I felt I needed a bit of a break from heavier themes, and this post was inspired by my friend Ryan Floyd of Detached Notes. He has belatedly made the excellent decision to get into vinyl and has been pestering me with various related questions. Responding to these made me realize I had an unusual number of thoughts on the subject of music listening, analog sound, technology, etc. so I set them down here.
Three things: very interesting piece even for a former pro musician (and not just music lover) who probably spent more time in music studios surrounded by music equipment, Space Echoes, John Lennon‘s actual mixing desk of the Double Fantasy sessions (bought by a millionaire‘s hyperactive son who built a studio that we recorded 2 albums at), listening back on 6 various speakers - which you could have maybe expanded on: speakers! - and headphones (!) than in any school or university in her youth. Your music writing even for Café Américain was always great fun to read, because it had nothing to do with Lester Bangs/Greil Marcus-style “music journalism“ but with true music fandom. Which then of course made me wonder why you never seemed to care about playing music yourself.
2) you love the “analog” musicians - you almost exclusively mention people who actually played their instruments - but I wonder where electronic music, anything from Pansonic to sub-bass sounds from early drum’n bass to minimal techno (Kompakt etc.), Jeff Mills, or, say, French House (to comb through my personal electronic music history) stand for you.
This piece was really thoughtful. Made me consider the similarities and differences for books vs kindle. And for the first time I actually want to get vinyls — if only to make sure my children can listen to bangers even if spotify vanishes from the surface of the earth
Many thanks. Yes, honestly, preserving physical copies is a good reason to get into it; this has also been an issue with movies as well, as streaming services are unreliable on that front. On e-readers, I definitely find I don't retain information as well as I do with physical books.
Three things: very interesting piece even for a former pro musician (and not just music lover) who probably spent more time in music studios surrounded by music equipment, Space Echoes, John Lennon‘s actual mixing desk of the Double Fantasy sessions (bought by a millionaire‘s hyperactive son who built a studio that we recorded 2 albums at), listening back on 6 various speakers - which you could have maybe expanded on: speakers! - and headphones (!) than in any school or university in her youth. Your music writing even for Café Américain was always great fun to read, because it had nothing to do with Lester Bangs/Greil Marcus-style “music journalism“ but with true music fandom. Which then of course made me wonder why you never seemed to care about playing music yourself.
2) you love the “analog” musicians - you almost exclusively mention people who actually played their instruments - but I wonder where electronic music, anything from Pansonic to sub-bass sounds from early drum’n bass to minimal techno (Kompakt etc.), Jeff Mills, or, say, French House (to comb through my personal electronic music history) stand for you.
3) You need an editor.
This piece was really thoughtful. Made me consider the similarities and differences for books vs kindle. And for the first time I actually want to get vinyls — if only to make sure my children can listen to bangers even if spotify vanishes from the surface of the earth
Many thanks. Yes, honestly, preserving physical copies is a good reason to get into it; this has also been an issue with movies as well, as streaming services are unreliable on that front. On e-readers, I definitely find I don't retain information as well as I do with physical books.