My own idea on what it means to be a "Christian artist" has fluctuated over the years. An interesting entry into the discussion of this topic is found in the 2006 documentary, Danielson: A Family Movie, which chronicles the story of a family that started a band when the youngest member was 11, built a following in the independent music scene, toured worldwide in support of records produced by Steve Albini, and eventually were eclipsed in popularity by one of its backing instrumentalists (Sufjan Stevens). Most interesting to me about the Danielson famile is their music itself, which I can only attempt to describe as a joyfully abstract Vacation Bible School soundtrack.
The video for "Idiot Boksen" can be viewed below; I apologize that a portion of the right side of the video is cut off due to the formatting size of my blog.
3 comments:
JB, good stuff, I just saw on PF that Danielson had some new stuff out. I went to a show last night, for the first time in a while. Jeremy Enigk was playing at our local butt-rock bar... so depressing. I could think of a few better Spokane venues for him. I think this was his first time here in a long time if not ever. He put on a good show, even though the sound guy was horrible.
Makes me think of the difference in Christian artists. For all their quirks, Danielson have maintained reality and joyful Christianity. Enigk seems to be depressed and just waiting on the rapture... :) They each have aged differently as artists. love you guys, paul
Enigk playing Spokane? No offense, but that is depressing. Haven't listened to his stuff lately, but he seems to be more in the vein of David Bazan, et al.
I'll take the shrieky falsetto of Daniel Smith anyday.
While I do like this song, I must say, it quickly loses some of its luster if it becomes stuck in your head for any length of time. I've been walking around my office all week singing "kids got the hots" in my head and it has not been a pleasant experience.
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