You Say You Want a Revolution
I think I’ve decided (and you can back me up on this if you like) that the “culture” part of this blog is somewhat underrepresented. So we’ll fix that, starting with Pretty Girls Make Graves, a Seattle band that pulls in what sounds (to me at least) like influences from the Pixies, the Police, ska-inflected Britpop, some punk styles, but also some softer edges. Not at all a bad mix. (I was going to say they sounds a little like Franz Ferdinand, and then it turns out they were touring with them.)
But what’s really cool is how they’re using the Web (along with their label, Matador) to interact with fans. In the Downloads section you can listen to a whole album, Elan Vital. I think this is a great idea and wanted to support the practice, so I actually listened to the whole thing and enjoyed it a lot. Since then, I’ve been recommending it around, so this is one case, at least, where giving it away for free translates into good buzz.
Even more significantly, they had a contest where fans made videos for the band and posted them to YouTube. Links to the winner’s actual video–shot with the actual band–are in the Videos section (and the band says thanks). There’s going to be a lot more of this kind of thing coming, so remember you saw it here.
Anyway, you D-I-Y that mofo, Pretty Girls.
