all your taste is in your mouth

Are We the World?

Obviously, I have been spending quite a bit of time outside the homeland.  But even before this, I tried to expose myself to music you don’t hear normally – in particular “world music”.  My guess is it is referred to as “world music” because it doesn’t generate from an English speaking country.  However, most countries DO speak English and everyone from Britney to Creed to Bon Jovi sells in every part of the world.

 But “world music” doesn’t sell here.   Granted, I don’t listen to the type of music that sells by the bushel in India or France or Japan.  Most of that is pop music of the ilk I can’t stand – even in my native tongue.  However, there are some amazing discs out there in foreign languages.   Sa Dingding’s “Alive” is a beautiful record sung in five different languages and French singer Anaïs recent album “Love Story” is a really fine piece of pop. Dervish is an Irish band who sings strictly in Gaelic.  I’ve even heard guys rap in Turkish, Arabic and French and it sounds great.   And we hear “world music” everyday!  If you’ve been to Cirque de Soleil you’ve heard it.  If you’ve listened to a soundtrack – say “Black Hawk Down” – you’ve heard it.   How many duets have you heard between some rock star and the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan? 

 However it still never catches fire here.  Do you think we – as Americans – get turned off by a foreign language?  I know myself that I’m more likely to pick up something from another country that’s instrumental than vocal.  Do we need to know the words?  Would I like Bon Jovi better if I DIDN’T understand the words (Lil’ Wayne too for that matter)?  Or is it just like soccer – since it’s not our sport, we’re really not that into it.

 Just a thought. 

How many foreign artists do you own?

Where do you find new music?

Since some of us (and you know who you are) constantly lament the lack of good new music, that begs the question…

Where do you find new music?

For me, it is mostly thru Pandora.com.   I’ve programmed my station at Pandora.com to be music I can listen to while working.  Since I’ve been “teaching” Pandora what music I like for almost 3 years now, it really is very suited to my taste.  I find new new music and old stuff I had never heard before.  But obviously limited by what I have seeded the station with.

I still listen to the radio sometimes.  My favorite stations are the non-commercial WPKN at the University of Bridgeport and the commercial station WEHM in Long Island which is very much an anomaly in commercial radio, just check out one of their playlists.  And every once in a while, I’ll actually hear something on a TV show or movie soundtrack (Once comes to mind) that I like.

I hardly ever try artists I’ve read about or someone else has recommended.    I need to hear an artist for the first time without any preconceived notions.

That’s it for me.  A very small universe to find new music in…

So what am I missing?  Where can you discover…

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What Is It Called?

Here we are – 2009.  Another decade has nearly past.

So – where’s the music?

We just did CDs based on five decades of music.  Each of those decades had a sound that branded it – sometimes more than one.  Almost all of these forms sprang from the Youth of the day.  Some were in protest of the way things were.  Others were protesting the protests.  But all the forms were propelled by the “under 30” crowd.  Created by and for, bought and sold to the young.

The 1960s, of course, basically created music as we know it.  The Beatles, Beach Boys, Dylan and the Stones were basically genres themselves.  Rock (as opposed to rock ‘n roll) and Pop became the terms and offered numerous branches that still thrive today.

The 1970s gave us Glam Rock and Hard Rock (per Led Zepplin and others) and Prog Rock (or Art Rock).  There was the Singer/Songwriter genre and Bubblegum.  Then Disco and Punk toward the end of the decade – each the antithesis of the other.

The 1980s showed Punk move to New Wave.  Corporate Rock (Toto, Foreigner) and Hair Bands were products of MTV and a rebellion against punk and new wave.  The end of the…

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Evoking fond memories or bad cover band

So, for the first blog entry, I’ve decided to discuss a music topic, one that I hope will generate plenty of “lively” discourse. The topic is bands that continue to tour long after they’ve ceased to be relevant, and whether those bands evoke fond memories of days gone by, or have they become just a bad cover band.

Rolling Stone actually ran an article a few issues back called “The Battle of the B-List Bands” which referred to competing bands touring on the “good name” of former big bands, like L.A. Guns, the Temptations, Guess Who and Asia. The article tried to assess which of the competing bands were truer to the band in its hey-day, either in terms of how many original members were currently touring or which band had more essential members. In some of the examples, there was no contest — of the two touring Asia bands, one has all four original members and the other has a guy who for a while filled in John Wetton’s spot as lead singer. Aptly stated by the writer, “if you have to see Asia, go original”.

This got me thinking of other bands who tour on what might have been a big name…

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