I really should've been updating this badboy lately. That is not to say that I'm not busy. I am busy and have a ton of stuff going on but I am also keeping track of new music. I started buying records again and have literally added like 8 or 9 new crates to my collection in the last year or so. At first, I kind of just bought any album I loved at one time or another regardless of the pressing or if it was new or used. I think I bought every No Age and Microphones/ Mount Eerie album I could find right off the bat before looking around for late 80s/early 90s stuff I grew up on: just about everything available from the Pixies, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Fugazi, Radiohead, Jesus Lizard, Slint, Yo La Tengo etc. Then I started working on my 70s pre/post punk (but not 70s punk; tacky) collection, followed by records I loved in college. I loaded up on stuff from DFA, Jagjaguwar, Secretly Canadian and K records (I must've bought 25 LPs from K when they had a big sale last year), as well as (mostly) reissues of everything from Television, the Dead Boys, the Clash and early NYC bands to Joy Division, PIL, and Gang of Four. While at first this was done with little concern about getting a good deal or even buying stuff that would retain its value, I started paying more attention around this time and decided I was done with reissues.
I know I'm forgetting stuff here but believe it or not, this is all just prelude.
Anyway, there comes a time when you are sick of buying records you've heard a million times and that time arrived for me shortly after getting all the alt-rock and late 90s/early 00s college radio stuff I could ever want from the big labels of the 90s like Merge, Matador, and Touch and Go. While lots of this stuff was still reissues or stuff that never went out of print, I stopped buying new records whenever possible and just started buying used albums from bands and labels I was into at the time. No way was I going to pay $17.99 for Jesus Lizard reissues (remastered or not) when I could get used copies of the OG pressings for a lot cheaper.
I think I need to add here that I wasn't being stupid or wasteful per se; just that I hadn't yet begun to look at records as the investments they are nowadays. Either way, I always got good prices from the record stores in town and I never bought anything without first double-checking prices on
Amazon and/or discogs to make sure I wasn't overpaying. Further, there
were plenty of good deals to be had on amazon with their warehouse deals
and my prime subscription and I totes got some records way cheaper than
they would've been at the stores or via the artist website. Especially
considering the absurd %10.5 sales tax in Chicago. Eventually, I wised up and began looking at big picture concepts like avoiding reissues when possible or waiting for stuff to show up used. New records just aren't worth the extra money unless its an album I have been anticipating for a minute like the new Vampire Weekend album or the Var record that came out last month. As for reissues, they're mostly bogus unless they're first time on vinyl or have been out of print for so long that they're impossible to find.
I began scouring the newly arrived used bins at my stores of choice in town and began buying stuff I got into post-college. While my tastes have gradually become more and more psych-rock and (later) 'darkwave' oriented, I had one problem: RECORD REVIEWERS ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO TRUST THESE DAYS. Ten years ago, I could read a review on Pitchfork and trust it (aside from hip-hop which is funny because they used to suck at reviewing it and now that and metal are their only real strong suits these days) enough to get the album. I was rarely disappointed and basically knew what to expect before I even listened to the album. Last time I trusted a Pitchfork review, I ended up with that 2nd No Joy album that is mediocre at best.
Everyone is too concerned with being contrarian so it always seems like song-craft and talent are ignored if the image isn't SHOCKINGLY NEW! While I could list a bunch of other blogs I used to trust inherently and am now inclined to do the opposite of what they suggest, the growing inability of critics to base their opinions on the actual quality of an album doesn't bother me so much anymore. Either way I look at the situation, I just don't have a go to place for reviews I can trust these days and googling the name of the band and record and hoping for an intelligible review is a dodgy proposition at best.
For avid music fans like myslef, it doesn't really matter what critics dream up these days. Why? Because the internet is vast and we can listen to at least a handful of songs from any album out there if we look around. For me, I just do what I did when I was a punk rock 13 year old buying used cds 5 days a week: find a label you dig and explore the catalog. Back then it was Dischord, Lookout, Recess, Vagrant, Fat Wreck, and other DIY labels I trusted enough to buy albums I knew nothing about other than the fact that they were on labels I dug. I'm not as foolish anymore but it doesn't matter too much: in the 16 years or so that have passed, things have chanced quite a bit. Now I don't have to trust anyone: SOUNDCLOUD is a motherfuckin game-changer.
Example? Sure. I liked the first couple albums by the Men and they were popular enough (at least in Chicago) for me to buy without having a 5 star review to point me in their direction. But gee, this record sure as hell looks a lot like that Religious Knives album I randomly got on clearance at Princeton Record Exchange back when I was still compiling the ultimate 90s college rock collection. Oh, what do you know? Same label. Huh, lets just search this label and wow, look at all those releases. From that point, I just have to work my way through the Sacred Bones catalog and read all the press release type blurbs pertaining to each album while keeping track of the ones I thought sounded interesting. Then I can go to the Sacred Bones Soundcloud page and verify that I dug the bands I thought I would. Amen Dunes led to Psychic Ills, which led to Lust for Youth and War (now Var) before I even noticed the dude from Iceage was in War. And then it was like 'oh wait, Moon Duo is the dude from Wooden Shjips? That should be worth a shot.' And then you find out Moon Duo had an EP on Captured Tracks so you think its worth checking them out. A few bands later, you find another label the same way. And then a quick dig through that label leads to another equally awesome label in the same fashion. And just when you get sick of those labels, someone says yo check out this band on this label and it all starts over again.
Or you know, you just go to shows and like the bands you weren't there to see.
And hit me up if you want to use my stack of download cards that I never use.
No comments:
Post a Comment