there are kids who rock, there always will be. But somebody who is making a contribution to rock music on the level of their predecessors? Not so much...

How would we know? I don't think the music world at the moment is conducive to recognizing or supporting that? There could be a genius who's recording the greatest music ever made in his bedroom in Alaska, but he looks like an accountant so he'll never get a gig, doesn't know anyone so he'll never get a record deal or press.

If the Beatles were a current band having just started they'd be derided as teenybooper R&B imitators and the label would drop them instead of releasing Rubber Soul because they didn't hear a hit single that the market would recognize.

Well these arguements are all not what I hear around the forum these days. All I hear is:

"What ever happened to the men in rock?"

"They're all in their 60's now, & still showing the whiners how to properly rock. There's still more rocking in one short AC/DC riff than most 20-something bands will be able to muster in their entire careers."

And other comments in this tone. Even if there are nuances of classic rock within the music, you can't disregard it as being done already. It's still new music and it still rocks.

I didn't really want to start this thread as a debate thing. I know where p90 is coming from. I understand Scott's argument about rock being at the edges of what makes it rock. Never took offense there. I was hoping this could be a fun thread where we could all post cool videos of new music that rocks to share with guys that question where the good stuff is and so I could find new music, too. P90 please find some rockin vids of modern stuff you enjoy and post it. That goes for everyone. When you find something new that gets you noddin your head. Even if it's something that you may not listen to extensively please share it. I was hopin we could all keep this thread bumped and help promote some good stuff with each other. Let's be our own little solution to the modern music promotion paradigm!

So there's no twenty somethings here, but a brief clip of a new group I enjoy.



Them Crooked Vultures (in case you didn't recognize them) are John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl, and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age.

Yeah, but he could have a YouTube video, a MySpace page, and enough ProTools to make his own record, publicize it and distro it.

Not if he has my job...

Here's a band that's got a few albums out. I tend to not enjoy things considered metal, but Mastodon's recent release has some interesting changes in meter, time modulations, and other rhythmic ideas. They can at times create some complex harmonies and are in my opinion creative all around.

This is one of the only songs I enjoy from their older stuff. It has some cool little vocal harmonies in the chorus.



And this is the first track from their new album which I found quite enjoyable.

Not exactly new, but a band like Clutch deserves a lot more attention.

Nah, I've seen too much You tube to buy that.



Different music for a different time. Where are the people doing what the Beatles did with a current form of music?

I think the gang here should be aware of Mastodon (though I've wondered sometimes how many read the magazine... or if I'm one of the few who reads everything in the magazine).

What about older players in new bands that can still rock-out a younger generation? Is this a 'player's age' specific topic, or a 'listener's age' topic?

Them Crooked Vultures, anyone?

Me likey.

If you take that angle... can there, at this point, be anything "new?" Or rather, anything "new" that's listenable instead of avoiding anything that's been done to the point of discarding much of what makes music enjoyable for most?

There's acts I know of who make music that's on original terrain, but they aren't necessarily using guitars...

Animal Collective (who build songs mostly out of their own sampled voices).


Liars (who in an attempt to "do something new" made guitars secondary to drums - some run through effects pedals, etc - for a record)


Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog (Ribot has been a sideman for Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Brother Jack McDuff, Medeski Martin & Wood and many more). Of course, he is in his 50s so I don't know if he counts as "new"


Deerhoof (Who I'd describe as prog for kids raised on video games)


The Nels Cline Singers (Nels had a GP cover a few years ago and plays in the high profile band Wilco, so you should have heard of him). Of course he's in his 50s...


The Noisettes - who I heard for the first time when I saw then open an arena show, and they have personality and talent to spare! If there's a band around today who I think could appeal to a wide variety of people the way classic acts did, it's them... and when they want to rock out, they rock out hard. They're as "new" as any of the classic bands who played rock with their own personality.

Does that mean that Robert Plant and Allison Krauss count too?

Threads like this require a high-speed ISP connection of one sort or another, to peruse all of the vids; if I get the opportunity, I will check them all out, there are some that are new to me- cool, thanks, everbuddah!

I already loved Them Crooked Vultures, but they almost make the case for the argument that only rockers from previous generations really have the goods!

It's gonna get harder and harder to come up with "new" music that would be considered "rock", without being obviously derivative; and if it seems too new, it's automatically rejected out of hand by many (mostly my age and older) listeners and pundits.

I've been surprised at how often I'll hear or read someone from my generation or prior dismissing newer, younger artists, even though I might hear a LOT of similarities to the same "classic" artists and styles those same naysayers tout so much. I really do not understand that! How can anyone succeed meeting that kind of predisposition?

I'd say anything made in the last decade counts. New is new. Rock's not dead. I love ACDC as much as the next guy. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate the new acts. I don't care how old the participants are as long as they are writing new content. Them Crooked Vultures totally counts, though I haven't heard Plant and Krauss so I don't know if they count as good... just playin. Thanks for postin those vids that's what I was lookin for. A nice "feel good" thread to share good music on. I think readin about a band and hearing their stuff are two different things. Sometimes you don't like what's said or how they look in the pics so you don't bother listenin. Ceramic Dog looks cool. I'm gonna have to look deeper into that one. I hear that Nels gets a nice tone with a Dano. Know any examples?

I definitely think there can be something new. Elvis was new, the Beatles were new, Charlie Parker was new, Miles was new. What I want to hear is the Elvis/Beatles/Parker/Miles of 2010.



Right. Each new & innovative change in direction in pop music was accompanied by a new sound. Big bands had different instrumentation than the dance bands of the previous generation, rock was different than the big bands, etc. Why must we be stuck with the same band format which has been the dominant sound for 3 generations in a row now? Why hasn't the current generation invented something different than rock?



Lot of stuff to check out.



I've seen & worked with Ribot. He's one of the truly creative voices in modern guitar. Love his stuff. He's totally anti-boutique, BTW. He only uses guitars that cost him less than $100, so a lot of junky axes, & that has become his aesthetic. It's an interesting approach. He borrowed a guitar of mine (more than $100) as a backup for an orchestra gig he played & he sounded the same on that as with his junker axe.



Well, Nels has been a friend of mine for over 30 years & he's my favorite guitarist. Most innovative guy currently playing the instrument. He is fiercely new in everything he does. He's probably the most prominent presence of anybody on my iPod.



OK, lots more stuff to check when time allows. Keep 'em coming, this is all good.

Scott Fraser

Exactly, Caevan.

The generational attachment thing is a big part of it. I know older people who insist the Beatles and Rolling Stones ruined rock music, which was just fine in the hands of Elvis, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry, and it's been awful ever since.

The spirit of rock and roll lives underground, IMO... it has to have a bit of non-conventional nature or it doesn't thrive. Based on what I see where I live (admittedly not the most open-minded of locales) mainstream rock is a conservative, intolerant scene. Jimi Hendrix would get hassled and verbally abused for being a freak if he wandered into those venues here... so I have to ask myself exactly what's "rock and roll" about any of that? Here, that sends the creatively-inclined kids in another direction, away from the gangs of jocks who flock to Creed or whatever. So, if people wonder - like in another thread - why a lot of younger bands seem like such whiny girls it's because they want to be on the opposite end of the spectrum from tough guys, and that's certainly always been a little part of rock and roll.

Also, society gets younger and younger and younger...

Elvis Costello released his first record when he was a 19 year old father and husband. Can you imagine a 19 year old guy these days being able to write songs from that mature and adult of a perspective?

If it ain't broke... Rock still provides my generation with an artform that allows us to pretend to be counterculturalists. It's all an act now it seems. Just as superficial as punk was. The important counterculturalists where the original rockers. But then I'm young and don't know much about all that. Maybe there was more to punk than I realize. It's definitely had it's affect on the genre, but other than that... Anyhow, I'm gettin all philosophical again... If you're waitin for a superstar, don't hold your breath. If you're lookin for someone as influential that ain't gonna happen either. The tastes and styles out there are far too ecclectic now for one artist to have an impact on that many.

This is a band I was recently exposed to and has made an impression on me. I haven't had a whole lot of time to listen extensively, but I enjoyed the groove and creative approach of this song despite it's ridiculously repetitive nature.



BTW I should clarify I don't mind a little friendly debate here. Just keep the new vids comin.