Thievery Corporation - 3845

i'm the bad guy on this video. da boss man.

I think a lot of people take great airs for investing themselves in some figurative sense in a particular artist's image and look askance on "popular" bands as providing nothing more than a phony appearance not knowing that even very talented artists (e.g., Eddie Vedder of PJ) are "selling" a different kind of image, i.e., "no image", "rejection of mainstream" image. I make these inferences dispassionately and see fans invest their identity in "political" bands. I prefer great music regardless.

Comparing Thievery Corp to U2 is like compare a set of diamonds to a set of cubic zirconium. U2 "appears" to be at the top of their genre, but are really just popular and low end :). Thievery corp is actually a diamond within their genre ):

Thievery is immortal diamond, we agree. However. If you think that anything that is popular is devoid of merit- or u2 is devoid of comparable ability: I say: a great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep. Rejection of popular things is just a different image thrust onto the world. Talent and quality move through sound, I know not why, but I know old u2 has it. I don't know what their genre even is. Apologies.

I don't dislike things just because they are popular. I dislike U2 because I despise Bono :). I would agree that OLD U2 = AWESOME. New U2 however... I don't know, I feel Bono has lost a lot of his activism attitude and moved a little bit into the mainstream.  He speaks less about the unheard of atrocities and more about the mainstream stuff on the news. I liked that he often covered events many Americans had not even heard of.

Anyone looking to pop stars to improve their understanding of geopolitical dynamics or how the "world really works" or expects them to lead a cause may not be as independent a thinker as they think.

If you interpret "enjoying politically conscious musicians" as "attaining political knowledge from said musicians", then your statement is correct. I don't improve my understanding of politics via these artists, but I do like it when they stay away from the "mainstream" controversies and instead discuss the less fortunate and often less exposed issues.

Here are my favorite U2 songs you may or may not like to listen to on this site.

Drowning Man
Acrobat
Exit
Zooropa
Zoo station
Deep in the heart
11 o clock tick tock
Magnificent

peace, brother

And for house/electronica:
Miguel Migs
Nude Dimensions II, Naked Music Label
Tyrell "La, la, la, la"
Deadmau "I remember", "faxing berlin"
Costes
St, Germain
Timewriter "so free"
Armin, "Zocalo"
PVD, "for an angel"
Terry Lee Brown Junior - "Delightful" Encounter
Bulitnuts "feathered up"
Anything to recommend in this, ahem, genre?
Love to hear new tunes!

this reminds me of that old Orbital video