Digital Love

This writing a blog malarkey is a bit tougher than I first thought. I thought it would be easy to fire off a few paragraphs of guff at regular and frequent intervals, but the fact is when I know people are actually looking at it, I’ve got the blogging equivalent of "shy willy". I think the problem is that I have loads of things I want to write about, but I’m not really confident that my writing skills would do them justice. So, after countless aborted starts, I’ve decided to put them all on the back burner whist I think of less challenging stuff to write about. Right, let me see how this goes...

In 2008 I acquired more current music than I have done in a long time. I had been stuck in a musical time warp for an age. Sure, the occasional song or artist would tickle my aural taste buds, but not as often as I’d like. The problem is exposure - where on earth do you go to get into new music? I realise this probably sounds like a ridiculous question to the more well-rounded individuals that may read this, but I am not a well-rounded individual. Let me explain...

It’s never a good thing to be a snob. I’m not proud of being one, but I am. My name is Jones The Ears, and I am a music snob. Admitting that is possibly the first step on the road to redemption, but I’m not really phoning for a cab to take me any further as yet (I’d walk, but I’m really lazy too). As a result of this, when it comes to music, I only take recommendations off three or four people I know whose musical taste is to a large degree similar to mine. Unfortunately I don’t really see any of them that often these days, so the recommendations I do receive usually end up with the artist going on some subconscious black list, and the CDRs they have thoughtfully burned me end up with the underside of a mug outlined on them in dried PG Tips.

"Do you know Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa by Vampire Weekend?"
"Do I fuck!"

In the olden days it was easy. You could submerge yourself in the indie media without its trendy young things driving you to distraction, as you were a trendy young thing too. (at least in your own mind). These days, anybody young and trendy is automatically a twat, so it kind of puts you off the whole shebang.

I realise you could get Geoffrey Palmer to read that previous paragraph and use it as a voiceover to "Grumpy Old Men", but I’ll counter any notion that I might wear chinos by stating that I have serious issues with Radio 2 (bar Radcliffe and Maconie), and I still think there is too much "world music" on Jools Holland.

So I was lost in the relative darkness, not knowing where to turn for my new kicks. That was until late 2007. when I was forced to get a DAB radio by Chris Moyles and Terry Wogan. Just over a year on, and I’m a devout follower at the church of BBC 6Music. I’ve not enjoyed waking up in the morning so much since Mark & Lard did the breakfast slot on Radio 1. At least not in an empty bed!

The thing with 6Music is I get the feeling that most of the DJs on there are looking at my last.fm profile whilst compiling their playlists. It’s as if they’re sitting there mixing up my favourite stuff with stuff that they think I might like. It makes the new stuff easier to swallow, and also makes it all sound very personal. I can’t say I listen to it all day every day, but Keaveny, Metaxas, Lamacq and Riley do a cracking job of keeping me entertained and broadening my musical scope at the same time, proving that those tasks aren’t mutually exclusive. And they manage to do so without even slightly irritating me with their egos.

It’s not a perfect radio station by any means - there are a couple of things that really wind me up. I manage to avoid the biggest fly in the ointment as I’m usually at work when George "Shabba" Lamb decides to spend a few hours talking about himself (pot, kettle...), and if I happen to be in the car on my way to a meeting, I always have the Ipod to fall back on (not literally, you know how fragile they are). I’m possibly going to write a post about Mr. Lamb in the future, so I’m going to keep my powder dry for now.

The other offender-in-chief is Coldplay. I’m not going to sit here and slag off Coldplay, for that really is the first level of "Fish, Barrel, Gun" on the Atari 2600, but surely Coldplay don’t really appeal to people who really really like music, do they? I know music is subjective and personal, but in this case there should be a UN mandate stating that they really are a load of common denominator wank, and no back answers! Nobody who loves music and knows what they’re talking about (like me) would give them the time of day, surely. Yet they seem to be all over 6Music like some kind of smug, whiney, middle-class rash. Are RAJAR figures really that important Mr. Six-Music?

Anyhow, dodging these major irritants, I find 6Music is a wonderful tool for uncovering new music the way God intended - by listening to it. I can hear something, not knowing what it is, and have a cerebral reaction to it. No pre-formed judgements about the artist - if I like something it’s because I’ve picked up on some quality that track possesses. I like that feeling. It gives me faith in my brain’s ability to pick out a good tune, regardless of who has made it. For that reason, I still haven’t come across an Arctic Monkeys track I like.

I’m hoping that kind of explains why I don’t really take recommendations off people. It’s the discovery of something on my own which is part of the appeal. Whether that’s merely so I can recommend it to other people in a smug "I remember them when they were a goth band" kind of way, is probably open to debate. I prefer to think of it more as a small epiphany. Suppose it depends how insecure you think I am. Anyway, I’m going to think about what 6Music has helped me discover last year, and make that my next post. Gimme a few weeks, I need to sort out a jig about Keeling House by Denys Lasdun first!