Passion Pit | Harlem Shakes | Cale Parks (Granada)
Just to let you know right off the bat, this show is SOLD OUT, so if you wanna go and you don't have tickets, you're outta luck. The first time I really heard about this band, other than through PR emails, was on Hipsterrunoff, where Carles referred to them as "Passhy Pit," which was about the funniest nickname I could imagine for a band like this, especially when you consider the implications that go along with receiving a nickname from Hipsterrunoff. Anyway, listening to this band's music makes me wonder what kind of dudes these guys are-- after all, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING about Passion Pit seems to cater to the music taste of hipsters so closely that it almost seems like a well researched marketing gimmick rather than a band, which says as much about the people being marketed to as it does the vehicle for the marketing. Do you like Animal Collective's new album? Well that's pretty cool, bro, because they kinda sound like that sometimes. Are you into MGMT? Well you're in luck, because they kinda sound like that too. Cool man, you're into blog house and Sebastian Tellier and you've heard a cosmic disco comp before and are kinda thinking about checking out acid house some time? Again, jackpot. They sort of sound like that as well. The truth of the matter is that many of their songs really aren't too bad, and a few are (surprisingly) more than tolerable-- it all just seems so completely calculated, however, that its truly hard to give too much of a shit about it. I've been wondering for a long time when this whole "hipster" aesthetic is going to become so deeply embedded in mainstream | teenybop culture that it will become way too embarrassing for anyone over the age of 22 to embrace it, and the scathing satire of websites like Hipsterrunoff has certainly helped to hammer home the point that such a time is approaching. It hasn't happened yet, but bands like this, along with the overall lack of ideas that seem to be emanating from this demographic, makes me think that it will happen very soon. What sucks even more is that I hate Passion Pit a lot less than I probably should.

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