Hang It on the wall

Strident voices chant in falsetto, “You’re just an inside, adjust your insides,” over a tumultuous bed of gurgling electronic sounds and a spooky disembodied voice intoning “bonefish”. As choruses go, it’s pretty radical, but in the world of Art Pop, this stuff is normal—pop hooks go hand in hand with wild experimentation. The song in question is Peacebone from Animal Collective’s album Strawberry Jam. This eccentric New York fourpiece epitomises the genre’s melting-pot aesthetic— their tunes are a mix of carnivalesque organs, feedback and surreal lyrics. In short, this is music you can dance to as well as hang up on a wall.

Although Art Pop can be dated as far back as The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper, it came into its own in the ’70s. Styles such as Prog Rock (Pink Floyd, Yes) and Glam (David Bowie, Queen) vied for attention with their songs about alienation and absurdity. Pop became heavy and self-consciously arty. Recently, Radiohead has taken the art song and pushed it to its limits, experimenting with multiple time signatures, white noise and heavy doses of electronica in their albums.

Radiohead’s influence looms large on another New York band TV on the Radio—their debut EP was called OK Calculator (in homage to Radiohead’s OK Computer). This quintet started life in 2001 as young punks playing fast and loose with musical styles. Dear Science, the band’s great 2008 album, brims over with ideas and innovation. The band functions as a kaleidoscopic jukebox, melding disparate elements like heavy funk, fractured drumbeats and loops and resonating harmonic notes. Over all this, they sing in full-throated glory one minute before falling into falsettos the next. Despite this scrapbook approach to songwriting, they have an unerring ear for a pop melody, so it is no surprise that they’re both critics’ darlings and top 20 hit makers.

Although both these bands can be categorised as Art Pop bands, they are musically very different. Each has a distinct signature sound and they address serious themes. But the most refreshing thing about this group of sonic envelope pushers is their refusal to be taken too seriously. As Animal Collective sings on Peacebone: “It’s not my words you should follow, it’s your insides.”

Sansa Fuze
Finally, a good MP3 player to give the iPod Nano competition. The Fuze, which comes in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB variants, is terrific value for money. Rich in features, with video playback (format supported— MPEG-4), photos and audiobooks. The video resolution is low, but then again you’re not expected to watch a movie on this. It’s the music playback that counts—a clear midrange and a bottom end that gets richer the more you turn it up. It supports MP3, WMA and secure WMA, but not Flac files and other loss-less audio formats. But who’s complaining— the Nano costs Rs 12,450 and the Fuze is retailing for Rs 8,990.

The more playlist

Sufjan Stevens
Amazing Grace
Check out this singer/songwriter’s original take on Christmas classics.

Oasis
Bag It Up
The Brit giants are back with a rocking return to form.

Vampire Weekend
Mansard Roof
The catchiest, most dance-worthy winter single for some time.

Beyonce Knowles
If I was a Boy
The reigning queen of r’n’b delivers another hit.

Duffy
Mercy
The best of the current crop of British retro-soul diva delivers a Motown-scented hit.