Wiseman sheds some light…

I’ve found it really easy to write about music journalism, but then really difficult to write about music itself. I just can’t seem to get it right; to do the music/musicians justice. I feel like it’s too multi-layered and complex to be summed up concisely by a lone writer with only a single perspective. But [...]

Making Money: Consumerism and the Capitalist Influences of the Music Industry

The struggle for non-mainstream music acts to be recognised is long and hard. The relationship between the development of music genre and style is now closely linked to the music industry and consumption. Simon Frith notes that in writing about music,”The sociologist of contemporary popular music is faced with a body of songs, records, stars [...]

Gaps between metal and top 40 – MUSIC/ALBUM PRODUCTION

I’ve spoken about many different themes and gaps between heavy metal (and other styles) and top 40 music, in terms of performance, composition, culture, etc. I have saved a bombshell for last however, as I have not yet discussed anything to do with the production of the music, in terms of recording techniques, mixing processes, [...]

New album review – Meshuggah – ‘obZen’

The extreme metal world has been waiting for this release for quite some time, and it’s finally here! Meshuggah have blasted us with their newest studio release ‘obZen’.
This album, is just what the fans of Meshuggah have been wanting, since they got their Ibanez 8 string guitars made for them, only a few years ago. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

The Issue of Subculture

Youth culture is essential to help young people transition from childhood through adolescence into adulthood. The subcultural groups that young people participate in provides “psychological reassurance” (Nilan, P., Julian, R., & Germov, J. 2007 p. 208 ) which minimises risks in what Ulrich Beck (1992) calls, a risk society. It is important for youth to [...]

Realisation over breakfast

As I was sitting having breakfast this morning it occurred to me the greater significance of what  Hesmondhalgh (1998)  was saying about the genre based categorisation of the dance music industry v’s the ’star system’ based categorisation of the mainstream music industry.
The was that dance music is divided up into genre categories is so much [...]

Atavism, collective identity, and non-mainstream unity.

“Serious music matters because it transcends social forces; popular music is aesthetically worthless because it is determined by them” (Frith, S. 2004. Popular Music: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies). This particular perspective suggests that popular music is worthless; nothing short of a disposable commodity that adds nothing to the quality or meaning of [...]