Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Preoccupations - Preoccupations (Jagjaguwar, 2016)

Preoccupations
Preoccupations
Jagjaguwar
2016

Rating: 7.5 eco-warrior latrines out of 10

Preoccupations used to be called Viet Cong, a band I had never heard of until there was a bit of hubbub over their name.  Apparently it was offensive to some folks - I'm guessing the Vietnamese - though I'm not entirely sure why, as it's the name of a group that fought with the North Vietnamese and not a slur I don't think.  I think a good rule to follow is that if you're a bunch of white dudes, don't name your band after anything that in any way has any connection to another culture, even if it seems non-offensive.  Non-white culture obviously - I can't imagine anyone would give a shit if you named yourself after somethingFrench or German or...er, well, maybe not anything Nazi related.  Unless you're a Nazi band, in which case I guess it makes sense.  Maybe don't be in a Nazi band though, okay?  That seems like a dumb thing to do.  Let me state for the record that Preoccupations are not Nazis, though they are Canadian.  The Stampeders and Pilot are also Canadian, so that's not necessarily a bad thing.  

Uh, where was I?  Anyways, old band with a new name, first record I've heard by them, and I like it quite a lot.  Sounds like the perfect combination of Wolf Parade, Constantines, and the Walkmen (token non-Canadian reference).  One of those rare cases where I was in a record store and heard this album playing and actually asked the clerk who it was.  I never do that - either I already know who it is, I'm too embarrassed to admit I don't know who it is to the music nerd clerk, or my desire not to talk to people is greater than my desire to know what it is.  I guess I could have just used Shazaam.  

This review has been almost entirely useless and pointless.  Just check this record out, it's worth a listen for sure. 

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