Jueves 13 Abr 2006, 18:53
They'd probably flinch at being referred to as a South London band. They're not, after all. But these days 'south London' is just a byword for being more cutting-edge than you. Like 'Shoreditch' also is. Maybe they're more of a Shoreditch band, anyway.
That's beside the point, because Operation Wolf are the band that popular culture has been preparing you for. Not necessarily the most proficient, but they have the musical smarts where it matters – in crafting perfectly piercing short essays about identity and performance.
That would be indie identity and power-pop performance.
After all, their overpowering musical thematic tends to be about identification with alternative media avatars. Particularly instructive is Kim Deal or No Deal. Like Le Tigre, totems of identification are presented from the popular media, with clear guidance as to how we should be judging them: "Keith Richards?"… "Pete Doherty?"… "no way!".
The crossover between indie cred and media pabulum is a related discussion in Op:Wolf's work. In fact, there's little need to do more than merely quote one of their song titles: Women's Magazines Are Sucking My Will to Live.
The least that can be said is that women's magazines are not sucking Operation Wolf's will to rock. It's safe to go further, though, and say that in their precise fury, these songs evoke a critical discourse that's all to often elided in contemporary indie music.
We'll reassess that opinion when they become famous and embrace the bling, but for now, check out their music on Myspace and look out for a live appearance near you (assuming you live in the southeast of England).