thank you for all that; as a very old jazz musician who is being aged out of the business even though I don't want to be, I am trying to look at all aspects and all philosophies of both making and listening to music (and I am reading that superb Spotify book). I will make one suggestion, though I must admit this theory is only in the developing stages. The increased mechanization of music through streaming and services like Spotify exists in parallel to the way in which musical recording has become de-humanized, de-musicalized, de-acousticized. Look at the method of most recording - with isolation, overdubbing, the sucking of all acoustics and air out of sound, which has made music lose touch with its human players. This is not a conservative, old-guy opinion, though I have been accused of that. It is a dissident view. It is the recognition of a weird aspect of post-modern music making, in which the human element is subtracted but not replaced with anything else, really, except the convenience og engineers and labels. We have lost the dissonance of human interaction, the conflict of musical sound and attitudes as expressed in a live, studio or not, atmosphere. But nobody cares when you are listening on crappy headphones or computer speakers, because the mechanization is part of the presentation - which could be interesting if it was like a new-age musique concrete. Instead it's just...bad sound reproduced for supposed marketability. Even a lot of very good jazz musicians, who are supposed to be dedicated to acoustic sounds, do it. Everybody does it (almost. Except a few of us). So - I am not really sure where I am going with all of this, but it seems symptomatic of a time where music is lost as an art but has instead become a utilitarian bulwark against silence. Sorry to filibuster.
I'd love to hear more detail from you on that! I feel similarly but don't have the means to articulate it properly. I think the tech industry has musicians in a race to the bottom and "features" like Discovery Mode seem to exacerbate that.
It’s labels that have joined that race to the bottom and John is unfortunately sharing arguments that have rationalized that for years - they are stale, though, and I’m happy to report that many labels have changed/are changing their views on this. Maybe John will too soon
this was a great read, thanks!
thanks, this was a great and thoughtful read and I'm excited to learn more about these two writers.
Bikini Kill reunited for the first time in 20 years at the release party for the Raincoats book.
Two of the finest working in “music” “criticism” today…
thank you for all that; as a very old jazz musician who is being aged out of the business even though I don't want to be, I am trying to look at all aspects and all philosophies of both making and listening to music (and I am reading that superb Spotify book). I will make one suggestion, though I must admit this theory is only in the developing stages. The increased mechanization of music through streaming and services like Spotify exists in parallel to the way in which musical recording has become de-humanized, de-musicalized, de-acousticized. Look at the method of most recording - with isolation, overdubbing, the sucking of all acoustics and air out of sound, which has made music lose touch with its human players. This is not a conservative, old-guy opinion, though I have been accused of that. It is a dissident view. It is the recognition of a weird aspect of post-modern music making, in which the human element is subtracted but not replaced with anything else, really, except the convenience og engineers and labels. We have lost the dissonance of human interaction, the conflict of musical sound and attitudes as expressed in a live, studio or not, atmosphere. But nobody cares when you are listening on crappy headphones or computer speakers, because the mechanization is part of the presentation - which could be interesting if it was like a new-age musique concrete. Instead it's just...bad sound reproduced for supposed marketability. Even a lot of very good jazz musicians, who are supposed to be dedicated to acoustic sounds, do it. Everybody does it (almost. Except a few of us). So - I am not really sure where I am going with all of this, but it seems symptomatic of a time where music is lost as an art but has instead become a utilitarian bulwark against silence. Sorry to filibuster.
that Hurray for the Riff Raff album was so, so good. I got to see her like three times in a year. Incredible.
Should have beaten the Stones for best rock album at the Grammys
Excellent piece as always, thank you!
Curious what you think of John Strohm's take on Pelly's Mood Machine (I won't summarize it but it is worth a read, imo)
https://johnpstrohm.substack.com/p/living-in-the-future-part-1
I disagree with some of its premises and many of its conclusions
I'd love to hear more detail from you on that! I feel similarly but don't have the means to articulate it properly. I think the tech industry has musicians in a race to the bottom and "features" like Discovery Mode seem to exacerbate that.
It’s labels that have joined that race to the bottom and John is unfortunately sharing arguments that have rationalized that for years - they are stale, though, and I’m happy to report that many labels have changed/are changing their views on this. Maybe John will too soon