I know this sounds silly but increasingly their recommendations
are under threat by my music reading.
Mojo and Uncut, with their editorial emphasis of giving weight to past
and present day acts have been especially influential. Just over the course of the last year, I’d
been inspired to track down a range of albums, almost impossible to get here,
after features or references in either magazine. These have included albums by 60s American electronic
duo The Silver Apples, Japanese noise rockers Bo Ningen, American indie band
Codeine, hardcore pioneers Bitch Magnet and UK punks the Subhumans. As I’ve previously mentioned, the CD compilations
that come with these albums are also influential. I also take notice of acts that are named
dropped by other acts in interviews; my entrée into the world of drone masters Sun
O))) and label mates Om, for example, came after Geoff Barrow or Adrian Utley
kept name checking them both as an inspiration whilst writing their Third album.
But this is not just limited to reading magazines. I think the mark of a really good music
writer lies in an ability to write about music in an enthusiastic and knowledgeable
way that has you wanting to hear more.
Last year, for example, I read Enter Night, Mick Wall’s biography of
Metallica and ended up purchasing Venom’s thrash masterpiece Black Metal. And never doubt the influence of a well
written reference book such as 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (directly
responsible for my ordering the psychedelic United States Of America’s 1968
self titled album or sourcing a copy of Gene Clark’s amazing 1974 release No
Other), various Rolling Stone or Virgin Record
Guides (the latter’s Seventies guide was crucial in guiding me towards various key
70’s German experimental acts) or provocative overviews such as Everett True’s
Live Through This - American Rock Music
In The Nineties or Dave Thompson’s
Alternative Rock.
The internet is also increasing exerting an influence,
although at this stage I still use it primarily to track down hard or
impossible to get stuff in Australia. However,
one aspect I do find valuable already are the comments posted by people who
have purchased albums on sites such as Amazon.
In these cases, what I’m more interested in is not so much their opinion
about the album (although sometimes it has been decisive in deciding whether to
purchase or not) but rather consumer information. There have been cases when I’ve been altered
to sloppy industry pressings of albums I wanted to upgrade from vinyl or tape
to CD. A number of reviewers on Amazon
UK, for example, warned me that the CD version of Japan’s Exorcising Ghosts has
had 6 tracks deleted and that a CD version of Grace Jones Slave To The Rhythm,
omits linking material, has a rearranged track order and presents some tracks
in shortened versions.
Finally, live performances for me are crucial, particularly
by acts in support roles, at festivals or on radio/TV. I can name a variety of acts that I’ve discovered this way
including The Dirty Three, The White Stripes, Rammstein, At The Drive-In (and
their offshoots, Sparta and The Mars Volta), Le Tigre, Died Pretty, Spiritualised,
Fu Manchu and The Crystal Castles. With one exception, radio airplay and music
clip programs such as Countdown ceased having any influence over me decades ago
as a result of a number of key realisations which I’ll outline in future posts
about my musical miseducation.
But there has been one thing that has almost completely
failed to persuade me to purchase a given album. It is the music display, in store performance
or in store playing of new releases. I
can’t speak for other people but I just don’t seem to take any notice. For me, unless I’m there with the express
purpose of buying a particular album, the act of going into a music shop is all
about the search and the discovery. An
in house promotion – even performances which I simply treat like a concert – negates
that very experience.
I mention all of this because the first album played today
is by the only act I’ve discovered owing to an album being played in a music
shop.
(85) Tame Impala –
Lonerism
This is the band’s second album, released just a few months
ago. (Actually the word band isn’t quite correct given that Kevin Parker writes
all the music and plays all the instruments but he claims they are a band
nonetheless so who am I to argue?) I can
still clearly remember the circumstances
of hearing their debut album, the awesome Innerspeaker. I was in the Elizabeth Street JB HiFi searching
around when I realised I was lingering to hear this wondrous psychedelic
masterpiece. I inquired at the counter
and then immediately added it to my purchases.
The early tracks on Lonerism adhere very much to its predecessor’s
namesake. Even some of the song titles
echo those on the debut. But over the
last four tracks beginning with the fantastic single Elephant something starts
to happen. The music becomes less light
with a greater darkness and thump. It is
even reflected in the two song titles after Elephant, She Just Won’t Believe Me and Nothing That Has
Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control, the latter being the stand
out track. I suspect that Parker is
warning everyone to expected something different next time out. I, for one, can’t wait.
(86) Chris Isaak –
Live At The Fillmore
I will never say a bad word about Chris Isaak. His music is classy in a good way and it is
refreshing to see someone not take his public persona all that seriously. Despite that I stopped buying his albums
after The Baja Sessions feeling that the rest of his career will effectively
consist of variations on a theme. There
is nothing wrong with that but as long as he continues to produce live albums
as enjoyable as this – mercifully with the between song patter included, I’ll happily
continue to buy those.
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