These days I find myself descending into a musical rut—the first such rut I’ve had in a long time. For the last year or two, I’ve always been able to turn to soul music when I needed something to listen to. The voices of Sam Cooke and Otis Redding always satisfied. Now, not so much. Don’t get me wrong, I still love that stuff; I just need a break, or else I worry that it will become background noise.
And so I’ve been searching my music library for something new to turn to. It’s been a challenge. I’ve had to delve past the upbeat, looking for something that fits this quiet melancholy that accompanies New England winter.
Fortunately, I’ve found some appropriate music: three tracks from the Velvet Underground, off of their self-titled 1969 album. These songs—“Pale Blue Eyes,” “Jesus,” and “Candy Says”—are soft and meditative, repeating the same musical figures over and over with little variation, as Lou Reed’s voice floats effortlessly above. When I say “effortlessly,” here, I’m not trying to say that his voice is so good that it comes across as effortless; rather, that it is sung with no effort whatsoever. Often flat, Reed’s phrases frequently trail off into a whisper.
And it’s perfect, allowing the songs to achieve a beautiful stasis. If you’re tired, a little bit sick of the world, or something similar, these are great songs to just sit and listen to, over and over again. These are songs that were meant for such a rut.
The Velvet Underground - Pale Blue Eyes (YSI) (dropbox)
The Velvet Underground - Jesus (YSI) (dropbox)
The Velvet Underground - Candy Says (YSI) (dropbox)
First off, wow what a strong State of the Union last night. Great to hear that.
Anytime Madlib is involved in an album, it deserves attention. In Search of Stoney Jackson by the left coast rap team Strong Arm Steady is no exception. Featuring Madlib's signature smokey beats and some impressive collaborations, In Search of Stoney Jackson is an entertaining album of loose, free-flowing verse. Surprisingly soulful and refreshing. Check it out.
Strong Arm Steady - Best of Times Ft. Phonte (YSI) (filesavr)
This is going to be a big year for Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet. He is embarking on a huge tour and his latest LP There is Love in You was released yesterday (the 26th). With a little bit more of a house feel, the album sees Four Tet as rhythmic and jingly as ever. While Rounds is still probably my favorite Four Tet release, the joyous There is Love in You will move you.
Four Tet will also be stopping in Boston as part of his tour at the Middle East in Cambridge on February 18th. I already have a ticket and will see you there. You should not miss this show.
Four Tet - Love Cry (YSI) (zshare)
Four Tet - Plastic People (YSI) (zshare)
Four Tet - As Serious As Your Life (YSI) (zshare)
It’s been a little while since I’ve posted up some covers on this here page, and they’re long overdue. There’s nothing quite like an established artist taking the time to tip their hat to their favorite songs by covering them. Even better, artists who add their own flavor to the tune they choose to cover, genre-bending the song until it has a completely new feel. Mmm, so good.
Covers were recently brought back to the forefront of my mind as a result of Grizzly Bear’s beautiful cover of Hot Chip’s banger “Boy From School”. Hot Chip’s original was the first song I heard from them, and the pulsing drive of the song really shows what they do best. Grizzly Bear flips that pulse on its end, slowing the song down and adding the echoing vocals that characterize their own sound so well. Like previous Grizzly Bear covers, it’s clear that some thought was put into arranging this tribute.
Mondays are slow, especially after a weekend that seems so painfully short. You've all probably heard the great mashup Party and Bullshit (In the USA), but now via Neon Gold there is a synthtastic remix of Party in the USA by Yes Giantess floating around the internets. If these songs can't get you through Monday, then nothing will.
Notorious BIG - Party and Bullshit (In the USA Remix) (YSI) (zshare)
Miley Cyrus - Party in the USA (Yes Giantess Remix) (YSI) (zshare)
I’m reading a fascinating book called This Is Your Brain On Music by Daniel Levitin, a neuropsych guy who studies how the brain interacts with musical stimuli. The book goes pretty in depth into topics like why we like the music we like, how our brain reacts to certain types of music, and what – at the very core – makes up music.
One passage, regarding the entity of a song, really caught my eye:
“music is quite robust in the face of transformations and distortions of its basic features. We can change all of the pitches used in the song (transposition), the tempo, and the instrumentation, and the song is still recognized as the same song. We can change the intervals, the scales, even the tonality from major to minor or vice versa. We can change the arrangement – say from bluegrass to rock or heavy metal to classical – and, as the Led Zeppelin lyric goes, the song remains the same.”
It’s really pretty incredible, when you think about it. What else can you alter so radically without losing the very essence of its core?
This got me thinking about dramatically different takes of the same song. Coincidentally and simultaneously, I stumbled upon a fantastic version of the song “Ol’ Georgie Buck” played by Taj Mahal and Toumani Diabate. It reminded me of the Carolina Chocolate Drops’ tune “Georgie Buck,” another variation on the same traditional song. The mood is different, the instrumentation is different, the tempo is different, and very lyrics are often different. And yet, wonderfully, it’s the same song.
Taj Mahal and Toumani Diabate – Ol’ Georgie Buck (YSI) (filesavr)
Carolina Chocolate Drops – Georgie Buck (YSI) (filesavr)
Classical music has gradually been falling out of my regular listening rotation, which is a shame. As my time has gotten short, I’ve found less time to devote to those gorgeous yet long masterworks that populate the genre. But finally, I’ve returned. This week, I bought tickets to see the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Renee Fleming. The piece that led me to buy these tickets is Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs, four orchestral songs for soprano written in 1948, the year before Strauss died.
These four songs constitute the last work that Strauss ever wrote. And, with these songs as evidence, I contend that never before or after has anyone faced death with such beautiful poise. These songs do not rage against the composer’s impending fate, but rather float beautifully, with “weightless profundity,” as Alex Ross writes in The Rest is Noise. Having lived through the chaos of two World Wars, Strauss’s work evinces a calm sense of transcendent resignation. The final song, entitled “Im Abendrot” (At Sunset) ends with sustained chords, fortified by the brass, which flirt with the minor mode before ending in a peaceful major. Listening to this ending, and imagining that this was Strauss’s final musical statement--it’s easy to be blown away with the power of it all.
Seriously, give the two selections below a listen. I don’t care if you’re skeptical or even downright disdainful of classical music; they're worth your time.
Richard Strauss – Four Last Songs; II. September (YSI) (dropbox)
Richard Strauss – Four Last Songs; IV. Im Abendrot (YSI) (dropbox)
After a week of the electronic, its time to return to the country with Basia Bulat. I posted a track off her forthcoming album Heart Of My Own a few months back and now I'm back with a couple more. As reinforced yet again by these tracks, Basia's voice is a force to be reckoned with. Combined with folky guitar and strings, Heart Of My Own promises to be a romp through the mountains. Isn't that what every citydweller needs now and then. I think it is and I cannot wait to get my hands on this album when it drops on January 26.
Basia Bulat - Go On (YSI) (zshare)
Basia Bulat - Heart of my Own (YSI) (zshare)
For many of us in the blogosphere, myself included, a big part of 2009 in music was the exciting rise of the chill-wave trend. Washed Out, Neon Indian, and Memory Tapes (with Gorilla vs Bear too) propelled the trend in 2009 and Toro y Moi appears poised to take up the mantle in the early stages of 2010. Reminiscent of the undersea rumblings of Washed Out, Toro y Moi still uses tons of fuzzy rhythms, but as is apparent on Low Shoulder, he knows how to create an overt pop hook. When he's not too far underwater, Toro y Moi is injecting some pop energy into chill-wave and it sounds great. Check out his debut LP Causers of This - out soon.
Toro y Moi - Talamak (YSI) (zshare)
Toro y Moi - Low Shoulder (YSI) (zshare)
Recently I've found my musical tastes shying away from remixes. For one I am pretty tired of being constantly bombarded by them and I am also secretly afraid of drawing Ben's ire by listening to them too much (eek!). But, along come two pretty baller remixes and I have to share them. The first is a remix of a track off the new collaboration album from Lindstrom and Christabelle. Lindstrom delivers his usual shimmery and rubbery techno, while Christabelle throws some dancefloor vocals on top. Plus there are handclaps. Next up is pretty emo remix with plenty of strings featuring Dan Black and Kid Cudi. While not really my cup of tea Symphonies operates on a grand scale.
Lindstrom and Christabelle - Babycantstop (Aeroplane remix) (YSI) (zshare)
Dan Black feat. Kid Cudi - Symphonies (remix) (YSI) (zshare)
I've been listening to a bunch of new music recently. And here's the kicker - most of it's like...really good. Like way better (on the whole, at least) than 2009. Last year saw phenomenal albums from Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors, and The Antlers. It saw really really good albums from another 20 or so bands. But if the first month is any indication, 2010 will blow it out of the water, musically.
Look at the exciting albums coming out in only the first two months of 2010: Vampire Weekend, OK Go, Spoon, RJD2, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Free Energy, Los Campesinos!, Magnetic Fields, Four Tet, Massive Attack, Hot Chip, Local Natives, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, Toro Y Moi, The Streets, etc. etc. etc. It's pretty insane, really.
I've stumbled across a few tracks that really get me going in the past few days - a tune from Vampire Weekend's Contra and new Massive Attack, to name a couple. Check 'em out, they're tasty indications of the great tunes coming out this month and next!
Vampire Weekend - California English
Massive Attack - Pray For Rain (f. Tunde Adebimpe of TV On The Radio) (YSI)
Sometimes music is good because it has something important to say, or because it expands perceptions of music, but most often music is good just because it sounds awesome. Both the Drums and Think About Life create just that, music that sounds awesome and is wickedly fun. Hand claps, horns and summer rhythms dominate here on both tracks. While the Drums live in a perpetual beach haze, Think About Life's MO are indie party jams sometimes reminiscent of TVOTR. Have a great weekend and take some time to enjoy some good music today.
The Drums - Let's Go Surfing (YSI) (zshare)
Think About Life - Johanna (YSI) (zshare)
I, like fourteen bazillion other people, saw Avatar recently, and loved every second of it. Damn is it a visually stunning movie - nay, "movie experience." Like many epic-level movies, Avatar features a pretty stellar score. Unlike a lot of epic movies, though, the score is understated for much of the film's three hours. It sits back, quietly providing ambiance, until it finds a moment to really shine. Then, when it should be in the spotlight, it really takes the drivers seat and ratchets the drama of the movie up a notch.
One of my favorite tracks from the OST is "Climbing Up Iknimaya - The Path To Heaven." It has an orchestral grandeur that's pretty incredible, especially after seeing the film (in IMAX 3D of course).
It's tough for me to listen to "Climbing Up Iknimaya" without being reminded of another epic soundtrack track. This one comes from a videogame (Civilization 4), and the lyrics are actually the words of the Lords Prayer sung in Swahili. I've never played the game, but I'm completely captivated by this song. It is really pretty incredible, I hope you dig it.
Avatar (James Horner) - Climbing Up Iknimaya - The Path To Heaven (YSI)
Christopher Tin - Baba Yetu (YSI)
In my post two weeks ago, I laid out a couple of predictions for the future. Today, I’d like to return to prediction number two, which stated:“Remixes and mash-ups will fall from popularity, and we’ll look back at them as a pleasant enough yet insignificant fad.”
Several commenters cried out that this is utter foolishness, and they may be right. Regardless, I’ve been thinking recently about why remixes and mash-ups have become so abundant. Why now? What forces are behind this trend?
The most obvious answer is technological innovation, which has made it possible for every Joe Schmo with a computer and an internet connection to create his or her own product. The music world has thus been flooded with remixes and mash-ups, some of which are good, very few of which are great, and most of which are utterly forgettable.
But another reason, I think, has to do with money. Remixes and mashups are cheap—it costs nothing (or at least very little) to create a remix or mash-up. Almost everyone has a computer already, and beyond that, all you need is some software and digital music files. And, when your average consumer pays nothing for recorded music, it’s no surprise that the world will be filled by cheap products. Why pay for studio time, instruments, production, marketing, etc. when there’s no money to be made by it?
Back in the early days of file sharing, when we were downloading tracks from Napster, it was easy to think that we were doing no harm, that the music industry would continue as it always had. But that clearly isn’t the case. I believe that we’re now seeing the results of our piracy. If we, the listeners, aren't paying for music, then who is? In short, we are getting what we pay for. (Side note: this isn't happening in all industries. Look at the film industry, for example: Avatar, the most expensive movie ever made, is shaping up to be potentially the most lucrative movie ever made as well. It’s pretty impossible to imagine this phenomenon happening in music anytime soon.)
I know that there are many counter-arguments. Some will argue that live music is doing better than ever, and that may be true. Don’t get me wrong, live music is great. But if the only way a band can make money is to tour, the result is less time in the studio, and less time writing songs. Others will argue that art shouldn’t be about money, that great music will be made whether there’s money in it or not. And on some level, I agree with that. But it can’t be a good thing that we, the listening public, have removed all financial incentive for an artist to devote him- or herself to the recording studio. Many will point to how bloated and inefficient the record industry had become before its demise, and that's a good point. But if a leaner, more efficient record industry emerges in the future (or if bands increasingly adopt the In Rainbows model), will we be ready to pay up?
Here's what it boils down to: If we value great recordings, if we value the album as a musical format, then we have to show that by exchanging value of one form (money) for another (whether it’s a CD, mp3, or LP). Folks, it’s time that we pay up—if we don’t, we’ll just be left with a world of increasingly cheap and unsatisfying music. And that is not a world in which I want to live.
The Beatles - A Day in the Life (YSI) (dropbox)
Neil Young - Words (Between the Lines of Age) (YSI) (dropbox)
Pink Floyd - Money (YSI) (dropbox)
I apologize for the disappointing lack of imagination, but I swiped this track by Happy Birthday directly from Gorilla vs. Bear. Real quick, its a little retro pop nugget of 50s/60s boy-girl harmonies that is quite catchy. Guaranteed to make you bob your head and smile at least a little bit today.
Happy Birthday - Girls FM (YSI) (filesavr)
It's been a while since I've posted a video that wasn't directly music related on TSRE, but I thought this was too funny to pass up - plus it's got some musicians involved. ?uestlove and the RZA's take on Parks and Recreation:
How I imagine Smith Westerns were conceived:
-Yo, what do you guys want to do tonight?
-I don't know, who bout you?
-I got some instruments and shit in my basement, what to go dick around for a bit?
-Sure, we've got nothing better to do.
-Damn, we're not bad, lets turn this into a highly successful indie record.
-Yeah, lets do it. People will dig our precociousness and stripped down sound.
-Oh yeah, hipsters are suckers.
Seriously though, Smith Westerns might be young, but their self titled debut is pretty sweet. Check it out.
Smith Westerns - Boys Are Fine (YSI) (zshare)
Smith Westerns - Imagine, Pt. 3 (YSI) (zshare)
I keep meaning to post about new “real” tracks from the plethora of upcoming albums, but I think that will (again) have to wait for another day.
I got my hands on a couple baller hip hop tracks, through the always reliable Pigeons and Planes, and I wanted to share them with you. First up is a track from Gucci Mane, a rapper who I admittedly have not listened to much. The track is off of Diplo’s Free Gucci mixtape, and is completely fly to begin with. Then, to top it off, the track is remixed by Douster, the producer(s?) behind the much sought after “King of Africa” track that will be on a The Very Best curated comp later this summer. The feel of this track is just really sick, can’t stop spinning it.
I like Harlem, they make jaunty, gritty rock with no reservations in a world full of electro these days. Following up their last LP Free Drugs, Hippies is due out on April 6, 2010 and the first track, Friendly Ghost, suggests more of the same carefree romps that populated Free Drugs. These guys love the three minute song and almost certainly, various drugs.
Harlem - South of France (YSI) (zshare)
Harlem - Friendly Ghost (YSI) (zshare)
Justin Vernon, perhaps better known by his nom-de-record Bon Iver, has a special quality about him. It’s an intangible brilliance, a sort of signature whereby everything he records is identifiably his. The sort of musical identity that drives fans to rabidly hunt down everything he has done. I find myself gripped by this desire, ever impressed by Vernon’s music in all forms.
In the past days, weeks, and months, I’ve come across a few Justin Vernon tracks that fall outside of the Bon Iver umbrella that I wanted to share with you.
The first comes from a concert he did in his hometown of Eau Claire. It’s the track “For Emma, Forever Ago” off of his debut album, but played by Vernon’s high school jazz band. Vernon adds his signature vocals, of course, but the whole situation really gives the track a new feel. No longer a sad, lonely tune about a long gone lover, “For Emma” becomes more of a jaunty look at the past – it’s feels less like a song of regret and more a tune of wisdom. It’s an interesting change of meaning for one of my favorite Bon Iver songs. Love love love the piano outro.
The second track is from the New Moon, the megablockbuster movie with the surprisingly indie soundtrack. I found the OST, despite a stellar tracklisting, largely lacking. This tune, however, really caught me. It’s a collaboration between Bon Iver and St. Vincent, and it’s absolutely brilliant. The echoing aesthetic really works well with Vernon and Vincent’s voices, and I love the way they highlight the chord changes by putting a mic on the acoustic guitar’s frets. I sat on this tune for a while before I really came around, but shwee shwoo was it worth it.
The last tune is a true Justin Vernon original, from an album called Hazeltons that he put out before he ran off into the woods, survived a winter, and became Bon Iver. I first caught wind of it through Pretty Much Amazing, and since have managed to get my hands on the whole thing. I really dig it – it shows Vernon at an early stage of his musical development, not fully polished, but with brilliant little twinkles of what would come a few years down the road. “Hazelton” is my favorite tune from the collection, I hope you like it.
Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) – For Emma (f. Eau Claire Memorial H.S. Jazz Band) (YSI) (dropbox)
Bon Iver and St. Vincent – Roslyn (YSI) (dropbox)
Justin Vernon – Hazelton (YSI) (dropbox)
The holiday season’s over, and it seems we’ve been thrust back into the standard, grinding routine. This transition can be a bit disheartening, but fortunately we have music with which we can escape. I’ve been grooving of late to a song from the Temptations that seems well suited to my escapist thoughts. It’s called, appropriately, “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me).”
The track is centered on Eddie Kendricks’s featherlight voice, which floats above a lush, orchestral arrangement. A jaunty bass line, seemingly straight out of a summer afternoon, provides a gentle anchor. And of course, the rest of the Temptations contribute some rich backing harmonies. All in all, it’s a wonderful matching of voice, arrangement, and lyrical content, and the result is a dream.
Here’s the track, enjoy.
The Temptations - Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) (YSI) (dropbox)
Wow! The Knife (collaborating with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock) composed the score for a Danish Opera inspired by the evolutionary musings of Charles Darwin in his seminal work On the Origin of Species. In addition to the scientific awesomeness of this opera actually existing, The Knife are also releasing their score as an album entitled Tomorrow, In A Year on March 1. While still sounding like The Knife, Colouring of Pigeons, the first track released off the album, fully embraces an operatic style and is not only grand and dramatic, but also slightly menacing with its hollow bells. The Knife rely on some nimble bells and really showcase the talented opera singers in contrast to and complementing Karin's unique vocals. It is opera, but it is also electro and it works. Hooray for creative popularizations of important scientific discoveries. Now lets get an opera about Joseph Lister or Copernicus.
The Knife (with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock) - Colouring of Pigeons (YSI) (zshare)
To piggy-back on yesterday’s DJ Earworm post, I wanted to draw some attention to another form of Mash-Up – the type that takes a single work (rather than multiple works) and splices and dices it until it’s a new song. We’ll call it the one piece mash-up, a classier and generally more impressive alternative to the meretricious and hussy-like bikini mash-up. It’s not quite a remix, since little remains of the original song by the end – it’s more like cutting a painted canvas into lots of little pieces, and then reassembling those pieces into another good work of art.
Two examples of one piece mash-ups, one new and one old, have had my ear as of late.
I first posted about Pogo’s “Upular” a week or so ago, but it deserves a second look. It’s a pretty sweet track put together by Pogo, a YouTube celebrity probably best known for his Alice in Wonderland mashes. I think you’ll dig it. The song features sound bites pulled from Pixar’s wonderful Up, and is impressive in its cohesion.
An older example of the one piece comes from Oh Astro’s Champions of Wonder, a quirkily entrancing album released a couple years ago on Illegal Art, the same label that is home to Girl Talk. The entire album is worth checking out, but “Snow Queen” is particularly interesting. It takes some Ratatat riffs, chops them up, layers on some vocals, and makes a damn good track.
Finally, a bit of a mixture of mash-up styles from another YouTube phenomenon, Steve Porter. The track, titled “Press Hop” centers on Allen Iverson’s famous “Practice” riff, and is pretty damn catchy. The video is below - it's a fun watch, and the song is worth putting on repeat. I’ll get back to talking about “real” songs soon, and put these mash-ups to rest after today, but I thought these were just too fun not to share.
Pogo – Upular (YSI) (filesavr)
Oh Astro – Snow Queen (YSI) (filesavr)
Allen Iverson – Press Hop (YSI) (filesavr)
There are things that happen every year that make me know that the music year has come to a close – music blog year end lists, NYE shows, newspaper retrospectives, etc. Recently, a new marker has been added to the year-end signals – DJ Earworm’s “United State of Pop” series. Comprised of a mash-up woven from bits and pieces of the top 25 songs of the year according to Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, it is always remarkably enjoyable and cohesive, especially given its diverse foundation.
To my knowledge, DJ Earworm has been doing this for only three years running. Listening to the three year-end mashes, it’s evident that he has only gotten better as time has gone by. 2007’s was a bit of a shaky intro to the genre. 2008 introduced a bit of bombast and grandeur. But in 2009, Earworm has really hit his stride – the tune is fun, enjoyable, and holds its own as more of a mash-up and less of a gimmick.
This point was particularly struck home to me when, while driving today, I heard “United State of Pop 2009” on a popular radio station in Philadelphia. There is no clearer sign that music is moving toward mash-ups, remixes, and features – not to mention the increasing interplay between the internet, music blogs, and popular radio – than that simple fact. Not to disagree with Ben here, but no matter how much I wish he were right I don’t think mash-ups and remixes are going anywhere, at least not in mainstream pop.
Anywho, I hope you enjoy this year’s United States of Pop. And I hope you enjoy using the 2008 and 2007 versions to look back at those years in Pop…it’s a fun little throwback to listen to them now.
DJ Earworm – United State of Pop 2009 (Blame It On The Pop) (YSI) (filesavr)
DJ Earworm – United State of Pop 2008 (Viva La Pop) (YSI) (filesavr)
DJ Earworm – United State of Pop 2007 (YSI) (filesavr)
Yeasayer's 2007 debut All Hour Cymbals was phenomenal and thankfully our agonizingly long wait for a follow-up is about to come to an end. Early in February, Odd Blood, the promising sophomore album, will drop on us and there will be much rejoicing. Now we just have to wait out January for Odd Blood and the return of LOST!
Yeasayer - Sunrise (YSI) (zshare)
Yeasayer - 2080 (YSI) (zshare)
Yeasayer - Ambling Alp (YSI) (zshare)
Continuing my little nostalgia trip for the first weekend of 2010, today I want to focus on a couple of my favorite tracks from 2008 that still strongly resonate with me today. Song for the Winter Sun was hands down my most listened to track for a period in 2008. It lived in my skull and spawned my new obsession with woods rock and folk. Its sense of rhythm is perfect and like nothing else makes me want to move to a remote village and live there forever. I really want The Loom to release a proper debut this year.
The Loom - Song for the Winter Sun (YSI) (zshare)
M83 are veterans of this whole music biz thing, but that does not stop them from growing as musicians. Saturdays = Youth was a tremendously expansive electronic album and Couleurs is a perfect sample. Airy, yet dense as hell with doomsday bells that resonate for miles.
M83 - Couleurs (YSI) (zshare)
As we embark on 2010 I just wanted to share a few tracks that I was listening to a lot last January and that I feel should not be forgotten. Hopefully we'll get some new stuff from all three of these guys in 2010.
The Notwist - Boneless (Panda Bear Remix) (YSI) (zshare)
Here We Go Magic - Tunnelvision (YSI) (zshare)
Theophilus London - Leader of the New School (YSI) (zshare)
The airwaves have been crammed of late with looks back at the best music of the past year and the past decade. Everyone, from media behemoths Rolling Stone and Pitchfork down to your average everyday music blog, has sought to distill the past into a few definitive albums or songs. No complaints here—it’s often both instructive and interesting to take a peek in the rear-view mirror as we hurtle forward in this rapidly accelerating Megabus that is music culture. But now it’s a new year dammit, and it’s time that we turn our gaze to the road ahead before we hit that tinyass smart car.
Y’see, the past is important to digest, but it’s an easy thing to look at. It’s there, it happened, and there are recordings, pictures, movies, youTube clips, etc. that chronicle it. The future’s much more challenging, but no less important, to look at. While we have no idea what will come, we at least have the power to shape it, if only by tiny degrees. Who knows, you, the reader, might invent the next groundbreaking music technology, you might found the company that displaces Google as the head honcho of the tech world, or you might have the voice, guitar chops, or computer skills, that will lead to the next decade’s defining recordings. Who knows? I have high hopes for TSRE readers.
So if you’re like me, looking at the future with confidence and wonder, then bear with me as I make some predictions. I’m not going to subject these predictions to any timeline—they may not come to bear in the next year, decade, or ever—so let’s just call them predictions for the future (vague enough?).
Prediction Numero Uno: There will be another Beatles.
(Naysayer enters stage left)
NS: That’s preposterous! There are too many genres and subgenres, too many cultures and subcultures, too much access to music, and just altogether too many people, to ever allow for there to be another artist as widely popular and culturally potent as the Beatles.
Ben, the Rambling Fool: Yes, Naysayer, that seems to be the consensus. And I recognize that there’s a ton of logic to that argument—perhaps too much logic. Common logic/opinion is all too often wrong, so I’m going to go against it here. I just think that, at some point down the road, we may realize that we’ve dug ourselves too deep into the dark, secluded holes of the internet, and will work to poke our heads out of the sand, looking for something to rally around in the open air. This year, you could see this urge manifested in the public’s reborn love for the music of Michael Jackson. At some point, this urge will lead us, the public, to something new rather than an old classic, and that something might just be an artist that comes to resemble the Beatles in terms of cultural effect and accessibility.
Prediction Two: Remixes and Mash-ups will fall from popularity, and we’ll look back at them as a pleasant enough yet insignificant fad.
(Angry Hipster enters stage right)
AH: Oh man, you are so wrong about that. You can’t fight the democratization of music. It’s a great thing that anyone with a computer can create his or her own music out of the preexisting work of others. Reinterpreting music is a practice that has been around for ages, from opera producers creating fresh interpretations of the classics to the great classic rock acts of the 60s and 70s reinterpreting roots music. Remixes and mash-ups are just a logical extension given the technological advances of the last decade or two.
Ben, the RF: Well argued, angry hipster. You may be right. I may be crazy. But it just seems to me that remixes are too easy to make these days; too many people have the capability, and the result is a staggering number of remixes and mash-ups. When there are new remixes being produced each day, the public has no time to digest them, no time to determine if any remix is really worth returning to. And all the time that we take listening to remixes and mash-ups is time that we’re not spending revisiting the original songs. There just seems to be such an incredible transience to music these days, exemplified by a site like hypeMachine. And I think there will be a strong backlash in the future—at some point, the public will find itself with a burning hunger for music that is more lasting and more substantial, and will leave all of these remixes and mash-ups in the dust.
Prediction the Third: Radio will somehow reemerge as a viable medium, either in the form of podcasts or else in some as-yet unimagined form.
(Video emerges from the floor, center stage)
Video (in a deep, ominous voice): Wrong again! I killed the radio star years ago. Don’t you remember the Buggles?
Ben, the RF: Oh right, Video, as if you’re doing so great these days. Did you forget that the music video isn’t getting any love from MTV anymore? I mean, seriously, what good have you done for music since those classic Michael Jackson videos of the early 80s? You’re extraneous and expendable—the radio is not.
(Video sheepishly returns to the catacombs below the stage)
As the radio waves have been taken over by corporate homogenizing douchebags like Clear Channel, blogs have assumed the role of dispensing new music and music commentary to the public. And while I’m not predicting the demise of the music blog, I do think that we will gradually move towards a product that more closely resembles radio. While music writing can be great, sometimes it’s just easier to convey personality with one’s voice. Effects like sarcasm and imitation are just much easier to employ if the listener can hear your tone, your cadence, etc. So I think that a big personality or two will bring back the radio program as a way of disseminating music and commentary.
That’s it, folks, three predictions for the future from a rambling fool. You probably think I’m an idiot at this point, and you should feel free to say so. Below, find three songs that relate to my three predictions above, in one way or another. Enjoy, and have a very happy new year.
The Beatles - Paperback Writer (YSI) (dropbox)
Notorious BIG - Party and Bullshit (in the USA Remix) (YSI) (YSI) (dropbox)
Elvis Presley - That's All Right (YSI) (dropbox)
