May 16
Estey commented on Damn You KEXP! "Hurt" Hurts!.
Estey commented on Damn You KEXP! "Hurt" Hurts!.
About 2/3rds of the way through the video I am slush.
Apr 24
Estey commented on Music-Biz Consultant Claims There Have Been No Entirely "Playable" Albums Since 1978.
Estey commented on Music-Biz Consultant Claims There Have Been No Entirely "Playable" Albums Since 1978.
Just to take a slightly devil's advocate position, you could reference Dave Thomas of Pere Ubu's perhaps flippant contention that albums were dying in the late 70s due to artists unable to come up with a compelling multi-song narrative year after year. The "novel" of the ten to 12 or so songs as an annual concept was getting harder and harder to do, as Springsteen's (legally obfuscated and delayed) output and Dylan's wonkiness and the lack of solid LP-length soul music was being displaced by TV theme hit songs, mid-tempo feathered hair ballads, etc. The solution: Corporations first invested in punk rock as a 45 medium -- hoping the return of the single would jump start the market. They reluctantly also releasing full-length records by these (what they liked to call) "new wave" acts, but those first American "up from the underground" bands were found to be so disturbing, the Carter administration instructed the major labels to just stop signing them. At this point, the apex of the "long-player" as a thematic work from a music group did indeed pass for the most part, returning the format to hodge-podges of "hits" and filler, which it had typically been till the mid-60s. I think this is sort of what both Thomas and Lefsetz are getting at, and it's very subjective but amusing to consider.
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Apr 22
Estey commented on A Poem for Reese.
Estey commented on A Poem for Reese.
I love it! But I know it's more than I think it is too so I am going to read it again!
Apr 8
Estey commented on If You Have a Mega-Mega Hit, When Should You Play It in Your Set?.
Estey commented on If You Have a Mega-Mega Hit, When Should You Play It in Your Set?.
Great review, love the analysis of the electric cymbal. I've been thinking a lot about "When to play the mega-hit?" because bands are getting older. I saw the Human League save "Don't You Want Me" to the end of a set a few years ago, and they kind of wheezed through it because they lost all their energy by then. So, maybe @1 and @2 are right about first. Unless they have the energy of someone like Nick Cave, who always kicks ass. (He doesn't really have a mega-hit either, but that's not the point.)
Apr 7
Estey commented on Whiskey Nerding.
Estey commented on Whiskey Nerding.
This was a really well-written review, and made me eager to attend one of these events.
Apr 2
Estey commented on Hard To Argue With That.
Estey commented on Hard To Argue With That.
Really enjoyed recently reading Visconti's "Bowie, Bolan, and the Brooklyn Boy." The amount of creative energy and innovative technological know-how he put into producing albums like Scary Monsters & Super Creeps makes him seem like some sort of super-specialist in an artform few of us even realize exists. Makes me wish I would have spent years studying more about producers and people behind the soundboards and what they do than all the familiar sagas of bands and their usually well-assisted releases. Came out in 2007, highly recommend it.
Mar 30
Estey commented on Michigan Womyn's Music Festival: Transphobia Quiz!.
Estey commented on Michigan Womyn's Music Festival: Transphobia Quiz!.
Loved Michelle Tea's article on this ongoing controversy in The Believer in one of their early issues; it was anthologized in a Best Music Writing book, too.
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