"Little Birdy, I Don't Care": The Difference Between Indie Pop & Punk...

...must merely be what magazine likes you. Not that this actually matters, but the band I'm going to add a couple tracks by today is a "punk" band. They're called ShellShag and they're from Brooklyn (yes, another one. Apologies to you, and to myself).

Don't get me wrong--I happen to think they're pretty pleasant regardless of arbitrary classification. But they're a punk band because they were on MRR radio one time, I think. And The Constantines are an indie band because they'll never be on there, but show up to be pummelled, masturbated, and then pummelled while being masturbated by P*tchf*rk.

To come up with a slightly better parallel, I don't think there's too much of a difference between some of these ShellShag songs and songs by, say, Saturday Looks Good to Me (who I also like). Saturday Looks Good to Me are indie pop. Right? Is it just because ShellShag say the name Joey Ramone in "Gary's Note"? What if Camera Obscura just names Stiv Bators in some song about being depressed in Scotland, will that help?

I'm being a little dishonest, if only because ShellShag have some tunes that are slightly heavier. It's called cherrypicking, and it's how I get things done, because I have no scruples.

The songs by ShellShag are "Gary's Note" and "Little Birdy" off 2007's Destroy Me I'm Yours. For comparison's sake, the songs by Saturday Looks Good to me are off 2003's All Your Summer Songs and are called "Ambulance" and, well, uh, "[Untitled]." They're from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Go Demon Deacons!

Tracks 54-57 on that thar playlist.