Why keep current?

But a more pragmatic argument would be that you should listen to new music because it's good and it interests you. And if that's not the case, then you needn't bother. (Although you should be prepared for people to call you an old fogey and make all sort of insulting insinuations about your taste and conservatism and such. I mean, you should ignore those folks and listen to something you like, obviously, but it's near-impossible to make any coherent assertion that yesterday's music was in any inherent sense "better" than today's, so you'd have to be clear about the difference between what works for you and what works in general.)

I don't think think we have to use non-musical motivations to explain this phenomenon, even if they exist - as much as it is a grand ILM tradition to assume that people who like stuff others don't must do so solely for complex theoretical reasons, I don't know if such assumptions get us very far at all.

I NEED MORE!!!!!!

I thirst for new music in a scary and lustful manner. I spend hours feeding the recommendation gods on amazon just to find out about stuff that is out there that I may not have heard of yet. In fact, I rarely buy used cds anymore because as often as not I am buying things the day of release or as imports because they haven't been released here yet. I guess I just crave change; stuff that is unlike what I already have....

Most old music is still new, as in unheard, but in some cases still novel as well, to me (and probably everyone else). I don't mean the stuff I already have sitting around, but stuff that wasn't record in the last ten or twenty or thirty or forty or fifty or sixty years.

The most honest answer yet. It's all about the all-devouring id.

Well, it's really more about the all-devouring Ig, isn't it?

I was just thinking about this question again, and realizing that for much of my life "keeping current" wasn't the result of conscious effort. I just heard things and liked them.

When I was a kid, it was the radio and my family's records, for the most part. I liked a lot of it. I hardly bought anything.

When I was 12, accidentally discovering WXPN put me in touch with a large variety of new things. I still didn't buy very much, but when I bought something new, it was inevitably because I had already heard some of it and liked it. There was no conscious effort to buy more new things than old ones. (Actually, I had a hard time finding most of what I was hearing on college radio in any record stores near me.)

In college, I was mellowing a little about mainstream pop, and was finding more of it that I liked again, alongside more college radio listening. I also got to dance occasionally (especially at school), which meant another source of exposure to what was current. That was not something that happened during high school. (I liked, what I now know, thanks to ILM, was electro and Latin freestyle, alongside other things.) I'm forgetting live bands too. I started hearing live bands in college.

In graduate school, I was following Psychic TV and related stuff, plus hearing a lot of hiphop on TV (the Vieo Jukebox, especially) and liking a big portion of it (with some crossover electronic dance influenced type stuff on the side). Also, my room-mate was buying a lot of hiphop and some other current pop music, so I heard things that way. (Very little new rock made an impression after this point. Even when it did, it tended to be temporary.)

(As WXPN changed it's format, I did start picking up music magazines a little more often, to try to make up for what I was no longer getting to hear on the radio.)

By 1993, losing interest in hiphop. Followed up on an interest in Arabic music (after getting primed for it through Israeli dancing) heard in restaurants. A lot of the stuff I started out listening was newish, but I quickly ended up in back catalog land.

Attempts to check out new critically accalimed acts closer to home were generally disappointing to me at this time.

1997/8, salsa dancing exposed me to salsa. Finding out about new salsa partly by hearing it in clubs. Also, just trying whatever Tower or HMV happened to have on hand, to start with, which tended to be very hit or miss.

2001: ILM probably has a lot to do with my even caring about keeping current in a general sort of way. But why bother when I already have mostly written off most pop music? I'm not going to keep in touch with any popular zeitgeist by buying Tzadik releases and music by people like Gaby Kerpal.

Most of my happiest music listening has been the result of hearing things on the radio, or in clubs, or being turned on to things by friends. Buying things based simply on hearsay/reviews has generally not resulted in much satisfaction (with the exception of buying things by artists I already like anyway, or buying salsa or older styles of Arabic music, which I have a pretty good chance of liking even if I am buying it without hearing any of it first; especially now that I know more about sub-styles and what I do or don't like).

"Buying something like Y will never replicate the life altering moments I got upon hearing X or tonnes of other records first heard in that initial 3 year honeymoon period between the ages of 18-21.

-- David Gunnip"

it's funny, i used to think that when i was into finding new and "unheard" things, though for me that time period was from about 12-19. i thought nothing would ever eclipse those things that changed my life as an early teen. but what i have found is that my new approach (just listening to music that touches me on the deepest possible level) has led to me having even more life altering moments with music, and they happen relatively frequently now (i would say about once a year since 2001 or so). they also seem to be more lasting and fulfilling. trying to chase some unknown is nowhere near as interesting to me as finding what really works for me ALL THE TIME and getting deeper and deeper into that instead.

This has made me go from just jaded to kind of pissed off actually.
It seems impossible to read about music without having phrases like "one to look out for in 2008." The whole cult of the new, as I call it, is just such a distraction from the music itself, it's commodifying it for not just cultural relevance (which is fine in itself), but for for credential. Which is my problem with music blogs, that they (not all, but some, particularly ones that give away high bitrate mp3's of new tracks) which care more about being the source of music, than the music they source, (usually by means of free mp3's). And when DJ's and the like are caught up in this cult of the new, and that often comes at an expense of the music that's actually being played.

At what point should you just give up trying to keep up with what's hip and pop in current music, lean back in your rocking chair, and just listen to them ol' time jazz records?

Thank you, I couldn't find that thread (like hell I';m going to remember the title).

I keep current because I have ADD and totally need to hear what's happening RIGHT NOW so that I can forget it in about a minute and a half.

"This has made me go from just jaded to kind of pissed off actually.
It seems impossible to read about music without having phrases like "one to look out for in 2008." The whole cult of the new, as I call it, is just such a distraction from the music itself, it's commodifying it for not just cultural relevance (which is fine in itself), but for for credential. Which is my problem with music blogs, that they (not all, but some, particularly ones that give away high bitrate mp3's of new tracks) which care more about being the source of music, than the music they source, (usually by means of free mp3's). And when DJ's and the like are caught up in this cult of the new, and that often comes at an expense of the music that's actually being played.

-- mehlt"

not my blog ;)

This has made me go from just jaded to kind of pissed off actually.
It seems impossible to read about music without having phrases like "one to look out for in 2008." The whole cult of the new, as I call it, is just such a distraction from the music itself, it's commodifying it for not just cultural relevance (which is fine in itself), but for for credential. Which is my problem with music blogs, that they (not all, but some, particularly ones that give away high bitrate mp3's of new tracks) which care more about being the source of music, than the music they source, (usually by means of free mp3's). And when DJ's and the like are caught up in this cult of the new, and that often comes at an expense of the music that's actually being played.

This is sort of true. It's also true that there's a lot of good new music -- sometimes good new innovative music -- being made all the time. So it's not bad to say "This is one to watch in 2008." The problem is when you're only interested in the new just because it's new, and to the exclusion of anything else that might be good or rewarding.

Yes, that's what I'm taking aim at. Well, actually more so people who appear almost head-in-the-clouds about music, so yes, the new because it's new. It really boils down to an insistence on progress, over reflection, and the positioning of music culture around that. That was the way I operated for a long time and now I'm trying to really recircuit the way I approach music.

I keep current so that on my deathbed I can tell my grandchildren that I heard the Britney Spears DFA demo a week before everyone else.

Interestingly, some of the innovative new stuff is built on old, obscure recordings. For instance, lately I've been listening to stuff on the Stones Throw label, e.g., Madlib, Quasimoto, Madvillain (maybe this is all the same person; I have trouble keeping up with that). These artists build their rhythms and grooves on old, dusty, sometimes obscure records (In fact, one Quasimoto song -- Return Of The Loop Digga -- is about just this subject; (n.1)).

_________________________________
(n.1) In the song, Quasimoto visits a record shop, and asks, "Do you happen to have any Stanley Cowher, 1970s stuff?" The shop employee says, "No, no I never heard of him. Has he made any hits?" Quas turns to something else: "Well, you have any Grant Green back there?" The employee gets all proud, "Yes, yes, 1958. Blue Note Records." Quas keeps pressing: "How about Chick Corea, Innerspace? I'm looking for that, it's on Atlantic, 1968." The employee: "Sorry." Finally, in disgust, Quas demands to know "What kinda breaks you got back there?"

"Interestingly, some of the innovative new stuff is built on old, obscure recordings. For instance, lately I've been listening to stuff on the Stones Throw label, e.g., Madlib, Quasimoto, Madvillain (maybe this is all the same person; I have trouble keeping up with that). These artists build their rhythms and grooves on old, dusty, sometimes obscure records (In fact, one Quasimoto song -- Return Of The Loop Digga -- is about just this subject; (n.1)).

_________________________________
(n.1) In the song, Quasimoto visits a record shop, and asks, "Do you happen to have any Stanley Cowher, 1970s stuff?" The shop employee says, "No, no I never heard of him. Has he made any hits?" Quas turns to something else: "Well, you have any Grant Green back there?" The employee gets all proud, "Yes, yes, 1958. Blue Note Records." Quas keeps pressing: "How about Chick Corea, Innerspace? I'm looking for that, it's on Atlantic, 1968." The employee: "Sorry." Finally, in disgust, Quas demands to know "What kinda breaks you got back there?"

-- Daniel, Esq."

that really is the kind of attitude i am interested in. it's funny, for all the "new" stuff that is supposed to be so innovative, the most innovative records i hear are usually old ones. and people who recognize that and try to build off of that music end up being way more interesting than whatever else is being hyped up as new. and that is my favorite quas track, i love that shit.

challenging quasimoto appreciation thread

ps its stanley cowell u crumbs

u crumbs

and what sounds like my mom here.

I'm thinking I might not try so hard next year. I'm just faking it really. Not that I don't like the new things I say I like, but I think it's time for changed priorities.

yeah, i'm feeling this, especially the "I think it's time for changed priorities" part. i think ive already started to try way less as far as keeping up with music goes, but i'm hoping to just take it really easy next year and just enjoy stuff as it comes without "trying to keep up," completely failing, and exhausting myself in the process

It's impossible to hear everything. I take it as it comes.

my new approach (just listening to music that touches me on the deepest possible level)

i like to spend november thru january feverishly catching up to everything i missed due to year-end lists and discussion, but for the rest of the year i generally enjoy my music nerd-dom more if i just chill and listen to whatever happens to make its way to my hard drive

I almost never like anything new anymore. Every new thing I like is old. I know that's anathema to the ILX code but it's MY TRUTH. Part of the problem, which I'm trying to fix, is I look for new music in all the wrong places.

Of the last maybe 30 newish releases I've heard I liked Tamikrest and basically fuck all the rest of it.

I have the opposite problem -- recent music is pretty much the only music I listen to.

Ditto, pretty much.

I only listen to music that was released in the last hour.

don't force it. i'd felt similarly for the last couple years, but i've felt more invested in new music during 2010 than i have since, i don't know, college?

i haven't been quite as diligent this year about checking everything out (mainly due to baby/new job=less time). i've mostly just been downloading stuff by bands i already know i like or stuff i've been hearing a lot about that sounds interesting. i've mostly been ok with this but now that i'm seeing end-of-year lists i'm feeling like there's lots of cool stuff out there i've missed.

I'm with Rip Van Wanko and I feel like my struggle is ending and now I'm just accepting the situation. Frankly I've had more fun digging deep into my library to revisit things I haven't heard in years and really, really enjoying them.

But I love ILM's function as a source for new bands to check out, even if most of them don't generate much enthusiasm from me.

i like 'keeping current' -- mostly because i want to get an idea of the shape & context of the things that im listening to that i REALLY like, and it helps to get an idea of what else is going on around those things (and a lot of times you find other stuff you REALLY like in the process). I mean just as an example when i started listening to nu-bay rap i was pretty much just feeling the mob figaz, then i got into j stalin, then i realize lil rue was really good too, & it moved on from there ....

im always trying to get into old stuff too tho

i mean 'keeping current' doesnt mean imo keeping up with what everyone else is, it just means finding an area that you're most interested in that still feels alive/vibrant. its not like you should feel the pressure to care about kanye or girl unit or salem just bcuz everyone else is

See I'm thinking more of some imaginary keeping current with a really broad range of things, which I'm not really doing anyway. I am making an unspoken exception for the areas of Latin music that I like, which tends to be a manageable amount for me to keep up with (partly because I am confident enough about what I like to dismiss much of it).

i think that keeping current w/ a 'broad range' seems more ridiculous than ever before because of how balkanized everyone's listening is anyway -- obv not on ilx, but in terms of the world at large, certainly

I mean just as an example when i started listening to nu-bay rap i was pretty much just feeling the mob figaz, then i got into j stalin, then i realize lil rue was really good too, & it moved on from there ....

"And now you know... the rest of the story."

it just means finding an area that you're most interested in that still feels alive/vibrant.

totally, and this year i specialized in the "music that whiney hates" genre (no salem)

if you get invested as jordan said, then seeing how the music is evolving can be very poignant. its like those guys that made ridiculous £ writing up histories for basically worthless items and capturing the attention of ebay bidders who cld have bought near identical shit much cheaper elsewhere, but w/out that context. but as music is trading in & communicating ideas/stances & reimagining histories/futures all the time, its narratives are a social enterprise rather than solipsistic endeavours, they are a collective imagining where things are sort of up for grabs (e.g. here). i think the way/reasons ppl get into older stuff is the same just generally much slower, w/ less voices in each debate & less to react to.

I feel lucky when I've listened to a dozen records from the previous year let alone the current year. </I am officially old>

Echoing deej, I think "keeping current" mostly makes sense if you have a vested interest in a particular unfolding story or narrative within music - doing this versus exploring areas of the past feels a bit like watching a show on TV each week and talking about what might happen next in between episodes versus consuming the whole DVD set after the fact.

I fall into the latter camp with TV shows for the most part, but it might be different if I wrote/talked about tv shows all the time (and had bigger and faster bandwidth).

In this regard keeping current in any field is less about what you're consuming and more about the nature of your fandom. I tend to think the reason people (as a rule) become less interested in keeping current as they grow older is largely due to the progressively diminishing extent to which the fruits of that currency are part of their social interactions, rather than some actual drop in their ability to like new music.

That sort of assumes music fandom is generally a social enterprise in the first place which I'm not sure it is for a lot of people. I think the bigger issue is that keeping current in music (esp. about broad trends) requires a level of investment (mostly in terms of time in these post-Napster days) that really no other type of fandom does.

yeah i mean i imagine having kids is probably a big issue

although once theyre old enough i guess you could just steal their taste
no joke my dad was into aesop rock at one pt. lol

That sort of assumes music fandom is generally a social enterprise in the first place which I'm not sure it is for a lot of people. I think the bigger issue is that keeping current in music (esp. about broad trends) requires a level of investment (mostly in terms of time in these post-Napster days) that really no other type of fandom does.

Yes, to put it more simply, when you're younger music tends to be more of a social enterprise, as you get older this tends to diminish.

However I would think being a film buff is much more time intensive than being a music buff!

xp having kids basically kills everything.

xp totally disagree. First of all there are way less movies out there and second there tends to be a broader critical consensus about what's at least worthwhile to see and finally watching movies is ACTUALLY an inherently shared social activity in a way that listening to records is not (you see movies with friends, you watch movies with your partner, etc.)

no joke my dad was into aesop rock at one pt. lol

afaict the joke here is that YOU were into aesop rock

xp having kids basically kills everything.

I deny this categorically. it's OTHER people in yr peer group losing interest that kills things

I dunno Alex, when I worked at film festivals most of the movie obsessives were solitary and it was clear why - they stank, mostly because they didn't shower during the festival I guess. At least you can keep it in your room with music.

Maybe I'm relying too much on personal experience though: maybe 50% of my music listening is done while commuting to and from work, another 20% or so at the gym and another 20% while reading before sleep. So very little of the time I spend listening to music is time I would otherwise spend doing something else.

it's OTHER people in yr peer group losing interest that kills things

yeah I think this is a big part of it, the social de-emphasis of music is like a self-propelling downward spiral.

afaict the joke here is that YOU were into aesop rock

― twat dust and ego overload (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, December 22, 2010 6:10 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

\oO/ what was shakey mo listening to at 19

Having kids makes everything harder. That said, not a year goes by where I don't discover a couple dozen or so albums I couldn't live without, both new and old. I do, however, find myself listening to old stuff more times than newer stuff. Like, I have that John Cale Island anthology in right now, and there have been moments where I've thought, you know, I could listen to this pretty much all day, every day. But I also recognize that doing that would mean less time to absorb new stuff, so I sort of have to drag myself away from the standbys (which themselves multiply each year, see above). It's part compulsion, part commitment.

The vast majority of people I associate with, no joke, haven't bought a new CD in decades. I've got friends who, for example, not only have never heard Nick Cave, but have never heard of Nick Cave. It keeps me on my toes, but makes mix CDs easy!

in real terms the only way my kid has cut into my music obsession has been that I now have less $$$ to buy records with. fortunately, I can still get loads of music for free in this day and age.

but plenty of my peers/friends just don't care about music anymore. they're interests have moved on, esp. since music doesn't play the social role it did when they were younger and single. this has made it pretty clear (altho I always knew this to some extent) that most people just don't give a fuck about music qua music, even when they're younger and more invested in it. they become invested in it because it's an identity-shaping tool - it annoys their parents, it attracts friends, it gives them something to share with others, it makes them feel smart/different/superior/sexy/empowered. but when you get older you don't need music to perform these functions anymore, so it just doesn't seem important and it falls by the wayside.

xp

I more or less gave up on contemporary music in the early 90s, then Britpop happened and I got on the now bus again. And have sort of followed it later on. I will always consider 1963-1986 to be the one and only golden age of music, but there is still good stuff being made every single year. There even was in the late 80s/early 90s, although the amount was lower than ever since (and ever before after 1962)

\oO/ what was shakey mo listening to at 19

let's see this would have been my second year in college... Spiritualized/Spacemen 3, Beach Boys, P-Funk, native tongues stuff, loads of stereotypical UK/US indie stuff. most embarassing thing would probably be some acid jazz garbage - Young Disciples or something.

I am talking about normal movie obsessives, not Harry Knowles.

"Maybe I'm relying too much on personal experience though: maybe 50% of my music listening is done while commuting to and from work, another 20% or so at the gym and another 20% while reading before sleep."

That's how I listen to music, but 1) this kind of listening works better with music that you are already sort of familiar with and 2) listening is only half of it unless you just want to listen to everything (which frankly I don't.)

"I deny this categorically. it's OTHER people in yr peer group losing interest that kills things"

I have a six week old baby. Right now it feels like my life is ending lol.

no shit!!! wow congratulations! You should stop by the I Love People-Making board when you get a moment.

in the meantime get some sleep

(it does get easier - those first few months can be brutal)

don't believe him. it NEVER gets easier. your life is over.

it is fun though. sometimes.

well, it got easier for me. because my kid is better than your kid

i think its easy to find new stuff if you are a big fan of one genere. if you listen to dance music or rap or metal there is something coming out every day and this actually does make things easier cuz there are plenty of places to go to download mixes or hear new stuff. if you are just a general music fan who likes a little of this and a little of that, its gonna be harder to find stuff you like. genre fans are less discriminating too. easier to please.

my kids bug the hell out of me, but i kinda can't get enough of them.

genre that is.

yeah that's my experience. not being a genre partisan myself sometimes I drop into the various genre threads to whet my appetite and um, have kind of a hard time.

xp

but i've said it before and i'll say it again, if you are old and sad and you want to be re-energized by new music than just open a used record store and start a montly column in a metal magazine devoted to new experimental music. did wonders for me!

I was 10 or so when my parents explained to me that Santa Claus was just a metaphor for the unselfish, gift-giving spirit that lies within us all. it's funny that I was mature enough to grasp that idea but not enough of an independent thinker to suss it out on my own. I did think it was a little lame when my parents labelled all of my gifts that year as "To: Unregistered; From: the spirit of Santa Claus".

oh, uh, wrong thread

HAHAHA

eeyore is such a throwing muses fan too. that's why i love that username.

i think its easy to find new stuff if you are a big fan of one genere. if you listen to dance music or rap or metal there is something coming out every day and this actually does make things easier cuz there are plenty of places to go to download mixes or hear new stuff. if you are just a general music fan who likes a little of this and a little of that, its gonna be harder to find stuff you like. genre fans are less discriminating too. easier to please.

This is kind of what I wanted to add. One reason I cast a wide net genre-wise is that's usually the only way I can find even a handful of new things I like. I'm basically pretty fussy, and I tend to grow out of genre enthusiasms, or at least become a lot more demanding about them over time.

I'm getting current right now listening to Pitchfork's Top 100 playlist I searched out on Grooveshark. I think I'm gonna enjoy listening to Top 2010 lists from other publications better but Grooveshark is the way to go apparently

okay. there is something very wrong with 2010. this year is more 80s than any other year of the past decade. now, I'm not going to insult Robyn or Ariel's Pink Grafiti because this stuff is straight up 80's

but damn, all the other shit infusing electronica (porno groove; funk; and mellow) into hiphop/r'n'b/rock/pop is just sickening

hopefully it's just pitchfork/indie cuz this is super gay

there had to be a gay moon out when they made the list
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/Pitchfork+com+s+Top+100+Songs+Of+2010/41034547

i dont care for the list but i sb'd you for being captain lorax & for calling something 'gay'

interesting discussion itt. It's relevant to me but I can't really add anything, or can't go off on one of my quasi-derail thoughts on this atm but keep going guys

I'm fine with you sbing me for calling something gay but it is entirely impossible to listen to this top 20 without picturing a gay club at some point

^ true of most good things tho