What irks me about Music Journalism

I’ve found it really hard to locate Music Journalism on the net, blogs, articles, essays, etc. First I wondered if I was using the wrong search terms or not being specific enough. Eventually I found some sites that could fall under the category of music journalism, but it was a bit of a lucky dip whether [...]

Underground artists – touring to live

Another gap which can be considered good topic for discussion between top 40 artists and underground death metal artists, is how most of their money is made, and the effect that this has on them as artists and people. Obviously, both styles of artists are going to make most of their money through music, but [...]

The androgynous appeal.

First, examine these three pictures:

All three are male. All three front hugely successful bands that, whilst recently experiencing some success in the mainstream music spectrum, have been largely through their careers obscure, cult-worshipped, and gradually, recognised as having merit that could perhaps be marketed to a small exploitable fan-base. In the music world, many of [...]

The Men Who Drip With Germs: Newcastle’s own Gypsy Rock

The Men Who Drip With Germs are a band who play the local traps in Newcastle, NSW as one of very few gypsy rock bands in the area. The line-up is crowded and formidable – lead singer/guitar/melodium, bass/double bass, electric guitar, drums, oboe, clarinet/accordion, trombone, and occasionally cello and violin all feature in a regular set. Band members [...]

Personalities/attitude of artists – top 40…fake? Following less dedicated?

I find that I can enjoy music, that I feel has a very ‘human’ quality to it, and that can mean a number of things, ranging from the production of the music, the content of the lyrics, and a lot of the time, the personalities and attitudes of the artists who created the music. I [...]

RETRO! JUST LET IT F***ING DIE!!!

Wolfmother. Airbourne. The Sword. Countless other poseurs and piss-ants churning out uninspired, tired, and painfully contrived throwbacks and b-sides stolen from the dusty retro best-of section in JB Hifi. These gimps with their “balls to the wall Aussie pub rock via Zeppelin, Sabbath, and Hendrix” is crap. It really is just the most irritating shite [...]

Selling Jack Black – image is EVERYTHING!

We’ve dicussed the process that music often goes through to make it “popular”…. Editing in the studio, airbrushing of the artists in glam mags etc…
Jack Black and Kyle Gass from Tenacious D have also (kinda) recently been accepted as “popular” music… But what have they had to sacrifice to achieve this?!
Over five years ago [...]

Industrial Ingenuity.

:Wumpscut: recently released the new album, Schadling (Pest); an engrossing body of Industrial/Electronic work replete with dark, danceable rhythms and bass lines, distorted sampling and synth, digitally vocoded vocals and harsh, abrasive loops. Rudy Ratzinger’s :Wumpscut: project has been a mainstay of Industrial and “dark alternative” sub-cultures for many years, and this release again finds [...]

Gap being bridged by well known artists – yet being ignored by some

Some artists have careers which incorporate various styles of music, including that of pop or ‘top 40′ music. These artists are often much more talented than most pop artists, but due to their backgrounds and previous styles of music they have engaged in, they are not appreciated by a spectrum as wide as that of [...]

Classical Music too expensive for the Radio? Or just not “popular” enough..

       According to  Siegfried Goslich , et al. “Radio“, the Radio has had a powerful influence on public taste in record buying and, in most parts of the world, has become “not only one of the leading employers of performing musicians but also the most important patron of new music” (Goslich, 2007). 
       
        As the broadcasting of live performances became [...]