![]() And that’s why the return-to-form line of thinking regarding Icky Thump doesn’t hold: “form” is truly the last thing that anyone could accuse the White Stripes of losing. The White Stripes understand what they’re doing to the extent that, even without the Jimmy Page-inspired guitar riffs, a stomping, church-piano driven song like “My Doorbell” sounds like it couldn’t have been composed or performed by any other band. Their experiments have been both relatively narrow (that fake-bass hook on Elephant’s “Seven Nation Army”) and more ambitious (replacing most of the guitars with a slightly out-of-tune piano for the somewhat divisive Get Behind Me Satan), but they have all been successful. What is most striking about the White Stripes’s aesthetic is its formalism, and each of their albums since De Stijl has found Jack and Meg pushing in novel directions, trying to discover exactly where they can go within their self-imposed parameters. ![]() In that regard, the White Stripes are truly peerless. Only a handful of currently popular solo acts-Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Eminem, Björk, and Miranda Lambert among them-have a similar grasp on how to develop such a singular artistic persona, while even the most interesting and reliable established bands, with the notable exception of Radiohead, either struggle with maintaining any kind of continuity (as the confused reaction to Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky illustrates) or begin to repeat themselves to diminishing returns (such as The Flaming Lips). Establishing the basic framework on their self-titled debut and then perfecting it on their sophomore album, 2000’s De Stijl, the White Stripes have defined for themselves a unique, fully-rounded aesthetic that incorporates both their sound (Jack White’s inventive take on classic blues structures and his idiosyncratic lyrics, Meg White’s drumming like an enthusiastic sixth-grader) and their image (the self-mythologizing, or the tricolor ensembles that have become more embellished with each passing album, culminating in the current cover art, which finds them wearing elaborately sequined nudie suits and Meg boasting a Kentucky Derby hat). ![]() Far and away the most interesting thing about the “return-to-form” line of criticism that has dominated discussions of the White Stripes’ sixth album, Icky Thump, is that it almost entirely ignores what it is that gives the duo its claim as perhaps the greatest rock act of its generation. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |