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Music of the mad.
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IanB
IanB
6761 posts

Edited Aug 20, 2011, 07:50
Re: Music of the mad.
Aug 20, 2011, 07:35
Robot Emperor wrote:
Popel Vooje wrote:
Daminxa wrote:
That's true!

I wonder if we'll witness a mass outburst of eccentric creativity as a result of the recent cuts?


I was talking about this with a couple of friends in the pub last night - we were cautiously hoping that increasing levels of unemployment coupled with affordability of CDrs and home recording set-ups would lead to another creative explosion like the advent of post-punk in the late 70s and rave in the late 80s. As much as I'd like to believe that'll happen though, I'm not holding my breath.


Personally I'm willing to put up with shit music if we can get rid of the increasing levels of unemployment.


Indeed. Can't see it myself. I'll set aside the idea of Rave being a "creative explosion" as I really didn't hear that. Then again I didn't get (or take) the drugs de jour either.

Back in the Post Punk era people had restricted access to recording opportunities and you needed money to press records so (other than some well-heeled kiddies) only the most committed made it over those hurdles. You either had to find a label or find the money to go DIY.

The days when bands had to go in and make a single or an ep in a day focused the mind. Meant you had to have your shit together, to have honed your sound in rehearsal and really believe in what you were doing. It was rough and ready but those with a unique voice got through regardless of technical limitations of some crappy back street 16 track.

How different would say "Where Were You?" or "Damaged Goods" have been if the artsts had made them in Pro Tools and endlessly worked them over. Who wants to hear a quantised Mekons? I love the idea of records made under challenging circumstances. The world of Leisure Recording isn't especially good for the art I don't think.

Anyway the creative explosion is already happening. Incredible amounts of music are being released. Anyone with an idea and a few quid can make a "record" and have it "released". The problem is that these days there is this incredibly, broad based and flat pyramid where there are tens of thousands of acts all on the same sales level (zero basically), all getting similar micro amounts of attention and with few reliable filters to help separate the good and the great from the ho-hum and the risible. Word of mouth will take some artists over the hump but it's fairly random.

In 1978 - 1981 ish there were very few truly worthwhile artists with anything going for them who failed to get at least some attention from the media and / or indsutry even at the most localised indie level.

These days I am sure there are all sorts of brilliant arists lost in the babble of home recorded internet releases who will never have that opportunity. Of course the total absence of a new generation of reliable critics to throw light on the gems doesn't help either.

There is also the thing that a lot of indie labels, including many of those that you have heard of, have simply stopped marketing and promoting their artists in the old fashioned way. They sign a band and then leave them and the management to push the thing forward pretty much on their own. You might get an independent publicist or plugger if you are lucky but there are not the resources there were. It does rather mean that nearly always it is the bands with the sharpest elbows are the ones who are going the furthest fastest.
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Re: Music of the mad. (Robot Emperor)		 Replies:
Re: Music of the mad. (Hunter T Wolfe)
Re: Music of the mad. (Popel Vooje)
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