By Robin Ianson
There are two types of indie bands. The first are great bands that are indie only because they have yet to be discovered and land a major label deal. The second are bands that revel in the label of indie and churn out album after album of mediocre music, but claim they don’t want to make it big, because that would be selling out.
Oxford Collapse is in no danger of ever selling-out.
Everything on Remember the Night Parties reeks of unabashed, self-felating indie-ness. The album sounds like it was recorded in a band member’s garage, which does match the amateurish musicianship and vocals, but doesn’t neccesarily make for a listenable disc. In fact, Oxford Collapse don’t sound any different than nearly any other amateur band from Calgary. The difference is Oxford Collapse is from hip New York City, is signed to the indie powerhouse SubPop and is therefore guaranteed a certain number of scenester sales.
Remember the Night Parties represents everything wrong with the indie scene. Rather than write good music, Oxford Collapse is perfectly happy to write weak songs, play them sloppily and call it music. But it’s cool, y’know, because they’re broke.