"Thee Oh Sees march on in their new form, which is reportedly not permanent. For those expecting the band to sound like they did two years ago I would say don’t. Take the current lineup of Thee Oh Sees at face value. That said, as different a band as they are now they’re still a pretty sure bet. Hey, you don’t fuck with the pros and you definitely don’t miss a chance to see them play live."
Read Full Review at: http://fabricohmusic.com/live_reviews/thee_oh_seesjack_namewinston_facials/
Fuckin' Hillbillies at Hopscotch 2014: Walk, Don't Talk
The night following Kozelek's outburst, How to Dress Well's Tom Krell expressed solidarity with Kozelek's frustrations (and then retracted some of it once it became a weird headline for Pitchfork and other publications to run) and urged the producers at CAM to amplify the volume for loquacious audience members in the back. It was a more effective tactic for people paying rapt attention to Krell's charismatic performance, as they cheered on his enthusiasm to simply overpower the lackluster part of the crowd through the sheer power of decibels. Kozelek elected to express anger at the entire venue instead of a section of the crowd, which made him sound like an alienating, crotchety old teacher enraged at a few unruly students.
Pushing aside the use of "hillbillies" in a southern venue (which really doesn't cut deep; I don't know a single white North Carolinian who would feel truly vulnerable or offended because of the word, thankfully) Kozelek's outburst was a furious way of drawing the attention back to the artist, the man people ostensibly paid money to hear. Not an unreasonable conclusion for an artist billed for Raleigh's biggest music event of the year.
Maybe that audience wanted pleasant, world-renowned background music for their $85 trip to the bar. Maybe Kozelek performed poorly, or was enthused as Thurston Moore did during his soporific show at CAM. Whatever the case may be, let this be an unsolicited piece of advice for anyone who decides their conversation overrides the performer they paid money to see: leave, find another venue, or indeed, shut the fuck up. I can't imagine a greater, more effective insult to a performance than the slow dwindle of a crowd as they migrate to the bar, or even to another locale.
There is no social contract between audience and performer, but most people might agree upon the golden rule of "Please, don't be a dick and ruin this for others" for most activities people pay for. If Kozelek made rude comments, played off key, or acted in a way that made him unworthy to watch, then no one should blame the audience for being apathetic and inattentive. Of course, a bigger question is how a Hopscotch show is categorized in an audience's mind: Is it a big, a party-like instance for Raleigh with music, or a chance to sit down and see musicians you don't often see in Raleigh. Would you sit, patiently listening to the music, or would you treat it like the party it's been billed as?
Shows--especially those part of a big music festival--will always have a tendency to exist in that weird, intensely commercialized plane between art and entertainment. One side might sing along to every word, and the other just wants to grab a drink with some friends and blow off steam. There's a large gray area between the two and there's no correct way to define how to experience live music. Live music, however, requires the ability to hear an artist with a relative amount of clarity that doesn't involve the people beside you chatting over the noise.
Instances like this make nice headlines, but the problem doesn't lie with Kozelek's outburst. It has to do with how we treat various types of live music. Watching Jamie xx perform in CAM-- only two nights after seeing Moore perform on the same stage--shifted attention from artist performance to audience self-involvement in record time, shaping an incredible dance space for listeners to lose themselves in. Kozelek's music is a different sort of beast, and requires a different sort of attention for everyone to have a decent time.
Kozelek has taken the event in stride and is even selling t-shirts (made in Raleigh, North Carolina!) about the event. So spare any feelings of empathy or anger for Kozelek and think on how a few dedicated Sun Kil Moon fans who may or may not have traveled to see him perform songs from the excellent Benji, only to have the moment marred by people who opted to talk, rather than walk away and have a better time elsewhere. As Kozelek might say: don't ruin shows for other people, it's not that fucking hard.
