Is New Music Crap?
I really enjoyed a article in Stereophile by Robert Baird regarding modern music. Here are a couple of excellent quotes:”….A lot of Marketing Concepts masquerading as bands and musicians.” “Beats, not songs, are king. What little money is left in the music business comes from assembling dance tracks.”
I buy a LOT of new recordings, principally in Vinyl format, but recognise very little that is in the charts. Occasionally I hear a song on “The Voice” or equivalent and think – wow that’s a really good song – then stream the original version of the song on Deezer and find it unlistenable – overproduced, over compressed, over bright – over the top: huge aural fatigue. Last year, on a road trip, having forgotten to stock the car with CDs, I picked up the most recent NOW! compilation to hear what was in the charts – after 4 horribly incessant (dance) tracks – there was a unanimous “turn off this shit” from the whole family.
I listened to Mark Ronson’s new album – presumably a very contemporary artist – on the way to, and back from, work yesterday: total and utter retromania – any of the tracks could have been recorded in the 1970s and 1980s. Todays dance crap just sounds like 1990s dance crap. Pop has not moved on.
Regardless, I still buy lots of modern recordings. Here are my favourites from the first few months of 2015.
In no particular order (in brackets are the formats that I have heard or would recommend):
Father John Misty – I love you honeybear (2x 45rpm vinyl)
Bob Dylan – Shadows in the night (Vinyl + free CD)
D’Angelo – Black Messiah (vinyl)
Gretchen Peters -Blackbird (CD 0nly)
Decemberists – what a terrible world… (vinyl)
The Cribs – for all my sisters (deluxe CD)
Sleater Kinney – No cities to love (Vinyl/CD)
Githead – Waiting for a sign (stream)
Matthew E White – Fresh Blood (CD – vinyl doesn’t sound great)
Riley Walker – Primrose Green (vinyl)
Courtney Barnett – Sometimes i sit and think (vinyl)
Tobias Jesso Jr – Goon (vinyl)
Brian Wilson – No Pier Pressure (CD)
Belle & Sebastian – Girls in Peacetime (vinyl deluxe)
I have a stack of new records by Mark Knopfler, Bjork, Sufjan Stevens, Duke Garwood, Villagers etc that I haven’t heard yet. Only one major regret – Van Morisson “Duets” – unlistenable.
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