Punk is in the air. Jack White’s debut solo release is slowly creeping up on us, just like March did. Out not soon enough on April 24 on Third Man Records/Columbia, Blunderbuss, is shaping up to be a hearty record full of rock, twang and a full-on punk release. [The vinyl 7'' of Love Interruption/Machine Gun Silhouette should be enough for you.]
Jack White is the punk heavy hitter around these days. He makes records with soul backup bands, slide guitars and organs. He also produces a myriad of artists, from the great Wanda Jackson to Steven Colbert and, we’ll never forget, The Insane Clown Posse. The man does what he wants and he does it in style.
Jack White goes too many times misunderstood. People complain about the White Stripes. Apparently Meg wasn’t a good enough drummer [seems to be the biggest complaint, doesn't it?] And their style is so simple its boring, right? People who listen like this don’t look close enough. [They also don't listen enough to live White Stripes records.] The White Stripes were a live, concept band. They recorded their takes and left out the post-production editing, as listed on their records. All of the color and instrument concepts in the band were chosen for a reason. As was Meg’s stripped down drumming. It was used to highlight the incredible guitar work and traditional punk-writing of their songs. White is a man of detail. All of the work we have seen from him, from his vinyl releases to his collaborations, he challenges himself to use simple methods to create unique sounds and images. Trying to find another White Stripes is like trying to find another [insert any 'strange' sounding unique band here that people follow like a cult. Read: Pavement, the Replacements, Sonic Youth and Black Flag.]
Concept punk bands have always been in style. Concept bands have always been in style. It’s what punk is and it’s what all music is. Artists have been creating images for themselves since the Beatles put on those suits and grew their hair. Even then, that was punk! and risque! Then it was The RAMONES who only played their songs because they couldn’t figure out how to play others’. From Pete Townshend smashing his guitars to what became hardcore, punk throbs in many different places. [Insert 40 years of music here.] And right now it’s walking and throbbing as Jack White.
You can watch his performance of another song, Sixteen Salteens, over at NBC. I was smitten to see him wear his hair wavy again. And to see him really show us the magnitude of this record. I can’t wait to listen to it and step into another dimension. So far we’ve seen folk songs crunched in with his traditional raspy rock and roll shouts, you know – the ones that made us all fall in love with him in the first place. Asking love to ‘murder his own mother ‘ should be enough for all of you. It is for me. When you don’t understand Jack White, you don’t understand rock music. And you clearly can’t get punk. Just do us all a favor and step out of your comfort zone. GO PUNK.
We have now seen some releases, hype and serious discussions come up online, on the airwaves and among our offices. What’s up?
Paul McCartney (or Mr. Macca, if you will) went jazzy on us. Kisses On The Bottom is McCartney’s fifteenth studio album. (15!) Out on Hear Music February 7th, only two of the fourteen tracks are his own originals. You can stream it from NPR.
We’ve heard more from Sleigh Bells. Their two tracks ‘The Comeback Kid’ and ‘Born to Lose’ are unlike their first release Treats from 2010. Out on Mom + Pop on February 21st, Reign of Terror is something I hope won’t let me down. In the beginning Treats was something I tried to like for so long. Now it’s a go-to soundtrack for any sort of fun. I can’t imagine living without it. My distaste for the two newest tracks (and video for ‘Comeback Kid’) has me let down. Trying not to judge until it’s release – or eventual leak.
Reign of Terror
Certainly not third on everyone’s minds, although it almost should be, is Lana Del Rey’s release. Having heard ‘Video Games’ countless times on satellite radio, every music blog on the internet and having seen it be added to AAA radio in few places, I am sick of it. Born To Die on Interscope is a masterpiece of discussion, branding, intimidation, sickness and annoyance to many. Thoughts are seriously aflutter. I was looking forward to hearing the rest of the record, but as it got more and more boring I found myself among the many confused. Luckily there is so much out there on her that we can all soak it up together. Sasha Frere-Jones of the New Yorker said it best, well, because he is the best. Even shouting out Hipster Runoff, Frere-Jones is prose and news. “A lot has happened to Grant in four years, most of it on the Internet, which is both her albatross and her instrument.” New York Magazine did an ‘Anatomy of a Backlash’. It’s soothing in it’s title and explanation of the phenom. You can find her New York Times review and Pitchfork’s: after reporting her ‘best new track’ last year and providing nonstop chatter, they gave her a 5.5. You can watch her recent performance on Letterman at Stereogum. Last but never least, Ann Powers of NPR’s The Record provided a nice insight as to pop stardom and female presence in music.
The Grammys are next Sunday, February 12th airing on CBS. (Do people still watch those?) And in other big box news, Sirius XM announced that Bruce Springsteen will be playing the Apollo in Harlem to celebrate their 10th anniversary. There are 21 million and counting subscribers and I’m sure it will be a fight to the death for Bruce fans for those 1506 seats.
There have been recent releases from Cloud Nothings, the Big Pink, Leonard Cohen and returning champs, Elbow. Last but NEVER LEAST….the long awaited Jack White solo debut, Blunderbuss, on his Third Man Records/XL out April 23rd. You can stream it over at Beats Per Minute. April can’t come soon enough. He’ll tour. He has to, right? Oh wait. He’s headlining the Sasquatch Music Festival in Washington State on Memorial Day Weekend (along with Bon Iver and Beck.) Jack White is the sexiest man in music, in my grand opinion, and I will not miss that. White is also the hardest rocking, concept thrilling guitarist, vinyl enthusiast and majorist player in rock music. If you have nothing nice to say about him I don’t want to hear it. GO PUNK.
In our second week of 2012, not much new music has been flooding in. But there’s always news. And that means a discussion.
Word of a new Paul McCartney album, Kisses On The Bottom, due out next month. I’m sure Rolling Stone will sing his praise for months, maybe even put him on the cover. [What else is Wenner doing?] Macca will tour, play the hits. And we’ll all pay big to see a Beatle. Because that’s how that works.
New (old?) Van Halen release, with their performance at club Wha? in Manhattan with David Lee Roth’s rejoining to reunite the original 1978 lineup. I’m not sure what this has to do with any of us despite the news has been everywhere. No one can avoid the excitement of a resolved 20+ year feud.
February brings us new Dr. Dog, Be The Void, out 2/7 on Whatnot. I had the pleasure of seeing them three times in 2010 – which was excellent. Shame, Shame I will say is my least favorite. I’m an Easy Beat girl. Although it did provide a couple of goodies ['I Only Wear Blue' and 'Where'd All The Time Go?']. I have a teaser EP of their upcoming release, see what you think below.
Word of a tour from Sleigh Bells and a new record February 21st on Mom + Pop, Reign of Terror. You can creep on the new Sleigh Bells single, “Born To Lose” here. I’m not keen on it. It’s no Treats. But we’ll have to wait and see what the whole record brings us.
Bon Iver seems fine to snub his Grammy nominations. But will go on SNL. I wonder when we’ll start hearing the words ‘sell out’? [I still love you, Justin. And I'm definitely not calling you out first.]
Tennis is releasing Young And Old on Fat Possum 2/14. Produced by Patrick Carney, who cannot seem to shut up about his own crappy drumming which is so far, the biggest turn off of the year. I have to admit that I’m near dreading seeing them at DC’s Verizon Center, our arena. After listening to their most recent World Cafe Live episode you too can hear that none of their live recordings keep time with their records. ['Lonely Boy' and 'Gold on the Ceiling' are almost in half their recorded tempo. I think we have a confirmed record band.] Carney and Auerbach discuss how they’ll play whatever tempo Pat can keep that day. Then you also have their cover of Rolling Stone. [It took AC/DC 33 years to get on the cover, despite being one of the world's loudest and greatest [most under-rated] rock bands. I suppose a ten year wait for The Keys isn’t bad. But perhaps Carney’s loose tongue is discouraging.] Either way, I’m looking forward to the new Tennis record.
what am i gonna do with these guys?
Jeff Magnum extended his tour, including Coachella, which is running two weekends this year. Headliners include [surprise, surprise] The Black Keys, Radiohead and Snoopp Dogg & Dr. Dre. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti is working on a new LP. The classic lineup of Guided By Voices releasedLet’s Go Eat The Factory, a band I’ve revisited a number of times. I’m not sure I’ll ever get it. The Shins have a new single out, ‘Simple Song.’ Details here.
For me, most of this means nothing. I’ve compiled a list of bands who released favorites of mine from the 2011 calendar year that are now touring [and some touring, again.] Highlights include the Dum Dum Girls, coming back to the Black Cat, and Megafaun playing their backstage – both in February. Dr. Dog is playing a pricey night at the 930, $25, in March. But don’t worry. I’ll probably rarely miss their shows ever. Taking chances in going to see aforementioned Sleigh Bells, despite hearing mixed things about their live performances. Expect to hear rants about it here, and rants about The Black Keys’ monstrous blow out with 20,000 of us in tow.
Premiering at Sundance this month on the 22nd is Shut Up and Play The Hits, a documentary about LCD Soundsystem’s last days leading up to their Madison Square Garden rager. Hopefully we’ll all come across James Murphy again soon, but I bet it won’t be in 2012.
NPR keeps on keepin’ on, as always. Their first listens, for me, have nothing to bark about. But their coverage of world music is nothing to scoff at.
VH1 Classic has been airing Metal Evolution, a part of their Rock Doc series. I caught the ‘Grunge’ episode late the other night. More details here. Also on VH1 Classic, That Metal Show is in it’s 10th season. Their 100th episode is coming up soon. Why I started caring about metal? My job, for one. And the other because I’ve recently been a captive audience for VH1′s Classic Hard Rock Songs countdown. Late night TV at work on Friday nights can have you Google-ing the strangest things. Metal is fascinating. Let me remind you of Black Sabbath’s reunion [even with Tony Iommi's upcoming cancer treatments] and the fact that that they are so psychedelic that no one even noticed.
And one last note, if you didn’t get enough of mid ’70s Manhattan from Patti Smith’s award winning Just Kids try Will Hermes’ Love Goes to Buildings On Fire: Five Years In New York that Changed Music Forever. I was sold on it due to Bob Boilen’s genius efforts.
Part of the fun in music writing and broadcast is discussing records and releases in a ranked order and getting into, hopefully, heated discussions with friends and family members. I encourage everyone to make their own year end lists for records, top tracks, performances, videos, comebacks…whatever you like. And while you run the course, enjoy mine!
10. Helplessness Blues – Fleet Foxes
Helplessness Blues
A capella and choral singing has never been more in style. This record is beautiful enough to make you cry. Tears of happiness, of course. It’s a soundtrack to every rolling hill and city sidewalk daydream. You couldn’t escape Fleet Foxes this year. Everyone loves them. This record lives among few where the music speaks for itself. It makes you feel at peace with everything. You’ll just close your eyes and…
9. El Camino – The Black Keys
El Camino
It was hard to consider this album for a year end list, for all of us I hope, because of its recent release: December 6. But any rock and roll lover can’t deny their inner self that you just love The Black Keys. This record is full of hard work and volume. You can never crank it up too high. The year would be incomplete without it. I hope every year we can see a record from the Black Keys and maybe find it in all of our top ten lists.
8. Tarot Classics EP – Surfer Blood
Tarot Classics
Don’t let people tell you that album art isn’t important anymore in the digital age. It is. Surfer Blood managed to keep with their cut-up-whole image on this October EP. The second EP on my year end top 20, this one will always be four songs too short. I sing along to every verse and chorus every time. Happy with this sophomore release I am ecstatic that they kept their sound without letting it get boring. I hope the boys do us proud in 2012. Until then, savor these Classics.
7. Circuital – My Morning Jacket
Circuital
My Morning Jacket really delivered on their sixth studio album. Returning home to Louisville, KY they gave us rock, psychedelia, angelic choirs and folk at its best. This record is a massive sound. It hushes us to sleep with Wonderful (The Way I Feel) it and reminds us why we fell in love with Jim James in the first place with Holding On To Black Metal. When you play it start to finish it seems impossible. And then you’re so glad it’s real.
6. The Whole Love – Wilco
The Whole Love
For those of you who really know me, you know that I will never love anything like I love Wilco. This record plays like a greatest hits. Every song is a great song. As a follow up to the disappointing Wilco (the Album) this record delivers some of Tweedy’s most charming lyrics. They can be considered romantic gibberish, but I consider it an endless love song to life. Only Jeff Tweedy can make the lyric “i was born to die alone” sound so admirable. All over this record there are tiny sonic details. Details of keyboards, of horn sections, panning, hand claps and some winning sound effects on the great Capitol City. This record is so good it’s like candy.
5. Out In The Light - WATERS
Out In The Light
I found out about this band because of this. Like a lot of my upcoming favorites, it was an accident. Van Pierszalowski was the front man of the now defunct Port O’Brien. And thank god they’re defunct. I hope there is more of this project to come. These songs are wonderfully written with short movements of simple rock, sometimes surf rock, hooks and great choruses. When you listen to it sound gets pushed into your body through every pore, whether or not you’re ready for it. Van says the record is about starting over. Lets hope that he starts over every year.
4. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Bon Iver
Remember when iTunes accidentally put this record up for sale for about two seconds? Not many people do. But I do. I was part of the lucky few who had this record early. So much has already been said about this record. Justin Vernon is out of his lone cabin, made friends with Kanye West and showed us that he doesn’t care about his Grammy nominations [record and song of the year, best new artist, best alternative album]. I’m not sure why anyone would dismiss any sort of honor. It’s a remarkable record that deserves all the press and recognition its received this year. I’ll never forget the day I got it. It was mid May – weeks before the June 2nd release – and the sun was shining. I sat on my bedroom floor and blasted it into the warm evening. When a record paints a picture like that, you never forget it. None of us ever will.
3. Life Fantastic – Man man
Life Fantastic
Nothing makes a room full of people more uncomfortable than putting on this record and letting it play. I found this album by accident too. Having grown up in the New Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia, finding a band you genuinely love from your city and are mildly obsessed with [like Dr. Dog] makes it even more fun. [Considering Philadelphia isn't known for their psychedelic strange bands.] The lyrics are uncomfortable [like Haute Tropique's tale of turning people into furniture] and the instruments and percussives get weirder and weirder as the album goes on [like everyone's desire to immediately fast forward through Dark Arts' opening.] This album taught me patience. I found myself listening to it more and more because I was singing the melodies aloud to myself on the streets. I couldn’t get the songs out of my head. The experiments of Man Man are scary to many and usually un-listenable to most. [Listen up Tom Waits fans.] Not many bands include :51 long instrumental tracks. But that just makes me love them more.
2. Go Tell Fire On The Mountain – WU LYF
Go Tell Fire To The Mountain
If you thought Man Man was weird, brace yourself. The top of my list this year is a weird fest. After appearing as almost invisible on the internet all year, WU LYF [World Unite Lucifer World Foundation - pronounced Woo Life] is an English band that blew me away, once again, accidentally. I listened to almost all of it on a whim getting sucked in to each track more and more. I bought my $12 dollar ticket to their show at DC’s Rock and Roll Hotel months in advance out of sheer joy and excitement. While their lyrics seem indecipherable almost all of the time, the sound and production remain unique. No other album this year sounds like this one. I’ve read that they are working on a sophomore album. And psychotic excitement has set in.
1. w h o k i l l - tUnE-yArDs
w h o k i l l
I know I said I found three other albums in my top ten by accident. And I promise I’m not lying when I say the same about this. Like when you find a favorite book from being drawn to the cover, I found my favorite album because I couldn’t get over how weird it looked. Now, knowing what I know, it seems perfectly weird. w h o k i l l is my number one because it’s simply the best. This record is so fresh. It is unlike anything else. Merrill Garbus is one of the most incredible singers and performers I have ever seen. [And I find it safe to say, will ever see.] Sasha Frere-Jones wrote about her in May [and those of you with online subscriptions can enjoy here and find out why she chose such crazy capitalization] and I fell in love with her further. Her World Cafe Live episode is worth your attention too. Some people have had a hard time with it, which is understandable. Listening to the tracks away from the album can sour the mood when you lose the context. But when if you give it time, a few months even, you will find love for her. I can’t imagine living life without tUnE-yArDs and that’s why she is simply the best.
Usually performers stay in their world on stage. And everyone else watching plays along. It’s what makes live theater so fun. But then they can break the fourth wall and directly address the audience. Breaking the fourth wall lives in all mediums. Lyrics address their own pop song and Wayne Campbell narrates his collection of hair nets and name tags right into the camera. But in the online world, there is no fourth wall. The participants are the audience and visa versa. The method of distribution has changed. Instead of being controlled by few, it is (or can be) all of us. And there are so many of us involved that it doesn’t matter that its happening at the same time. [Mind, we are still learning to deal with an overflow. Also mind the gatekeepers.] But if the fourth wall is still there, it’s tiny and shrinking.
So it seems strange to me why people are still discussing do-it-yourself, or DIY if you will. When I hear the phrase do-it-yourself in music I think about early record labels like SST and tales of Black Flag and the Minutemen touring in a friend’s van. Since those ‘early days’ DIY has become commonplace in music. With the rise of what technology and home recording have become, how could it not? Between the online soon-to-be-famous hip hop mixtape and chillwave sweeping the nation, we’ve seen nobodys become everybodys on the cover of magazines and national press discuss those bedroom heroes.
Odd Future has been one of the most talked about acts of the year online, and they began with online mixtapes and track releases - just like Washed Out, Cults, Lil B, Wiz Khalifa and A$AP Rocky – who ended up signing a $3 million dollar deal with Sony/RCA. The majors are snatching up the minors, if they’re lucky. [Part of his $3 million is going to fund a group label A$AP Worldwide.]
These acts have captured the attention of anyone with the internet. But this whole list, aside from the Odd Future collective, have been boring to me. [Odd Future is one of the newest sounds this year has seen. And certainly the best hip hop.] I’m still baffled by the hype surrounding Washed Out and Cults. It proves the point that if enough fingers point in the same direction, we’ll all turn our head.
SPIN Dec. 2011
It’s an uneasy feeling, thinking that everyone buys into the same sounds. I recently spent time back-listening to WXPN’s World Cafe episodes. In his 20th Anniversary compilation episode Beck said something in particular that struck me. That ‘samples have become so expensive, almost as much as an album budget, it has shoved hip hop into a world of generic drum machines’, where they all start to sound the same. ‘It’s pushed us away from traditional hip hop that was built off borrowing music and samples’, like DJ Kool Herc, Public Enemy, Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys. While the home mixtape makes for great artist discovery, what follows can and usually leads to generic production.
Home recording leaves me troubled. While some of it works, others lose their detail. It’s where we get washed up sounds of dreamy scapes and undecipherable mumblings. Indie rock home recordings all start to blend together perhaps because they are all coming from the same place. But even knowing this, I know we cannot live without home recording. Without it we would have a fraction of content to discuss and it would strain the creative freedom of so many. Basement tapes and backyard sessions are just the natural progression.
While it seems to be working in hip hop’s favor, chillwave and indie rock are getting more and more boring. [Or shall I say 'bro-ing'?] They are all steeping in success, while the sounds and lyrics are diluting. Maybe it’s just mimicking the Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out psychedelia of the mid 60s. And chillwave is the answer to the new apathetic recession era twenty-somethings. As for hip hop, still Odd Future aside, it’s been unimpressive. Especially the new Drake (wait, were we ever impressed?) And I love it when your hair’s still wet/Cause you just took a shower/Running on a treadmill, and only eating salad/Sounds so smart, like you graduated college/Like you went to yale, but you probably went to Howard. Boring and generic. I was distracted and almost forgot that he was in a Sprite commercial…but then I remembered that he looks like a marketing tool.
Not only do I still miss rock and roll, I am growing more and more frustrated with new music. M83 belongs in a Victoria’s Secret commercial and not in the new chillwave front-runners section. The end of the year is strangely looming. Thank god we have one more coming. El Camino from The Black Keys is out Dec. 6th. Until then, its month old records and strict listening – to make sure I know my place. Do you know yours?
New music has been dissatisfying. The majority of new acts have become one man synth bands. We either get that or A$AP Rocky- which seems to fulfill people’s hip hop needs with drum machines and lyrics full of hype and swag. Nothing profound [also see Watch The Throne. Note: this is in no way shape or form hatred towards hip hop. I love hip hop. Thank you, Das Racist. It's just this indie hip hop world is pop rap. Simply here to entertain white bread and dilute the genre's necessary racial lines.]
Where have all the rock bands gone?
I have found one recently, barely recent with their record released on September 9th, that I’ve fallen in love with. WATERS, dare I say it, is a one man band. But he isn’t the kind that hides behind his buttons and nobs. Van Pierszalowski, mouthful: yes, plays rock and roll guitars. Imagine that. Out In The Light rocks really hard and is embedded with indie rock charms, full of folk and romance. I love it more each spin.
Another new romantic record happens to be from a returning favorite band, Surfer Blood. Tarot Classics EP is four songs too short, hence the romance. The listening is intimate because after the first time, you replay it out of bare necessity. It’s great to hear a band take their original sound from a debut, keep it, and manage to make something fresh.
They still remain Surfer Blood – but you aren’t tired of them. Their catchy, wavy songs from Astrocoast are charming and unforgettable. And the new EP is a hopeful look into the future. It’s a new band who used their second release to show us that they wont be swallowed up in the blogosphere. That they wont be a one-record-wonder. That they might really have something to sonically show for themselves. I just hope more bands in this boat can deliver a sophomore record. Debut favorites from Yuck [who are already strangely releasing a remaster] WU LYF (below) and Unknown Mortal Orchestra only get my hopes up further. All of which, by the way, are excellent live shows. WU LYF’s drummer is the best I’ve seen all year.
I dearly hope they don’t get washed out with chillwave acts. In a recent interview, Bradford Cox [of Deerhunter and Atlas Sound] spoke about the chillwave ‘movement’ [his word, not mine]: “Chillwave came along, and it turned ambient music into this perfume that overwhelmed the room. It used to feel therapeutic, but then it started to feel like people would put anything through three delay pedals.” I’m not sure I could’ve said it better myself. From Toro Y Moi, whose new EP, Freaking Out belongs in 1986 [it took me a few listens, but I really do dig it (listen to a goodie below)], to M83′s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming and Panda Bear and Washed Out remixes from Clams Casino and The Weeknd and newly hyped Glass Candy – I am overwhelmed. Thank god we are hearing more from White Denim. And I’ve fallen in love with Patrick Carney all over again as he produces the new album from Tennis [a band I've recently realized I love. And I love how little excitement has surrounded them. Maybe I can keep them to myself for a little while longer.]
Consider this a love note to rock and roll. I miss you. Please come back soon. Bring my variety and be more brash. And also, as a post script to chillwave, or whatever it is you call your remixes and mash-ups, revisits and reissues: take a break. I’d love to hear something different. Few of you have surprised me, mostly you all sound alike. As for the rest of you…
At one point, everyone listened to music the same way. You bought a new record and put it on your stereo. Listening parties weren’t what they are now. Listening Parties weren’t even a thing – it was just how folks got together to listen to a new album, or any music. Today we have so many ways to listen to music through so many portals, websites and devices. And unless you find yourself among audiophiles, communal listening is rare outside of bars and actual concerts. People hide away in their headphones and keep others out by blaring music from their car. Although there is one device that the masses use, and prefer, that might end up hurting them in the end.
The iTunes Shuffle is breeding lazy listeners. No one has to make a sonic decision and everyone is fine with it. The album is lost. Popular music and top 40 is being swallowed up by an endless sea of drum machines and overproduction. Availability to all is excellent, but with such great artistic power we need to cherish artistic responsibility, which is drowning.
Pandora provides “easy listening” the same way with effortlessness. Although it does help you discover new music, all the work is done for you. Shuffling your songs creates song ADD and restless listeners. About ten years ago radio stations starting popping up in major cities, Ben FM, Jack FM – usually a generic name with generic programming. Actually no programming at all – all the stations play are hits and commercials, keeping their listeners satisfied with the music they know and love. With the rise of the shuffle we have lost our love for deep tracks and misplaced the art of the mix tape.
There is the function to shuffle between artists and within an album but it compromises the artist’s original intent for their record, their art. Musicians record certain tracks in a certain order, placing the single just so and the uppers and downers far enough apart and close enough together.
The Shuffle is undoubtedly a function that changes the way masses listen to music. But is it changing the way popular music is being released? Deferring people from listening to albums [making full albums less common and less known] and just preferring the hits? We go to bars where bands only play covers that everyone knows. DJs blare familiar music, to sing along to. No one is in control. More Than A Feeling has left us in the dark. Rarities and B-sides may be somewhere in the shuffle but unless we step outside our comfort zone and stop ourselves from skipping forward we might never Go Our Own Way.
Just the other day I was sitting in a diner eating lunch with two friends. There was constant play of old R&B records, Georgia On My Mind, It’s In His Kiss, Signed Seal Delivered, Mamma Told Me, Please Mr. Postman. “Isn’t it great that no matter how many times we remaster the same songs over and over again, no matter what – these songs still sound great. They stand up on their own, after all these years,” my roommate narrated. It got me to thinking how we still love the music from fifty and sixty years ago. Will it take years for a generation to pass before the music of our age becomes the new favorite? Or will it ever? “I wonder when we’ll hear our hits played everywhere, if ever?” I continued. Will we be lost in a continuous shuffle of our own hits years from now? Or will people just always stick to what they know and never move on? I can’t help but think if I am overreacting…
I always have, and always will, listen to full records. It’s how you get to know the artist, record by record you can hear how they grow, change, get better or worse. You can fully digest the art. The shuffle has always seemed useless to me. Like watching only bits and pieces of my favorite movies, why would I not listen to the whole record? Sure hits compilations are useful, but without the full record we never hear the music in between the hits.
iTunes is the most popular and most used music listening program – with its great organization and dominant operating system in dominant music listening devices – the shuffle is everywhere. Other programs have adapted to it and it’s possibilities are as endless as your library. The only ending I can provide is hope that you will listen to full records, or start to, or continue to. Don’t be lazy with your music. The same way we need to know our food, as it enters our body, we need to know our music. It’s just as much a part of us as all the other choices we make. Life is about choices and we need to make them. Or else we might just get lost in the Shuffle.
I want to challenge and change the way people think about and talk about music. Force them to listen and step outside their comfort zone. Find the losers, b-sides, unknown and walk through the great uncomfortable curves.
In the same vein of saying no to gatekeepers, RSS feeds, and Rolling Stone’s history of music, we need to experiment with everything. Talk to people of all kinds about what music they love and why. Spending time with people from different musical backgrounds – musicians and not, avid followers and people stuck in the past, elitists and top 40 radio folks – they all need to be heard (even if its hard to listen to some of them.) Making everyone’s opinions and ideas about music available and letting them know that what they think and say about music is valid is just as important as listening to music. We cannot rule out music and we cannot rule out people. If every band is someone’s favorite, every song someone’s favorite – listening to the individual can help individuality in music and unique, innovative art thrive.
Whatever it takes for people to engage in the conversation. Little kids need to listen to Led Zeppelin. You need to go see a band live before hearing them on the album. Scan the dial from the Spanish radio stations to the classical and through top 40 and the oldies station – see what’s out there. People need hip hop and they need Lou Reed. They need to be shoved into new sounds while learning where they came from, what the inspiration is. Culture and music history are just as important, or more so, than the medium itself.
Place yourself somewhere new once an hour, a day, a week – or as infrequently as you want. But make it happen. Listen to albums you’ve never heard or go back cataloging. Don’t block it out or knowingly ignore something because you aren’t ready for the challenge and the change. You will lose the growth that music and talking about music brings to life. It gets harder, and consuming. But the best part is there is no right and wrong. There’s just change.
My dad, who remains a hopeful teachable Beatles-elitist, introduced me to the music world. But he left behind a lot (Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, punk rock, Lou Reed, Janis Joplin, Hendrix, the list goes on). Like all coming of age stories I went away to college and became close with people from different places all over the country and learned that musical diversity shouldn’t be scowled at. It should be embraced. Everything doesn’t need to be the greatest. It can be good for that moment, this time. Nothing needs to be so black and white. I soon saw that I need to give everything a chance or otherwise I will miss the wonderful world of music that is happening right in front of me. Music releases are countless and there should be no reason not to look, not to listen.
If we are our own gatekeepers, we can plunge through any mass to find whatever it is we are looking for. Due to boredom, discovery, and creating something yourself – people stumbleupon and reddit all day every day. Finding genres within genres and bands and artists that all sound a few notes different from one another can be annoying. Chillwave, rock, surf rock, shoegaze, alternative, folk, alternative-country, self-released, fuzz pop, (the new) beach rock, hip hop, world pop, remixes, new soul and remasters. But for the amount of music out there and the amount of press discussing it, doesn’t it seem strange that everyone talks about the same artists? We know what’s great but why is no one discussing the route to listenable? It’s strange to think we’re being told what’s good without having to root through every new release ourselves. If we are in fact our own gatekeepers, why don’t we get more of a change for the local band? The Late Greats are out there, I guess it’s just my frustration that they may never be anything else. Although even if they never become anything else why can’t we enjoy them for who they are?
What is being given to us can be mistaken for each other. Determine Toro Y Moi from Washed Out or Best Coast from Cults. [Or at least the hype is all the same.] While Radiohead’s newest unexpectedly mimicked In Rainbows, other artists can relive their past in a new record and still have that freshly sealed sound like Fleet Foxes’ Helplessness Blues. Samuel Beam of Iron & Wine made us listen twice with Kiss Each Other Clean to appreciate the new direction he took his old sounds. Adele stuck to what she does best and managed to make us cry with her in 21, which is a remarkable thing to share with the world.
But some bands are better than others at perfecting their own sound, and sticking to it, re: The Strokes vs. Vampire Weekend (also see: bored rich white kids at private school.) It works for them not only because we know it’s what they’ll continue to do but because they’re good at it. And they know it. Then there are new game changers that everyone can agree on, tUnE-yArDs, and returning (previously under appreciated) champions, The Black Keys. If I were to continue trying to give releases their fair share I may never get to a point. What’s happening is a severe overflow of tunage. And giving everything a chance is draining.
But how do we learn to say no? No more rock? No more bands that do the same thing, mimic old music to gain notice for their famous comparison (Yuck) and then publicly talk about it like no one is supposed to notice. When do all the music coverage outlets stop praising the same bands across the board? How do we demand no more music that can be confused with itself? Or is this just how it is now? Something we have to live with? How can I even begin to complain? There is so much out there, there is plenty for everyone. With the personalization of media we’ve managed to get exactly what we want and keep out what we don’t. But there is a level before us, the music directors and promoters that hear and decide these things and then send them on their way. Unless you’ve lived and worked in that industry it can be hard to fathom just how much crap really is out there.
Where are the critics that might tell us what’s popular is just so because it has to be? (New Washed Out anyone?) Or has fame taken us over? Lesser known publications seem to be the only reviewers who have the balls to say when they think something it shit, instead of a favorable review of stars or a numbered rank. Even though they’re calling it out, they still write something about it and have an opinion. It’s harder to come by anyone that will push back, against the crowd. Was there ever a time when press was musically unfavorable?
It seems that media outlets have stuck to the same artists and ideas because they know it sells [Jann Wenner]. And we keep listening to them. But with so many ways to access tunes and spread them around (youtube,sound cloud, band camp, myspace) you’d think there would be more people that go searching outside the proverbial box. They wait to see what people bring to them, instead of betting on themselves.
As our own gatekeepers we owe it to ourselves to not let big media swallow us up. Sticking to the same sites, publications, writers, and never going for a second opinion is unacceptable. The same over-personalization of media that makes it easy for us has made it easy for us to be lazy. I have found recent comfort in turning to blogs that have a lower readership (?) to find music, new and old. Places like gorillavsbear and aquarium drunkard present music as it is, just to put it out there: videos, mp3s, downloads and early reviews. (I’d love to hear of even more places to visit.) They still aren’t talking about crap but they are highlighting underground music from decades ago and current local bands from cities across the country. Their atmosphere is luring.
We all need to make an effort to find something that isn’t the same old new. There is too much overload of the same, from the same places. Finding and reporting on crap along the way should be part of the process. There is a lot of music out there and a lot of it is shit. But why is no one ever telling us about it?
