Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   Ian (F) Martin (ianfmartin@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 02-Jun-2023 20:48:40 JST Ian (F) Martin

   I don't really know what I think about this. I mean, it's funny seeing self-serious wankers getting dragged, and the idea that rock is some inherently superior "real music" is self-evidently silly. The point that rockism doesn't recognise how people nowadays listen to music feels true, but at the same time I'm not sure that's something musicians have any real responsibility to recognise — especially if sounding like The 1975 is the endgame of that process. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/may/31/thank-you-royal-blood-for-heralding-the-death-of-real-music

   • Embed this notice
     ムドリ (mudri@mathtod.online)'s status on Sunday, 04-Jun-2023 16:59:53 JST ムドリ

     in reply to

     @ianfmartin How did Japan do with “pandemic music”? It seems like (from my small sample) a lot of artists in the UK took the pandemic as a cue to start their bedroom electronic project or write lyrics about being inside and not doing much.

   • Embed this notice
     Ian (F) Martin (ianfmartin@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 04-Jun-2023 16:59:54 JST Ian (F) Martin

     in reply to

     The way the delivery format shapes the music is something I've always been interested in, and I don't it's inherently inauthentic that artists have often used that and flourished as a result. A 7-inch 45 mitigates towards a certain sort of listening and a certain sort of music. A 12-inch 33 to another sort. A C90 to another, and a CD to something slightly different too. Streaming fits in there somewhere as a delivery mode with its own listening experience. Not sure where I'm going with this...

   • Embed this notice
     Ian (F) Martin (ianfmartin@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 04-Jun-2023 16:59:54 JST Ian (F) Martin

     in reply to

     I suppose part of it is the way the article ties "the way most people listen to music" with "wide ranging influences", which I understand and appreciate as a mode of listening but wonder if it can foster a certain shallowness as an artist. The live environment here in Tokyo seems to produce the opposite extreme, with bands finding a sound or aesthetic and drilling deep down into that one thing. That might be why Japan has for so long had a reputation for extreme music of one sort or another.

   • Embed this notice
     Ian (F) Martin (ianfmartin@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 04-Jun-2023 16:59:55 JST Ian (F) Martin

     in reply to

     I mean, I suppose that's all part of the balance between how far the artist reaches out to the audience and to what extent they demand the audience come to them. That's where the entitlement of the band in the article gets obnoxious, but that aside, what this really means is adjusting your music to better suit the environment and listening habits that subscription platforms foster, which puts the idea of authenticity that this article mocks a little into slightly harsher focus.