Sunday, August 24, 2003
This whole system of finding music is just too messed up.
I realized today: I mostly rely on media coverage to learn about new albums--the magazine rack at the music store and online reviews. I rarely get to hear new music in the areas I enjoy most because it's generally not played on the radio. You won't hear the new Radiohead album on the radio around here, let alone albums by the likes of Cat Power, Stereolab, P.J. Harvey, Blur, Nada Surf, The Strokes, etc. And these are not obscure acts. How do you find out about the more obscure good stuff? Music that may not appeal to a mass audience but will to you? So I read everything I can, which is a poor substitute for hearing it--you have to learn to decode critics and put up with their pet peeves and groupthink backlashes and mass hallucinations, etc. (And why do critics so rarely talk about what an album actually sounds like!?!?)
So I realized the irony today--I rely on positive word in the media to lead me to a band. But if there's TOO MUCH good word, it becomes "hype" and I distrust it. And even if I end up liking a hyped band, either I feel guilty about it or I have to deal with the attitude of friends or acquaintances like me who don't trust hype. (I'm thinking of a friend who can't just LISTEN to Radiohead because I recommend it--it's been overhyped at him, so he can't simply listen. He can't clear his head of all the claims people have made about the music, which naturally he resists.) We're all suspicious of praise. Yet we all rely on it. What a mess! For a while I thought those free samples at online music stores would help--you can get a taste. But judging a song by a random 20 second piece of it can be very misleading. A lot of great songs have a variety to them--hearing one isolated section won't impress you at all. (And I haven't even mentioned the poor quality.) If you don't have a good college radio station nearby or a lot of friends who share your taste--or if you are simply a little adventurous--you can waste a lot of money quickly and get discouraged.
But still music fans persist. It's kind of inspiring, really.
Saturday, August 23, 2003
Two songs have been going through my head the last couple days:
- "Unison" by Bjork
- "In This City" by Enon
So what? Well, maybe I should ask the Song Reader. This is a character (in a novel of the same name by Lisa Tucker) who helps people deal with their problems after studying their favorite songs, which songs evoke memories, and what songs stick in their heads--a bit like fortune telling and psychoanalysis.
Friday, August 22, 2003
Pretty happy with an "Icelandic Mix" I just finished for a friend. Here's the track listing (please excuse the lack of accent marks):
- Odi et Amo - Johann Johannsson - from the album Englaborn
- Frosti - Bjork - from the album Vespertine
- Human Behavior - Bjork - from the album Greatest Hits
- Intro - Sigur Ros - from the album Agaetis Byrun
- svefn-g-englar - Sigur Ros - from the album Agaetis Byrun
- staralfur - Sigur Ros - from the album Agaetis Byrun
- Joga - Bjork - from the album Greatest Hits
- Bachelorette - Bjork - from the album Greatest Hits
- now there's that fear again - mum - from the album finally we are no one
- Untitled, aka vaka - Sigur Ros - from the album ()
- Hidden Place - Bjork - from the album Vespertine
- Sun in My Mouth - Bjork - from the album Vespertine
- olsen olsen - Sigur Ros - from the album Agaetis Byrun
Shoot. I could have included gusgus, too.
Monday, August 11, 2003
If you ever shop along Chicago's Mag Mile, then you've probably heard Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. They're a group of boys/young men who play this incredibly kinetic, rythmic, harmonically unusual music. Usually doing covers of pop songs, they sound something like a supercharged marching band. The key word here is energy. You can hear them from a mile away. I'm not always in the mood for them when I hear them, but I have long thought they were the city's best street musicians. (Other favorites include the whistling lady; that guy who sings Under the Boardwalk at the Red Line Chicago stop; and the old woman playing some kind of trad. Chinese bow instrument--an Erhu?--to taped accompaniament. I suppose it would be mean to list the street acts I can't stand, but there are a few.) Recently, the Reader's Peter Margasak devoted one of his Post No Bills columns to them. Turns out they're all brothers, and their father is Kelan Phil Cohran, who, among other things, was an early member of Sun Ra's Arkestra. They now write original compositions and are selling a CD. You've got to love this city. Especially if you love music.
Monday, August 04, 2003
There's a new collection out of Lester Bangs' writing. It's called "Mainlines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: The Second Lester Bangs Reader." I know he's trendy and popular and holy now, but aside from his refreshingly unpretentious almost punk style, I didn't find much in the way of interest in the first collection.
Friday, August 01, 2003
Music and Movies #6
Recently saw the documentary Horns and Halos about a biography of George Bush and the controversy and problems surrounding its publishing. Part of the true story involves this young punk publisher (Sander Hicks who was working for Soft Skull Press) who decides to rescue this book when it is dropped. Sander comes off as a very cool guy (my heart really went out to him in this film), and the film shows him performing in a punk band, White Collar Crime, which seemed to be pretty good. His plays are for sale on his web site--I wonder what they're like?
Shopping in a store today I heard a song and kinda liked it. Very teen, but pretty good. Catchy song, cute lyrics. When I googled it later, turned out to be "I'm a Terrible Person" by Rooney. Argh. I had *just* been putting this band down the day before with a friend. I saw them in concert a while back (opening act for The Donnas) and was a little turned off by the lack of diversity to their fan base--mobs of screaming girls. Plus, they've gotten bad reviews lately. So I saw this as the world's karmic revenge on me for casually piling on a band I don't know much about.
