| Author | Message | ||
     spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1251 Registered: 05-2005 |
I dunno at the moment, but I am really fed up with the amount of new artists on the scene right now, or being displayed in mags and on music programmes. Journalists have a new way of biggin people up in to 'genius' status. And for me, upon first listen to most of thses artists, courtesy of give away CD's, they are anything but. Is everyone getting carried away? There seems to be 10 genius releases a week, apparently? Not all new music is great, or maybe I am stuck in the middle of all the remastered re-releases going on? Its probably my age, but new music is getting me down at the moment. Bring me something new and I'll listen. Over to you... | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 169 Registered: 01-2006 |
Spence, they're not exactly new but give Peter, Bjorn and John's latest 'Writer's Block' a try, it's one of my favourite albums of last year. I don't buy music mags and kind of avoid all the hype that's written in these mags, if it's really good I'll get around to it at some stage. Like PB&J, I got really inti them after their third album... I hope you enjoyed all the Wilco CDs Spence, apparently they have a new studio album out in mid May.... | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1252 Registered: 05-2005 |
XY, yes the Wilco stuff has never been off my iTunes on my Mac, thank you so much for all that stuff, there wa so much of it i was grinning for a year! Its also quality stuff, like the engineer's versions of YHF. When you watch the DVD docu, all those snippet original versions of YHF songs you think you'll never hear. However, what you gacve me was almost exactly what they did on the DVD. Jeff's solo stuff is fab too. Probably my fave US band. I'll try the Writer's block thanks.  | ||
| Elizabeth Robinson Member Username: Liz_the_new_listener Post Number: 71 Registered: 10-2006 |
I used to get so excited listening to our local alternative radio station but lately it seems that they, too, play a lot of the same stuff all the time. Always the same stuff off the same albums. "Bashing my head against the wall". I hope it's just analogous to "congestion, sneezing and sniffling of the common cold." | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 37 Registered: 10-2006 |
My mate who likes to think he knows these things says that The Shins have produced the best album since The Queen is Dead... however, he also thinks Josh Ritter is the New Dylan... Meanwhile, Band of Horses is pleasantly listenable... but where's the stuff that shakes you to the core and twists your soul in knots? Or is that just for the kids? | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 358 Registered: 08-2006 |
I still find plenty of music to love every year, Spence, but I do sympathize with your frustration. I think there's just too much product hitting the marketplace and too many "critics" shouting frantically about their personal faves de jour. Everyone's entitled to their opinions, natch, but everyone with an opinion shouldn't go into the rock journalism business. It cheapens the listening experience when decent to pretty darn good records are artificially pumped up as The Album of the Year/Decade/Forever. And the few really wonderful albums that come out every now and again fall of the radar screen as quickly as some overexcitable 21-year-old Pitchfork writer can tear open the bubble pack on his advance releases for the week. It's all background noise and it shouldn't impact my listening experience, but it's tough to shut out and that annoys me. | ||
| frank bascombe Member Username: Frankb Post Number: 21 Registered: 01-2007 |
It is like tinnitus you go mad if you give in to it, This month I've not bought any music magazine and that is quite refreshing.They are the worst for over hype,and every issue has a retro on Dylan/Beatles/Stones/Springsteen/Young.I sn't this tedious.Also Iuse to buy Word and enjoy reading what celebs/musicians etc bought,red or listened too.I stopped when irealised that the word Subscriber was the most interesting not some boring actor who likes Coldplay/Embrace etc. Between everyone on here most music goes through the "bullshit detector" and hopefully a few gems will appear.For me last year was about getting round to listening to older artists I'd not had time for before e.g. Bert Jansch. Hasn't Randy been saying all this for years | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1253 Registered: 05-2005 |
Frank, yes Randy right, he is a wise man. As is Kev, whose remarks Stuart echoes, like every new male singer wongwriter on the block. They have NOTHING to say, NOTHING!!!!!!!!!! Its amazing really, this thread takes me back to another topic on about who are the NEW genuis'? I really don't think there are any. Rob's right, there's too much product. The world is not only full of corruption but its also comitted commercial suicide. Not to get too down, I know, but I was scouring the land, and trying to find something that had worth. Its a real struggle. Maybe the day Peel died, new music died? Now where's the new Fall album... | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 570 Registered: 08-2004 |
Genius & legend are bandied around so often. No-one is given the chance to develop. The re-issuing trend is also very kneejerk, we aren't given enough time to build nostalgia any more. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 993 Registered: 03-2005 |
Some things never change. Do a Google search with the words "new Dylan" or "new Beatles" or whoever. Personally, I'd be offended as hell if somebody described me as the "new" somebody else. Remember that journalists have to write something to make money, every month or every week. And if they are limited to the narrow category of writing music reviews they have to keep getting excited about something in order to keep their readers coming back. Music critics would be so much better off if their editors would allow them to write something other than reviews in weeks or months when nothing was really appealing to them. I don't think age has anything to do with having passions stirred by music. It's just that the music that will stir your passions only comes up now and then. And when you were young in addition to hearing all the new people you were also catching up and discovering all sorts of great people from earlier times. So, yeah, you got that rush of excitement a lot more often. Spence, make up a list of all the artists who really thrill you. I mean Josef K level of thrill. Then count the number of years stretching from the earliest release by the earliest of those artists up to the current year. Divide the number of years by the number of artists on your list. The resulting number will tell you how often you are likely to run into somebody else who will thrill you as much. How many of our favorite artists damn near starved during their heyday only to be discovered much later? Most of them, as far as I can tell. Why would that change now? The best music being made right now is still unknown to us. | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 117 Registered: 07-2006 |
i'm with you spence. what i would really love to hear are some politics again in my music. i know people have been saying this since forever, but it really seems like we're in the grip of lad culture at the moment....only this time their jeans are much tighter and they kind of look like girls. even some of my preferred contempo listening from the past few years now seem to be stylizing themselves into an oblivion to the point where i simply don't care anymore. nb: i can't wait to see the pet shop boys next month. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1217 Registered: 05-2005 |
On music magazines: They have to big up new artists in order to sell magazines. This is particularly so for NME which publishes 51 editions a year; less so for Uncut, Mojo etc which publish 12 times a year. But even they have to big up new artists because they realise we are thinking "Oh no, not yet another Beatles/Dylan/Stones cover story". On The Shins: I just don't get it. I saw them live in Sydney a couple of years ago and the first three songs were great. But then every other song sounded just like one of those first three. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 491 Registered: 10-2004 |
On the Shins: Padraig, I agree with you. I liked a few songs from their 1st album, but for the most part I don't hear much to get excited about. It's really bizarre to hear so many people praise them to the skies, even people I know and whose tastes in music I otherwise trust. I think what people find appealing about the Shins is that many of the "right" ingredients are there: genuine, sincere musicians and songwriters writing tasteful, melodic pop that makes all the right stylistic references to tickle the journalists and is accessible enough to gain some mainstream recognition. The problem for me is that once you strip away the interesting arrangements, the semi-adventurous self-productions, the good musicianship, etc.. there's nothing there, which is my way of saying there just aren't any tunes that I like. Nothing there to latch onto in terms of melody. And that is the chief problem I find with so much music today. Sure, I complain about cruddy over-compressed productions and style-over-substance hipsters dominating everything, but what bugs me the most is that I'm hearing a painful lack of just good songwriting. Sure, that is subjective, but there is a massive and pretty eclectic roster of bands from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 90s who came up with good songs, chord progressions, melodies, whatever, that really hit that nerve in my brain. There has been a glaring lack of that in this decade for me. And when I do hear it, it's often clouded by other cultural baggage that is hard to overlook. The Strokes' 1st album actually has moments of what I would consider genuinely good music. On that LP, they proved they knew their way around a good, catchy pop tune. Sure, the relentless pillaging of late 70s NY/UK pop-punk was so prevalanet that it seemed slavishly studied. And their style-over-substance hipster-ness was cringe-enducing, as was their singer's painfully self-conscious lyrics and delivery. And those things pretty much ruined the Strokes for me right away. But the point here is that there were some genuinely memorable hooks that hit that nerve in my brain, which I didn't really hear from anyone else. Camera Obscura have become increasingly promising, coming very close to creating some genuinely sublime melodic pop. I enjoy their latest album, and really like the blue-eyed soul vibe they infuse some of the songs with. But there seems to be an unwillingness or inability to truly flesh out some of the melodies; to really refine their good ideas and push them into the realm of brilliance. The Pipettes album has some fabulous girl group soul-inspired pop, and a few really quite good songs, but I question whether they'll hold up even a few years down the road. Sadly, most of the music I've purchased that came out in recent years was by older bands/artists whose careers began in previous decades, like the Go-Betweens comeback records, of course, and Cathal Coughlan's brilliant solo albums. And the vast majority of bands I see live today are the same deal. It's depressing because I really want to find new bands that I can get excited about. I mean, I'm always excited about discovering old bands that were previously unknown to me, but I'm starting to feel like I'm on the verge of scraping the bottom of the barrel with older stuff. And it's sad to contemplate a future with no new music to get excited about. I'll give anything a chance that's got a good tune or some sort of compelling atmosphere, but I'm just hearing painfully little of either in today's new music. Sorry for the lengthy post! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1220 Registered: 05-2005 |
Well said Jeff. See, we don't have to have a Howard/Obama thing going on! | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1551 Registered: 03-2006 |
Phrases like, "embarrassment of riches", "Holy crap, I can't keep up" and "wa wa wee wo" come to mind. While part of me loves to grumpily complain that punks today don't make music like they used to, like "my groups" did back in the day, my record collection would tend to belie that stance. The simple truth is that there're buttloads of great music being produced these days. One tries to keep up, but there's probably, like, 20 albums at any given time I wish I could afford to buy, but can't since I've exceeded my budget. I think the Shins are pretty terrific - classic pop melodicists, and they know how to cook up great, sharp, incredibly memorable tunes, impeccably arranged and played. Their newest is, to my ears, their best yet. Just edging out their last, also great, one. They are the real deal... In addition, the Midlake disc, from last year, totally rocked my world. It stayed in my CD player for probably something like 6 months. And it just got more addictive the more I listened. A subtle, but totally absorbing listen. Pastoral, surpassingly sweet and all a little wistful, with some surprisingly muscular guitar parts and great, old vintage synth sounds. And then there's the Hold Steady - wa wa wee wo! What a great f-ing record they put out last year. Great, attudinal, in your face stuff. Punchy, rocking songs with melodies that stick. Craig Finn is some kinda great lyricist as well - his songs come across like short stories you might hear narrated by some gregarious, voluble slightly pushy Irish poet you might meet in a pub - you don't care about being cornered, because his patter is so fascinating... I guess it does "come down to your ears" - melodiousness is in the ears of the beholder. But the tunes on the disc completely hit all the pleasure centers in my brain...Carpers, haters, etc., might nitpick, say all the best bits are copped from Springsteen, Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, Replacements, but you know what? Who gives a rat's ass? All the influences are organically assimilated and the final product sounds completely fresh and new...Complete originality is a canard, anyway. There's nothing new under the sun, everything builds on something else. And let me not forget the mighty, mighty Gnarls Barkley - a great, triumphant debut. And the "oldsters" continue to put out great music. The new Lucinda Williams coming out tomorrow is yet another solid home run, Patty Griffin's newest is pretty much a masterpiece, and I just heard an advance copy of the new Ry Cooder coming out in a few weeks - another sublime and beautiful work from him, as well. Great new music - it's all around us...as commonplace and omnipresent as air, if not as cheap... | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1555 Registered: 03-2006 |
Forgot to mention the work of the estimable Joe Pernice. Don't know if they necessarily qualify as "new", but the Pernice Brothers' "World Without End" and "Overcome By Happiness" are two of the best records of the last 20 years, hands down, end of story. The newest one by them, "Live A Little" has proved to have staying power, too...another strong, solid contender... | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1557 Registered: 03-2006 |
Also forgot James Blunt.... naw, that was just to make Kev's blood pressha go up...where the hell is the Kev? But actually, I did forget Calexico, Lambchop, Richmond Fontaine and that great songbird, Neko Case. All at least "newish" artists... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1222 Registered: 05-2005 |
LK, tell us a bit more about the forthcoming Dinosaur Jr comeback. I found a couple of tracks on t'internet and they sound pretty good. Classic Dinosaur Jr really. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1254 Registered: 05-2005 |
Randy's right, " The best music being made right now is still unknown to us." That is the best statement I have ever read on this or any other board! My views and feelings change like the weather and as most of my life is based around on-going creativity, as a designer and a musician, yesterday's ideas are always eclipsed by the looking for tomorrow's ideas type o thing. Today, I feel more optimistic, I will make an effort to see if there's anything new around, that inspires me, sadly MySpace won't help me achieve this, but I suppose the mags and you lot will. I think that's the thing about this thread, I probably typed the wrong title, it should of read where's the magic? | ||
| John B. Member Username: John_b Post Number: 96 Registered: 10-2006 |
Yes, Spence, "Where's the magic" would probably be the title. It somehow reminds me of the recent Observer thing with Jarvis. Too much music accessible at too many places. You simply get lost in the magazine/internet/etc jungle and have a hard time finding good stuff between all the rubbish. And I guess that most of us here on the board don't have as much time as in their teens to look for the good stuff. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1559 Registered: 03-2006 |
Pad, there's probably a fanboy sitting in some moldy apartment with empty pizza boxes, bongs and old issues of Spin scattered around who thinks the idea of a Dinosaur Jr. reunion is deeply wrong, sacrilege. Well, screw him. You said it - sounds like classic stuff from them, based on a coupla casual listens. Whether or not it'll hold up, over the years, who knows? As Bob Dylan allegedly said, let the hippies figure it out. (That was his supposed response when asked by one of the redneck Nashville musicians who worked on Blonde on Blonde what the lyrics to one of his songs meant.) | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 492 Registered: 10-2004 |
Padraig, thanks, that was funny. I think the beauty of this board is that while we all agree on the Go-Betweens, many of us have fairly divergent taste when it comes to other artists. What's good about that is it can make for some interesting discussion, it can turn others onto new corners of music they were perviously unaware of, and it can give insight into the angle other people approach the Go-Betweens. That last point is important because if the tastes of the fans on this board are any indicator, it shows that people have come into liking the Go-Betweens hitting on different aspects of their sound, if that makes sense, meaning we all hear something a little different from the same band, the same songs. Little Keith, you're right, new music is all around, but just about every "new" artist you mentioned is someone I've tried to get but honestly just couldn't at all. As I've said, I'll give anything that's got a good tune and/or a compelling atmosphere a chance. Honestly, I think "Smile" and "LDN" by Lily Allen are catchier and better than pretty much all the "new" music we've been discussing on this thread. What does that say about me? I don't want to know. And finally, I *hope* Randy's statement about exciting new music being made that's totally unknown to us at the moment is true. I'm just sad The Aislers Set haven't put out any records in over 3 years. Their last album, "How I Learned to Write Backwards," is definitely one of my top 10 favorites of this decade. Their record before that, "The Last Match," was pretty good too. I miss them. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1563 Registered: 03-2006 |
Jeff, chacon a son gout...as you, or someone else, pointed out, what we're talking about here is subjective taste...it's like debating whether vanilla or chocolate ice cream is better. What one person finds melodious is often gonna sound like syrup-y goo to another. Btw, vanilla IS much better! It's a fact! Also, I like that Lily Allen song, too, think it's a hoot... | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 998 Registered: 03-2005 |
Why did I know you would say that LK? Orange County has totally taken you over. The superiority of chocolate has been empirically proven repeatedly. What does "chacon a son gout" mean? | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1564 Registered: 03-2006 |
Really? You'd prefer chocolate to that really good, rich Haagen-Daaz vanilla, with the little specks of vanilla bean? Shocking! OC HAS taken me over, probably in ways I'm not aware of - don't think I'm happy about that. If only some of the wealth syndrome that seems so prevalent would rub off... It's a snooty, uppity way of saying "different strokes" - a remnant of high school French. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 361 Registered: 08-2006 |
It means, roughly, "to each their own," Randy. Oh, and vanilla rules. (I've got big hopes for this line of disagreement - could be this week's Crowded House.) | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 470 Registered: 01-2005 |
Jeff, I liked the Camera Obscura as well. A nice combination of St. Etienne, The Sundays, The Cranberries, and a bit of Belle and Sebastian and some Cowboy Junkies tossed into a pot with a nice end result. I have the new Lucinda on order as well as the new Patty Griffin. Looking foreward to getting both of them in the mail soon! T minus 9 hours and counting down until Midlake hits the stage tonight, with yours truely near the front proudly wearing my Grant t-shirt. | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 119 Registered: 07-2006 |
what's the name of camera obscura's album. you've just named three and a half (i like the first cranberries record) of my favourites there michael! also, where should i start with lucinda? a friend of mine played me a mix tape of hers once and i was quietly blown away. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 493 Registered: 10-2004 |
Joe, the most recent Camera Obscura album is called "Let's Get out of This Country." It's the only one I can recommend, as it's the only one I've heard all the way through. I don't think it's an album that's going to change the world, but it's pretty good. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 362 Registered: 08-2006 |
Joe, I wouldn't presume to tread on LK's territory here, but I'd start with Lucinda's "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road," which I think a lot of people (me, too) believe is her high-water mark. After that, I'd maybe go for her self-titled CD, then "Sweet Old World" and if you're still hungry for more, start exploring. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 494 Registered: 10-2004 |
Years ago, back in the late 80s, I heard a song by Lucinda Williams called 'Passionate Kisses.' I remember this song because my mom and her hippie boyfriend both really liked it a lot. Given that I was probably about 14 at the time, and that the song sounded to my 14-year-old ears like polite, adult, slightly folky MOR, I'm sure I viewed it with utmost scorn. I'm just curious, since she is talked about so much on this board: how would one describe her music? Who might it be comparable to? | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 120 Registered: 07-2006 |
thanks rob....i'm going to buy it tonight. i need to do something good for the soul - i've already used up my "vengeful thought" ration for the day and it's only ten thirty. st valentine can get knotted... | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 999 Registered: 03-2005 |
hmmm, Lucinda. How about "trashy rocker chick doing country?" Hardin won't like that I suppose. How about "Rosanne Cash's bastard sis just two weeks after she got off meth?" No, that's Carlene Carter. I will say this Jeff. She sure doesn't make it as MOR. She's kind of like a country chick who wished she was Mick Jagger. Of course, she's much better than him. Much better. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1565 Registered: 03-2006 |
Randy, that's hard to improve on...I might've thrown in a reference to Pastor Ted and the phrase, "rode hard and put up wet", but I think you really captured it... But seriously, I would add that she's a great, great songwriter. She doesn't have the back catalog of Dylan and Neil Young and Cohen, but I see her in that league. Not that she's anything like them; she's completely sui generis. A blurb from a review for her new album said something about her main subjects being "love, lust and loss", and I thought, "Eureka!", no wonder her stuff strikes such a chord... Rob&Joe, that is exactly the path I would've recommended for investigating Lu. Definitely start with "Car Wheels", as it's widely regarded as her masterpiece. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1226 Registered: 05-2005 |
I don't know that she'd be your cup of tea Jeff.. but if you're willing to take a punt start off with Car Wheels On A Gravel Road. You should be able to pick up the original release pretty cheap now that there's a two disc version out. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1227 Registered: 05-2005 |
Great minds thinking alike LK! Randy, one more post to go! | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1566 Registered: 03-2006 |
Here's Christgau's page on Lucinda. Being a professional writer type, he can perhaps more deftly describe her: http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artis t.php?name=lucinda+williams As usual, I'm not sure I completely understand his writing, but he seems to like her... | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1567 Registered: 03-2006 |
Padraig, as we say in America, fuckin' A! (Do they say that in Oz?) | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1228 Registered: 05-2005 |
Fuckin' A they do! Actually no, they don't. But I do sometimes because I used to live in Boston (one of the reasons I loved The Departed). I learned the phrase from a friend who was from Madison. Oddly, though, he used it to mean something was a bummer. Maybe it's a cheesehead thing? What does the A part mean? I've always assumed awesome. Is that right? | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1569 Registered: 03-2006 |
Never figured out the origin of the expression...hearing it for the first time as a kid, I wondered why you couldn't use other letters of the alphabet (fuckin' Z!, for instance)... Btw, how come we can type fuck sometimes and sometimes we can't? What the fuck? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1231 Registered: 05-2005 |
Oh yeah! WTF? | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 203 Registered: 09-2006 |
Re: fuckin' A...here's one good bit of conjecture: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mfuc kina.html I got that by Googling the phrase with quotes around it...it was the first result. Don't have time to look at the others right now, but the answer's probably there somewhere... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1232 Registered: 05-2005 |
Thanks Allen. Will take a look now. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1401 Registered: 05-2005 |
Paul Morley sums this up well in The Observer "I found a band just the other day, a special new band ... Paul Morley Sunday February 18, 2007 The Observer Eventually, in some circumstances or another, you get to hear Joanna Newsom, or the Liars, or Beirut, or Emily Haines, or I'm From Barcelona, or Serena-Maneesh, all that music that's been written about with such steamed-up praise, as if your whole world and emotional make-up will change when you hear it, and you think, well, that's OK, or that's quite interesting, or not up to much, or something I'll play again next week, or next month, or next year, or never again. A new album or group is talked about in a certain tantalising way, but it turns out to be not anything like what the music is actually like. It's as if there is a fantasising about a kind of music that should exist, a hoped-for sound that is described at length even though it is not necessarily anything like what is going on. You get to hear the album that's getting all the attention this week, today, this minute, written about as it if is a masterpiece that can be set alongside other masterpieces from the past 50 years, as if the artist or artists involved are an arrival of such importance the whole history of popular music needs a quick rewrite, and you think, that's not at all what I was expecting. You hear the Knife, or the latest Scott Walker, or Junior Boys, or Stars of Track and Field, or the Editors, or Fiery Furnaces, or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and you think, I wish I hadn't been expecting the greatest thing ever, because compared to being the greatest thing ever, this is just one those things. Sometimes, one of those things can creep up on you, and become a little more special, but not when you are anticipating hearing the greatest thing ever. I imagine you might have had this experience when you first heard Tortoise, or Pavement, or Built to Spill. Some of you might yet get it when you eventually hear Sgt Pepper, or OK Computer, or Nirvana, and there are those still putting off listening to Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys knowing full well that what lies ahead is the kind of disappointment they felt when they finally heard Spiritualized, LCD Soundsystem or the Magic Numbers. I saw Adem the other day. From what I'd been told he was Michael Chapman meets Patrik Fitzgerald. He turned out to be more Johnny Ball meets Paul McKenna. I might not have felt so deflated if I'd not been expecting a minor fucked-folk genius. Millions of words had told me Bloc Party were the Clash and the Cure, whereas they were the Lurkers and Busted. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is not quite the same thing. It must be because there is so much blog-illuminated new music of such definite competence, so many attractive new fusions, hybrids and agile, academic rewirings, and so many enthusiasts writing about this new music, needing to demonstrate that they are the first to find it, and make a claim for its magnificent, idiosyncratic freshness. Now that everything is scored, and the results collated on websites as if this is helpful, as if this is sport, and there are so many competitive, boastful sound-spotters desperate for us to know exactly what they think as soon as they think it, there is, to put it mildly, a tendency for albums to be over-rated. Everyone, from the agitated home diarists and half-crazed fans with time on their hands to the proud, pedantic newspaper rock critics, is desperate to tell everyone else that they alone have found the new thing. Sometimes their discovery is the same album or artist, made at exactly the same time, and this explodes into what is not so much hype as hysteria, as if everything that happens, every week, every moment, has to be the Beatles, the Pistols or Patti Smith. Perhaps we should all just agree to shave off a star or two here and there, to control our initial excitement, to keep our thoughts to ourselves until we are absolutely sure. Then again, the shape of your universe will change for the better when you hear Ornette Coleman's Sound Grammar." | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1247 Registered: 04-2005 |
Kev, you're back! Where've you been? I hope you weren't like me, accidentally nearly joining GM in music heaven (well, I'd be in the music heaven audience, anyway) by spinning your car on a wet mountain highway. Nice piece by Morley, by the way. I think he's nailed it. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1402 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kurt, its a boring story, but lets just say it involves installing W!*ndo~$ V*$t@ which completely papped my computer and rendered it out of action for over a week. I am now back on XP and awaiting word from M!cr0$o&t as to how they are going to recompense me. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1248 Registered: 04-2005 |
Say no more, Kevin. And good luck with that. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1271 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kev!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 396 Registered: 08-2006 |
Geez, Kev, I imagined you lolling by a beach somewhere or kickin' it in the country. Instead, you were in tech support hell. Definitely NOT the same thing. Sorry to hear it, man. And thanks for posting that article. It's like it was written for this thread. And he's right about the Ornette Coleman... | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1017 Registered: 03-2005 |
A few more days and I was going to send an e-mail to you, Kevin, asking pathetically "what did we do?" Treat yourself to a Mac. The Morley article is great. And that's why I don't bother to keep up with things. It does remind me that I should explore Ornette Coleman at some point. I don't wander into jazz very often. About 8 years ago I was all John Coltrane all the time until I stumbled on the large ensemble works which put me off. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 397 Registered: 08-2006 |
Do, Randy. As a non-jazz guy, start with "Virgin Beauty," if you can find it. If not, try "Dancing in Your Head" or "Song X" with (no kidding) Pat Metheny. "Sound Grammar" is incredible great, too, but his 80s-era stuff with Prime Time is a little easier to digest for a newbie. At least that's how I got hooked. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1403 Registered: 05-2005 |
Sorry guys that my absence couldnt be put down to a more glamorous or intriguing reason, but it really was the mundane reason I said above. The only Ornette album I have is The Shape Of Jazz To Come - must give it a listen. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1605 Registered: 03-2006 |
Kev, what, no cards, no letter? What are we, chopped liver? Oy vey! Good to know the reason for your absence. That's a good anti-advertisement for the product you mention. That Mr. Gates, such a shmekel.... I think Ornette Coleman is brilliant but would recommend him very cautiously. He's gotten a bit more accessible over the years, but some of his stuff is definitely not for the musically squeamish. I do have the new record and think it's quite good. Enjoyed the Morley, too. He does seem reminiscent of Christgau, in that is able to succinctly cut through the bullshit. And, also in the way he has very definite opinions, but unlike a lot of people, can back them up, with concrete reasons... | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 485 Registered: 01-2005 |
Re: Ornete Coleman I also have The Shape Of Jazz To Come, it's very good. I have another OC, only on vinyl though. Of Human Feelings. I bought it back in 1983 after it topped The Dean's 1982 List and being #13 on the critics poll. The Dean overstreached it a bit, as no way was it better than Shoot Out The Lights, The Blue Mask or Imperial Bedroom, or even The Days of Wine and Roses. It's still very impressive though. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 398 Registered: 08-2006 |
"Of Human Feelings" is excellent, Michael. I didn't recommend it to Randy only because it's pretty tough to find. Worth the hunt, tho. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 486 Registered: 01-2005 |
Rob, you got that right! A used copy if going for $99 US. A better bet might to be get it on ebay. Of course the obvious question is, where is the reissue? I was looking back at The Critcs List of the 1982 Pazz and Jop poll, and remembered that it was my bible in 1983 for buying records. I bet I bought 30 albums on vinyl that I didn't have prior to getting that Village Voice issue. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1607 Registered: 03-2006 |
Michael, you probably responded on the thread about it, but how many discs, pieces of recorded music, etc., do you have? Must be up there in the thousands, eh? | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1404 Registered: 05-2005 |
LK- regarding Morley I noticed while catching up with all the posts that you said you didnt know of him, so heres a potted history. He is very well known figure in the UK music scene. He comes from Manchester and was part of the scene that spawned Joy Division, Buzzcocks, Magazine, The Fall etc. He was probably the most important journalist for NME in the late 70s through the 80s. He set up the ZTT record label with Trevor Horne and was behind acts like Propaganda, Art Of Noise and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Nowadays he appears on TV quite a bit on all those high brow cultural programmes, as well as contributing to various music related shows. I am sure he is also a published author but dont quote me on that. I am sure this little resume doesnt do him full justice, but certainly his stint at NME puts him on the same pedestal as Christgau, Bangs etc for people of my era. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 402 Registered: 08-2006 |
It's funny that, even in the age of the Web, there's such a gulf between the US and the UK in terms of media. Certainly, Mojo and a few other British mags have a beachhead over here, and I watch the BBC on PBS every night, but I don't know Paul Morley and it sounds like Christgau doesn't have the same stature abroad that he has here. You'd think that series of tubes we call the Internets would have bridged that gap. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1405 Registered: 05-2005 |
some links http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Morley he also appears in this Youtube clip of a tribute to Marc Bolan (also featuring Morrissey) - Morley appears at approx 1.10secs, and 2.20secs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hyvuHQzC es in his guise as a "talking head", he appears in this Big Brother clip - obviously he is the older of the 3 guys in the clip . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fobRpelV rU | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1610 Registered: 03-2006 |
Oh, sure. Now I remember him - he was featured in that great book, "Smash It Up" (or was it "Rip It Up"?) - very interesting character. Btw, that's a great clip on Bolan as well. I was a huge fan. Interesting - though folks were aware of them in the US back in the day - I was, as a teenybopper, anyway, they were never anything like the phenomenon they were in the UK. | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 578 Registered: 08-2004 |
A young Paul Morley was also in ABC's Look Of Love video. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 229 Registered: 04-2005 |
Re: Ornette Coleman. A couple of weeks ago I heard a story (second-hand) about a young trumpeter, who went to a recent NY in-store signing for OC's last CD. The trumpeter took a CD of his own, with recordings of a couple of OC pieces and chatted with the veteran. He mentioned at the end that if ever there was the possiblity to play together, just a dream really... He ended up with OC's address and a week later they spent an entire afternoon jamming together. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 490 Registered: 01-2005 |
LK, I haven't counted my cd's in a while, but I have six cabinets that hold 300 each that are full. Others are stcked on top, in my car, by my Dell, and at work. I make it a tick over 2000. I haven't counted my vinyl in 15 years, but I'm guessing it was around 650 or so. | ||
| Svein Inge Saether Member Username: Springrain Post Number: 11 Registered: 08-2006 |
I was in a Berlin record shop a week ago, and I heard the new Of Montreal record "Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?" over the speakers. It was a great experience of hearing something for the first time (although I had heard one previous album, briefly). I bought the cd when I got home, and altough it is very good it hasn't achieved quite the same effect as that first time. On topic, I would recommend this new release, but I agree: Really good new music is hard to come by. Did I buy anything in that Berlin shop, you ask? Yes, indeed. "Spring Rain" and "Streets of Your Town" 7-inches, and the fabulous "Smash It Up" by The Damned on the same format. |