if original music stopped now.......

i was listening to j dilla today and my goodness his music was good. he took samples and all kinds of shit from anywhere and everywhere and crafted a song, a groove, a beat that made you dance. in fact there are a tonne of producers doing the same thing. it got me thinking if original music stopped now, or even better, if original music stopped twenty years ago would there have been enough music created that we could sample, recreate, and cover, without running out?

now when i think of hip hop i think the majority of samples come from the 60's and 70's, with less focus on new music. which is why i say what if music stopped twnety years ago. i also think there is so much good music from the 90's going backward, that even if i had the time to collect it all there is no way in the world i could listen to it. i'm still discovering music from some of my favourite artists who's whole discography i have at home. when i think of music that's been made, and more importantly music that's been captured, i think of an infinite number of songs that will never be exhausted

the songs that aren't on your iPod

the other day i was humming one of my favourite songs where it occured to me that the song i was humming was not actually on my iPod. i had no desire what so ever to even download or rip it from the original CD that i have to iTunes etc. i was wondering why this was. why was it that i have an iPod full of music and how important it is for me to have storage capacity so i can have as many songs as possible at my disposal yet a song that means so much to me i was happy to hear on the radio by chance once every few years. the answer is the more important a song the less the desire to hear it so often. to me there are movies, songs, and even friends, that have earned such a place in my heart that there is no need to to see or hear them all the time

one of my favourite movies is cinema paradiso and i only ever saw it once until the other night when by chance i came across it on ABC2. i was delighted to see it again but that movie has such a place in my heart that i dont want to spoil it by seeing it more times than i need to. the same i spose goes with your favourite meal. the more times you eat it the less of a delicacy it becomes

i'm starting to wonder if i really do need access to anything at any time. time will tell i spose, but for now i should just be happy that i can listen to the rolling stone magazine top 500 songs of all time whilst pretending to do work. there was no way i'd be able to do this less than a decade ago

indie music and the way forward

i came across some great little clips the other day directed by vincent moon and posted on http://www.blogotheque.net . there’s some really cool shit on here and some really interestingly directed clips. if you’re into music you’re more than likely to find one of your favourite bands on this site. when i was checking some of these clips out it reminded me of a quote i heard from jay z. quote below:

"[Grizzly Bear is] an incredible band. The thing I want to say to everyone-- I hope this happens because it will push rap, it will push hip-hop to go even further-- what the indie rock movement is doing right now is very inspiring. It felt like us in the beginning. These concerts, they're not on the radio, no one hears about them, and there's 12,000 people in attendance. And the music that they're making and the connection they're making to people is really inspiring. So I hope that they have a run where they push hip-hop back a little bit, so it will force hip-hop to fight to make better music. Because it can happen. Because that's what rap did to rock.

"When rock was the dominant force in music, rap came and said, 'Y'all got to sit down for a second, this is our time.' And we've had a stranglehold on music since then. So I hope indie rock pushes rap back a bit because it will force people to make great music for the sake of making great music."

there is definitely a new breath of life being filled into the lungs of modern indie music. it seems the DIY mentality is now easier than ever with quality digital recording equipment being readily available at an affordable price, cool cameras that record moving motion, and a artistic consciousness in the young generation that seems wider spread than ever before. these things, coupled with sites such as myspace, soundcloud, and blogspot, allow anyone to share their work instantly. i think its fucking cool, and i’m seeing gen Y’ers adapting to this technology like ducks to water

like jay z, i hope it pushes other genres of music to keep up, as it already looks to be evident in some forms of pop music. i’m finding it inspirational to see kids spending time working on creative projects and being able to share them. i’m loving the fact that my favourite band at the moment (grizzly bear) can do something fun, creative, and relatively cheap, for my entertainment, and it can be done with a super fast turn around and without any interference by greedy corporates. this to me, is taking music and art backs to its root, to stoke out your friends, to share and to entertain, and i’m think its a fucking cool thing to see

album covers that perfectly compliment the album

i've been listening to bitches brew this week and i have to say i'm absolutely in love with the album cover. i've been in love with it for as long as i can remember. the art work is done by Mati Klarwein and i can't think of a painting, photograph, or piece of art that could possibly match this album any better than what mati has accomplished

this has got me thinking about pieces of music that have matched screenplays perfectly, clothing that looks so incredibly good on a model, or a film clip that exactly conveys the idea the song it was designed for. these two pieces or sometimes more that fit so well together that you couldn't imagine one without the other. i couldn't imagine bitches brew with another album cover. in my mind there are some absolute classic album covers that just match the music almost to perfection

check out dark side of the moon, electric ladyland and daydream nation to see what i'm talking about

he got soul......

the cruel sea once had a song called ‘she got soul’ and i used to quote this song in reference to a woman i once knew and had a brief romance with. she was the type of person who had her own style, was very comfortable with her place in the world, had a passion for people, art, and music, and was as real as any person you would ever come across. i’ve currently been reading the keith richards autobiography and whilst i’ve always thought this about the guy, he definitely got soul

when you hear keith talk it becomes apparent his life is all about the music. he never joined a band to become famous, rather he just wanted, in his words “to be a bluesman”. he’s obviously known and admired for his drug addled ways and being the outlaw we all wish we could be, but when you dig deep into his words you realise his real interest and passion is in living life his way, and his way was to pursue the music

as for his playing, well he aint the most technically gifted guitarist around but jeez he came up with some killer riffs. he is “the riff master”, even if he says so himself. and the open G tuning he uses is the shit. listen to “honkey tonk women”, “street fighting man”, and “start me up” and tell me he aint got soul

great kanye quote

from his latest album 'my beautiful dark twisted fantasy'

"the same people trying to black ball me, forgot about two things.......my black balls"

love it!

award shows – celebrating mediocrity

a few friends of mine have mentioned the lack of talent and good music at this years ARIA awards, and I have to agree. i had absolute no interest in the awards this year, or any other year for that matter

it reminded me of a quote that I read by paul arden stating that awards ceremonies only celebrate mediocrity. if you think about it he’s absolutely correct. awards are usually voted by the public or by a committee, and whenever something appeals to a mass amount of people, more often than not it isn’t very good. i’ve always said “if there’s something everybody likes, its probably something I don’t want to be involved with”

there is so much great music out there, both in Australia and internationally and i for one have trouble keeping up. unfortunately the stuff that sells is what the masses want. they want to hear the same old song, see the same pretty faces, and listen to the same old rock clichés. that’s not to say that some popular acts aren’t worth listening to but i’d much rather see an award show congratulate innovative and excellent performances rather than the usual mediocre crap they’re been peddling for years