A Thing Called "Music"

A lot of new releases are going to be held back until touring has resumed. Especially in the UK where shows are more or less definitely resuming in three months time. So too early to say.

Overall music is thriving and our access to it is extraordinary. What is lacking is reliable gatekeepers. There is barely a critic left who I trust (Alex Ross, Richard Williams, Laura Snapes .... that's about it) so I only respond to the personal enthusiasms of people whose tastes I know. I miss a lot but my strike rate has gone way up. This year's "discoveries" so far Benefits, Richard Durrant, SAULT, the new Downes Braide record. Kate Arnold, a seven year old Anthony Joseph / M'Shell Ndegeocello record I didn't know existed (so much for the power of social media as a marketing tool) and a surprisingly brilliant Glenn Hughes / Dead Daisies album. Not too shabby in a pandemic.

 

You need some sleep.

...and a couple of hours with Bandcamp.

 

Bandcamp? A... a machine?! Are you insane? I only listen to music that I make myself, otherwise there's a machine in between which distorts the immediate connection I have to the wiggly air.

 

What, did NASA stick McCartney in the Perseverance rover without telling anyone?

 

As good as any other year.

 

As do I; OTOH, accompanying that is 'mental preparation with respect to alternatives if that's not the actual situation.'

 

There's music in 2021?

 

Oh, I see, another one of those annual "all new music sucks" kind of hate threads. OK, I got 'cha.

This thread won't be around long, so enjoy it while you can.

 

Another grumpy grampa thread.
If you really think machines have taken over, you clearly have no idea how music production works. Whatever technology is used, there's always a human controlling it and making the decisions. Skynet hasn't been born yet.
If you don't like contemporary music, just ignore it. I don't understand the need to complain about it existing.

 

This - there's s so much "old stuff" out it'll take a lifetime to explore and get to grips with anyway. meanwhile if anything new catches your ear, then enjoy! I'm not huge on modern music styles right now but some albums I find great, regardless - the latest Taylor Swift, for instance ...

 

Too many albums, not enough time.

 

Great music is still out there.
But you have to search it out ...

 

I was playing this video while my wife was in the next room. She said, "yikes - what is that crap? Sounds weak. Where's Nirvana?"

 

you need to take your ears out of the sand and partake in indie music.

 

Here's a fun way to compare. Comb through these lists using YouTube.

1961 - 1961 - Billboard Top 100
1971 - 1971 - Billboard Top 100
1981 - 1981 - Billboard Top 100
1991 - 1991 - Billboard Top 100
2001 - 2001 - Billboard Top 100
2011 - 2011 - Billboard Top 100
2021 - The Hot 100 Chart | Billboard

 

In the last 12 months, my band recorded and released two albums and an EP. We have a brand new double LP being mastered as we speak. Nearly every musician I know has been doing something similar. Several bands have participated in virtual concerts online. A few have made films. The breadth and diversity of the resulting music has been downright inspiring. I've been playing for over 40 years and I've never been this creative in my life and it feels great.

Explore your local music scene and you may be surprised. You'll probably find something you like, unless you live somewhere boring. Or you're a miserable mean old fart who only likes "my music." Instead of buying the new remastered reissue of an album you already own eight versions of, give your money to local independent bands. Sometimes it's an uphill battle for us and we could use your support in trying to make some of that "good music" we hear so much about.

 

Always look forward to digging around new music in another new year. As usual for the last 10-15 yrs I find some crap, some meh and a few gems. Usually
end up with 7-10 very good to excellent albums.

I am hoping for something great and fun to come out this year. I hope at least some of these artists that have shut themselves in the studios wont simply be droning on about the 2020 Apocalypse and put out something humerous, hooky, happy and hopeful.

 

Well that's very interesting, because I am, in fact, made entirely of wood.

 

It's going to start raining me...err...music?

 

"If she weighs the same as a duck.......she's made of wood!"

 

Indeed. : )

 

lol

Even the "new music sucks" threads have gotten weird.

 

I will assume that 2021 will be more or less the same as 2020, and reply with regards to 2020, and the first 2 months of 2021.

Music is as good as it has ever been, all one has to do is stay away from the mainstream, and explore the truly creative stuff out there, in all its myriad of genres and subgenres.

An open mind and the desire to explore, helps, too.

 

Rise of the Machines