Category: music

The Kalapana Thread

I’ve been listening to Kalapana’s first album, and while I looking at their discography on Apple Music, I noticed a lot of albums I never really listened to. I don’t think I realized they had so many especially in the late 70s and early 80s. In this thread, I plan to go through their discography, although I don’t know if I’ll make it all the way through.

Interesting Ways Blockchain and NFTs Could Impact Music

Music critic Ted Gioia had some ideas on the ways blockchain and NFTs can impact music–positively for both musicians and fans. I’m not comfortable with my knowledge of blockchain or NFTs, but based on what I know, Gioia’s speculations does generate some enthusiasm. I say more on this later, but I should also say that I have a heavy-dose of skepticism, with regard to a new financial model that will actually compensate musicians fairly. My cynical sense is that the corporations (and historically, the people with money) will ultimately find ways to exploit the artists. (A handful of individual artists may prosper, but many will not, including great artists who were ahead of their time.)

No, Music Isn’t Worse Than It Was in the Past

I can’t remember if I’ve written about this before, but I saw some interviews of musicians I respect, which reminded me of this topic. Both bemoaned the current state of music, one of them gloomily predicting the the end boundary-pushing. (This interview was from the 80s.) My sense is that the basis for their assessment stemmed from a comparison with the past. That is, they compared their perception and understanding of the music of the present relative to the music from the past. If this is accurate, I don’t think this is a good way to judge the present. Indeed, I think doing so leads to erroneous judgments and pessimism.

Now, let me make a few things clear. One, I’m not taking this position because I necessarily think the present moment is filled with great musicians and great music. Instead, I’m basing my position primarily on the way we perceive and understand both the present and the past. The difference, I think, primarily explains why the present seems bleak, relative to the past; and I’m going to explain that in this thread.

(Note: This applies to movies, and I would suspect most other art forms as well.)

The Beatles: Get Back (2021)

This is a thread for the three-part film (streamed on the Disney channel)–The Beatles: Get back, a Peter Jackson documentary, assembling footage from 1969, while the Beatles worked on new songs for a live performance. Eventually, I believe, some or much of the music appeared on Let It Be, and Abbey Road. (Some like “Don’t Let Me Down” may have become a single.)