With the addition of Pretty Girls Make Graves, this year’s Sun God festival is the indiest one to date. Not only was there one indie band in the original line up (the Walkmen), now there are two! Joy! No one can question A.S. programming’s music knowledge credibility! Now, some snob out there will probably sneer at jumbling the Walkmen into the annals of indie-rock history, but can the prude do such a thing with Pretty Girls Make Graves? Nope. This band is legit indie rock, with gorgeous pieces that contain rich and complex melodies without going into the technical masturbation realm. So your asshole, elitist, pretentious indie-rock friend is left no choice but to be a proud UCSD student for one day. Granted, the hipster will be forced to share the venue with a mortal audience that is so uncultured that it doesn’t even know about drummer Grant Hart’s experimental tribal side project, Yanomamo.
All this has led me to believe that the A.S. programming office is part of a grand conspiracy to destroy the gentle fabric of the hipster community: On the same night of big indie bands showcasing their talents, the UCSD music department will begin its anticipated Spring Music Festival. What’s a hipster to do? Check out the ultra-cool Spring Music Festival or go to the indie-safe show at the Sun God festival?
It’s decisions like these that separate the men from the boys. According to the music department’s Web site, “The Spring Festival will include contemporary chamber music, improvisation, computer music, as well as events that can only be described as musical experiments.” Now compare this with a show hosting bands tagging ludicrous names like Pretty Girls Make Graves, the Walkmen, Phantom Planet, etc. What is this? Junior college?
Alas, the Sun God festival is not about music or the arts or anything remotely cultural. It is simply the perfect excuse to puke all over campus and make out with your TA. UCSD will witness the entire campus transforming into a blissful shit-facing festival. Pretty Girls Make Graves will only serve as the soundtrack, the background, the last thing you’ll remember the day after. So why even discuss the music in this article?
For one reason only: to ensure that you, the UCSD student who will be drunk from head to toe, will attend the Sun God festival. It is to ensure that you are steered away from high-art performances such as the Spring Music Festival — you are to ignore culture for at least one day.
And there is nothing wrong with that. Let’s face it: High culture can be boring if we take music seriously all the time. While some enthusiasts will argue that music is a realm that must be kept serious and sacred for eternity, serious music loses human value if we degrade it to some super-elite value. Human value is to enjoy life, and as crazy as it sounds, two of the many joys of life are to puke and make out with your TA.
So, while Pretty Girls Make Graves are a band for serious indie fans, and serious listeners should always listen intently to the music, there will be nothing wrong if people pay no attention at all to the band and continue on with the puking and making out. In fact, it’s healthy if, for one day, serious music fans let go of their egos and simply shake their ass silly.
Unless of course, this is all just a plot to keep the indie freaks out of the Spring Music Festival.
