TUNES // Coping Skills – Bagel Fruit Water
Post by Misha
I’m just going to list everything I love about this band and their press email in the order it comes to me.
“moderately gay post-ironic bummer pop”
is how Rachel and Lauren of Coping Skills describe their music. There’s a healthy splash of punk in there somewhere, too.
Worst New Music
is the title of their album, and the cover is a 0.0 Pitchfork rating. And I’m here for any and all middle fingers pointed in the general direction of the standardized quantification of music’s worth. Says the band:
“We want to spur a conversation about music press and its effect on both band’s and listener’s perception of music; drawing attention to the publicist/PR aspect to releasing music that pulls many strings but doesn’t get talked about nearly the same way as say, signing to a label does. We want to talk about it.”
Yes.
“Their songs are just songs. You’ve heard songs? They sound like those.”
Their whole bio is like this. I swear to God.
“Music Taste is a late capitalist branding tool that only stands to benefit tech companies and major labels. “
Yes, I see the irony of a music blog writing about music that sets its crosshairs on musical tastemakers, and I hold some pity in my heart for the publicist forced to include a blistering critique of the very institution of PR in their press release (but like that’s also the genius of it, right?) – but I also love the separation of “tastemaking” as a tool for branding and monetizing art, and tastemaking as a not-totally-desireable byproduct of the compulsion to share genuine love of music with others.
I’ve never loved the idea of music blogs (and this music blog in particular) as gatekeepers to what is “good” or “cool”. The function of music is to help its listener feel something genuine, no? Ergo, if it succeeds in doing so, it is Good Music. Cool? Cool.
“My body is a temple, but I treat it like my neighbor’s house”
The lyrics to Bagel Fruit Water are funny-tragic and obviously very relatable. Preorder Worst New Music here. You can also buy limited edition cassettes via City Wide Records. Catch them on tour – dates here.