MOVING OUT...

So, I'm afraid I decided to give up on Blogger. Text formatting seems wonky, it doesn't really work on Google Chrome, and WordPress seems generally nicer. If you are still reading this, the automatic redirect possibly hasn't worked, so click HERE. Oh, and please be patient whilst the inevitable teething problems are sorted out.

Be right back...

Even Better Than The Real Thing? Or "Authenticity..."

For those who don't know me, I like record reviews. I don't think they should dictate anyone's taste, but I find them interesting to read. Anyway, I was reading a review of one of my new favourite records- "The Creek Drank the Cradle" by Iron & Wine, and the second paragraph went like this...

"Not so for Sam "Jim" Beam. He makes bare-bones music that constantly nods to musical periods long since passed, perhaps the earliest being the 1920s of Blind Lemon Jefferson. In short, Beam makes roots music with southern themes, though to end there would do him a disservice. But now knowing this, you may be wondering: What are his qualifications? Is this guy authentic?"

The writer (Ryan Kearney, of pitchfork.com - in case you couldn't tell) then goes on to decide that actually, he is "authentic" and it is a good album after all- a sentiment that I heartily agree with, but that's not the point.

The point is, does authenticity really matter? What does it even mean? I don't think I am authentic- a British, slightly middle-class, soon-to-be music student who writes slightly angsty folk-pop - but does this mean my music sucks? Even when my music does suck (which, to be fair, it definitely does sometimes), I'm pretty sure that isn't the reason.

Don't get me wrong- I am all for honesty in music, and I seriously dislike pretentiousness. Absolutely. But does "authenticity" mean that only Americans are allowed to play banjos? Or that only kids are allowed to use kiddy musical instruments? Plenty of British indie-alt-folk-whatever acts would disagree with the former, and er- Sigur Ros would disagree with the latter. I know, a slightly less effective piece of rhetoric there, but you get the idea.

My point is this- I believe that if music is "good"- if it appeals to my taste in lyrics, musicality, content, whatever, then surely it is "good," regardless of how "authentic" the artist is.

Do you agree?

Lyrics

Well, it really has been too long. Sorry, folks. I'm hoping to get back into the habit of regular posts, but it may just be wishful thinking. This will have to do for now, anyway.

Recently I have been thinking a lot about lyrics, and why they mean so much to me, yet so little to some people. I should probably point out that I don't think this makes me a "better" music listener than anyone else- I just think everyone enjoys music differently, and I am very interested to know what all you people think.

So, my question would be this- what makes a good lyric? To me, good music (whether it has lyrics or not) has to move me in some way; make me feel something from the writer- whether it is joy, sadness, pain, anger, indignation, love, awe, happiness, escapism, or any other of the infinite number of emotions humans have the capacity to feel. And I think the same applies to lyrics. If you're not trying to say something, or even just express some sort of emotion, I don't want to hear it. Harsh? Probably. But I can't help it- if I can't see a bit of your soul, then I'm not interested in your lyrics. How sadistic.

Anyway. What do you think? How much do you care about lyrics? And what makes lyrics good? And what are your favourites? Let's get a real discussion on the go. This would make me happy.