my friend johan took me to brooklyn tonight to see esg.
if you don’t know esg, and i’m assuming that you don’t because they’re quite obscure, they were a band from the early 80’s who made a few amazing records for 99records (the home of liquid liquid and the bush tetras). they were amazing. they are amazing.
3 women from puerto rico and their daughters. you’ve probably heard their music, cos it’s been sampled so heavily in the hip-hop community. but they’re still phenomenal. so minimal, almost perfect.
it made me realize that so many rock bands are doing themselves a great disservice by only playing prosaic, un-funky, un-sexy rock music.
every band in the world should go out and buy liquid liquid and esg and the bush tetras to see that music played by a band doesn’t have to be flat and un-sexy.
not that all bands are flat and un-sexy, but rock music is definitely on the verge (if it didn’t pass that verge a long time ago) of being orbecoming a fairly lifeless parody and caricature of itself.
what made so many early rock bands so great is that they didn’t get their inspiration from rock music. so many of todays rock bands are so dullbecause they’ve only been influenced by other rock bands and the occasional mainstream hip-hop track.if you’re in a band you should go buy some non-rock records and figure out why they’re so good. that’s my advice for today.
esg have inspired me. they were amazing.
-moby