Commentary Archive
Music Fans Who Consider Themselves Above All Others
August 26, 2014
We all know them. The ones who would scoff at the sight of a Rihanna album on your iPod. Those who giggle at the quantities of GaGa in your most-played. Those judgmental, high-minded fuckers who rally against the evils of pop music like they’d just heard Hitler started a band. I think I should say
Riot Grrrls And Their Unfinished Mission In Music
August 20, 2014
When the Riot Grrrls appeared on the scene in the early nineties, they like other punks before them, arrived with music that was laced with a fiery passion to change things. Although unlike their predecessors, whose political anger had attached itself to left-wing politics, anarchist rebellion and other non-gender specific causes, Riot Grrrl was the
What Independence Might Mean for the Scottish Music Industry?
August 7, 2014
Scotland is a country that has found itself in the limelight these recent months. With the country’s hosting of the Commonwealth Games having only just finished and a referendum on independence (from the rest of the UK) due in September: the nation is enjoying it’s rare moment to step out on it’s own and out
The Evolution of Swing Music: From Chuck Webb to Electro-Swing
August 4, 2014
I have a confession to make. I’m a huge fan of swing music. Ever since I heard that iconic Jeeves and Wooster opening theme song, it’s a genre that I’ve stuck to with an almost fiery dedication. To this day, I have a fearful suspicion of people who can fight the urge to tap their
Predicting What the Music Trends Will Take Hold in 2015
August 1, 2014
The music industry is a fickle, fickle thing. I think we can all universally agree on that. Trying to predict what might be big a year from now is almost inevitably a fool’s errand. I mean who could have foreseen the dizzying drops of dubstep that would be thrown into the limelight in 2012? Who
What Is The ‘Fair Digital Deals Declaration’ Put Out By Indie Labels?
July 26, 2014
In response to the growing nefarious influence of companies like YouTube and Spotify on the independent music sector, the Worldwide Independent Network (an international pressure group representing the interests of independent labels) has drawn up a ‘Fair Digital Deals Declaration’ in response to the un-level playing field in the ‘distribution of recordings in digital services’.
Art Schools And Their Place In The History Of Great Music
July 18, 2014
Estimated Read Time: 9 Minutes The idea of going to school to learn something like how to make great pop music seems kind of crazy. Even when an artist doesn’t write their own material, we still instinctively box their music-making into a category of things that are intrinsically connected to the individual, something that cannot
Does House Music have a Misogyny Problem?
July 12, 2014
Thump – Vice’s online electronic music magazine – posted an interesting article entitled ‘This “Thigh Gap” YouTube Channel Proves That House Music Has a Misogyny Problem’. Picking up on something that many have noticed for years — House music loves sexy ladies. Brands like Majestic Casual are guilty as charged in this arena, putting pictures
Kanye West Is Not a Genius
July 10, 2014
A blog post on NME by David Renshaw entitled “Stop Booing Kanye West: His ‘Rants’ Are Part Of What Makes Him A Genius” has things profoundly wrong in my opinion. Well, as profound as any opinion on Kanye West could be. In the above video Kanye begins on one of his mid-show rants by lamenting
Is American Music Becoming Less American?
July 7, 2014
America is widely considered to be the birthplace of all modern popular music. And even when Beatlephiles, British Invasion geeks and classical/jazz zealots claim the mantle for their own camp, nobody can deny the business of selling music as the product of almost-supernatural stars, the model we’re all familiar with today, is every bit as
