but the thing is I wasn't endorsing Time Out! I scanned that article in and sent it to some promoters who are pushing that music and they all groaned. Why? precisely because, that article is doing what you just said, pigeon-holing a certain kind of music. But I still find it interesting to keep tabs on trends, real or not. If only to try and make sense of music and where it's heading.
At the same time, given the thousands of records/files being released every week there's only a tiny % which offer real value and so that's why you inevitably turn to proven labels which offer guaranteed quality - you might call it snobbery, I call it quality control. Take 'Whatever We Want' for instance, massively hyped and ridiculously expensive, £35 for the new album
but the music I've heard so far c/o Tim Sweeney has been unbelievably good - now I KNOW I will still be listening to the laughing light of plenty in 10 years time. It is THAT good. It has that durability and it reminds me of why I am still listening to the stone roses Fools Gold 20 years later. Or the Claremont label. downtempo music aimed at collectors and really well produced. Totally balearic. The chances are there will always be something on there which is pretty hot, because they really care about music.
And yes, I totally agree with you Dirk. I miss being surprised too - I've heard stuff by DJ Mehdi on Ed Banger which I thought was pretty good, but which I'd previously ignored because after you've heard 25 identical bass'n'bleep annie mac style bruisers then you are inevitably gonna be sceptical about the 26th. Human nature no?
...but there's no Peels out there anymore - even weatherall is not going to play rockabilly at his club nights. It's very sad but all you can do is turn to trusted sources, blogs, streams or hear about things word of mouth. It can box you in, but the alternative is wading through hours of turd to hear what you want. The whole art of digging is different now. You don't stand in a shop and just stack up the tunes. It's totally overwhelming online.
I actually we are closer in spirit that originally came across - but I'm too suspicious of too many producers, labels these days to give them a chance - I know I'm missing out on tonnes of good music but hey that's how it is
At the same time, given the thousands of records/files being released every week there's only a tiny % which offer real value and so that's why you inevitably turn to proven labels which offer guaranteed quality - you might call it snobbery, I call it quality control. Take 'Whatever We Want' for instance, massively hyped and ridiculously expensive, £35 for the new album
but the music I've heard so far c/o Tim Sweeney has been unbelievably good - now I KNOW I will still be listening to the laughing light of plenty in 10 years time. It is THAT good. It has that durability and it reminds me of why I am still listening to the stone roses Fools Gold 20 years later. Or the Claremont label. downtempo music aimed at collectors and really well produced. Totally balearic. The chances are there will always be something on there which is pretty hot, because they really care about music. And yes, I totally agree with you Dirk. I miss being surprised too - I've heard stuff by DJ Mehdi on Ed Banger which I thought was pretty good, but which I'd previously ignored because after you've heard 25 identical bass'n'bleep annie mac style bruisers then you are inevitably gonna be sceptical about the 26th. Human nature no?
...but there's no Peels out there anymore - even weatherall is not going to play rockabilly at his club nights. It's very sad but all you can do is turn to trusted sources, blogs, streams or hear about things word of mouth. It can box you in, but the alternative is wading through hours of turd to hear what you want. The whole art of digging is different now. You don't stand in a shop and just stack up the tunes. It's totally overwhelming online.
I actually we are closer in spirit that originally came across - but I'm too suspicious of too many producers, labels these days to give them a chance - I know I'm missing out on tonnes of good music but hey that's how it is
