Fool's Gold - Fool's Gold

Eight tracks make up the eponymous debut for this Los Angeles based band.  With an array of members and disparate genres as influence, Fool's Gold creates an interesting and engrossing sound.  Pitchfork describes them as "Afropop with a slight American influence" rather than Vampire Weekend which very obviously just appropriates Afropop sounds (here's the article).  The influence of the Talking Heads and David Byrne's love for Global Pop music is also apparent as well as what founding member of Fool's Gold, Luke Top, lists including, "African music: soukous music, East African music, Ethiopian music, Eritrean music, Touareg desert blues music," Krautrock and lots of American pop, specifically 80's dance music.

When asked if Fool's Gold is part of an international conversation, Top answers, "Most music is overlapping, so at this point, it's hard to say or pinpoint exactly what the ratio or the balance is. Everyone is taking from each other at this point."  Now some would argue that this is an easy way of privileged Western musicians justifying their theft of global musics.  Its hard to say and I would like to think that music is for the sharing and enjoyment of everyone, but in a time of strict action against online pirating, easily bent copyright rules, and large gaps between the economies of the "borrowed" music and the "borrowing" musicians this utopian ideal is not upheld by everyone.  Anyway, at the end of the article, the interview mentions that Indie rock has been incorporating African influences into their work and that there is a lineage associated with it.  Of course Fool's Gold doesn't see themselves as part of this line, but then again, no band does.  Each sees their own work as individual, inherent to their unique view and personality.  Both Luke Top and co-founder, Lewis Pesavoc, assert that they have been listening to world music their entire life.  Does the right to use the music of other cultures come from time then?  They also say that its their variety of choices within African pop that make their music more authentic.  This could be a valid argument.  They are more knowledgeable, most likely from so much time spent listening to and exploring world music, therefore their choices about which musics to borrow are more informed and less generalizing and stereotypical.  This discussion is always touchy since culture and economics come into play and I think it will not be resolved soon.  I always think that we will end up with a musical language so blended and mixed that world music will become one thing as they predict race will eventually end up as.  Cultural specifics will be a thing of the past and our experimentations with them now are the beginnings of this.