Okay. My issue with that statement is THAT'S WHY THEY ARE DOING SO WELL. Their music, what they do (and they do it fantastically well... because really, could you do any better? No? Then shut it), is what has made them successful. I've been hearing that more about Babel, the Mumford & Sons album, and it drives me crazy. It also kind of reminds me of that SNL skit with Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken about more cow bell. Except people are saying they've had enough of their (Mumford & Sons) shtick of the banjo... THAT'S THE KIND OF MUSIC THEY PLAY. They are a FOLK rock band. Folk!!!!! Do you know what instruments are involved in folk music? ALMOST ANYTHING. It's FOLK. Almost anything goes... But American folk traditionally involves vocals, acoustic guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and harmonica. But guess what? Mumford & Sons are from England so as an American, I have no idea what makes English folk music but I'm going to guess pretty much the same as American folk music because the US was first founded by people FROM ENGLAND.
Can you tell it irks me? It's just that I feel like when people bash on artists in that way, my immediate thought is that if they came out with something completely different then their previous albums they would complain about that too! That they "sold out" ... which is another music phrase that drives me insane. But when another band that I love releases a new album and I start hearing that I'll blog about that then. (It'll probably be Green Day but we'll see). But what would lovers of Mumford & Sons do if they all of a sudden got rid of their banjo and completely changed the way their vocals sounded? They'd be confused and upset! They'd be a completely different band, different sound and probably not folk rock... So to the people who are complaining about the new Mumford & Sons I say to you, "If you think you're so great, go make an album that destroys records of how many albums are sold in one week. I dare you to try."
And then Muse! Now they're a bit different because some of their albums have in fact been very different when compared to each other... what holds true is Matt Bellamy's voice and their always epic sound. They're so influenced by classical music that you can hear the musicality and how intricate their songs are. Even when they're minimalist like their single Madness, it's still complex when you listen to the build and the decrescendo (sorry going music nerd on y'all). I always appreciate Muse's boldness in the sounds they make. One of my finest moments in life is when I didn't completely lose it when I met them. I almost did but I held it together. I didn't squeak like I did when I met my "husband" Xavi Alonso. That was uncool. But again, that's another blog post.
Anyway sorry for the rant but it had to be done.
The thing with Mumford & Sons is that their entire existence seems like "schtick." I'd like to NOT find them annoying, actually, as some of their songs are admittedly quite lovely, but really... What's with the outfits? What's with the singer always trying harder to look earnest than any earnest person ever had to? They immediately come across as the worst kind of hipsters to anyone old enough to have seen enough hipsters.
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