godinpants wrote:likeluke wrote:i don't think taking oneself seriously as a musician is a problem here. to say that "we know chipmusic is ridiculous" sort of keeps us in this "revenge of the nerds"-esque way of thinking of what we do; "yeah, this shit is really nerdy and not quite socially acceptable, so what?" why not take ourselves seriously enough to tell the world "this is actually a really awesome thing we do, all appearances aside"? instead of affirming--or straight up relishing in--the outsider nature of chip, we need to take ourselves at least SLIGHTLY seriously as musicians; otherwise, chip might as well be wizard rock or nerdcore. (no offense to wizard rock or nerdcore enthusiasts on the board.)
I think there's a difference between taking yourself seriously and taking your music seriously.
i take my music seriously, enough to spend a lot on it for vinyl/transport/instrumentation all that, to put my time and hardwork into it, to get in fights with my girlfriend over touring.
What i dont take seriously is myself when dealing with my music, based off album covers im half man, half whale. i wear home made godinpants t shirts and strange hats(not so much lately on that one). and i think the attitude is largely the same in a lot of other people.
i know 10k takes incredible pride in the production values of his music, ive seen mixing/recording going down. but on stage, its almost like the music is a vehicle for comedy in between and during songs.
abortifacient gets all dressed up in corpse paint and ken dole shirts, adamgetsawesome still uses a picture of himself as a cardboard robot, even anamanaguchi do some really hi-fi recording, and combine it with art from paul robertson, who himself does some amazing drawings that just cannot be taken seriously.
I think having that space really helps people engage with what you're doing, it makes things memorable and more enjoyable.
i think i see what you mean, and agree that it helps bridge a gap; this sort of implies, however, that if you're NOT doing something ironically silly while playing live, people won't "get it". i think that really depends on the artist.
for example, i'm actually IN anamanaguchi (just fyi ;p), and i agree that the art we use is often completely crazy and indeed can't be taken totally seriously. but it's also serving the purpose of visually expressing what's going on, which, as i said, is bridging a sort of gap for people who come to a show or download our records, as our music could often be described as "over the top". the same could be said of 10k to an extent; were his music and live shows not so crazy or out of the ordinary, it wouldn't be serving the same purpose for him to be so comical.
i feel like your example won't necessarily apply across the board to all chip artists, either. just look at nullsleep or starscream; their live shows will have accompanying visuals, but they're not necessary for them to be powerful live, OR to get their art across (even though it certainly does bring it to an amazing new plateau). it could certainly be construed that they take themselves seriously to some degree, and look at what they're accomplishing.
my point is, for music that isn't itself overly comical or grotesque (in the sherwood anderson, exaggerated sense), there's nothing wrong with taking yourself or your art seriously. hell, for a lot of people, the antics/art that you and i pull on stage or online respectively aren't even necessary to help an audience get engaged! but i totally agree that it helps, it just depends on your own music.
