10 Trends We Could Live Without in 2011

BY Josiah HughesPublished Dec 28, 2010

There's no denying that 2010 was a fantastic year for new music across the board, as old artists released some of their best work yet and new artists showed up on our radar with refreshing sounds and new takes on old ideas. Unfortunately, the year also boasted some frustrating trends that we would really like to be rid of when the calendar turns over to January 1. From egos running wild to everyone swiping each other's ideas, here are ten trends we could live without in 2011.

10. Unreliable release dates

Dr. Dre has been teasing us with the release of his next album Detox for over ten years, but he really made it seem like the disc was coming in 2010 when he started promoting it with a cross-marketed brand of Cognac, a "Hustlin' Wit' Dre" game and, of course, those damn headphones, among other things. Coldplay hinted that they would have a new album out by Christmas, the Strokes suggested their fourth album would drop in September, and Panda Bear started promoting his Tomboy album before he had even recorded the thing. Here's a novel idea for artists: just because you have the best intentions to get your material out to the public at a certain time, don't put dates in our heads until you have delivered the finished album to your record label.

9. Micro samples of songs

Since the rise of the MP3, many have lamented the good old days of the full album. Unfortunately, that sentiment is completely destroyed with the terribly marketed song "streams" that end up being brief snippets. Before the highly anticipated releases from Big Boi and M.I.A. hit the streets, for example, MySpace users were encouraged to check out "full album streams" that ended up being 30 second samples of each song. Similarly, Daft Punk's Tron soundtrack was hyped with a barrage of song snippets that were mere seconds in length. How are music fans supposed to preserve the sacred album format -- or even just the song format -- with these petty teases? Furthermore, why would illegal downloaders be dissuaded from finding the full album elsewhere when the legitimate samples are so frustratingly slim?

8. Homogenized themes

Thanks to the Internet, we live in an era with endless information constantly at our fingertips, meaning half an hour of browsing photo blogs or reading Wikipedia could result in some powerful, unique inspiration. So why is every band ripping each other off so much? Take, for example, the "beach" theme popping up all over the place. Best Coast and Wavves have got the sunny themes on lock, and they have inspired an endless supply of summery imitators exploring that same hazy lo- to mid-fi guitar pop complete with blurry visuals and an outfit peeled from an Urban Outfitters catalogue. Other genres are no better, with every shitty musician and his synthesizer writing downtempo bummer music and complementing it with spacey landscape photography, upside down crosses and white triangles for that easy witch house aesthetic. The real change here needs to come from the bloggers who cream their pants every time this samey BS shows up in their inbox. There is room for new ideas in 2011! 7. Obsessive retweeting

Following your favourite artist on Twitter is a great new way to get up to the minute information from them. Whether it's 50 Cent's unspeakably offensive Twitter behaviour or Damian Abraham of Fucked Up starting fights about classic punk albums, there's a lot to be gained from the Twitterverse. Unfortunately, it's also another forum for many to let their vanity run wild. Such is the case with notorious tweeters like Diddy and Lil B, who retweet nearly every positive mention of their names to their followers, deeming them incredibly frustrating if you care about the other people on your Twitter feed. Note to Lil B: we're all thankful to the Based God, but you don't need to retweet every time someone mentions you!

6. Drug overdoses

Among the many artists we tragically lost before their time this year were Jay Reatard and Eyedea, two iconic independent voices in their respective fields who passed away due to substance overdoses. Reatard, a figure in the garage and punk scenes who had broken out as a modern indie pop great with his Matador Record releases, passed away on January 13 from a cocaine overdose, with a coroner ruling that alcohol had also been a factor. Eyedea, a prominent indie MC known best known for his battle raps and collaborations with Abilities, died on October 16 due to "opiate toxicity," though his specific drug was unknown. A certain amount of self-destructive behaviour is no stranger to the touring musician's lifestyle, but drug use meant the world lost two strong voices way before their time. Hopefully, 2011 will be different and party-loving musicians can exert a little more self-control or find the accountability to get their dangerous habits treated properly.

5. Artists as charities

The rise of online donation services like Kickstarter and the Point have allowed for some incredible achievements in fundraising to help a wide array of worthy causes. Unfortunately, they have also been co-opted by musicians looking to fund their less noble projects. Whether it's raising money to press vinyl or, in the case of David Bazan, raising money to cover his bills while he takes a break from touring to record, there's no end to what your favourite artists might ask for. Sure, these donation services always offer limited goodies to reward your generosity, and usually result in a copy of the album when it's eventually complete, but there's something unnerving about this model of commerce, especially when so many albums are prone to indefinite delays. Sure, we're facing a new music industry where the idea of being a career musician is less feasible, but doesn't this form of online panhandling oppose the D.I.Y. spirit of punk and indie rock entirely? 4. Every rapper going to jail

The year kicked off with T.I. being released from his year-long weapons-related prison sentence in March, with Lil Wayne heading into the clink around the same time for similar charges. By the time Wayne was released, T.I. was already heading back to the slammer, where he's currently serving an 11-month sentence. Gucci Mane was released from prison in May and then arrested in November for driving on the wrong side of the road. Those charges were dropped, but he was cuffed again this month, along with Waka Flocka Flame, for marijuana possession, among many other charges. Gucci was let go, while Waka Flocka's fate is unknown. The point is, how are the biggest names in the rap industry supposed to release quality albums when they're constantly being shipped in and out of prison cells? Someone needs to get them into a life of fake crime like Rick Ross, or at least bargain with judges for recording time while in prison.

3. Lo-fi production and/or reverb disguising bad songs

The use of lo-fi recording techniques as an aesthetic choice is nothing new, but rather than complement the songs, it became the central selling point of some new bands by 2010. Whether using intentionally terrible recording techniques to make their songs sound like they were produced in a tin can or covering every vocal track and instrument in layers and layers of reverb, the bottom line is that we got a little burnt out on everything sounding so, well, burnt out. Formerly lo-fi acts like Wavves and Ariel Pink finally embraced full-bodied studio recordings after numerous albums of hard-to-hear production, and both benefitted from it. In 2011, it would be great to see more bands follow suit. Whether that means writing songs that don't need to hide behind thick layers of noise or spending a few hours learning how to improve their home recordings, it won't take much to make music audible again.

2. Absurd new genre tags

The idea of jokey genre names is nothing new in 2010, with dorky phrases like "shit gaze" and "freak folk" having their spotlight in previous years. This year, however, there was an unfortunate amount of bullshit music talk being thrown around. The big culprits were "chillwave," which describes the fuzzy-wuzzy electronic pop of acts like Washed Out and Teen Daze, and "witch house," describing the haunting, goth-inspired dance music spearheaded by Salem and Gatekeeper. Trouble is, every blogger and their mom is trying to coin the next genre tag, churning out meaningless phrases like "rape gaze," "grave wave" and "glo-fi" to try and find some name that will fit these new genres. And the new genres themselves are really just new incarnations of previous music, automatically stripped of any originality when forced into these manufactured movements. 1. Kanye West being Kanye West

Before you spew hate in the comment section, understand that we're not calling My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy a bad album. In fact, most of us at Exclaim! love it. That's not the problem. The problem is Kanye West the person, who was just way too much this year. From his ridiculous Taylor Swift blow-out that spilled over into the early 2010 media blitz, to his fight with George Bush and Matt Lauer, to his leaked dick pic and Twitter rants, Kanye was a regular tabloid-esque fixture on the news page. Comedically, that was fine, but then when he donned his self-serious artiste persona, he was even more difficult to stomach, especially considering that the bulk of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was produced by outside beat-makers and Ye was even accused of plagiarizing the lyrics to songs like "Power." Regardless, Fantasy is a good enough album that we will be listening to it for a while, so Kanye can feel free to retire from the public consciousness for a while and give other artists some room to exist.

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