faking it

after a nice little x-mas, we're back at it. we got back into town a few days ago, and have been enjoying nashville in a way we couldn't before we had christmas money padding our pockets. we went grocery shopping and was actually able to buy some food to compliment my chicken steaks and green beans. that has been a pleasant change.

yesterday we had the chance to see some pretty bitchin live music. we were wandering around broadway street waiting for our table at BB Kings, and we stumbled into a honkytonk bar and came across a kicking hillbilly band absolutely rocking the house. a hodge podge mix of different people were dancin' up a storm. check out chris scruggs - his bass player claimed he is the grandson of country great earl scruggs, but one cannot be quite sure in this town.

from there we rolled over to BB kings and saw regi wooten playing in an absolutely sick jazz/funk band. mindblowing musicianship. thats all the can be said.

anyway now we're back at it at the studio, working on pre-production for doubtful. its coming along pretty nicely. more posts soon

Insight at Tower Records

Two days away from recording and I'm totally bored. Anyway I figured I'd write a new blog. Scott and I went to Tower Records last week in Nashville and it got me athinkin.

It seems like every music blog I've read over the past week is either lamenting or reveling the fall of tower records. I guess it's kind of a big deal. Apparently their demise symbolizes a number of things; the end of the music industry; the future of digital music; or the fact that nobody is willing to buy CDs anymore. I personally doubt the main reason Tower went sour was anything except slow-moving and out of touch corporate executives, but I don't really know the exact details. What I can say is their death offered me some insight into what kind of music really matters. With a simple walk through the aisles of TR during its final days, a lot of the pathetic music that too many record labels overhype and shove down our throats was exposed for what it really is.

Let me paint the picture, because it was a nice one. Scott and had arrived early in Nashville last week, and without much direction we decided to head down towards Vanderbilt in search of eats and entertainment. It was 70 degrees and gorgeous, and walking down the strip on West End Avenue with the setting sun at our backs felt distinctively more Los Angeles than Nashville, but hopefully that will be another story. After a decidedly more thrilling jaywalk than we had planned, we became aware of the most obvious person on the street, an older man looking as if he'd seen better days, holding a huge "70% off Tower Records Closing Sale" sign. We of course were much enticed and decided to follow the path this unlikely prophet presented. I mean, who isn't a sucker for cheap CDs?

So we walked about a block down, and entered the Tower Records Nashville (see picture above), which by its stature, location, and general vibe seemed like it was possibly once a mighty institution in this Music City. Maybe I don't appreciate the significance of Tower Records because I grew up in Cincinnati, which, for as long as I can remember never had a Tower Records. I was always familiar with the brand name and I remember visiting much cooler cities that in fact, did have stores there. But in general, Tower Records has played little or no role in my socialization to music and pop culture. It probably meant a lot more to people who lived in hipper places than I did.

Anyway we went in with high hopes of low priced music and other cheap desirables, but we quickly realized most of what was left at this 70% rate was, well, crappy. Its an interesting scenario in music economics: a CD store stocked full of a vast majority of the music that can be classified as "popular" has to get rid of all its stock before it shuts down and takes a horrible loss from unsold merchandise. As prices dropped, certain releases were quickly bought out. I'm sure it started at 10% off or something like that. Yet we were at the bitter end of the process, with prices a whopping 70% off. These were the CDs that, even when they were marked at 1/2 price people were unwilling to buy. What kind of music do people really care about? The shelves at Tower Records held at least part of the answer.

Now, I before I continue, I should note that I did buy one CD I deemed worthy of my 2 dollars. The Damnwells are a great indie/acoustic band from Brooklyn I'd gained wind of, and I was stoked to find that 2 copies of their debut record remaining.

Overall though, there was a bunch of underwhelming music that Tower Records was basically begging people to take off of their hands. There were massive amounts of cheap looking rap records stacked, literally hundreds stacked upon hundreds. There is TONS of good hip-hop and rap out there, and I genuinely like a lot of rap and hip-hop. Our Detroit buddy Ride, for instance, is a great example of true talent. But it seems like there is an influx of cheap rap records that are simply not artistic, interesting, or worthwhile. In general, these records are so cheap to make today that labels literally will sign hundreds of artists, give them each 10K for a record, put it out and see what happens. Its simple. If they find one 50 cent or Chamillionaire, they can cover the cost of releasing 50 other artists who totally flop. Yes, this is how the industry works in general, but with rap records being cheaper to produce and such a wildly popular genre, it happens on a larger scale.
Instead of actually trying to seek out and develop talent, it seems like a lot of these labels are content to throw a bunch of crap out at the American public and see what sticks. Well, everything that didn't stick was sitting in the $1 stacks at Tower Records and probably at this point has been thrown away, pretty much useless to society.

Another artist with an embarrassing amount of records still in stock? Ashley Parker Angel. Despite that fact that I have posted about him in the past, I really don't have anything personally against APA. We actually met him at a club in NYC this fall and he was totally cool and genuine. But this is the man who was given the gift of unbelievable promotion and publicity. He had his own reality show "There and Back" about the making of his debut CD that aired nonstop on MTV for months, and he could not have received more hype from Universal. APA was put in an incredible situation, but he failed miserably. Theoretically, he could have been one of the biggest stars in pop music today. Instead his album flopped and he's hanging out with Marking Twain in bars in NYC. There were dozens of APA records left at Tower Records. What happened?

The only plausible explanation for this is that Ashely Parker Angel's music totally sucks. I can actually vouch for this. I, in fact, do own a copy of his album (i didn't buy it...i swear) and I think its safe to say that, judging from the excess amount of the record still in stock at TR, society agrees with me. Yeah, the CD has some catchy hooks and pretty killer production, but overall its shallow, pathetic, and meaningless. I guess America gets it.

Anyway I though it was interesting. Maybe Scott and I were on to something and people in fact do want to listen to worthwhile music. We shall see? The truth is, most of the stuff left on the shelves at Tower Records lacked one thing in common: authenticity. Music consumers get it. It would seem like these artists and labels will get it eventually too.