Eksvplot wrote:

gio wrote:I'm not going to list bands because the question is cynical and absurd.

fair enough, good sir. but i think walking examples put such questions to rest quicker than anything.

fine. I'll list 10 good labels, in one sub-genre of one tiny corner of existing music genres, located within a 10 mile radius of where I'm sitting right now

-touch and go
-thrill jockey
-thick
-drag city
-flameshovel
-perishable
-atavistic
-file13
-truckstop
-my pal god

Nomeansno wrote:Only so many songs can be sung with two lips, two lungs and one tongue.

Mandarin's record is so good that it almost seemed (for an instant) that people were making great records still, but it actually just served to make more concrete the general dearth of great music elsewhere.

The National are very good, but American Music Club they aren't.

It'd be nice to hear something that didn't sound exactly like another band, but maintained at least the notion of a song, rather than formless noise.

"Modern music is rubbish! It's all so unoriginal!"

"Nonsense! Here, listen to Micro Hornet from Japan, they use TV sets as drum-sticks..."

Speaking of which...when the hell is Nina Nastasia going to record again?

I need the stuff...just a taste.

Excellent post, Gio.

I think the real answer to this question is that it has nothing to do with the music, and everything to do with YOU. (not you, Gio, but the preverbial "you").

I will bet you, right now, every penny that I have, that if you checked in with highschool kids, they listen to a *shitload* of new music. The coolest kids probably listen to bands you don't even know about, some of which you might even like.

Music didn't change. YOU did. You're old, and jaded, and cynical, and you've been there, and you've done that, and it's pretty sad.

There is a band playing tonight at a VFW in the suburbs that is gonna fucking tear it up. Y'know which band I'm talking about? No. You don't.

See?

scott wrote:
There is a band playing tonight at a VFW in the suburbs that is gonna fucking tear it up. Y'know which band I'm talking about? No. You don't.

See?

Their early stuff was better.

hmmm... to be honest i don't think t&g is such a good label anymore. seems they've had trouble adjusting to the changes in music. the same could be said of the once-mighty Warp and alot of other labels. gotta admit, i'm not intimately familiar with t&g's releases these days, but when i hear certain stuff i can't help but wonder, "what are they thinking?"

kind of a similar theme on this thread although localised to my home town etc...some get slightly wrong end of stick but you(scott) are totally right..it is us who change but not only that, it's our circumstances and almost really about being pissed off because you don't know as much as you thought you did when you were at your 'peak' so to speak when you're musical interests were 'current' as much as 'underground/indie rock' whatever can be...does that make sense?!!


http://www.thecommunion.co.uk/forum/vie ... php?t=6201

"The Barriers of Entry" have fallen in the music world now. The markets are constantly smashing into thousands of lil markets, just as soon as you figure out how to turn what ever the fuck you recorded into an MP3.

We are all chiefs, no indians.

Another thing I think of when this statement rears it's inevitable head, is that there are fewer and fewer "shared Mass Cultural" events. Eight Bajillion people sat on their fat asses and watched Elvis and then the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, and it slapped main stream America across the face. And everyone thought it was "good" (ok, not everyone...). This would not happen today, because you would be busy beating off to internet porn, your sister would be on the phone, yer lil brother is starring at X-Boxed polygons, yer Dad just can't take his eyes off of Hitler on the history channel, and yer mom is... well whatever. "Good" seemed easier for a generation to agree on, when it was only accessible through a few, select mediums.

But really, I think "good music" is in the taste and judgement of the individual... which does not exist in a fixed point. The last "new" music that I was obsessed with in real time was the mid nineties "Chicago/Post-Rock/What ezra" period. Since then, I have been less and less interested in what the next new thing is. And it's not the music that let me down, it's my ever increasing age, and tastes. The dominos started collapsing backwards when I decided to look back at the music that I missed, from before I was born, and realized that there were so many gems that I pretty much only buy the old shit now.

You can make any arguments you want, in the end it's all just a matter of opinion. Music is Music. What the fuck is "Good Music" anyway? I probably disagree with more people then I agree with.

scott wrote:Music didn't change. YOU did. You're old, and jaded, and cynical, and you've been there, and you've done that, and it's pretty sad.

generally, i agree. i've always thought age and experience oblige people to rest on their laurels and become set in their ways. it's tough to be truly open to what's out there when you're carry so much of the past around in your head.

i suppose it's a fair trade-off though, as long you're not too rigid or feeling "wronged" by the present (which most likely isn't all that better or worse than the past).

DefinitelyNOTtheSWEDE wrote:"The Barriers of Entry" have fallen in the music world now. The markets are constantly smashing into thousands of lil markets, just as soon as you figure out how to turn what ever the fuck you recorded into an MP3.

We are all chiefs, no indians.

Another thing I think of when this statement rears it's inevitable head, is that there are fewer and fewer "shared Mass Cultural" events. Eight Bajillion people sat on their fat asses and watched Elvis and then the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, and it slapped main stream America across the face. And everyone thought it was "good" (ok, not everyone...). This would not happen today, because you would be busy beating off to internet porn, your sister would be on the phone, yer lil brother is starring at X-Boxed polygons, yer Dad just can't take his eyes off of Hitler on the history channel, and yer mom is... well whatever. "Good" seemed easier for a generation to agree on, when it was only accessible through a few, select mediums.

But really, I think "good music" is in the taste and judgement of the individual... which does not exist in a fixed point. The last "new" music that I was obsessed with in real time was the mid nineties "Chicago/Post-Rock/What ezra" period. Since then, I have been less and less interested in what the next new thing is. And it's not the music that let me down, it's my ever increasing age, and tastes. The dominos started collapsing backwards when I decided to look back at the music that I missed, from before I was born, and realized that there were so many gems that I pretty much only buy the old shit now.

You can make any arguments you want, in the end it's all just a matter of opinion. Music is Music. What the fuck is "Good Music" anyway? I probably disagree with more people then I agree with.

But have you heard Hawthorne Heights? Have you?

Yeah, didn't think so...