Music has certainly changed for me over the years, more than anything with the advent of the iPod, the listening experience in particular has changed. I no longer (generally speaking) listen to an album continuously, all the way through, and value it as such- it doesn't "stop where you left off" anymore. If it hasn't happened yet, this will certainly have an effect the listening public in adverse ways. We will push more into a society of "singles," that is to say, we will more often than not, only listen to certain songs of an artist before we start yawning and change the music. The artists will have to try ever harder to keep us listening to their music as they intended it to be heard, in the order presented on the album. With the ever expanding space on an iPod, the choices are greater and the switching from one album to the next has never been easier. With all the endless free music swapping going on, the bands won't be able to depend on the money once earned from album sales and radio play; they will have to raise concert ticket prices in order to place a higher value on the "live music experience" while at the same time putting more money in their pockets. Or they could always whore themselves out to commercials, products, etc... because rock stars have to be rich right? All in all, I can imagine it being very tough to be in the music industry right now. People are growing more and more fickle with their tastes. P Diddy and Pharrell are both uber rich, high profile "artists" and both dropped albums this year that bombed.
The year in music for me has been pretty unremarkable but here is a short list of some highlights for me. Please keep in mind that music has really not been as impressive to me this year as it has in the past, but if I had to list them, this is what my top albums of the year would look like today...
1. Cat Power-The Greatest (superbly sublime, deep, contemplative)
2. Bob Dylan- Modern Times (amazing, still)
3. The Shins- Wincing the Night Away (because I’ve had it pre-release for over a month now, it is included in this list!)
4. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah- self titled (seems old now, but still good tunes)
6. The Raconteurs- Broken Boy Soldiers (grew on me pretty fast after bad first impression)
7. Bonnie “Prince” Billy- The Letting Go (slow, solid, goodness)
8. Justin Timberlake-Futuresex/Lovesounds (not as bad as it sounds!)
8. Richard Ashcroft- Keys to the World (even his bad is "decent" to my ears)
10. Wolfmother- self titled (I know of no other "number 10")
Other (perhaps) notable releases in 06...
Yeah Yeah Yeah's- Show your bones
Eagles of Death Metal-Death by sexy
Thom Yorke-The Eraser (I want "The Bends" Radiohead back!)
Other notable albums for me this year have included: Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska and Born to Run, The Rolling Stones Exile on Main St., Jeremy Enigk's World Waits, Jimmy Reed at Carnegie Hall, Spoon's Gimme Fiction, Whiskeytown's Faithless Street, Miles Davis's Bitches Brew, and probably a number of other 'single' tracks!
3 comments:
damn, you never gave me the shins album
Wow, you totally made me feel bad for all those musicians out there getting their music pirated. The bottom line is that music was meant to be heard live and I view recordings as promotion for a band's live show. Hit the road musicians the rest of us have to work 40 hours a week.
I'm with Templeton- I record music, and I'd love to make music from recordings that I make someday, but even if I did, I'd feel like it was just some kind of bonus, I wouldn't get mad if it went away one day. I figure no entertainer should be a millionaire and no teacher should be broke as shit. When Brittany Spears gives away all that money she gets for being... whatever the fuck she is, then I'll feel bad for stealing her album.
If I were to steal a Brittany Spears album.
another one, I mean.
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