The internet and its ever increasing amount of relatively structured data about anything and everything has undoubtedly changed the way music lovers operate from how they did in the past century. What James Murphy described as internet-seeking, has provided us with a very structured and controlled way of drawing ever-expanding circles around our musical entry-points. If, for instance, someone would check out Stars of the Lid because of its high rating on Rateyourmusic, and take a liking to it, he can check out their collaborations, similar artists or recommendations on the basis of their music from various sites and sources on the internet and thereby expand his knowledge of the genre from a single point.
It used to be quite different. Though deliberate and structured exploration of the musical scene was not impossible say 40 years ago, it was definitely a lot harder, and more uncommon. My father used to tell me he'd just buy records from the store purely based on the album cover or an intriguing artist name. Radio, too, played a much larger role, resulting in a more centralized (inter-)national music taste.
Bang Bang Machine was one of those occurrences where the old and new ways just described kind of merged for me. Though I did find out about them in a way that is very concurrent with the internet-generation's obsession for complete data (that is: I was looking at a list of John Peel's Festive Fifty #1s), it caught my eye because it was one of the few items in it that was completely foreign to me and intriguing at the same time. And even though their influences include some of my personal favorites (mostly Cocteau Twins and the madchester scene), they seem to lack any connections to those bands and exist in a world of their own. This mostly because they have been largely forgotten.
I find it hard to see why on the basis of this single. Geek Love is a true tour-de-force, that is simultaneously catchy and ephemeral, dreamy and danceable, intellectual and emotional. It builds perfectly to a climax, and features one of the most fantastic female vocal performances I know of. While it is based on an interesting yet complicated novel on a freak show carnival, it perfectly captures that strange atmosphere in one strangely alluring and poetic line: To love, but never to be in love.
P.S. Be sure to also check out the (extended) album-version on YouTube which drags out the original in a wonderful way.
