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Troubled Hubble

Yes, I often complain that a lot of the modern music that is influenced by mid-90s post-hardcore is only for teenagers and college students. However, when a young band comes along that speaks to my age and I like their music, I take a lot of notes. For me, it's Troubled Hubble.

I hear a lot of reference points in their sound but I think they have a sound of their own. Singer/guitarist Chris Otepka's voice bares a slight resemblance to the Dismemberment Plan's Travis Morrison's conversational singing voice, but I put an emphasis on "slight." Their songs are very four-on-the-floor and the melodies are immediate and catchy, but compared to a lot of other bands out there, TH's sound is very original. I'm not doing a sliding-scale comparison here: they're great and a breath of fresh air.

Then there's the lyrics: some could say they're wacky, but I really dig them. Case in point, this line in "I'm Pretty Sure I Can See Molecules:" "To be young and dumb and innocent/to fear your life and want to live/to sleep and wake naturally/to treat your brain how it's supposed to be." Then there's this line in "To Be Alive and Alone" that says it all: "It's a great time to be alive and alone." This is music by twenty-somethings for twenty-somethings but can be for anyone.

Troubled Hubble as a whole is a much more relatable band for me, a 26-year-old, than a band like Fall Out Boy. Yes, I'm very well aware of the fact that teenagers are a huge influence as to what labels of all sizes cater towards. However, I'm not somebody that's mired in a hipster or mainstream ghetto. I like all kinds of music, but I'm not into soulless garbage glossed over with studio trickery. That's a vague description, but it comes in all forms. I'm not on top of new records months in advance like other so-called hipsters. I don't download new records via sites like Yousendit or Rapidshare or get records to review months in advance, so I'm a little behind on the times. I used to download albums like crazy but when I realized I was spending more time downloading albums than actually listening to the ones I already had downloaded, I stopped (plus my old computer became infected by spyware).

Elvis Costello once said something along the lines of, "Music is for everyone; it's just the record companies that think it's just for kids." I agree. Plus, it's a great time to be alive and alone.

Comments

Eric said…
Interesting you should post about Troubled Hubble. They are from a suburb not far from me. Seen em a few times. Not bad. They never really impressed me all that much, but, then again, I haven't heard their last two records. Perhaps I should give em another try. Funny how someitmes you need to see things from a distance for some perspective.
Eric Grubbs said…
Definitely check out their latest, Making Beds in a Burning House. I haven't heard their other stuff though.
Kev said…
The record companies often have no clue even what "the kids" really want, because they're run by businesspeople and not artists. This is why they're in danger of becoming irrelevant. (I've ranted about this before, as you know.)
Kev said…
Oops, that should be that they have no clue about what the kids really want.

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