Musically Speaking

I haven’t written about music for a while, so thought that should be the theme today. Especially after a weekend of Glastonbury wall-to-wall on the TV, radio etc.

There was an interesting piece in the weekend Independent by David Hepworth about Glastonbury. He describes it as
“merely a version of historical re-enactment”. That’s probably why I had a strange and somewhat uncomfortable feeling as I watched the Rolling Stones performing. This is a band which formed 51 years ago. The song writers at the heart of it are both 69. It’s a testament to the status of music these days that it is possible to go on forever. But the music they played came predominantly from their early career. There’s a catch-22 here as the audience came to see that early music, but it’s a shame that there was nothing new in anything that we saw. As David Hepworth says, it’s a re-enactment. Like going to see a load of grown ups running around in viking clothes and pretending to have a war and a bit of a pillage. Historical re-enactment.

I’m not trying to take a position here. It’s becoming fashionable to knock Glastonbury because it is so hugely successful and popular. My comment here is that I think Hepworth has a valid point. As music fragments through the sheer breadth of availability and range of channels we can access it through. And as the mainstream becomes more bland due to the packaging of ‘instant fame’ reality TV, there is a fringe of music that is still there ploughing away.

Looking for this fringe is really important. It can be found by digging out great independent record labels that produce music that you like. For me, that would be ECM Records. Then there are podcasts that bring great music to me – I love Sid Smith’s ‘Podcast from the Yellow Room‘, ‘Lowlight Mixes‘ and ‘AmbientBlog‘.

On the radio, Stuart Maconie’s Freakier and Freak Zones are brilliant, plus Jarvis Cocker’s Sunday Show – all on BBC Radio 6 Music. Then, when I have time I like to listen to Late Junction on BBC Radio 3.

If you follow those channels for a while, you will find music that’s hard to come across in the mainstream. You won’t like everything they play, but you will find something that you grow to love!