The Daily Swarm

Stuart of Mogwai’s summation is short and perfect:

A new nadir in English music journalism?

The Guardian breaks down how a kid with a beard on the L train made the last decade (“the noughties”) to fall into place:

Standing on a subway platform waiting for the L train, I saw a group of young men with that slightly scruffy, indeterminately hip look that screams “Williamsburg”. I was struck by the fact that every one of them had a beard. Later that same week, walking down a single block in the East Village, I passed something like a dozen men, all in the 18 to 35 age range and all bearded. A few days after that, watching New York Noise, an alternative rock cable TV show, I saw several videos in a row in which most members of the group sported one form or other of facial foliage, climaxing with Fleet Foxes’ hairier-than-thou He Doesn’t Know Why.

It was then that it struck me: the beard has become one of the crucial, era-defining signifiers for non-mainstream rock in the noughties.

That’s particularly the case in the United States, where whiskers have an obvious fit with Americana genres like alt-country and free folk. But things have also taken a hirsute turn in the UK this past decade. Take a peek at this TV commercial, which is part of the British Airways “face-to-face” campaign to “promote entrepreneurship in tough times” and focuses on the UK music industry. It’s meant to be a sort of slideshow of today’s hot, hip’n’happening Brit-rock scene. But the panorama of long straggly hair, peasant skirts, acoustic guitars and beards feels more like you’ve gone through a time tunnel to 1972.

While Flavorwire lists the most culturally relevant (after a fashion) beards of our time:

Scott Spillane from Neutral Milk Hotel – The original indie rock neck beard. This is scary because our boyfriends did this in high school as a tribute and we had to deal with it. Also it’s just gross.