Grind Me Up, Scottie

I had been looking at low-cost espresso machines for the last month. I stumbled upon one for $3 at Goodwill yesterday, and it gave me a new perspective on life... well, not quite. But I took it home, I cleaned it out, I ran a few empty cycles. I found I take much better care of things I receive for little to no cost. Besides, it wouldn't be a bargain, then, if it weren't as close to new as possible.

The Death of the Masculine Voice?

Recently, it's come to my attention - or awareness, really - that the future of rock's male voice is feminine. Ranges are pushed into the falsetto, timbres melt from male to female (take the duo Mates of State, for example), and ambiguous sexuality exudes. Take the music of Sigur Rós, Bon Iver, and The Shins as examples of this trend. On the Brit side you could throw in Radiohead, Coldplay, and even Mika. The musicality of these particular musicians represents (at least in my opinion) a good representation of the current stream of alternative rock (save for Coldplay and Mika). Take a listen to a few of their songs, and you'll quickly notice a departure from the Johnny Cash and Frank Sinatra of yesteryear, when the male role in society was distinct. In our departure from masculinity, we have molded our leading male voices into softies - not a bad thing, but a time capsule to our mark on history. Because of the pendulum effect, our culture has depended on the womanizing crooning of Sinatra and the grandfatherly rasp of Cash for decades, only to abandon it later for a soft, understanding male. There is no longer a man of the house; why should there be a musical representation of him? The new man gets angry like his father, but he displaces that anger into a whine. When he woos, he does it not with swooning but with sweetness. When he's enraptured, he characterizes his music with a universal appeal - not a distinctly male approach. The new male voice is on a spectrum, and he blends with the rest of culture, as culture has blended everything else. Like it or not, our religion is our politics, our politics are our consumerism, our consumerism is our expression, our expression is our individualism, and our individualism is in a huge blender right now - male and female.

Sigur Rós (vocals start around 3:05; notice use of guitar and guitar pickup)

Bon Iver - "Flume"

Mika - "Grace Kelly" (pop... not alternative)

Mates of State - "My Only Offer" (wonderful blend of timbres)