Music nowadays is shit: Discuss. (1 Viewer)

[Kermit McDermott]

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[Diumraid]

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youtube goat videos > Goat

 

[Lili Marlene]

Any opinions on this article?

The Trouble with Contemporary Music Criticism | Article | Tiny Mix Tapes | Page 1

I think there's some interesting ideas in the main part but felt there were some argumentative leaps made in the final three concluding parts.

Some intersting stuff around the democratisation of production but not consumption. I've also heard other ideas elsewhere on technological changes in the consumption of music but less so in it's production, wondering how the two combine.

It also didn't link into wider yet related social issues, but I guess that's not what the article was trying to be.

I haven't read Retromania but I tend to disagree with Simon Reynolds at a fundamental level about the 'point' of music. New and innovative does not automatically mean better, in fact often quite the opposite. Also he hates the Clash so fuck him.

Anyway, all that stuff about "crafting new and weird historical narratives" in that article, isn't that just saying "creating a scene"? You can only get into so much music so anything you create is going to spring from that.

 

[Kermit McDermott]

The death of rock......again.

Is rock dying? | Blog | Classic Rock

 

[Lili Marlene]

Rock died because it was no longer needed.

 

[Diumraid]

I said before that it's all about ideas - I'd like to qualify that a little, I'm prone to over-thinking which is why I put a premium on ideas. In fact I believe that living well (and making good art) is a three-legged stool - right feeling, right thinking and right action. I feel that there's a lack of ideas in the marketplace alright but there's plenty of feeling and plenty of state-of-the-art action (mostly in the production end of things). My favourite genres of music are generally very physical (extreme in delivery and /or restraint and / or discipline), there's usually a big idea and a powerful emotional whack. Take any of these away and there's a palpable lack. Black is black - I want my baby back.

 

[Diumraid]

With regard to 'Retromania' - the idea of aping a past form is too weak by itself to stand up - pilfering is ok if it's in the service of a great conviction. Record-collection rock is killing rock.

 

[Lili Marlene]

With regard to 'Retromania' - the idea of aping a past form is too weak by itself to stand up - pilfering is ok if it's in the service of a great conviction. Record-collection rock is killing rock.

I thought we were calling it Google-rock?

 

[Diumraid]

I thought we were calling it Google-rock?

I make a distinction between the two.

 

[Lili Marlene]

I make a distinction between the two.

Please do explain, I'm not sure I see a huge difference here.

Unless you mean we're all so busy listening to more and more music we don't leave time to make it? Which is probably true of all the arts.

 

[Diumraid]

Record-collection rock has to do with how music is made, it predates the internet - 'Google rock' or whatever you might like to call it has more to do with how music is used and consumed, the portals, pundits and technologies, the information overload and, subsequently, how all that is informing music-making.

 

[washingcattle]

Please do explain, I'm not sure I see a huge difference here.

Unless you mean we're all so busy listening to more and more music we don't leave time to make it? Which is probably true of all the arts.

Record-collection rock has to do with how music is made, it predates the internet - 'Google rock' or whatever you might like to call it has more to do with how music is used and consumed, the portals, pundits and technologies, the information overload and, subsequently, how all that is informing music-making.

I'd say RCR and Google rock basically sound the same. To be honest when I coined the phrase Google Rock I didn't know there was a term for what I was describing. So yeah Google Rock better refers to the way it's marketed.

I mean you could say The White Stripes were a RCR band. But the implication in that probably wouldn't have bothered them because their record collection was pretty vast and varied. Google Rock is where you pretty much add two influential bands together and make a record which is a carbon copy of those records.

 

[Space]

What's the problem with record collection rock? Should I be taking influence from records I don't own or have I missed the point?

 

[washingcattle]

What's the problem with record collection rock? Should I be taking influence from records I don't own or have I missed the point?

Yeah that's the differentiation I'm trying to make. There's nothing wrong with taking influence from records but there's a cynicism in a lot of the stuff around now working on decent budgets at mid sized labels.

My classic examples (which I really need more varied examples, but that would mean listening to an awful lot of terrible music)

White Stripes or Interpol (first album only) are good examples of RCR where there's more going on than just copying their influences.

There's something far more cynical about bands like Savages or Yuck.

 

[Space]

I've heard neither of those bands so guess that's where my failing is. I was worried yous all might be slagging the bands I play in.

 

[washingcattle]

I've heard neither of those bands so guess that's where my failing is. I was worried yous all might be slagging the bands I play in.

We are, behind your back obviously.

 

[Diumraid]

What's the problem with record collection rock? Should I be taking influence from records I don't own or have I missed the point?

I'll go as far as to say that RC Rockers are good at making something that sounds like music, and that's more or less all they're attempting. It's a lack of conviction that my conviction-ometer can measure to the nearest millionth of a derp.

It's all subjective though - and bear in mind a person can hear far more in a record than was ever intended by the artistes. It's not a matter of hard fact - I'm certain I'm missing loads in new music because my confidence in modern artists is so low. It's like there's a horrendous smell or a sick greenish light that just makes me think 'garbage' and 'sickness' all the time. Or else I'm simply right ...

 

[Shorty]

Has anyone read Adam Harper's 'Infinite Music'? It's sitting on my bedside locker but still haven't gotten round to reading it. It's been recommended as a sort of antidote to Retromania, but I think it might just cover the technological possibilities of making new music. And I'm not sure our current cultural malaise is a problem of technology. Anyway, have to read it and see.

 

[Space]

I'll go as far as to say that RC Rockers are good at making something that sounds like music, and that's more or less all they're attempting. It's a lack of conviction that my conviction-ometer can measure to the nearest millionth of a derp.

It's all subjective though - and bear in mind a person can hear far more in a record than was ever intended by the artistes. It's not a matter of hard fact - I'm certain I'm missing loads in new music because my confidence in modern artists is so low. It's like there's a horrendous smell or a sick greenish light that just makes me think 'garbage' and 'sickness' all the time. Or else I'm simply right ...

I'm still confused by the language you're using. Are you referring to mostly what we might call mainstream music or across the board? What's your definition of music? And would these Record collection rockers basically be what I'd call derivative hipster shite?

 

[Diumraid]

I'm still confused by the language you're using. Are you referring to mostly what we might call mainstream music or across the board? What's your definition of music? And would these Record collection rockers basically be what I'd call derivative hipster shite?

It's anyone who is slavishly imitating or overly referring to something else without adding to the story - at any time you'll hear a bunch of bands at a show and be unable to get past the bands they're trying to emulate without saying anything particularly strong - musically or otherwise. This goes across the genres