http://www.matadorrecords.com/mpeg/thurston_moore/thurston_moore_benediction.mp3 →

so incredibly pretty. maybe i should spin confusion is sex or dirty afterwards.. dude’s got a career.

DJ Shadow Rant

I found this text on his website. And I sort of like what he says. Despite the fact that I do “give” a lot of my music away for free. It is making me think and evaluate how I see myself, musician-wise. Art vs music vs money vs life vs internet. It’s an important discussion. For the original article, go https://www.djshadow.com/news/shadows-starting-new-year-bang-check-out-his-latest-journal-entry-here .

Shadow’s starting the New Year off with a bang, check out his latest journal entry here!

Posted Jan 4, 2010
WARNING: RAMBLING TIRADE FROM A 37-YEAR OLD TECHNOPHOBE BELOW
Well, here we are again, another year, another decade. Optimism about the future is tempered with a nagging sense that underlying factors causing most of the misery in the world still exist. Lucky, then, that I’m a musician and not a politician.
Specifically, when it comes to the wallet, everyone’s suffering…of that there can be no doubt. And what of the financial prospects for musicians and recording artists in the years to come? Shaky, at best. Unless you’re one of the grotesque ‘Idol’-type pop disasters in the top 5, you’re looking at getting a day job or finding other sources of income. Conventional wisdom amongst my peers has been remarkably short-sided over the last decade: “Yeah, CD sales are down, but all the money is in licensing.” Not anymore. “Yeah, licensing money is down, but the video game industry is killing it.” Less so these days, according to recent data. “Well, the real money is in touring.” Really? When was the last time you saw a ‘new,’ post-record company artist headline a major music festival? At this rate, we’ll be stuck with Coldplay for decades (no offense intended).
Time for a little straight talk, from one reasonably intelligent human being to YOU, the reasonably intelligent reader. As distasteful as it may sound, the fact is that so many of our heroes: Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, The Beatles, whoever you care to name; generated much of their best art in return for financial compensation. If you take away the compensation, guess what…the art stops. For example, how many young rap artists are grinding away these days in New York, trying to get a deal? Not too many, certainly compared to the ‘80s and ‘90s. There’s no allure, no pot at the end of the rainbow. People have been asking for years now, “Where’s the next Nas, the next Jay-Z?” Be prepared to keep waiting…and for music, overall, to keep sucking. Why? Because only bottom-of-the-barrel, embarrassing pop tripe generates enough income to feed the machine. Anything unproven or risky? Nobody’s going to bankroll that kind of ‘experiment.’
Let me be clear: I love music. I love the culture of music, making music, playing music, geeking out over music from the past and present. I love old record company stories, and the characters that inhabited it. In other words, I have learned to appreciate the merchants of commerce as well as the art. If you love movies or cars, chances are you can relate to what I’m describing. What would Hollywood be without the larger-than-life, audacious personalities behind the scenes? What would cars be like if there had never been Detroit?
Gone are the recording studios (including the historically important Plant down the road from me in Sausalito), the record shops, and the music magazines. Replaced by the oh-so-cynical, oh-so-corrosive AM talk radio of the new millennium, the Internet. But I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. Chances are, you may have even been one of those majority who danced on the grave of the falling record companies, pointed to Radiohead giving their album away for free and said, “See, look, if they can do it, why can’t everyone else?” Slowly, I turn…
Every artist is entitled to their own price point, just as every consumer has a choice in what they purchase. Nobody puts a gun to someone’s head and says, “Hey, buy this Picasso for 20 million.” Likewise, if $9.99 is too much to spend for one of my albums, so be it, your choice. But if you’re holding your breath, waiting for me to boost my cool-quotient by giving my music away for free, it’s not going to happen. The fact is that I feel my music has value. You may disagree, and that’s fine. But I know how much energy I put into what I do, and how long it takes me to make something I’m satisfied with. Giving that away just feels wrong to me. It’s not about money per se; I can donate a large sum of money to charity and not think twice, but I won’t give my art away. I’d rather sell it to 100 people who value it as I do than give it away to 1000 who could care less. That’s MY choice.
I realize these are all unpopular subjects. Artists are never supposed to address their flock about such icky subjects as business and commerce. (By the way, and I hope it doesn’t sound disingenuous, but now would be a REALLY good time to express my undying THANKS for your support, which matters IMMENSELY in my ability to retain music as my primary endeavor. As a fan of others, I always used to wonder, “does this artist or group really care about whether I buy their stuff or not? Do they care that I go to their show?” YES, WE CARE!!!!! Now, more than ever). Most think that I should stop whining, grow up and embrace the Internet, become more active, tweet more, hype more, give more stuff away, etc, etc. Honestly, I’ve tried…and will keep trying. But the bottom line is that not every paradigm or system is right for everyone. We’ve all been told for years that the Internet is our Savior; it’s cool, youthful, hip, the solution to every problem, and if you aren’t joining a new networking site on a weekly basis, you’re a social pariah. Sorry…I just don’t feel that way. I’m old enough to know that when 99% of the population is marching lockstep in one direction, sometimes it’s wise to break rank and go the other way. Plus, I simply don’t like sitting in front of a computer screen all day.
I’m not saying that I don’t use the Internet on a regular basis; I do. And obviously I’m very proud of this site and its ability to support itself through the store. Honestly, I just think a large portion of the dialogue and content available online is an utter shit fest: a Pandora’s box of violence, neurosis, bad impulses, and bad intentions. It has become the “Super Horror Show” the Last Poets could never have dreamed of, like bad television on steroids and angel dust simultaneously. CL Smooth memorably called television “a schism…negative realism.” And much like the TV of the ‘60s and ‘70s, you will NEVER hear or read anything negative about the Internet ON the Internet. There’s too much money to be made, by someone somewhere (and hey, why ruffle the feathers of the goose that’s laying the golden egg, right?). 20 years from now, it will be interesting to see what hindsight reveals. I predict a flag on the time-line: when we moved closer to becoming a passionless, listless, hollowed-out society, one in which art and nature could no longer provide the psychological shock to the system required to endure another harrowing day of terror alerts and super-bugs. Music can only suggest sex and violence…the Internet provides both, full frontal and full strength, 24/7. Maximum dose.
Whatever…what will be will be. As long as I breathe, I’ll make music, love music, support music. I used to get in fights at school to defend my right to listen to rap, and I’ll fight on against any institution or prevailing thinking that seeks to dictate to me how and when the music I make is to be disseminated. If there’s 50 of you, or 100, or more out there willing to accept my right to choose, as I accept yours, then welcome aboard…you are my fan base. The rest of you that don’t, and want me to play someone else’s game…I wish you well. Let’s just leave the subject at that and call it what it is: a mutual misunderstanding.
Regardless, it’s going to be a hell of a year. I am working hard on new music, and hope to share some of it with you in the coming months (really!). I’m fully aware that there are many former fans that insist my best work is behind me. Well, respectfully, I disagree. It’s not easy walking the tightrope between artistic validity and financial solvency, but I stand behind all of the decisions I have made to date. What matters to me is that EVERYONE reading this knows that I take my career, my music, and my fans EXTREMELY SERIOUSLY. When I started in music 25 years ago, my mission was to provide an alternative, to expand the scope of choice available to music lovers like myself; and above all to demonstrate a willingness to go the extra mile and put the MAXIMUM EFFORT in EVERYTHING I DO, so that the bar continues to be raised, not lowered. Whether that manifests itself on stage, on record, or as a character in a video game, I honestly feel that I have given it my best, win or lose, and I’m proud of that. I have to believe that your continued support is a vote of confidence, which I take great comfort in as I strive to create some of my best work to date.
I may not be the best looking dude out there…I may not be the most linked-in, the most prolific, the most successful…but I’ll be god-damned if I’m not up there with the most passionate. If you agree with what I’m saying, that so much music we’re fed is utter GARBAGE that insults the intelligence, then no matter where you’re at…the States, the UK, France, Japan, Canada, Australia, wherever…we’re ALL outsiders, and we owe it to each other to band together and fight for something better. Personally, I’m loving the challenge, and when the time is right, I look forward to reconnecting with all of you.

Wixel - Slaapliedjes (aka the april record)

It is ready! I’ll update this post later on with more relevant info. If you like what you hear, and you want to buy it, send me an e-mail..

Awesome Stupid Projects #01

I like music. But sometimes I don’t know how to choose what to listen to. So I make plans and evil schemes to avoid difficult decisionmaking. I once ordered my cd collection by color, which looked awesome, and listened to it in that order. Sadly, i never got past the white spined ones. (Those were first.. Then roygbiv and black!)It looked like the image on the right. But I had not so much cd’s at the time.

I tried to listen chronologically, both in order of date of purchase or release. Obviously I also listened alphabetically. The human mind is very creative when you are frustrated with options (or choosing). Unfortunately, not one attempt succeeded. I would always come across a cd I reeeeaaaallly didn’t like. So I said, fuck it, I’m listening to something else.. that way fucking up the whole thing. And giving up.

HOWEVER! A glorious solution dawned upon me. (sorry if this is bad english, i try to get past the school-type-of-english-i-learned-at-sch… ). Rule #1. Listen to songs alphabetically! Not artists nor albums, but songs. They’re shorter and easier to endure. Rule #2. You can make exceptions, if you wanna hear a complete album, or something different, or…: you can. Just make sure, you pick up where you left the Alphabetically Ordered Songs Playlist.

Et voila. Another one of my awesome (to me) stupid (to everyone except me) projects has born! Oh Glory!

As we speak (I mean “as I write”) I am listening to “Acid Love” by Marc Romboy featuring Mr. K-Alexi. I am so not in the mood to listen to this techno right now. But I persevere. I am tougher than tough. I will survive every and any song that lies in my way in listening to “————————-“ by Volcano!. I already made quite a journey, I must say. I started out with “Á Bakvi› Tvær Hæ›ir„„Sundlaug” by Mùm. (I am guessing there’s something wrong with the tags. In any case, iTunes chose it to be the number one alphabetical song of my collection. (First a to z, then numbers to symbols). It’s the icelandic version of a song on their green record I love so much. I need the vinyl to replace my cd someday. Anyone know if the icelandic sung version is available on vinyl?

I had many lowlights since, with an absolute lowness touchdown with “Ace Of Spades” by Motorhead. I mean, I knew I didn’t like the song.. but I didn’t realized that it’s probably the most terrible song that starts with an ‘A’. (Since i’m only at ‘AC…’ for the moment, I still have plenty of ‘A’ songs to hear/to fear.)

Fortunately, I (re)discovered some goodness. “Abandoned Ship Bells” by Mùm (YouTube clip = this song). It sounds like beautiful dusty bells/chimes on an abandoned ship. I must listen to “Summer Make Good” again. I remember really liking it. The ghostness/abandonedness of it. There was this awesome “Aavehuminaa” song by Es which sounded larger than life, according to others it sounds like Pink Floyd. And finally, another highlight was a song I never paid attention to before: “Abstracting Electricity” by Hood. Instrumental LoFi Bliss.

Anyways. I’ll stop talking, cause it’s silly. Right now I’m at “Acknowledgement (Alternate Take)” by John Coltrane. A Love Supreme was the first jazz record I loved, and still do, fortunately so, cause there’s 3 damn takes of that same song! Don’t know what I’ll do when I come across 10 (live/casio/instrumental/acoustic/black wooden) different versions of the same Phil Elverum song, I’ll go banana’s.

Anyways. If any major developments occur, I’ll be sure to inform you. For now i’m gonna read “Dawn”, an excellent journal by that very same Phil.