Trying to Forget the Crushing Defeats since 2009

You would think that if I said “shameless music” in a sentence, the other half would be talking about today’s crop of ridiculous pop stars– Miley, Soulja Boy, the New Boyz, and that why-are-you-singing-before-you-hit-puberty sensation, Justin Bieber.

Well, I usually would. With the exception of “Party in the USA”, all of that music is terrible, and the people that are trying to shove it down our throats have no shame.

But I found this week that there’s a new “shameless” in town. Enter: Hudson Mohawke. And it’s…shameless.

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When most of us think about hip-hop, we think about music you can dance to. We hear Beyoncé, Jay-Z and Lady Gaga and all we want to do is move to the beat. Is your party not going well? Put on “Just Dance” and watch what happens–you might be drinking in your kitchen, but that kitchen is about to become a dance floor.

While you could theoretically dance to Hudson Mohawke, you wouldn’t really want anyone watching. The songs have weird, odd beats and are so digitized that you’ll just end up bouncing up and down, or my favorite, flailing around your room in your pajamas looking like a cross between a seizure victim and a member of the Jabbawockeez. Dancing in the club is about losing your inhibitions, but dancing to Hudson Mohawke makes you look like you’re having, well, shameless fun–fun you should probably be having in private.

Second, Mohawke’s music spans so many genres, when you describe it you’re bound to sound like you work at a record store; that is, a complete music snob. I ran into a professor the other day who asked me what I was listening to as I took my earbuds out of my ears. Eager to tell her that I really liked the music (Mohawke, of course), I said “oh, it’s great. It’s some really cool electronica-dance-trip-hop-rap-fusion.” That portion of the conversation ended about half a second later, the professor nodding, wide-eyed.

Hudson Mohawke, then, is really, really indie. If that’s your sort of thing (I personally love bands that no-one’s ever heard of), it’s really cool, but if you want to be able to tell someone else about your great music collection without having to explain what “trip-hop” is (I feel like you’d have to start some sort of history lesson if you were asked), you’re probably better off sticking to techno to get your fill of cool beats.

But that’s exactly the point of this music–it’s ridiculously fringe indie (well, it’s fringe for someone who bought ‘3′ by Britney Spears the day it came out), it sounds like techno in a blender, but it’s shameless fun, and it’s absolutely excellent. Wear it with a pair of noise-cancelling headphones on your walk to school/class/work and you’ll find a little bit more pep in your step. Just try not to dance while crossing the street.