Failures s/t LP (2009)
Disclaimer: I am the world’s most biased person in favor of liking this record. I was a huge fan of singer Mark McCoy’s previous band, Das Oath; I saw Failures live and was quite impressed at their 10-minute set; I eagerly bought the album and raced home to listen to it…
And now, ten months later, I’m listening to it for a second time. This is extremely punishing, well-executed, wildly careening, and expertly-produced music, but there is no space for the listener in it. There’s not a single musical moment or idea for me to hold onto.
Is this accidental? The lyrics book is sealed in an envelope, not exactly inviting perusal; the production is intentionally skeletal, with the guitars jarringly undistorted and (refreshingly) unclichéd; the art is minimal and uninviting. This might all be worth pondering if the music drew me in; I might wonder what was at the bottom of this mystery. But instead, this is just a record I never ever listen to.
Remember that Jay-Z song “No Hooks”? Failures have taken this motto to heart, which is a shame, because it is obviously part of the band’s concept and not mere incompetence.
Some readers may be objecting in their heads, “But wait! Dense, fast, aggressive music which refuses ‘simple’ pleasures like memorable parts or melodies: that sounds right up my alley!” To this I have to respond at length.
It is often thought that the “highest” art and literature is comparatively poor in entertainment value. Under this logic, Failures would be sophisticated and subtle—“Maybe I’m not listening to this carefully enough to GET it.” This, however, is a modernist myth. The “highest” works of literature, Paradise Lost, Moby-Dick, Macbeth, The Iliad: these books have more incident, more character, more memorable scenes, than the poorly constructed, talky, and interminable books or films of, say, Stephen King. “Trash” like Stephen King is in fact quite tedious and boring next to a tightly-wound work like Racine’s Phaedra.
My point is, since modernism, “entertainment” has been a suspect quality. (Great art, of course, has continued to be entertaining as well as profound.) We should refuse this myth. Punk originally was both high-concept AND pure-enjoyment: The Ramones! (And the opposite is true, too: the most college-y of bands, Joy Division, are intensely fun to listen to.) The worst part of this Failures record is that they posture at being “too smart” or too cool to write songs with hooks. This is sheer pretension. If Wagner and Beethoven, the supreme geniuses of music, could write songs that ended up in “Loony Toons,” some hardcore band isn’t above filling out their jams with a catchy part or two.
Don’t be fooled: a record without hooks is not “demolishingly brutal.” It’s boring. If you want to listen to fast music that is ALSO catchy, might I suggest Infest, Gauze, Siege, or some of the bands mentioned in the previous post (Mob 47, D.R.I., et al).
