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Post by acsenger on Apr 5, 2015 23:48:35 GMT -5
kingfisherbluez.bandcamp.com/album/merzxiuI haven't listened to it yet, so I don't want to comment yet. This whole deluxe splatter vinyl for Record Store Day idea is really not my thing though. This is the kind of release I associate with snobism instead of real interest in music. I can easily imagine a number of this record will be purchased by people to show off how "cool" they are. Some of them probably won't even have a turntable (polls show a significant number of music buyers behind the resurgence of vinyl don't even have a turntable, they just buy vinyl to put it on display at home or just to own it). I don't know Xiu Xiu, so perhaps I wrongly think about them as some dreadful "intellectual" indie band (starting with their name... Honestly, how many people can even be expected to know how to pronounce these Chinese words?) Prejudices aren't good, I know... OK, I'll listen to the samples now.
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Post by andypandy380 on Apr 6, 2015 8:50:44 GMT -5
I don't really know what to make of this one either, I had a skip through a sample a few weeks back and felt that I didn't really have the attention span for it. I'm not familiar with Xiu Xiu but I too feel like they're the kind of band I might not have the time of day for. Not that I disliked what I heard, but it's kind of a bit like... oh right, another one of these
Record Store day isn't really my thing either, and I think I agree with what you say about it. A lot of the things on the list feel like they're on there just for the very sake of it... re-releases of old albums, picture disc editions of things... Splits between bands using material that already exists on other releases. A bit of a gripe of mine is when I walk into HMV or a large music outlet and they have a vinyl section with represses of stadium rock albums etc. I do find myself wondering what kind of person spends like £25 to have Californication, Number Of The Beast or Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory on vinyl. Another thing is that they have a section of 'Nu Metal Classics' It sometimes feels like the music industry revolves around trying to breathe new life into a dead horse, and I'm not so sure I understand the idea behind it. I think my generation (I'm 25) has this awful habit of thinking everything nowadays sucks, and therefore, by default, things must have been better in the 'good 'ol days' (this fictional over-romanticized fairytale version of a time before any of us were born) , which is nonsense of course. People could argue with me all day, but I think a certain amount of that mentality is responsible for the surge in vinyl, probably combined with some sort of a backlash to the digital non-tangible side of music. But anyway, I'm off on a rant again, sorry if I come across a little bitter...
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Post by acsenger on Apr 6, 2015 20:19:30 GMT -5
I listened to the entire album and it's better than I expected. However, at the same time I don't really have the urge now to listen to it a second time either. I won't be buying the record, but it's possible I'll listen to it again on the net in the future.
I agree with you about RSD. I guess at the beginning it was a good idea, but then labels discovered that it can be a source of profit and as a result, last year's RSD was, from what I've read, pretty much about shamelessly making money. Just to make it clear, I'm not some sort of utopian anti-capitalist hippy -- I do realize the world economy is capitalist and that even the smallest bedroom label rightfully hopes and works towards at least not losing too much money. So I get the idea that profit is necessary, but at the same time I find that this idea just isn't compatible with music. To be precise: beyond a certain point it isn't, when something is openly about money in music. I guess I feel this way because I think music should have no boundaries and it's about creativity, but when you turn it into a commodity for mass consumption, it inevitably becomes shallow and uncreative in order to appeal to the maximum number of people. I think the most grotesque release I read about for last year's RSD was a One Direction picture 7". Clearly, One Direction fans are too young (at least I hope no one above the age of 14 listens to them, but I could be dead wrong) to even know what a turntable is; in fact, they probably don't even own CDs. I also agree about represses of pop/rock albums: is there really a need for a 30th repress of Black Sabbath, Beatles, Elton John etc. albums? The fact that there is just shows this whole shebang is not about music but commercial products.
As much as I may sound bitter, these are just observations about a phenomenon that doesn't affect me. The music I buy is, thank god, for the most part not affected by blatant commercialism, so I can shut out what I described above and just observe it (and then vent on this forum, haha).
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