Subject: Re: K Hersh / Guitar
Subject: Re: Rich Singer's Reply
Subject: in defense of bad music
Subject: STUFF 4 SALE
Subject: vote for your favorite cocteau song and album
Subject: Re: to Kelli-Jeanne continued....
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 1994 01:53:20 -0500
Just my $0.02, but I think she is picking instead of strumming on "Uncle June
and Aunt Kiyoti". At first I thought there might have been a second, over-
dubbed guitar part, but it sounds as if it's just Kristin and her guitar and
nothing else (okay, a large reverb, but that's a minor detail). It's so
damn bare-bones it's... beautiful. I don't know what else to call it. It's
like staring at a snow-covered prarie or sitting in an empty hardwood-floored
room looking out into a slow sunset. Again only my $0.02, but _Hips and
Makers_ and its accompanying EP's and single top my short list of fave 4AD
releases for this year.
But enough of my silly ranting.
Peas,
hk
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 1994 00:27:29 -0800
processor" at Nov 26, 94 00:13:09 am
Rich Singer Wrote:
> Personally, I don't care about whether a band is supposedly "selling
> out," as long as they are producing music that is exciting, different and/or
> enlightening. Unfortunately, especially here in the U.S., the only
> stuff that sells is stuff that has been made safe over time. Punk and
> and the forms immediately derived from it (including a lot of this riot
> gggrrlll stuff) are awfully safe today, *because* of their droning hard
> guitars as well as their easily recognizable and thus marketable
> "rebellion."
Give this one a medal for ABSOLUTE truth. How many other people
can actually see how sad Corporate rock is? The artists who are true to
their beliefs get nowhere when the 'artists' with the "Look" make a
million. Not that I'm saying that everyone who sticks to their guns gets
nowhere, just that the music that doesn't matter gets the largest
audience and thus becomes more and more copied to the point where the
most wonderful idea gets twisted into a meaningless cliche that we will
look back on and laugh. The world needs more visionaries like Ivo.
Sadly Surrendered to Shitty San Diego,
-Patrick ([email protected])
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 1994 02:18:04 -0800
I have a few things to say on this topic...
First, I disagree with the assertion that all these big shitty STP bands
and the like are stealing anyone's fire. At the risk of sounding elitist,
I really don't even think they should be considered in the same league as
(most of) what is discussed here. It satisfies a different market, and
that market is: people who get very little enjoyment from music. I don't
mean this as a judgement; only to say that such people are not interested
in music, and could live without it. The product is sometimes good,
often garbage, usually throwaway. It serves a different purpose which a
band like Stereolab could never fill. I distinguish between music that
throws the soul into ecstacy, and music that is intended for background,
or as cultural wallpaper, or as stimuli for basic moods which the
listener mistakes for emotions. Shit this sounds arrogant but I do not
mean it as such, only that I think a lot of people could not define more
than a few emotions by attaching words meaningully to specific feelings.
This is I guess a social thing or something, but I think it's the reason
most people don't actually like music. Don't be angry that someone who
has no love for music decides they dig a certain song, buys the record,
plays it a few times and throws it out. It's simply a different market,
and if that market were eliminated the Stereolabs of this would would not
fill it.
Of course, some artists make the crossover into garbage land (they know
who they are) while others sort of fall into the jaws of a trend (the way
DCD is now being discovered by the "i'm cultured because i listen to
gregorian chants" crowd). And then there is your Cure, REM, NIN, etc, who
I think represent more a consolidation of people who are serious about
music and would die for it, plus the fact that some people who don't give
a shit will hear it on the radio because it's popular and buy it then
throw it away, etc. The bottom line is that someone who loves music knows
who he is, knows what his standards are, and should make judgments based
only on his standards when deciding if a record is crap or not. Musing on
what caused a good artist to churn out shite merely makes for interesting
politics or psychology. I don't think people sell out for the money. I
can't conceive that a man could be driven to write music he hates. More
likely, he has simply lost his mind, likes what he's doing, likes the
people he's doing it for and approves of their reasons for listening. It
happens to a lot of people who have achieved success already, and it
eventually destroys them. Blame it on cynicism, burnout, drugs,
disillusionment, philosophical breakdown or pure uncut madness, but the
person has to change into something base before he can produce art that
reflects base character. In fact, once this does happen, he may have no
choice in the matter at all.
einexile (flames to: [email protected])
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 1994 12:24:32 -0500
I still have the following CDs for sale...
COCTEAU TWINS - Sunburst & Snowblind EP UK 4-track
COCTEAU TWINS - The Spangle Maker EP UK 4-track
COCTEAU TWINS - Evangeline EP US 3-track promo
CURVE - Horror Head(remix) + 2 live US 3-track promo
I'll sell each for $10 and shipping's on me!
Neil
[email protected]