Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You (February 11, 2022) Album • Page 46

Yo La Tengo is my sleeper pick for greatest American rock band ever and i would tell Georgia Ira & James to their faces that playing in Israel sucks. That said, while it’s disappointing for all those acts to play there i think the frustrations with big thief come from how they position themselves as attuned to community and all that. Maybe it’s a projection people had about them, but like i said in a prior post I’m pretty certain I’ve seen big thief do land acknowledgements and shit.

The statement is a perfect example of this - on top of being nearly word for word what they said two years ago (demonstrating how little this decision actually matters to them), they recognize that BDS is a thing people are doing in solidarity with an oppressed group, they understand enough to donate their earnings from the show, but they still are going to cross that line because it scratches some individualistic itch. Most of those other acts listed don’t take up the mantle of having some worldview the same way big thief does.

 

Yeah I mean the reason I'm talking about it personally is definitely the statement and the (perhaps unearned) impression I had of their politics previously. The statement is just cowardly and feels like they think their fans are stupid lol. Honestly I have said many times that I think the best artists are ones that hate their fans but this is not the way to express that imo.

It's definitely all bad and I'm against all of it but I still listen to plenty of those artists like I plan to listen to big thief. but I do think it will effect my idea of them much more than it does my idea of eg Herbie Hancock (who I love)

 

I appreciate y’all’s responses and perspectives.

 

Remember when Lorde said she wouldn’t play Israel? That was pretty sweet

 

it isnt a competition. 95% of musicians publicly are on the fuck israel beat, as they should be. it just makes it where the few bands/musicians that do decide to play there look all the more idiotic

 

It really comes down to the playing dumb thing for me, as others have said. The whole not knowing where the “moral high ground” lies act is really toxic and disingenuous. Of course they should just not play there to begin with, but if they know well enough to put out a statement and action plan about the proceeds then they should at least own up to knowing exactly why their decision sucks

 

Yeah, if they just did the show without the patronizing self flagellating bullshit statement I don’t think the last two pages of this thread would be about that

 

sounds like a PR disaster for them, to which I say: good, lol

 

such an unforced error. just literally don’t play shows in a country committing genocide lol

 

books a show in nuremberg, 1940: “we don’t claim to know where the moral high ground lies”

 

Holy shit at their PR guy thinking that tweet was a good idea in any capacity lol

 

Man, their PR guy being that much of an edgelord says everything.

I’m sure people will forget this soon enough when the band inevitably releases too much music on one album again but I won’t. I’m done.

 

Yeah each day reveals new gross layers to this

 

couldn't give less of a fuck about this band now lol

 

lol now that he’s been caught and called out he went private.

 

love to fill my diaper over not being warmly praised for playing Tel Aviv Live(TM)

 

:/

 

Man

 

I would have more respect for them if they just said fuck BDS, we play in Israel because we think it's cool and good. Don't lie to our faces and pretend like you're the least bit conflicted and "understand" the cultural boycott or whatever. You think it's bullshit lol. And this, yeah, is very true:

 

yeah that's probably the second most annoying thing about this whole thing - trying to maintain their image and just kinda being all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ about it

 

I appreciate that writer’s perspective on this and feel for the uncomfortable position he was put in, but when faced with a major upcoming indie darling telling him to his face that they’re anti-BDS while he interviews them specifically about a song/album that gives an antithetical message it seems like maybe he should’ve explored that instead of just saying OK, haha. Maybe that’s unfair but if Max specifically or Big Thief as a whole are expressly anti-BDS then I’d like to know why, because that kinda mutates my feelings about the stuff that’s been going on with them in the last week. Like are they just dumb or are they dumb and evil

 

I don't blame him for not feeling comfortable enough to pursue it in the moment. But I do agree that this thing feels like it's getting weirdly sinister the more that comes out

 

I feel like this sums up the band quite well.

 

Honestly I think it’s coming out that they’re just dumb and naive. They know they have an aesthetic, both in their image and fanbase, that they’re trying to cater to but are failing because they’re just ignorant on this topic (or woefully blind out of support for their band member).