Why keep current?

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