Haha yeah!
As i mentioned in this thread here, i went to see Hadouken! play on Wednesday. Nobody replied, so i fear i might be embarassing myself too....
But.
I just don't know what to think. I like the mp3s. The music has a fun, poppy aggression and wit that i really enjoy, and they seem a little less self-conscious than many acts. But then, the gig...
They were good, they played pretty tight. And the kids loved them. But the crowd were indeed kids. Not even the not-failed-uni-yet crowd i usually consider 'kids' (i'm an elitist fuck), but genuine, actual read-the-nme-and-believe-the-lies kids. It was scary. They screamed like at a Westlife gig. I felt worried and slightly embarassed.
But i still really like 'the bounce'. Their mix of jolly alton-towers-theme keyboards and silly rap and stuff makes me pretty happy.
As for them, like, as a band... Again not sure. Their music definitely has a certain energy to it, along with an originality (albeit a synthetic originality). This is good. As a band, they confuse my head. It may well be that they're pretty new so haven't figured their 'pose' as yet, but there's something a bit unformed about them at the moment.
The lead singer guy seems quite happy to do his rap thing and move a little to the music, but he seemed a bit unwanting of his crowd. Maybe he didn't realise
i wanna make a record for ten year old fans
would turn out so true. At the end he said something along the lines of 'Make sure you buy lots of stuff afterwards. I promise we'll sign the stuff you buy.' He seemed to be quite enjoying playing a part of the whole buymoneysell game he mocks in his songs.
So um.. i haven't actually said anything substantial here (ooh! how fitting!). my dilemmas are multiple:
- Are Hadouken actually any good, or am i just enjoying a bit of silliness?
- Will they go anywhere, or are they just a flash in the pan?
- Is it really uncool to like them? Are they just another dreaded NMEhypemachine (TM) product?
- Why the fuck did they only play for 35 minutes? Are those literally the only songs they know?
- Does it matter at all?
But i think my main problem is that i really, really like them and think they are something special and new and the fucking future of music, yet i am aware at the same time that this is probably a lie.
Maybe it is best to embrace them in all their poproduced silly glory. If we want to be cool, we could say we enjoy them ironically.
Tickets for their next tour in September/October are onsale on their website at the moment. I'll probably end up going... |
