After the release of Ratatat’s latest music video for “Party With Children” [link], many websites have been clamoring to figure out what kind of bird was showcased in the video is. Unfortunately, many music blogs are only good at mp3buzzology, and they aren’t really good at Ornithology. This ALT REPORT EXCLUSIVE uncovered the facts using tools like wikipedia, google image search, and google bird search.
We are pleased to announce that this white bird is a white parakeet, also known as a budgie.
The Budgerigar (pronounced /ˈbʌdʒəriɡɑr/) or Common Pet Parakeet (Melopsittacus undulatus), often called a budgie or parakeet, is a small parrot and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus. A small long-tailed predominantly green and yellow bird with black scalloped markings on the wings and shoulders in the wild, the Budgerigar has been bred extensively with a profusion of colour forms resulting. Thus, aviary birds may be blue and white, all yellow, all white, or various other combinations thereof. Some have even been bred with small crests. In the wild, it is a predominantly seed-eating species. The budgerigar is found throughout the drier parts of Australia and has survived for the last five million years in the harsh inland conditions of that continent.[2]
Many pet stores in alternative parts of the country are re-stocking their white parakeet inventory in order to meet the rising demand for white budgies. It seems like new meme blogs called ‘hipster budgies’ and ‘hipster parakeets’ will soon launch, going viral, capitalizing on the emerging hipster + parakeet trends.
Parakeets have been around for 5 million years. Only time will tell if parakeets will be a hot pet trend for the next 5 million blog years.
Is the white parakeet the most alt parakeet?
Will RattyTat the Bird let his ‘internet fame’ / buzz bird status ‘go to his head’?
Note to blogs and news websites: Whenever mentioning that this bird is a white parakeet/ white budgie, please link to this exclusive story.’
Ratatat’s new music video for “Party With Children” is one of the most important music videos ever created in the post-internet music era, where music videos exist for the sake of ‘generating blog buzz and conversation.’ Everything must be controversial. Everything must be a meme. Bands can’t just make good music, they have to create either ‘visually stunning’ videos, or they have to just do something shocking involving violence and nudity. Seems like your music video can’t be ‘worth shit’ if it costs less than $10,000 to make.
In Ratatat’s video for “Party With Children”, we are introduced to a bird bro, who I will call RattyTat. RattyTat isn’t asked to do much, they basically tell him ‘Do your bird thang.’ There are no trippy visuals, and no ginger genocides. There is no over the top violence, and no sexuality. There are no free spirited, alt-looking kids roaming around a relevant part of town getting in to trouble + making out with one another.
It is just RattyTat, being a bird. Existing. Not understanding technology. Just wanting to survive, live life like an animal who isn’t even a part of a collective. It seems like bands are in a tough place these days when they make music videos, like they have to try to make it seem like they are ‘aware of the modern world’ or something. Sorta just want music videos that aren’t meant to get the attention of mainstreamers who are ‘just passin by’ on the internet. Just want to be a bird Being free without a computer not understanding what music is sounds are just sounds no music no internet no ‘labels’ assigned 2 sounds, ‘good’ or ‘bad’ don’t exist just eating bird seed pooping flying around
For a while, I was kinda ‘pissed’ at Ratatat, because their new song sounded the same as their old song, but now maybe I ‘get’ it. They are trying to use animals to represent the animalistic existence of buzzbands. All buzzbands are in some sort of alternate ecosystem where they are fighting against natural selection to ’stay relevant.’ Their previous song WILDCAT represented the beast inside of them, clawing for survival in an everchanging world. Now their evolution to house-pet bird serves as a metaphor for the insulated life of an accepted band with a brand. We expect great things from buzzbands, but ultimately, they are just ‘being gawked at’ while they are inside of a cage, being asked to repeat the same sounds over and over again.
Sorta feel like all buzzbands are ‘prisoners’ / ‘domesticated animals’. Some sort of relationship has formed where we feed them, and they ‘do whatever we ask of them.’ Seems like there is a lot of pressure on them, or else they won’t metaphorically get fed with album sales/youtube views/concert tickets/etc. Wonder if buzzbands who have evolved beyond their first album get pissed about consumer expectations, and how commerce can hold back ur art.
Does n e 1 know what kind of bird is in the Ratatat music video? I sorta want to say he is a parrot, but maybe that is because I only have ‘mainstream knowledge’ of birds. I did some google image searches, and feel like it might be a cockatoo.
Is it the tanimbar cockatoo?
Maybe it is the Little Corella (aka the Little Cockatoo)?
I feel like this cockatoo is ‘too alt’ to be featured in a video, since his crown of feathers is sorta a ‘look-at-me’ type of bird meme What kind of bird is RattyTat? Should I get a ‘mascot’ for my blog, to sorta represent how we are all fighting for survival? Are ‘birds’ the new ‘bears’?
Is RattyTat the Bird one of the most important alternative celebrities of 2k10? Will Ratatat bring their cockatoo on tour with them? Will it fly around the venue, interacting with Ratatat fans in order to strengthen their brand? Are music videos still ‘relevant’ / ‘artistic’, or are they just marketed bullshit? Should Ratatat change their name to R@@@ in order to fit in with the post-twitter world?
Andy Rooney speaks about contemporary music and how he is losing touch with today’s popular artists. Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Usher? It’s All A Mystery To Andy!
Andy Rooney is an anchor on the popular TV show 60 Minutes, and they basically give him a few minutes per week to ’say something insightful or funny.’ He seems like the type of bro who they gave a job to back when they had tons of money to throw around, but now he just keeps showing up, so they have to pay him as some sort of ‘memorial’ to the way the industry/journalism/television used to work. Feel like even if his pieces were once insightful, his segment has probably just turned into the vlog of a person who is slowly dying, and becoming less culturally aware/significant by the week.
In this recent vlog, he starts out by claiming he is ‘a very mainstream American’ because he is white, has a family, served in the military, and other normal ass stuff that makes you a generic American consumer. Then he says he read Billboard magazine (not sure if he knows how to use a computer), and he said he didn’t recognize any of the top 200 artists. I think he was trying to probably make the point that ‘dumb kids don’t know shit abt good music.’ He went on to name drop Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, and Usher, then laughs in disbelief because he is ‘just an ordinary American’, but these popular artists don’t resonate with him. Think he forgets that he is a senior citizen and doesn’t use the internet, probably. Even Larry King does his best 2 tweet.
I feel bad for this bro. Like if his kids loved him, they would ‘keep him in touch’ with pop music, and give him a preloaded iPod. Do old people who try to make a point just sound like they are just ‘bitching’ that too much stuff has changed?
Feel like it is naturally that old people listen to old ass boring music, and tweens listen to shitty, inconsequential new music. Think this bro should ‘get over it’ and quit ‘bitching’ on national TV. Overall, this content ‘made me sad’ because I just get kinda sad whenever I see an old person do anything because it reminds me that one day I will be old, unhealthy, irrelevant, and abt 2 die.
Is Jim Carrey the most authentic 60 Minutes anchor of all time?
The show 60 Minutes seems like a terrible national extension of the local news, or something, but I guess the people who still watch TV are old and about to die, and probably related to this segment.
Do u feel sad when old people talk about new music? Are the bands that I like now the bands that I will like forever, or will I continue searching for buzzbands until I die? Is it ‘worth it’ to be culturally connected if u just find out abt shitty music? Should I become a journalist and get a job on 60 minutes / 48 hours / nightline / Anderson Cooper 360? Do you have any good buzzband reccs for Andy Rooney? Do ‘talking head’ journalists who are trying to shed some light on a cultural phenomenon that they are unqualified to talk abt just make u kinda sad? Do u hope u get dementia / Alzheimer’s when you get old so u don’t have to worry about remaining mainstream, alt, or culturally relevant?
From what I understand, Joanna Newsom’s latest album was a flop commercially, but she is sort of grandfathered into ‘good reviews’ and coverage from most magazines. Probs also helps that she is dating Andy Samberg to ‘keep her in the limelight’ even though she is probably pretty/musically gifted enough to date a super rich bro, like some sort of Prince of Persia type of bro or something.
N e ways, her album cycle is ‘winding down’, so she just dropped a few last lines that would get her press in an interview with the Guardian. Basically takes a decent shot at Lady Gaga being a poor man’s Madonna, and calls them both dumbasses, and sort of says that any journalistic outlet that critically oozes over Lady Gaga is ‘just trying to get blog hits’:
“I’m mystified by the laziness of people looking at how she presents herself, and somehow assuming that implies there’s a high level of intelligence in the songwriting. Her approach to image is really interesting, but you listen to the music, and you just hear glow sticks. Smart outlets for musical journalism give her all this credit, like she’s the new Madonna [...] Although I’m coming from a perspective of also thinking Madonna is not great at all. I’m like, fair enough: she is the new Madonna, but Madonna’s a dumb-ass!”
Is Joanna Newsome ‘better than’ generic pop stars because she knows how 2 play the harp? Wonder if she is right. I feel like I enjoy Madonna and Lady Gaga, but maybe it is because they really embrace ‘being a piece of ass that sing pop songs and wear skimpy lil outfits.’ Not sure if I care how they are critically received, just as long as they beg for my attention a few times per year, I will give it to them.
Maybe my relationship/interpretation with Joanna Newsom makes more sense now that I realize she isn’t just trying to be a ‘piece of ass’ that blog bros are creaming their pants over.
In addition, J-New claims she doesn’t read blogs because u can get ur feelings hurt by ‘worthless bloggers and commenters who don’t know shit abt anything’:
Newsom admits to being "vulnerable to the call of the Internet" and knew that fans were ascribing titles to the unrecorded songs that would appear on Have One On Me. "When I was playing new songs, people would refer to then by these titles that I hadn't referred to them by, and they would do it real authoritatively, like super know-it-all," she says. "It really annoyed me." But in September 2009, Newsom called it quits and stopped reading about herself, recognizing it as destructive and dangerous. "I'm a girl, and I'm human, and so probably the things that get to me the most are just when someone's like, 'that girl's ugly,' or 'stupid,' or really playground shit," she confesses. "Everything kind of affects me somehow if I read it, but that's the stuff that drains your energy the most. Anything that engages the work is something that you somehow can step away from. I've read horrible, scathing reviews, and some of them are kind of good, kind of well-written, and occasionally they're even funny. I remember with Ys, there were a few things that I read that made me laugh a lot, that were tearing it apart but making really good points. And somehow that doesn't hurt my feelings as much. But there's a class of insult that you can't engage with at all, and you can't defend yourself against in any way, and it just resonates with a very primal part of you. No one wants anyone to think they're ugly and stupid, so somehow that's the stuff that gets me."
Do u think artists should read their reviews to stay in touch with the modern cultural zeigeist, or do they need to ’stay isolated’ and do their best not to care what unqualified/inconsequential people have to say about them? Will any female indie artist who wants to ‘get headlines’ talk shit about Lady Gaga for the next 10 years? Do u respect Lady Gaga because she can ‘man up’ and use negative press in her favor? What do u expect from females in music? Was Joanna Newsom a ‘failure’ because her album didn’t sell as much as Feist’s? If Lady Gaga could play the harp, would Joanna Newsome be obsolete as a musical resource / marketable product? Should Joanna Newsom start walking around in her underwear to get more blog coverage/make better music that appeals to mass markets?
Many indie music critics claim that chillwave artists are ‘untalented’ and just ’steal poppy samples and sing crappy vocals over mediocre interpretations of vintage pop songs.’ It seems like Chaz Bundick is attempting to ‘rebrand himself’ and break free from the laptop bedroom musician type of chillwave brand.
Sorta ‘vibed hard’ to this version of “You Hid” where the TorBro played guitar, piano, drums, bass, and sang multiple layers of vocals. Feel like his ‘pop sensibilities’ and ‘pure talent’ rise to the top, and he makes the argument that he is more talented than James Murphy / AnCo / the iPad DJ / other chillwave artists. Honestly feel like this version would be ‘remembered forever’ if the Beatles recorded it or something.
In less than 3 hours, Toro y Moi recorded piano, drums, bass, guitar, rhodes, and vocals (in that order) for this live re-make of "You Hid," tracking each instrument once and rarely asking to hear what was just recorded. Chaz couldn't hide his excitement over being in a real recording studio. It leaked from his dimpled cheeks and poured from the tiny cracks in between his smiling teeth. Watching him build this song from scratch was like watching an architect re-sketch blueprints for a skyscraper from memory. It's one of those sessions you warn yourself not to forget.
Wonder if this version of the song represents a sort of ‘transition’ out of the chillwave genre for Toro Y Moi. Not sure if this is blisswave, or if he is just trying to re-imagine his project in the band format. I wonder if he will be able to recapture the magic with other musicians, or if he can find a way to multiply so that he can play all of the instruments
I feel like if Panda Bear’s album ‘tanks’, I am ready to move Toro Y Moi above Panda Bear in my personal power rankings. Do u want Toro Y Moi to stay a ‘laptop centric’ artist, or do u enjoy his new brand? Do u think it is important for all bands to evolve beyond being a ‘laptop + bro’ band, towards a band with multiple members that can play real instruments live? Is chillwave dying? Do chillwave artists seem to be trying to ‘break away’ from their metaphorical bread and butter? Is Chaz Bundick more talented than ________? Is there a ‘huge demand’ for an acoustic/unplugged/guitar fuzzed out re-issue of Toro Y Moi’s hit album Causers of This? Will Toro Y Moi be around longer than any other new artist from 2k9/2k10? Sorta want blissful reinterpretations of chillwave era songs.
