Rusty Santos - Bad is Good
(self-released)
Indie pop is mostly a sad wasteland of arrested youth, uncomplicated melodies, and trite, callow lyricism. Blame who you will (I chose Calvin Johnson, I think unfairly, but nevertheless I blame him), but while this genre languishes in the realm of adolescent monotony, few innovators really exist to make this a vital form of musical expression. Sure, it's great to sing about your girlfriend or your sweatshirt in the space of a verse-chorus-etc. format, and there's definitely a time and a place for that, but it's tough to take indie pop seriously. This is disheartening though because there are a lot of interesting things that could be done with the form, a lot of experiments that have yet to be conducted. Some progress has been made, but Phil Elvrum cannot single-handedly breathe life into the genre, and while he has been influential in moving some people away from the conventions of indie pop, second-generation Microphones imitators miss the real novel elements of his work.
Rusty Santos's album Bad is Good is flawed in this way, although signs of his own innovation shine through in fits and flashes. The album mainly adheres to indie pop protocol: the cutesy keyboards, the simple instrumentation, a Frank Black by way of Danielson Family squeal in his voice (although in a more moderate fashion) or the shaky faux-emotional warbling that never reaches hideous Oberst-like proportions, but which is ubiquitous nonetheless; however, I can definitely see signs that Santos wishes to push past the defined barriers that so narrowly define the genre. The second song, "Karasu Princess," while being a little too darling, breaks away from typical song structure and features a linear non-repeating progression. Other songs like "Dalai Lama" show cross-pollination with IDM demonstrating that Santos has the desire to embrace other forms. The lyrics are by no means abstract, yet they display a tendency towards a more adventurous outlook than typical pop. All these elements combine to help shove Bad is Good out of the realm of blandness and into more interesting territory; it will be interesting to see if Santos sticks with the progression that this album presages in his future endeavors.
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