Copyright Laws
I suppose it was inevitable that the record labels and the licensing companies would make their sweep on the World Wide Web. I mean, freedom like this has never been known before; the sharing and growth of sociality in humanity has never been so immediate and beautiful like it is today, so it isn’t a surprise that money obsessed corporate fucks like Universal, PRS and the well bribed congressmen of the United States office would want to come into your party, ‘accidentally’ throw drink on people, turn their nose up at your light hearted dick jokes and contra any liberal statement you may like to make about political injustice.
It’s fair to say that the only people who really give two shits about copyright infringement are the people behind the artists who you’re apparently ‘ripping off’ by downloading a track from. No true artist cares if you illegally download their music, they care more that you’re actually listening to it; you are not stealing from them, you are duplicating from them. Neither are you ‘counter fitting’, as to counter fit is to take something and make a lesser quality of it and sell it as if it is the real thing. Most people don’t sell on the downloads they download, so there’s no profit being made.
It’s the priority that annoys me the most. The priority over the idea that, because someone downloads or shares an album that they are criminals, that they deserve more strictness than murderers. Like, the owner of Megaupload is getting 50 years in jail. FIFTY YEARS. Seriously. You know what jail is for? Threats. People who are threats to society. This man is not a threat. He did not hold up a bank, trying to steal £150,000. Cold blooded killers get less, you know what I mean? It all comes back to money. OH ALL THE MONEY WE LOST FROM HIS PIRACY. Seriously, have you still not understood the benefits of free music? Music sales are as high as they’ve ever been. It’s just principle you’re acting on. Virgin Music didn’t go under because of illegal downloads, and neither did Zavvi, nor HMV (soon to be resting in peace), it was just the convenience of the internet. Cheap CD/DVD/LP sales online. And yes, downloads are a factor, but that doesn’t necessarily mean ‘illegal’ downloads. No boss of a major record label is losing substantial money because a kid in his bedroom downloads the new Justin Bieber single, seriously.
Also, they fail to understand the fundamental importance of free downloads. Now, I do rarely get into artists that do not have free downloads. Even if it is just the one song, that is all a person needs to sample an artist. I do not care to return to a lame website, day after day to stream a song. I would much rather download, listen to it a bunch of times at my leisure and then decided whether it is worth my money. If I like a record enough, and like many, many other people, I will buy a physical release. This is why the physical industry is important. These whining labels criminalise downloads, yet they are only costing themselves more money in the long run, because people will be going to independent music to get away from the scrutiny into a more accepting atmosphere, or they’ll simply start buying CDs again, just to feel like they’re getting a decent product rather than paying money to buy illusory music. Either way, they should be buying physical.
To conclude, they need not make criminals out of downloaders; people who are passionate about music care more about music and know more about the music listening/downloading/buying process than the record labels do. The sooner they start considering music as an art form to be enjoyed, respected and shared than simply another product to hit quotas, the sooner I will stop having to give a shit about things like ACTA and we can all concentrate on more important issues. Like how America passed a law that allows them to strip their citizens of their citizenship if it’s deemed fit. Welcome to 2012, people.
ps. if you don’t believe me, listen to Stephen Fry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCk9Cheiqqg
Lana Del Rey - Born To Die ALBUM REVIEW
I’m not going to say the word “hype” more than once in this review, because the term already follows Lana Del Rey wherever she goes. She’s a quasi-mysterious chanteuse from New York City, she’s the daughter of a millionaire, and she once lived in a trailer park for a spell. She’s a self-described “gangsta Nancy Sinatra.” Her image is remarkably well-established, but what’s been missing from the picture is the essential part: the music. Outside of a couple tracks floating around the Internet, and a disappearing album (that will allegedly be re-released), Del Rey has been flat-out unprolific. The buildup of image and lack of content has tidily set the stage for a highly anticipated full-length, the defining moment of truth that determines whether she actually warrants all of the… fanfare.
Enter Born To Die. What first strikes the eye is the familiarity of the first four tracks; they were released on an EP that dropped earlier in January, and two of them were already released on a 7” that came out last October. Due to this blatant repackaging, the remainder of the album appears tacked on for the sole purpose of releasing those tracks again. Such an ordering also suggests that Born To Die won’t feel like a cohesive listen, rather a collection of tracks. Before the album even starts, I know that there is only about a half-hour of new music here, and that it takes a backseat to the surefire hits. Del Rey has hardly released anything. I want to hear what else she has to offer.
But Born To Die doesn’t fall victim to its layout problem as much as it falls victim to its formulaic production. The album is aptly titled; besides “Video Games” (the only song on the album with a different producer), the remaining tracks sound practically identical to the title track. Once you hear “Born To Die” and “Video Games,” you have unfortunately heard everything that this album has to offer. Listen to the album for yourself, and around “National Anthem,” you can hear the pattern fully formed. You can predict, with almost unfailing accuracy, that the next track will have an anthemic hip-hop beat coupled with a melodramatic orchestral arrangement à la any given James Bond soundtrack. Odds are that a sad, surf rock-inspired guitar lick will come in at some point, or a processed sample of some guy shouting “Whoop!” or “Oh!” will pop up, as if Lil B had some say in the production. It’s one thing to have a style. It’s another thing to not only limit your musical scope with that style, but to also beat that style thoroughly to death.
Given the above, this would be a pretty awful album if it weren’t for some absolutely beautiful vocal performances and some instances where the strict production parameters actually work within the context of the song. “Born To Die” opens the album up beautifully with a slurred verse, where Lana tiredly croons: “Feet don’t fail me now… Take me to the finish line.” There is an air of moody defeatism in her tone and in what she’s singing, and this emotion carries through most of the album. Her delivery is a fresh and unique approach to pop singing, and it works particularly well in contrast with uptempo beats, such as the dark-yet-bubbly “Diet Mountain Dew” and the sweeping, trip-hop swag of “Radio”.
Unfortunately, following “Radio”, the album’s pace practically screeches to a halt with three consecutive ballads. Del Rey reaches a new level of sappiness when she starts whispering in French on “Carmen,” a lazy tune about a young seductress. “Million Dollar Baby” somehow slows things down even further, and “Summertime Sadness” doesn’t even bother trying, lyrically or otherwise. “I just wanted you to know/That, baby, you the best,” she sighs at possibly the least convincing moment on the album.
To cap things off, Born To Die ends with an utterly disappointing anticlimax. “This Is What Makes Us Girls”, a 4-minute rehash of all the other midtempo tracks on the album, confirms the above hypothesis that Born To Die is really just an assortment of tracks. With all of the melodrama stuffed into the production on this album, wouldn’t it make sense to end with a heartwrenching tearjerker, something that matches the honest beauty of “Video Games”? Apparently not.
The question here is whether Lana Del Rey will ever produce anything at the caliber of “Video Games” again. There’s a certain magic to that track: the minimal arrangement, the pulse and rolling snare line that falls in halfway through, the sheer sincerity in LDR’s voice. Everything else on Born To Die serves to confirm that Del Rey is a one-trick pony, although this is mostly attributable to production and not performance. “Video Games” has a different feel altogether, in that her conveyed alienation sounds entirely from the heart. If her next release leans towards that one glimmering moment of authenticity over the top-40 aspirations of the majority of Born To Die, Lana Del Rey could have a legacy on her hands.
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4/10
-JL
TRAX 2 KNO: Born To Die, Video Games, Radio
Jeremy’s Albums of 2011
Oh wow I have not posted on here in forever. OK. OK cool stuff. OK here are some albums that were pretty OK I guess:
10. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong
Dreamy, gazey, indie pop.
9. Owen - Ghost Town
Low-key acoustic tunes from Mike Kinsella of Cap’n Jazz
8. Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness
Loud, sad indie pop about breakups and football.
7. M83 - Hurry Up We’re Dreaming
80’s-nostalgic electronica
6. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Lenses Alien
Thoughtful, post-polothology indie noise rock
5. Driftless Pony Club - Buckminster
Northwest-inspired indie rock in the vein of Modest Mouse or 764-Hero
4. Talons’ - Songs for Boats
Emotion-drenched slow-coustic jams
3. Cloud Nothings - Cloud Nothings
As much upbeat, catchy lo-fi as you can pack into 28 minutes and 1 second
2. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
It’s Bon Iver. Get your head out of your ass.
1. Sleep Party People - Sleep Party People
Slow, electronic, gazey music for sad Danish bunnies.
-JB
GALLOPS / GLYNDWR TV SESSIONS / 14.12.11
Quite recently, I managed to see a session of local Wrexham band Gallops in the university, Glyndwr. In a scarcely populated studio setup, the band were laid bare in front of cameras and less than 50 people. It was interesting to see them in such a raw, exposed environment. Above is a photo I took at the show, and below is a small on the spot review of their progressing sound.
Gallops have a complex blend of sounds, that to write them off as a merely lesser version of Battles (of whom who are shit and incredibly over-buzzed) is such an ignorant perspective and an tired excuse it’s silly, given the breadth of quality each member of Gallops presents. Sure, an influence sure is usually apparent, but not to such an extent that it overshadows the entire quality of the band itself.
The influence in their music strikes as quite a broad range. Although they seem to be often toted with having a math-rock-kinda-but-not-really-twinged sound due to their odd chord timings and irregular beats, it does vary. Many sound they incorporate are influenced by a lot of ’80s music - from the electronic pulsing of synthpop to the ambience of film scores of the time, such as Blade Runner. Gallops are also hugely influenced by thrash metal and nu metal. Their strength of the drumming and the way it is presented seamlessly knits in that metal sound with the glitchy nature of modern electronic music. And its combined intensity is what drives the sound, making their name all the more relevant and fitting.
They also share a synchronised link together, making the tightness of their stop/start playing all the more impressive and professional. Their playing is very detailed, and their metal influence shines through in that respect; colouring the technical precision of their more powerful moments. Back to the math, their glitchy picking style of playing and picking underlines the band’s overall sound, going hand in hand with the force their metal influence presents, to improve their precision. It is then neatly layered with loop-style electronic chords, like a nice, delectable layer of whipped cream.
There is a very overall, epic sound to Gallops’ delivery, of which they execute well and neatly; I love how they try to fill detail and colour into nearly every inch of their yet still never underestimating or neglecting variations of mood, tempo or ambience.
It is, with this, that I find it easy to dub them very much as an experimental progressive rock band. They are ever eager to paint a page with as much that can fill it, to create awe-ful pieces of art. And to see them, closely, in this intimate way, truly expresses that to me.
- EH
Jay’s Albums o’ The Year
OH HEY. I haven’t posted here in a very, very long time, but I have been listening to a lot of albums in the meantime and figured it would make sense to leave my top 10 favorites from this year for y’all to peer at.
10. Leave Home by The Men
Brash, loud, and heavy noise-punk.
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9. Tunnel Blanket by This Will Destroy You
“Doomgaze” that wavers between ambient and violently thrashing.
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8. Looping State of Mind by The Field
Cerebral, minimal techno that ranges from partybangers to gentle, headphone listens.
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7. Thora Vukk by Robag Wrhume
‘Slike if The Field and Nic Jaar had a baby, and the baby made some seriously gorgeous tracks.
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6. Creep On Creepin’ On by Timber Timbre
Spooky indie-pop with plinking pianos and deep, crooning vocals.
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5. Parallax by Atlas Sound
An eclectic collection of bedroom-pop jams.
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4. Go Tell Fire To The Mountain by WU LYF
Loud, anthemic, primal, anti-arena rock.
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3. Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics by Ducktails
Quasi-lo-fi surf music that’d probably sound good on a yacht.
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2. Giles Corey by Giles Corey
A depressing collection of folk/ ambient tracks. WILL put you in an incredibly sad state.
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1. An Empty Bliss Beyond This World by The Caretaker
Micro-edited ballroom 78s that are looped and treated with vinyl pops. It’s a concept album about what an Alzheimer’s victim hears in their head when they try to recall their favorite songs. Yeah. Kinda nuts.
-JL
Shards Of Electronic.
An electronic mix I did years ago, probably my first real one.
I’ve not done a better one since. *hangs head*
1. Waters of Nazareth by Jus†ice
2. Rapture by Data
3. I Kissed a Boy by Cobra Starship
4. Chocolate Rain (chiptune RMX) by Tay Zonday
5. Lion Hat by Unicorn Kid
6. We Are Rockstars by Does it Offend You, Yeah?
7. Tragic by Henry Homesweet
8. Make a Loss by The Mouse that Ate the Cat
9. Calm by Drive-By Argument
10. Don’t Trust Me by 3OH!3
11. Tron by Foals
- EH
A League of Devonte Hynes
I have deep respect for a musician such as Devonte Hynes. There are very few musicians in the public eye completely engross themselves in the art they want to make such as he. His CV is one of the most versatile in modern music, being involved with electronic noisey art rock projects such as Test Icicles; most known for his indie folk-pop solo work with Lightspeed Champion, he is more commonly associated these days with his 80s funk-dance project Blood Orange, showing influence from Michael Jackson, Grace Jones and even surf rock bands like Link Wray and the Wraymen. Devonte Hynes is a musician truly embracing experimentation, but not in an incoherent, self obsessive way.
From a different perspective, it’s uncommon to see a young black man take the world of independent instrument based music by such storm. I mean, I’m not trying to stereotype, but the ratio of white indie musicians to black are overwhelming white kids. However, Devonte has always struck me as a very individual, stand out character, living and working for himself, creating the music he wants to make whenever he wants to make it, doing it professionally and seemingly getting a lot of well deserved attention for it.
Although I was only a passive fan of Lightspeed Champion, I still had great respect for what Hynes was doing; taking acoustic based sounds, throwing in lyrics about throwing up, macabre imagery, all doing it with a unique flare, and yet still feeling genuine and approachable. And I think that is one of the reasons why Hynes work is so likeable is because of how genuine he seems; a man doesn’t go from being in a loud London based electro-punk band to five years later producing Jermine Stewert like music in New York apartment without thriving on the love of trying new things.
Flamboyant in that nature, Hynes is very much a lover of life and exploration, and its nice to see. And while hundreds of people are throwing praise at the likes of Lady GaGa for apparently pushing the boundaries of modern electronic music for simply releasing a terrible sex-pop album, rereleasing it with bonus tracks and then releasing another under developed and superficial album, all the while trying to convince us she’s a revolutionary human being and artists, musicians like Devonte Hynes wander the streets of New York, searching for second hand keyboards, releasing free mixtape albums and playing underground one man shows in tiny bars. One of them is truly honing their art, one of them was given a tag once and is running it into the ground.
My point is, more musicians should be like Devonte Hynes. You are not one element, you are many, and in that sense, you should not just be one genre of music, and you never consider that you cannot create great things because of X, Y & Z. Walk to the beat of your own drum, and don’t feel scared to live life for yourself.
- ELMH
The Death Of Something Beautiful / DANANANANAYKROYD R.I.P
With the disbanding of happy party, popcore, beautiful Scotts Dananananaykroyd, a sad void has been punctured into modern music for me. Few bands were as joyous, lovely and energetic as Dananananaykroyd. One of the many things I loved about them was how genuine, and lovely they were. They had no want to be a pretentious indie rock band that are only as cool as their latest purchase - they were there to have fun and put a smile on the face of every person in the room. A hard task to master, but they always managed it. I only got to see them twice, two years ago, and in their Manchester, UK show on their last tour. It was lovely to revisit their show, from a totally different perspective. Being apart of the darling wall of cuddles, and having John and Callum (the vocalists) tour the venue (The Deaf Institute) and give people hugs and shaking people’s hands, was a true, lovely time. Dananananaykroyd were all about fun and love. It’s beautiful how they managed to keep a high amount of it throughout their short, but great carear. Truly, that love will be missed.
After the show, however, I had a brief chat with Callum Gunn, one of the vocalists. I cried a loud ‘WHY?’ as to why they were choosing to split. He didn’t tell me much, but the answer of ‘record labels’ spoke quite clearly. It wasn’t a surprise that such a lovely band of beauties were feeling the need to end such an amazing thing due to some conflict with their record label, contracting their band and their music into many restraints they clearly felt weren’t to their liking, and weren’t flexible for them.
We’ve all see a few good bands fold or falter due to their record label’s interference and ruling. Drive-By Argument, an old youthful favourite of mine, had to see the chop towards the end, as their slimy record label, Lizard King, had kept putting their album back (rec. in 2006, released in 2008) and were taking advantage of them and barely considering them.
Fuck those kinds of record labels - labels should be there to help bands do what they need to do, not own them. Bands should own themselves, labels should distribute their work. Fuck contracts and fuck this kind of bullshit.
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R.I.P Dananananaykroyd, and any band that had to finish because their label owned their music, their name and most of all, their passion.
- ELMH
“Hospital Corners” by Bastions
So, the time has come, and a long time it has been coming. Bastions’ debut full length, ‘Hospital Corners’. It is here, it is in my room, it is on a CD format (a rarity, I know), and it’s slotted neatly in the B section of my dusty CD shelf. I am going to review this album momentarily, however, first, I want to give you, the reader, a bit of background; to tell a small story. It would be entitled ‘Bastions & I’, if I were more of a massive mong (you have permission to skip if you do not care for my tale):
It’s been over a year since I first found the band Bastions entering my life, and I wouldn’t say it was the most typical of ways, I guess. It was actually on quite a whim. I was aware of a night, starting in my local gig venue, Central Station, WXM, a series of (sadly only to be a couple) under the title ‘BSTNS PRSNTS’. Before Bastions were doing The Tangled Tour, supporting Gallows, and generally being the modern godfathers of UK hardcore, they had not long established themselves as the anti-movement of North Wales hardcore. In their attempts to maybe make the closest gig venue to their home (of Aberystwyth, Wales) a bit more comfortable to their preferred community, the band put on Throats and Maths on two separate nights. Sadly, the minimal crowd that gathered for both nights (only one of which I was able to attend for reasons I wont go into - I’ll just say the word ‘bowel’ and you may get what prevented me from barely leaving the toilet, let alone house. Yep, now that’s smeared in your mind, isn’t it? Sorry about that. Hey, you asked), was quite telling of what the band, and bands like them, were up against, trying to create a home for themselves in a small town on the coast of Wales, let alone the most populated residence in North Wales (that being Wrexham). But, I digress slightly. The reason why that matters to my story, was that was how I discovered them; in fact, I happened to do the DJing for the Maths night, and met and saw the band perform for the first time.
I was very much astonished by Bastions. I had never had chance to see such a band perform before. They were not only a hardcore band, they were a hardcore band of their own making. This wasn’t any two-step inducing scenecore band (two of which supported them, and took all their little friends with them, leaving the rest of the set to be populated with a 1/3rd of its very small populous (which was basically the rest of the bands and myself)), none struck me as typically ‘hardcore’ oriented; a common thought of Bastions is that they are definitely a band that make hardcore music, but do not necessarily define their lives by that. It’s just a creative outlet as aposed to a preference. This endeared me to them. And this is before they were as good live as they are now.
To cut a meandering story short a little: it’s been over a year since I first found them, since then I have become a firm fan and friend of the band; I have bought many a merch’, seen them more times live than I have any other band and come to accept them as one of my favourite bands.
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Now, to the album itself, ‘Hospital Corners’. I suppose the reason why the back story was necessarily was probably to set the picture that I had made my mind up on this band for quite a while. Sadly, thanks to HC, I feel that feeling, not falling, but at the least changing.
I am not happy with the entirety of ‘Hospital Corners’. I just, I keep finding more flaws in it than…not flaws. I mean, it’s not say that I haven’t given it a considered listen, more than once and haven’t liked elements of it.
On the contrary, the opener ‘Augury’ might be not only my favourite Bastions song, but one of my favourite tracks in general. The brutal vocals and gripping, and honest lyrics to the opening poem by Jay is stunning and its hasn’t warn off with repeat listens. I have seen them do it live many times and it’s nice to have a recorded version of it. My third favourite of the album would probably be its second track, ‘Visitant’. One of the pre-album release tracks, it took me a while to enjoy fully. I remember very much enjoying the outro on live efforts, and the video sealed my liking for it. I just love how fierce it is, and how it opens. And in certain areas of it, the climax and fusion of the drums, guitars (bass included) and vocals pack a great and moshable punch. Although, it, like a lot of the tracks on the album, have shades of what disappoints me most about ‘Hospital Corners’.
A lot of the songs blur together. There is very little about most of the tracks that don’t seem a little rushed and flat. And sure, I can enjoy them, but am I enjoying them because they are genuinely strong, stand out moments I needed to grow on me, or because of my loyalty to the band? And I would have to say that it would be the latter, I’m afraid. Even the other pre-album tracks ‘In The Shadow Of The Mountain’ and ‘The Lengths (When Wants Become Needs)’ haven’t embedded themselves into my skin like previous efforts, like all the songs on the EP ‘Island living’ did and quite quickly. Even the guest appearance from former Gallows and now Pure Love member, Frank Carter on the latter couldn’t make me call it a stand out track. Also, the closing answering phone message I have skipped a few times because it has been making the hairs on my skin stand on end a bit. Maybe that’s a good thing. And as I say, there’s nothing I particularly dislike about them, and I do enjoy elements of both tracks, but they do not grab me.
One thing I can say for the entire release is that the mixing is superb, and the tracks really mix into each other very boldly and are well timed. Also, Jay’s vocals are lyrical content stay fiere throughout, and I can connect with every word, which is one the main reasons I have such strong fanship for Bastions. My second favourite follows, and it is ‘The Warmth Of The World’ which is a fierce and fast track that packs a lot of power in such a short space of time. Again, the lyrical content, though short, still has a strong message to say.
The following two tracks ‘Child of Glass’ and ‘Grief Beggar’, though not being bad, do a similar thing that In ‘The Shadow of the Mountain’ and ‘The Lengths…’ do, in that they are very fast, and loud, but kind of blur with a lot of typical and galloping hardcore bar chords that I don’t find particularly enthralling or worth getting pumped up about. And I don’t think they have enough variation to cling onto. I suppose I prefer the former to the latter, but, sadly that isn’t saying much. They both hit a grey note for me.
‘I Tried To Stitch The Sea To The Shore’ is a very interesting element in the album, if not only for the superb title. This two minute interlude, to me, is a fine testament to Bastions not being married to the idea of being a hardcore band, that they greatly appreciate and use elements of ambience and scoring to denote their songs with a variety of moods and tones. Even if I can’t feel it in most of the songs on Hospital Corners as much as I would have liked and did expect, this is a nice edition and did have a nice call back to the interlude that ended ‘The Clipper’ on their first real EP with Jay on vocals, the ‘We Will All Sink’ EP.
‘Onset’ kind of slumps the sound back to my major complaint again, I’m sorry to say. Borrowing from some of my favourite elements of ‘Visitant’, it is once again another blur and wall of sound for me, though I do like the guitars in the verses. That seems to slip into the closer ‘Dark Father’ quite sloppily, to the point, where they could be the same track on an unnoticing listener. This is my main, reoccurring problem with this album. There’s too much of the same repeated elements throughout. Most of the songs on here seem to be either reworkings of the same track, or reworkings of previous, and better tracks. As for this, I would say for this, it would definitely be ‘The Great Unwashed’, one of my favourite, championing Bastions tracks. As much as I do like the midway downtempo section of this track, I do feel like it, and the closing breakdown are very much a lesser version of the sound achieved on the aforementioned other track. As I say, not to want to overload this with negatives. I think that particular downtempo moment is strong, and heart-wrenching. And again, Jay’s contributions being the strongest on here for me, the way he bares his soul and the levels of brutal honesty in his delivery has changed my entire view on hardcore vocals, and is breath taking to see live (and that goes for the band as a whole).
Overall, I am sad. I just keep feeling it could have been better. I wanted this album to blow me away, to fall in love with it, and I just didn’t. There just seemed to be the same colour and tone throughout this album for me, and that would be from the overall musicianship and choice of chords. With only a few examples of variation of strong, stand out moments, which from a band I love, it makes me feel like a traitor for even having to write this review. However I have, and I will have to swallow it, and we will all have to move on.
Thank you for reading this. Painful as it may have been to read, it was also so to write.
PS. Please, if you’ve never listened to Bastions before, do not take any of what I have written as an excuse to not check them out because I would hate for you to go away with a negative impression of one of the finest examples of modern music here. Do check out this album, and subsequent former releases, especially ‘Island Living’, which is one of my favourite releases.
PPS. Sorry about the PS.
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5.6/10
TRAX: Augury & Warmth of the World.
LINX: Tumblr
- ELMH
Growing Up With Music.
I wonder, when I reach a certain age, will I still be proclaiming the worth of bands I grew up with like they’re a lost generation of Gods that todays standards can’t even touch?
It’s a common thing, to see middle aged adults constantly returning to bands of their youth. I just saw someone tweet how they were listening to Black Sabbath on a road trip. And, it’s not that I’m disputing the worth of these artists at all, they may not all be my thing, but they’ve clearly affected a lot of people, sure. But there’s even people my age, maybe a little bit older or younger that have progressed into retiree music lovers. People who still can’t listen to anything that isn’t nu-metal, music that Kerrang! played to death (and oddly, still play on a regular basis) when it came out during the late nineties, early 2000s or near.
I mean, don’t get me wrong. I grew up listening to a lot of that, and I loved it. I can still hear certain tracks, maybe when I’m at a club (which A, rarely happens for me, and B, rarely am I ever in a club that isn’t playing chart cashcow bullshit) or whatever, I can still sing along and appreciate. However, I’ve moved on, like, drastically, since I was a 13 year old nu metal kid. I’ve been through many different phases - I’ve been through a post hardcore phase, a pop punk phase, a math rock phase, an avent-guarde phase, a jazz phase - some of those genres I still come back to a lot of the time.
However, I still have faith in the ability of modern musicians. I’m incredibly interested in new music, and I love finding new stuff to sink my teeth into. I get bored of things pretty quickly, so I find it healthy to keep an open mind to new music. Yet, as I say, there are people that find certain bands and confirm to themselves that “it’ll never get any better”, which, I find incredibly blinkered, especially when it’s music from 30 years ago.
Don’t get me wrong, I can see the argument that there is a certain charm to a lot of pre-80s music, before MTV came and arsefucked the music industry into a commercialised coma. A lot of music used to feel very genuine, it sounds very natural and there generally feels like a very free atmosphere - a lot of bands experimenting with different sounds, not being made to feel bad because they don’t sound a certain way, or that they don’t look a certain way because MTV aren’t making their friends tell them that they’re ugly and that they’re shit unless they’re making music like George Michael. I see that.
However, there is so many worthwhile artists still trying to be heard. Sadly, good music has now become very much a neish thing. The people who dominate the image of music don’t even understand it. Etc, etc. We all know this. However, there is still a place for good new music. Don’t throw in the towel yet. Stay open minded. Ask the right people, and you can still find true alive and progressing gems.
- ELMH
