How we consume music. Or is it just me?

Apparently we are finding it harder to sit down and read a whole book these days.

Only if the book is shite. Same with music.

Nopes. I bought a cassette once about twenty-two years ago and didn't like it very much. I quite like 'Still Loving You' but hate 'Wind of Change' and most of their other hits. Don't know any album tracks beyond what was on that cassette. I probably still have that somewhere but don't know where.

I had the same problem, but I realised I was always looking for the next big thing. Unfortunately, whether due to the state of the modern music industry, the recession or whatever, there's not much around of that at the moment. So I came to realise that I was artificially limiting myself to the present.

So recently I have done much listening to stuff like (for example) Graceland by Paul Simon, The James Gang, the first Violent Femmes album, Camille Yarbrough, Tom Waits, old soul, folk, hip hop, all kinds of stuff. There is so much stuff out there that I'd never properly opened my ears to, and it tends to be better quality and more timeless than a lot of the stuff that passes for the 'latest thing'.

IMHO.

^ what Fox said. travel back in time and find all sorts of music not yet heard. I'm a sucker for mixes from places like pearson towers, within which I'll hear new stuff that's old and I missed first time around - then I go buy what I like.

Yeah old stuff is fantastic, I just go through it as quick as new. I'm slowly working out a way to approach this in the back of my head. i think it involves bi-weekly trips to rough trade and the other weeks i head to 2nd hand record shops.

On that note, what other good record shops are there around shoreditch? know there's a few vinyl shops down brick lane

That's another thing I miss in new music. Bands spending months in the best studios with the best kit with the best engineers etc.

I tend to hate well-produced music - perhaps it's irrational but I just don't like it. Especially with the dawn of auto-tune, 'well-produced' albums dominate the mainstream and it's not all that great.

While a lot of my music is based around fairly lo-fi stuff, I'd say that the best compromise I've found is Steve Albini recorded albums: Surfer Rosa and In Utero in particular. They aren't my absolute favourite albums per se (although they are pretty close) but I just find them a realistic, soulful and genuine representation of the bands... Maybe it's my imagination?

good production doesn't mean auto-tune as i see it, it's about capturing the band in a fitting manner?

My main gripe with badly produced music is that it's so compressed there's no room left in there at all. It's all made for radio and shit stereo systems that can't produce neither high or low frequencies, so instead they squeeze it all in the mid range.

I bet In Utero is really well produced, isn't it?

Maybe you need to be looking more for music which has the capacity to endure?

Easy to say this I know.

Yeah old stuff is fantastic, I just go through it as quick as new. I'm slowly working out a way to approach this in the back of my head. i think it involves bi-weekly trips to rough trade and the other weeks i head to 2nd hand record shops.

On that note, what other good record shops are there around shoreditch? know there's a few vinyl shops down brick lane

The problem for me is there is too much choice to hand. Back in the cassette walkman days I may have taken one or two albums with me, whereas now I have 8GB of music to hand on my phone.
And you can't listen to it all at once
Well maybe you can, But it wouldn't sound too good
Well maybe it would, depends what groups you mixed together
It is unlikely to sound good though.

I bet In Utero is really well produced, isn't it?

Was this sarcastic?
haha, but yeah you have a serious point about the loudness war - specifically limiting in the mastering process rather than compressing in the actual mix. And the mid-range boosts are specifically for this reason as well, as mids give an impression of added volume, and it really ruins the music.

I don't think that's your imagination, I think it's your taste in production - a highly subjective thing of course (not that I'm not saying those albums aren't well produced!).

What is good production? Is it raw or polished?

They aren't my absolute favourite albums per se (although they are pretty close) but I just find them a realistic, soulful and genuine representation of the bands... Maybe it's my imagination?

I bought a cassette once

a what?

a what?

I'll tell you all about it when you're old enough. :)

What is good production? Is it raw or polished?

True to the music / how the band wants it to sound / message? Be it raw, polished, clean, crisp, what have you

There's quite a few examples where a producer have completely changed the sound of a band, can't think of any at the top of my head now though (shamed)

a what?

hehe

I don't think that's your imagination, I think it's your taste in production - a highly subjective thing of course (not that I'm not saying those albums are well produced!).

What is good production? Is it raw or polished?

Yeah, you're right - I guess production and recording are yet another aspect of music which are subjective to personal taste...
Maybe that's what makes it such an interesting 'art form', as Morrissey would call it

I'll tell you all about it when you're old enough. :)

Just riffing with you... I got a dope walkman in my bag. Auto-reverse and everything.

Yeah, you're right - I guess production and recording are yet another aspect of music which are subjective to personal taste...
Maybe that's what makes it such an interesting 'art form', as Morrissey would call it

What's that old martyr got to do with it?

gets down on knees and says fifty hail Morrisseys

I bet In Utero is really well produced, isn't it?

Steve Albini has to be one of my favourite producers of all time.

He's lectures on music production, and his stringent belief in only using analoge hardware puts him up there with the greatest producers of all time.

No one captures a room and a band like him IMO.

What's that old martyr got to do with it?

gets down on knees and says fifty hail Morrisseys

i watched some footage of him moaning about how music industry figures and high art society dismiss popular music as futile entertainment and not a serious 'art form'...
It wasn't that interesting, I just wondered if anyone else had seen it (;

So are there not some songs for you which are classics, which you want to listen to again and again and again?

For me it’s songs like Witchita Lineman by Glenn Campbell, or No cars go by Arcade Fire, or I am a cider drinker by the Wurzels (not being ironic there, honest), or the Streets of Philadelphia by Springsteen, or Young Shields by Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Graceland by Paul Simon, Kiss Off by the Femmes, whatever, it’s different for everyone, but the point is that I can go back to these songs again and again and again.

Tends not to be whole albums though, often individual songs, I don’t know if you were talking albums, or songs, or both?

Yeah old stuff is fantastic, I just go through it as quick as new.

Exactly.

True to the music / how the band wants it to sound / message? Be it raw, polished, clean, crisp, what have you

still on consuming music here:

i buy second hand. almost exclusively (unless there's something particular i really must have NOW). not because i think it's cooler or more real or whatever it just suits the way i like to listen to music. i go in into a good second hand record shop every other saturday or so and buy maybe four or five albums. usually on cd. i usually have something i'm actively looking for (I keep a list and a notepad by the radio), i check the new arrivals section (always a great randomiser and interesting insight into other people's record collections).

I also usually buy at least one "penguin classic"... a bargainously priced album i feel i should own but don't. then i go home and clear a space round the stereo and listen to nothing much else for a couple of weeks. till other stuff escapes from the shelves and the "out" pile gets too big and then it's time for a clear up and another trip to flashback or wherever...

Just riffing with you... I got a dope walkman in my bag. Auto-reverse and everything.

No, what, you mean you actually know what a cassette is? :)

his stringent belief in only using analoge hardware puts him up there with the greatest producers of all time.

No one captures a room and a band like him IMO.

I strongly disagree with your first statement. i don't see how his distrust of digital has anything to do with his greatness. it's a side note surely?

I tend to agree with your second. I mean he does. but there are others. i get ear fatigue listening to a lot of albini stuff too.

for the record, I used to be an analogue purist... and there's something to be said for that single minded approach but really, i think it's just become a "thing" with him. jack white too. he can shut up. i understand that thing of limiting your options to focus your creativity. I do it all the time but i can't help but roll my eyes when john frusciante says things like "i only play guitars made before 1962" or whatever.

i'm much happier with liam at toerag's approach which is a sort of cheerful eccentric purity. to me their attitude is less "digital is shit" and more "hey let's make a studio where we stick strictly to a certain historical aesthetic that precludes any solid state or digital technology...why? because i like that stuff. I like the way it looks, smells, feels and sounds. "

now that i can get on board with.