In light of the recent discussions on this blog as to what, exactly, we might call the “definition” of rock (see here and here), I was struck by an interview this morning on NPR’s Weekend Edition.

Audie Cornish interviews the band Miracles of Modern Science, and the lead-off to the story deals with the fact that they don’t look like a rock band (nary a guitar in the group), but they play “rock.”  At one point, a member of the group notes that — because of their instrumentation — they often get mistakenly booked with folk acts, and when they take the stage they completely destroy the quiet vibe of the room.

“There’s sort of a thaw in the music community now between people who play classical music, or whatever you want to call it — concert music, art music — and what we do in music clubs,” says Geoff McDonald. “And that’s a really great thing. You see lots of people doing imaginative things from both sides of what was [once] a divide.”

What do you think?  Are they a “rock” band?  A “folk” band that plays with rock-like intensity?  Something else entirely (like performance art)?

Take a look at this video for their single, “Eating Me Alive,” and let us know what you think.

 

David Dault, Memphis, Tennessee

2 Comments »

1. 

   Great post, Dave. Hard to categorize these guys. Some of that song has a “European classical music” feel to it. I don’t know if I’d call them rockers. Frankly, I’m biased. I play the guitar, adore the guitar, think the guitar is the single best invention in the entire history of the world! So it’s hard for me to imagine a rock band without a guitar. I’d like to hear what other people think.

   Comment by Mary McDonough — December 12, 2011 @ 8:40 pm

2. 

   Bands I thought of as I enjoyed watching/listening to them: Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Mannheim Steamroller, any rock band “Unplugged” in the 1990s, Stray Cats, any rock band accompanied by an orchestra in the 1990s/2000s, Wilco. I would put it, at least on first listening, that they incorporate what have become coded as rock gestures within their own musical style (the Cure meets alt-country). Those rock gestures include loud volume, guitar soloing, driving backbeat, and yelping declamation, not to mention the bodily wherewithals that they demonstrate live, which also borrow from the rock catalogue – except the fellow sitting down the whole time.

   Comment by T Beaudoin — December 12, 2011 @ 11:22 pm

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