I figured if today was going to be music day, I’d take the opportunity to plug the Kominas, a local band I only found them yesterday via a boston.com article. Check the article out for a good rundown of the band, its members, and an attempt to explain their music.
Just as the Dolls had to invent a category for bits like this to describe them, the Kominas had to do the same. “Bollywood Muslim punk”, according to the boston.com article. The wikipedia puts them in as Taqwacore.
I don’t pretend to understand even a tenth of all the references in their lyrics, I just know a good punk band when I hear one. And if their riff on the Pistols in the opening lines of “Sharia Law in the USA” doesn’t bring a smile to your face, I don’t know what will.
They’re playing a show at the Chandni Raat Festival out at UMASS Lowell this Saturday, 7pm, a show I’m sadly going to miss. But their CD is due out in June, and it can’t come too soon.
So Wikipedia notes that the word Taqwacore was “originally conceived in Michael Muhammad Knight’s novel, The Taqwacores. The name is a play on hardcore and the Arabic word Taqwa, which roughly denotes fear and love of the divine.”
And that book is being distributed by Alternative Tentacles, of course. I should’ve known that Jello Biafra would be involved somehow!
So I took a listen and “Sharia” is pretty good! I think The Kominas sound like a band with a lot of potential.
I’ll have to download the rest of their songs and put them into regular rotation on my trusty old iPod.
Also, myspace sucks. That is all.
Yeah, I loved that the book was out on alternative tentacles. I was hoping they’d be doing the Kominas’ cd, too, but they’re not listed on AT’s band list.
And yes, myspace sucks. But that’s the only place to find them.
The boston.com article about them is actually pretty good (though, I don’t know why I’m surprised about that, exactly).
I didn’t realize they had an EP out; I’ll have to try to score a copy of that rather than simply finding the songs online…
Meh. See, Punk isn’t really my thing. There’s no really coherent sound for the instruments, the vocals tend to get drowned out by ever-present and extremely loud cymbals, and there isn’t- for me at least- much of a range of emotion or expression.
Blah blah blah, I’m pissed off… *chorus*…
Yeah, there’s a definite lack of emotion in Punk music, whatever. Just out of curiosity, to what “punk” bands did you listen in order to form this obviously well-informed opinion?
Not ‘lack of emotion’. I said ‘Lack of RANGE of emotion.’
I have listened to some punk. Overall… it all just sounds pissed off. Great, amazing how it conveys one emotion really well.
Again, care to share the names of any of these bands you’ve listened to?
*sigh*
The Pogues (local Irish band), Bad Religion, Offspring (who- for me- got better when they went mainstream), Green Day (same), Dead Kennedys, Dropkick Murphys, Fallout Boy, Flogging Molly…
It all sounds unrefined, there’s not much good guitar work, and it’s all angry. To me. Opinions might vary, but you have to concede there aren’t a lot of sad punk songs, not a whole lot of happy ones, and sure as shit no punk love songs.
So your main complaint is that they let the music sound the way it does when it’s played, rather than after it’s been processed and had the life sucked out of it? That’s it? Good lord…
Also, you clearly haven’t really listened to any of those bands. Bad Religion, the Offspring, and Green Day have some of the most polished, processed music you’ll find on CD, period. I tend to like them in spite of that, but whatever.
Also, do I need to restrict my rebuttal songs to just those bands you listed, or can I get creative?
Dude, if you think that punk is nothing than angry music, then you have never actually listened to punk and you are making a broad and completely false generalization. I can name songs from any of the bands you mentioned that have nothing to do with anger. Additionally there are some extremely talented musicians who play punk. Ever hear of a guy named Joe Strummer? How about Mike Ness? Both of those guys have more talent than 90% of the people out there right now.
Bad Religion, Offspring, and Green Day have polished sound, it’s true, but they didn’t start out that way.
Go ahead, get creative. But, just as another example, I like Rollins, but Rollins Band and certainly Black Flag… eh. Not so much.
And my complaint is not only that they don’t polish their music, because neither do the Dresden Dolls, and they sound great. It’s that the emphasis is put on the wrong instruments, as far as I am concerned. I don’t like drowned out vocals and crashing cymbals.
Green Day and the Offspring suck, but at least Green Day had a decent EP before they started in with the wholesale sucking.
Carl, as for your earlier comment about the “RANGE of emotion” in “punk” music — of which Green Day is most certainly not an example, IMHO — I think my problem with it is that that particular bromide could just as easily be applied to any genre or band:
“_____ isn’t really my thing because there’s no coherent sound and there isn’t much of a range of emotion or expression”
You could just as easily apply this to Jazz, for example, which you claim to like; or Pop music, or Hip-hop, or Rock, or Funk, or whatever. This particular critcism just isn’t very valid.
Anyway, feel free to like whatever music you want, duh. And feel free to trash whatever music you want — it’s a free intarweb.
Heh, dude, point me to ONE punk album I can listen to while just chilling and trying to relax.
See, J, I disagree. There is angry Jazz, sad, certainly… raucous and happy… for Rock and Pop there are most certainly songs that express the range of emotions.
Miles Davis always had a bit of a happy beat to his music, while Nina Simone was plaintive, tormented. Diana Krall mixes it up really well.
Pop? Well, Kelly Clarkson has the angsty covered, Avril has angsty, a little angry, and even a little happy in there. Elton John covered it all in his day.
Rock? The Beatles, who I am not a big fan of, CERTAINLY covered a wide range of stuff. They also fall into some Pop. Metallica had some soulful dirges mixed in with their anger, while REM and the Cranberries had it all as well.
So Dave and I consulted and came up with a few:
Anything by Face to Face
“Social Distortion” - self titled release from Social Distortion
“Swagger” - Flogging Molly
So now you’ve reduced your argument to “punk is teh suxx0r because it’s no fun to listen to while stoned?”
I’m not even going to bother any more. Seriously.
<sarcasm>Yup, you’re right. It’s just punk — for some reason, they can’t play the instruments right or something. Man! It’s like every other genre of music ever had this whole range of emotions and stuff, but punk bands just don’t know the secret. It must be the damn cybmals and stuff.</sarcasm>
No, my argument isn’t reduced to anything. My point is that as a genre, Punk is very… well, if I were to be kind about it, I would say ‘focused’. Too focused for my tastes.
And J, your sarcasm is lost on me, as those tags aren’t valid code.
The fact is, whether or not Punk rockers are able to play their instruments is irrelevant. I happen to think that ‘unpolished’ sound… kinda sucks. For me. I don’t like sharp-sounding instruments. When I listen to Classical, it’s usually the cello, for rock, I like heavy guitar chords. For pop, again, heavy guitar and drums, but light on the cymbals. For Jazz and Funk, in with the Bass.
So my opinion is qualified by my personal likes. But then, so is everyone’s. You cannot invalidate my opinion without invalidating your own.
And, oh yes… to my ‘uncultured’ ear, Punk mostly (mostly) sounds like angry, pissed off people pounding on pots and pans, and that’s why I don’t like it.
Wait! I’ve figured it out! Just like you want an old man car, you also want to listen to old man music. Why didn’t I see this earlier?
Oh I forgot to add this at the beginning since it was mentioned…
Wikipedia sucks.
Thank you.
When your kids are listening to their stuff, and you’re listening to your Punk… you DO realize they’ll say the same thing to you, right?
And if the sum total of your appreciation for the cello is to call it ‘old man music,’ may your soiled shoes never touch the hallowed halls of a symphony again.
I have to say, overall, I am not a big fan of punk. But it is usually because the songs tend to be simplistic in structure, and I usually prefer more complex arrangements.
Refer to the of my rant please.
Its all hype! They just sound awful, not even close to punk! You want real hardcore muslim punk, listen to this cornhole.dmusic.com