Interesting articles about music and musicians.

[floatyhippyflower]

Does what it says on the tin. I post this sort of thing on social media occasionally and mostly nee fucka give a shit, which is fine - my tastes are all over the place and can be a bit obscure, plus algorithms, plus the format is not great for discussion, blahblah. Every so often, however, a little engagement would be nice, so perhaps they would be better served by sharing with you weirdos instead. I've specified only articles in the title, but please feel free to share educational radio shows, podcasts and documentaries as well. Everything is welcome - stories, opinions, analysis, whatever. Equally, the thread is open to any era, any genre. The point is to learn more about music and musicians, discover cool new stuff and hopefully enjoy some good writing along the way. I'll start.

I absolutely loved this piece about Pauline Oliveros, a musician I admire, but one who is not always credited with the level of influence she actually had on contemporary electronica.

The Quietus | Opinion | Black Sky Thinking | Listen Deeper: The Strange Case Of Iannis Xenakis & Pauline Oliveros

Iannis Xenakis has long been seen as a titan of modern composition, written about in awed tones, the subject of innumerable retrospectives. Yet why, asks Dan Siepmann, has his work for so long overshadowed non-male artists like Pauline Oliveros?

thequietus.com

The fascinating story of Dounia Younes, a Lebanese singer whose recordings inspired the likes of Eno and Byrne. Her voice is just spine-tingling, up there with Bulgarian throat singing and the call to prayer in its power, but as with so many "ethnic" singers that were sampled for contemporary Western records, it is only recently she was recognised as a gifted musician in her own right.

The Story of Dounia Younes and the Lost Recording

Just a few years before a 15-year civil war plunged Beirut into absolute chaos, Lebanon’s capital was a hotspot for the Arab world’s golden age musicians, a sort of Paris for the Lost Generation. That era saw the birth and demise of the careers of many great artists, some of whom subsequently...

projectrevolver.org

In a similar vein, old school house producer, Yvonne Turner. She has gone on the list for further investigation because I remember the period well, but had never heard of her until this article.

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/yvon...house-music-so-why-does-no-one-know-her-name/


OK then, nerds, let's educate each other!

 

[Torsion Jim]

no matter where you post it, i still have no idea who or what this is

 

[floatyhippyflower]

no matter where you post it, i still have no idea who or what this is

Che?

 

[Torsion Jim]

Soz, I usually read most Quietus articles but never have any idea what they are going on about. I was just confessing my ignorance

But yes hurrah for education

 

[floatyhippyflower]

Well I think this thread got off to an excellent start!

Owt ya like, mate, honestly. I am completely not fussy, so if you read something that grabs you, post it - that's kind of the point.

 

[Torsion Jim]

yeh, im on board

post up that aphex quietus one. That was good. I understood that one

 

[floatyhippyflower]

The Cornish musical language one? Yeah, that was a peach.

 

[floatyhippyflower]

For anyone that never read it, this is the article in question, which makes an excellent case for the argument that, "Richard D James' instrumental voice proposes his own unique Cornish language, one whose reflection of the landscape, its myths, beauty, violence, isolation, and weird traditions, is an uncanny Rosetta stone to this hugely misunderstood nation."

The Quietus | Opinion | The Quietus Essay | The Wheal Thing: Aphex Twin's Alternative Cornish Language

From the myth of the methane princess to a reflection of Cornwall's rich history of radiocommunications, his home county permeates the music of Richard D James far more than as a cultural backwater, says Laura Snapes

thequietus.com

 

[kihrjil]

hurrah for this thread! I have nothing to offer at this moment, but will dig out some bits at some point.

Looking forward to reading that Pauline Oliveros one when I have a moment.

 

[floatyhippyflower]

As and when, dude - been meaning to do something like this for ages, but I'm flaky as hell and kept forgetting. Hope you enjoy the Oliveros piece!

 

[floatyhippyflower]

This looks like a potentially interesting series for anyone into a bit of Classical. Seems quite new with not many instalments yet - I first noticed it just after they published the Stravinsky piece and as somebody that considers herself a fan of sorts, yeah, not bad! For those with Spotify, there are links to playlists in each article. I don’t use the platform myself, but scanning his rec list, there were a few pieces I wasn’t familiar with, so they’ve gone on the list. I’ll also be probing the Mahler as he's one of those composers that was hugely influential, but whose music I know only very little of beyond a couple of really obvious, ‘famous’ works. Sometimes it really is a question of where the heck to start, so this strikes me as a good idea. Page: bookmarked.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/series/know-the-score

 

[floatyhippyflower]

More Graun, this time on the subject of Factory's Tony Wilson and how he preempted Apple's subsequent monopoly at the birth of the digital musical age in attempting to bring mp3 to the masses. It's actually a bit weird reading about this with the benefit of twenty years' hindsight - I was a Napster user almost from the beginning and despite my background argued a strongly pro-p2p position in a short essay I once had to complete for a Music Business module in which I suggested that, much like the copyright wars of the recordable tape era of my youth, those who did not embrace download technology would ultimately lose out. At the time, most people in the field were against it, not just record companies.

'You've been smoking too much!': the chaos of Tony Wilson's digital music revolution

The Factory impresario’s company Music33 sold individual songs as MP3s three years before Apple. But with a baffling interface and dial-up connections he was doomed

www.theguardian.com

 

[kihrjil]

I absolutely loved this piece about Pauline Oliveros, a musician I admire, but one who is not always credited with the level of influence she actually had on contemporary electronica.

The Quietus | Opinion | Black Sky Thinking | Listen Deeper: The Strange Case Of Iannis Xenakis & Pauline Oliveros

Iannis Xenakis has long been seen as a titan of modern composition, written about in awed tones, the subject of innumerable retrospectives. Yet why, asks Dan Siepmann, has his work for so long overshadowed non-male artists like Pauline Oliveros?

thequietus.com

Had a read of this over lunch, it was good! I liked how it managed to position the relative obscurity of her legacy against Xenakis' fandom without coming across as a fuck Xenakis piece. There's a nice point it touches on briefly about Xenakis-style complexity and stochastics aiming to reach outside the human perspective, with Oliveros approaching similar affects from a more humanistic, ecologically situated angle. It would be interesting to consider how this difference of approach played out in their respective relationships with technology, which both seem to have had bucketloads of enthusiasm for. I was delighted to discover recently that Oliveros was involved in the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse, a sort of virtual improvisation group which met and performed in Second Life:

 

[floatyhippyflower]

I liked how it managed to position the relative obscurity of her legacy against Xenakis' fandom without coming across as a fuck Xenakis piece.

I agree completely.

I was delighted to discover recently that Oliveros was involved in the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse, a sort of virtual improvisation group which met and performed in Second Life:

Oh wow, I had no idea. Thanks, I'll check it out!

 

[floatyhippyflower]

Ironically, despite still being an occasional pirate (N.B. I also fit the stereotype of pirates that spend more of their disposable income on legit compared with the average listener as noted in several studies, dislcaimerdisclaimerdisclaimer), I have a massive problem with Spotify's model and point-blank refuse to go there, even when it was offered as a gift one time, even when a kind-hearted friend suggested I use her household's spare login for free. This article sums up why. In contrast, I think Bandcamp is the best thing to have happened to the business of music and indeed music itself since forever.

A Tale Of Two Ecosystems: On Bandcamp, Spotify And The Wide-Open Future

There's Bandcamp, beloved by artists. There's Spotify, very well-liked by listeners. And then there's that big question mark. The artist Damon Krukowski takes a look.

www.npr.org

 

[Torsion Jim]

Fuck spotify. Did you hear the spotify ceo say that artists that produce an album every 3 years or so aren't trying hard enough. I'll try n dig the source out later

 

[bez23]

He's quoted as saying that in FHF's article.

"Obviously, some artists that used to do well in the past may not do well in this future landscape, where you can't record music once every three to four years and think that's going to be enough,"

Followed by his claims that musicians are actually happy with the remuneration they get from Spotify, they just don't say so publicly. He sounds like a tory, talking about how UC is easy to live off. Spotify artist returns are laughably, crassly low.

What a cock. "Linear radio" eurgh.
I ? Bandcamp.

 

[Torsion Jim]

Spotify CEO To Musicians: "You Can't Record Music Every Three Or Four Years And Think That's Going To Be Enough"

Spotify’s economic model has been widely condemned by musicians and songwriters for years, with critics claiming that the service pays out paltry royalties and gives major-label artists an unfair advantage via playlist placement and other promotional avenues. But according to CEO Daniel Ek, the...

www.stereogum.com

Here's the link^^

 

[Torsion Jim]

He's quoted as saying that in FHF's article.

my phone spazzed and i couldnt even find the article in the link! Glad to see they quoted the jebend.

 

[floatyhippyflower]

Spotify CEO To Musicians: "You Can't Record Music Every Three Or Four Years And Think That's Going To Be Enough"

Spotify’s economic model has been widely condemned by musicians and songwriters for years, with critics claiming that the service pays out paltry royalties and gives major-label artists an unfair advantage via playlist placement and other promotional avenues. But according to CEO Daniel Ek, the...

www.stereogum.com

Here's the link^^

Honestly, I would rather pirate than ever give this arsehole a penny. The fucking cheek of it! I know how hypocritical that must sound, but most Spotify artists don't get anywhere near a penny, so in using p2p, it's actually on a par financially, the difference being there is significantly more chance they will receive decent remuneration if I like what I hear. The great thing about Bandcamp is, I also fit the founder's stereotype of someone that would rather pay than not, so the more it diversified, the less I pirated and my spending actually increased, because in addition to albums and EPs, I also buy a lot of single tracks and tend to leave a token sum for freebies.

In fact, what I love most about Bandcamp, second only to try-before-you-buy, is that there is so much NYP price stuff available, one doesn't have to be a millionaire to still enjoy good tunes. Of course, this is at the discretion of artists and labels, but the point is, it's at the discretion of artists and labels, not some parasitic buttmunch on the gravy train to richville, so there's a genuine sense of inclusivity and connection I find pretty inspiring as someone with both muso history and on a low income. It means that if I'm having a particularly lean month, there are still plenty of options, then when I'm more flush, I can support artists directly in tailoring preferences and buying full price releases.

The only downside for me is that because it is so direct, shipping for hard copies can be eye-wateringly expensive and sometimes I can't justify it, thus source elsewhere, but this is still more beneficial to the artists financially than fucking Spotify, urgh. Can't stand the twat! If anything, this article only increased my respect for Bandcamp's founder, because it's so nice to read what I already felt about the service from the horse's mouth. Long may it continue!