{"id":3281,"date":"2017-10-27T07:07:27","date_gmt":"2017-10-27T13:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/richyrocks.com\/?p=3281"},"modified":"2021-01-29T03:14:38","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T09:14:38","slug":"avengers-music-alt-js-left-hand-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/avengers-music-alt-js-left-hand-free\/","title":{"rendered":"avengers music: alt-j&#8217;s left hand free"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>before moving on to <em><strong>thor: ragnarok<\/strong><\/em>, the newest movie featuring a bunch of the <a href=\"http:\/\/richyrocks.com\/living-up-to-the-hype\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">avengers<\/a>, let&#8217;s look back. the last time a bunch of avengers were together in a movie they were fighting each other in last year&#8217;s <em><strong>captain america: civil war<\/strong><\/em>. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/richyrocks.com\/hunger-games-cool-vocab-from-mockingjay-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">spoiler alert<\/a><\/strong>: by the end of the movie they <em><strong>reconcile<\/strong><\/em> (get back together) and <strong>alt-j<\/strong>&#8216;s cool cut <em><strong>left hand free<\/strong><\/em> plays as the closing credits run.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/avengers-left-hand-free.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-7967\" src=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/avengers-left-hand-free-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"the two opposing sides in the avengers civil war\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" srcset=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/avengers-left-hand-free-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/avengers-left-hand-free.jpg 759w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h5><em>the teams when the avengers fought each other during civil war<\/em><\/h5>\n<p>there is some discrepancy about the track&#8217;s origin.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"alt-J - Left Hand Free (Official Video) 1\" width=\"758\" height=\"426\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NRWUoDpo2fo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>but first of all, who is alt-j? their first release, <em><strong>an awesome wave<\/strong><\/em> won the 2012 <strong>mercury prize<\/strong>, awarded annually to the best album in the uk &amp; ireland. <strong>sam richards<\/strong>, in an article at <strong>guardian.com<\/strong>,  that<\/p>\n<h4><em>amid<\/em> the celebrations, they were <em>keenly<\/em> <em>aware<\/em> that their lives had just changed forever&#8230;&#8230;.one of the words alt-j used to describe their mercury prize win was \u201ctraumatic\u201d<\/h4>\n<p><em><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/richyrocks.com\/english-practice-from-sepp-blatters-resignation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> amid<\/a><\/strong><\/em> means <em>in the middle of<\/em>. <em><strong>keenly<\/strong><\/em> is <em>intensely<\/em>. <em><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/richyrocks.com\/how-much-awareness-is-too-much-awareness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">aware<\/a><\/strong><\/em> means they<em> understood<\/em>, they<em> knew it<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h5><a href=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/alt-j.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-6784\" src=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/alt-j-300x180.jpeg\" alt=\"alt-j\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><\/h5>\n<h5><em>thom green, gus unger-hamilton and joe newman of alt-j: they&#8217;ve been <\/em><em><u>called out<\/u><\/em> <em><u>for<\/u><\/em><em> be<\/em><em><u>ing<\/u><\/em><em> boring and <\/em><em><u>geeky<\/u><\/em><em>.<\/em><em> (sarah lee, the guardian)<\/em><\/h5>\n<p>it might seem strange to talk about trauma after winning an award, but richards justified the band&#8217;s reaction, explaining that<\/p>\n<h4>the <em>backlash<\/em> has been <em>harsh<\/em>, with alt-j routinely <em>called out<\/em> in the press <em>for being<\/em> boring and <em>geeky<\/em> \u2013 the \u201c<em>bland<\/em> band\u201d, as one guardian headline <em>put it<\/em>.<\/h4>\n<p><em><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/richyrocks.com\/i-turned-him-into-a-mexican\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">backlash<\/a><\/strong><\/em> is<em> a negative reaction<\/em>. <strong><em>harsh<\/em><\/strong> is <em>ruthless, unkind<\/em>. <em><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/richyrocks.com\/roger-waters-concerts-in-mexico-city\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">call out<\/a><\/strong><\/em> is <em>challenge<\/em>, <em>criticize<\/em>. the -ing form <strong><em>being<\/em><\/strong> is used because it follows <em><strong>for<\/strong><\/em>, a preposition. <em><strong>geeky<\/strong><\/em> is <em>like a geek<\/em>, <em>nerdy<\/em>, <em>not cool<\/em>. nowadays it is often used proudly in descriptions or social media profiles, but in the guardian article, it is closer to the insult it was in the 80s. <strong><em>bland<\/em><\/strong> means <em>uninteresting<\/em>. <em><strong>put<\/strong><\/em> in this context means <em>say<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h5><a href=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hackles-raised.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-6785\" src=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hackles-raised-300x214.jpg\" alt=\"a dog with its hackles raised\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" \/><\/a><\/h5>\n<h5><em><u>hackles<\/u><\/em><em> are the hairs on a dog&#8217;s back. they are raised when the doggy feels emotion. (mastersdegreedogtraining.com)<\/em><\/h5>\n<p>additionally, alt-j&#8217;s american label, <strong>atlantic<\/strong>, insisted that the band write a hit single for their second album, <em><strong>this is all yours<\/strong><\/em> (released) in 2014. the article implied that they were not exactly <strong><em>thrilled<\/em><\/strong> (excited) about the idea.<\/p>\n<h4><em>hackles (mildly) raised<\/em>, alt-j <em>resolved<\/em> to write \u201cthe least alt-j song ever\u201d, taking a \u201cjoke <em>riff<\/em>\u201d joe had been playing in <em>rehearsals<\/em> and <em>fleshing it out<\/em> with the most <em>perfunctory<\/em> chords and rhythm imaginable. <em>whereas<\/em> the band typically spend weeks agonising over every note, <em>left hand free<\/em> was written \u201cin about 20 minutes\u201d.<\/h4>\n<p><strong><em>hackles raised<\/em><\/strong> means the band was <em>angry<\/em>. <strong><em>mildly<\/em><\/strong> means they were only <em>moderately<\/em> angry. <strong><em>resolve<\/em><\/strong> means they <em>firmly decided<\/em> to do it. <em><strong>riff<\/strong><\/em> is <em>a tune that is repeated throughout the song<\/em>. <strong><em>rehearsal<\/em><\/strong> is <em>practice<\/em>. <strong><em>flesh out<\/em><\/strong> means<em> make more complete<\/em>, <em><strong>perfunctory<\/strong><\/em> indicates they <em>didn&#8217;t try very hard<\/em>. <em><strong>whereas<\/strong><\/em> contrasts how alt-j usually writes songs vs their effort on <em>left hand free<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/wedding-rehearsal.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-6786\" src=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/wedding-rehearsal-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"a wedding rehearsal\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/wedding-rehearsal-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/wedding-rehearsal-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/wedding-rehearsal-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h5><em>it&#8217;s typical to have a wedding <\/em><em><u>rehearsal<\/u><\/em><em> the night before the ceremony.<\/em><\/h5>\n<p>each member of the band gave a comment that reinforced the<a href=\"http:\/\/richyrocks.com\/american-perspectives-on-immigration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> lack<\/a> of enthusiasm they had for writing a commercial hit. drummer <strong>thom<\/strong> <strong>sonny green<\/strong> said<\/p>\n<h4>i tried to make the drums as <em>cliched<\/em> as possible, there\u2019s none of my personality in it.<\/h4>\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"http:\/\/richyrocks.com\/english-practice-from-an-acceptance-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cliched<\/a><\/em><\/strong> means <em>unoriginal<\/em>. vocalist <strong>joe newman<\/strong> observed<\/p>\n<h4>i can imagine it <em>appealing to<\/em> american truckers with <em>good riddance<\/em> to bin laden stickers!<\/h4>\n<p><em><strong>appeal<\/strong><\/em> <em><strong>to<\/strong><\/em> means they will <em>like it<\/em>. <strong><em><a href=\"http:\/\/richyrocks.com\/farewell-kobe-farewell-tour\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">good riddance<\/a><\/em><\/strong> is used to express <em>happiness or relief when a person or other object is gone. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/fuck-obama-bumper-sticker.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-6787\" src=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/fuck-obama-bumper-sticker-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/fuck-obama-bumper-sticker-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/fuck-obama-bumper-sticker-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/fuck-obama-bumper-sticker.jpg 569w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h5><em>i couldn&#8217;t find a &#8216;<\/em><em><u>good riddance<\/u><\/em><em> to bin laden&#8217; bumper sticker. but there are &#8216;fuck obama&#8217; bumper stickers all over the internet. (totalfratmove.com)<\/em><\/h5>\n<p>keyboard player <strong>gus unger<\/strong> voiced concern that<\/p>\n<h4>someone\u2019s going to walk onstage to it at an <em>nra<\/em> convention.<\/h4>\n<p>the <strong>nra<\/strong> is <em>the national rifle association<\/em>, a group that promotes gun ownership rights. unger worries the nra might try to use their song because the lyrics to<em> left hand free<\/em> make a few references to guns.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/catchy.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6791\" src=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/catchy.jpg\" alt=\"reaction to a catchy song\" width=\"204\" height=\"247\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h5><em>left hand free has a <\/em><em><u>catchy<\/u><\/em> <em><u>riff<\/u><\/em>.<\/h5>\n<p>despite the band&#8217;s <strong><em>reluctance<\/em><\/strong> (<a href=\"http:\/\/richyrocks.com\/willing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">unwillingness<\/a>) to intentionally write a popular song, sam richards declared <em>left hand fre<\/em>e to be really <em><strong>catchy<\/strong><\/em> (audiences like it instantly and can&#8217;t get it out of their heads), and a couple days after the interview with the guardian, alt-j tweeted to fans that they weren&#8217;t forced to write it and they approve of its success.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Glad to see you guys loving Left Hand Free. Contrary to some reports it was written in a spirit of pure joy to please no one but us and you.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u0394 (alt-J) (@alt_J) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/alt_J\/status\/486632253154263040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">July 8, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>contrary<\/em><\/strong> is <em>opposite<\/em>, <strong><em>joy<\/em><\/strong> is <em>extreme happiness<\/em> and <em><strong>please<\/strong><\/em>, used as a verb here, means <em>give pleasure to<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>and unger echoed these sentiments in an interview with <strong>stereogum.com<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<h4>it was definitely not written in any way for the label, to <em>please<\/em> the label or to <em>piss the label off<\/em>, or <em>whatever<\/em> people have been saying.<\/h4>\n<p><em><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/richyrocks.com\/shit-piss-expressions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">piss off<\/a><\/strong><\/em> means <em>make angry<\/em>. <em><strong>whatever<\/strong><\/em> means <em>any other thing<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/hulk-adrenaline.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-6590\" src=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/hulk-adrenaline-300x187.jpg\" alt=\"hulk pissed off\" width=\"300\" height=\"187\" srcset=\"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/hulk-adrenaline-300x187.jpg 300w, https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/hulk-adrenaline.jpg 602w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h5><em>this is what happens when u <\/em><em><u>piss off<\/u><\/em><em> bruce banner.<\/em><\/h5>\n<p>do u agree that <em>left hand free<\/em> is <em>catchy<\/em>? do u think their label forced them to write it? share your views under <strong>leave a reply<\/strong><\/p>\n<form name=\"s2form\" method=\"post\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"ip\" value=\"216.73.216.191\" \/><span style=\"display:none !important\"><label for=\"firstname\">Leave This Blank:<\/label><input type=\"text\" id=\"firstname\" name=\"firstname\" \/><label for=\"lastname\">Leave This Blank Too:<\/label><input type=\"text\" id=\"lastname\" name=\"lastname\" \/><label for=\"uri\">Do Not Change This:<\/label><input type=\"text\" id=\"uri\" name=\"uri\" value=\"http:\/\/\" \/><\/span><p><label for=\"s2email\">Your email:<\/label><br><input type=\"email\" name=\"email\" id=\"s2email\" value=\"Enter email address...\" size=\"20\" onfocus=\"if (this.value === 'Enter email address...') {this.value = '';}\" onblur=\"if (this.value === '') {this.value = 'Enter email address...';}\" \/><\/p><p><input type=\"submit\" name=\"subscribe\" value=\"Subscribe\" \/>&nbsp;<input type=\"submit\" name=\"unsubscribe\" value=\"Unsubscribe\" \/><\/p><\/form>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>before moving on to thor: ragnarok, the newest movie featuring a bunch of the avengers, let&#8217;s look back. the last time a bunch of avengers&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":""},"categories":[30,4],"tags":[464,1694,2698,1578,3392,1301,2704,2697,2707,2700,2135,1974,2696,2701,2705,897,865,2709,2699,2711,2703,2710,2702,954,2706],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/alt-j.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3281"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3281"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11623,"href":"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3281\/revisions\/11623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richyrocks.com\/coolenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}