Music is dead.

[dkinric]

I love and still listen to Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, etc but am lucky to always find new music I get passionate about, then it gets added to the rotation. One difference is it's so fragmented now, with many music styles being blended. Last year, I discovered A Tribe Called Quest and was into that style for awhile. Now I'm diving into Annie Clark's catalog (St. Vincent) and loving it. There is a shit ton of good music out there, but many people stay with what they loved as a teenager/college age and don't or can't branch out.
One thing that really helps discovery of new (to me) artists is having a good audio system that can sound good with any type of music. That's why I'm here.

 

[Soniclife]

When you guys refer to "PJ," do you mean PJ Harvey? If so, is that how Brits refer to her? I.e., is she big enough in England that everyone knows who you're talking about w.out mentioning last name?

Asking cause I'm in the USA. She is not universally known here; not a big star. Confirming this is fact that she I don't think she's toured in the US since 2017, although I vaguely recall she did a date in Brooklyn in Summer 2019. She can fill mid-sized venues in hipper cities, sorta like when Bryan Ferry tours here. Nevertheless, she does have a substantial and very passionate following, myself included, who not only like her work but view her as a important and serious artist.

Anyway, I hope I'm not revealing myself as an old guy and you're really referring to some autotune act of whom I'm unfamiliar. BTW, I'm a late Boomer, so one generational cohort older than her typical fan. Anyway, she is awesome and I am enjoying the release of demo versions of all her albums.

I'm assuming short hand for PJ Harvey, if there is someone else it's pased me by. PJ or Polly is only used in context or among people who know who she is, she isn't much more famous over here, the 'average man in the street' probably does not recognise the name. She has won the mercury prize twice which gets a passing mention in the news when it's announced. She has performed at the largest UK music awards which used to be broadcast live so plenty of exposure then, but I expect only fans remember it.

 

[weasels]

There is a ton of good music still being produced. We're conditioned to enjoy music that we heard in adolescence and early adulthood the most. There is still an enormous amount of good music being created daily.

The "it's all derivative" argument is also misguided. Virtually all music outside the truly Avant Garde is derivative. We stand on the shoulders of giants, etc.

A few suggestions from a fellow Radiohead fan:

Father John Misty
Elbow
Rainbow Kitten Surprise
The Dead Pirates
Alabama Shakes (Sound and Color is one of my favorite albums all time)
Declan McKenna
Parquet Courts
Soccer Mommy
Jeff Rosenstock
Car Seat Headrest
Courtney Barnett
etc.

If you like hip hop at all there are even more...

 

[weasels]

To me stuff from Big Thief (UFOF), Jessica Pratt (Quiet Signs), Julia Holter (Have You In My Wilderness), The Weather Station (Ignorance), Cassandra Jenkins (An Overview on Phenomenal Nature), Sun Kil Moon (Benji) etcetc. are up there with music you mentioned. And that's just a few folk/rock artists, an overwhelming amount of good music is being released currently in every genre. Just have to dig deeper, easier to research past decades' music since the classics are what stay afloat.

I love Sun Kil Moon, good recommendation. Benji Hughes is good too.

 

[JPrufrk]

If you're willing to listen to music in other, very different languages to your own the panorama becomes very broad indeed. In the last few weeks I discovered The Fur.. (note the "."; it's "The Fur.") and Enno Cheng, both from Taiwan. Awesome, though YMMV. And, come to think of it, The Fur. sings only in English anyway .

 

[Frank Dernie]

I'm assuming short hand for PJ Harvey, if there is someone else it's pased me by. PJ or Polly is only used in context or among people who know who she is, she isn't much more famous over here, the 'average man in the street' probably does not recognise the name. She has won the mercury prize twice which gets a passing mention in the news when it's announced. She has performed at the largest UK music awards which used to be broadcast live so plenty of exposure then, but I expect only fans remember it.

PJ Harvey is a favourite of mine

Edit, just noticed 27 years ago

 

[ta240]

I read an article years back that was talking about the affect the internet has on music.

Different sounds used to develop in different parts of the country and then when they got good enough they'd suddenly appear on the radio in the rest of the country. We'd end up with the New Jersey sound, a completely different type of pop out of Miami, something unique from Seattle and on and on suddenly getting a lot of airtime. Before the bands from those areas hit it big it wasn't likely the rest of the population would hear them so the bands and aspiring singers from the other areas wouldn't have been influenced by that sound and would continue to work on their own. Now everyone hears everything from everywhere so we rarely get vastly different sounds coming to market at the same time. If breathy vocals are in then that is all we get and most on youtube emulate that.
The people that really dig into what is out there can find some unique sounds but they rarely develop to a level that hits the big market.

 

[pjug]

I don't get this. There is so much music new and old and more accessible than ever. My problem is that now I listen to so much more and different music than I used to do that I don't become as familiar with my favorites as I used to.

 

[ta240]

What happened to emotion in songs. It used to be if it was about lost love you could hear the pain in their voice, if it was about having a good time they felt it. Whatever the song was about the feelings came out. Now so many of the vocals are so flat. The songs might be pleasant enough to listen to but they don't make you feel the singer's emotions.

 

[daftcombo]

There isn't one modern rock band that even comes close to Radiohead, Nirvana, PJ etc..
No artist that comes close to MJ
No new Bob Dylan, no new Jeff Buckley etc...
Well you get my point.
All new music and artists are just mediocre at best, except in some rare cases (Joanna Newsom, Regina spektor)
Does anyone here feels the same way?

Yes, somehow, but the artists you named didn't appeal to me already. Age thing, probably

 

[Ron Party]

What happened to emotion in songs. It used to be if it was about lost love you could hear the pain in their voice, if it was about having a good time they felt it. Whatever the song was about the feelings came out. Now so many of the vocals are so flat. The songs might be pleasant enough to listen to but they don't make you feel the singer's emotions.

Don't know if it meets with your sensibilities, or maybe you already know this album... it's from 2014, so maybe (?) this qualifies as an example of *modern* music with a vocalist who puts his heart and soul into his craft:

 

[q3cpma]

The it was better in the olden times sure has always been an old fart staple mantra, but that fact is also the staple argument for those delusional enough to think that decadence (affecting culture and art of the people concerned) is impossible.

 

[Soniclife]

It is less of a lottery now it is easy to listen to a sample on the internet though.

It's very easy to be dismissive of things like this though, and so much of the music I value most didn't appeal on the first listen, it took a few goes before I got it. One of the traps with easy access is to listen, and if it does not grab you immediately because it's different from things you already like dismiss it, but if it sounds like a ton of stuff you already like dismiss it as derivative.

 

[Beershaun]

I'll add my $0.02.
I think you have to follow the money to find the innovation. As before the artists that get investment are in the most popular genres for the time. And that will attract more talent. Then innovators and talented artists are going to show up more frequently in those genres. Today a big chunk of that investment is hip hop and EDM. While you will have to wade through a bunch of pop detritus and hacks, just like we did in the past, you will find good innovative and enjoyable music from talented artists in those genres.

"The Top 10 Genres in the Music Industry - Musician Wave" https://www.musicianwave.com/top-music-genres/

 

[Andysu]

ALIENS, James Horner and the LSO. This time it's vinyl.

 

[Mountain Goat]

I got burned-out on old-fart rock music listening to FM AOR radio for 12-hour stretches on a farm tractor in the late 70s and 80s. Going to college introduced me to reggae, rap, and world music. There's no end to it, and the hunt is fun.

 

[Frank Dernie]

It's very easy to be dismissive of things like this though, and so much of the music I value most didn't appeal on the first listen, it took a few goes before I got it. One of the traps with easy access is to listen, and if it does not grab you immediately because it's different from things you already like dismiss it, but if it sounds like a ton of stuff you already like dismiss it as derivative.

True, I have been trying to get into Wagner and Richard Strauss for 50 years. I know they are excellent but...

 

[weasels]

What happened to emotion in songs. It used to be if it was about lost love you could hear the pain in their voice, if it was about having a good time they felt it. Whatever the song was about the feelings came out. Now so many of the vocals are so flat. The songs might be pleasant enough to listen to but they don't make you feel the singer's emotions.

Listen to the aforementioned Alabama Shakes album. The emotion is there.

 

[Somafunk]

Does anyone here feels the same way?

Nope, but I don’t listen to rock music so can’t comment on that specific genre, I mostly listen to electronic music And there’s any amount of new stuff you could ever wish for to listen to.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

ALIENS, James Horner and the LSO. This time it's vinyl.

View attachment 129704

Ha! I was at that recording session.