WSPC SESSION NOTES FOR OCTOBER 2014: LISTEN TO THE MUSIC

FROM THE DJs STUDIO DESK:

Dear readers and listeners, I feel the need to prepare you for a photo that will appear just under these words. Are you ready? Here it is...

OK...there they are. Bono, Larry Mullen Jr., Adam Clayton and The Edge, collectively known as U2, of course. And now, I have to ask a few questions of you...did you want to stone the screen at the mere sight of them? Did you happen to feel say...violated at having to see their image once again? Was this image, say...forced upon you? Did seeing this image right at this time on your home computer or perhaps your smart phones make you feel as if someone had broken into your house? Was your way of life so damaged that you would wish to have all four men doomed to death upon a Malaysian flight?

Look...I am writing somewhat with my tongue planted firmly within my cheek but also with more than a share of irritation. The internet rage and increasing vitriol against U2 and their release strategy for their latest album "Songs Of Innocence" (released September 9, 2014) has gone far beyond existing as a purely "first world problem" (thanks "Weird" Al) to something that I feel is quite indicative of our 21st century culture regarding our relationship with music: there isn't one.

In all fairness, I certainly did not mean that last statement with any sense of hyperbole but it does seem to recognize that people are not only not buying music like in generations past. People are not even listening to music in the same ways than in generations past, leaving the music in the relationship with music as something of an afterthought. Now, music is a fashion statement, an superfluous accessory, or innocuous background fodder. It's nothing to get passionate about in and of itself, especially when perceptions and the cult of personality get in the way.

A band like U2 certainly has no need for someone like me to defend them and that is not the purpose of this opening entry for the month. But, my question to all of the detractors (and to a degree the supporters) of "Songs Of Innocence," I have to ask if any of those people have really taken the time to listen to the music and not have some ready made knee jerk reaction to the cultural shifts of the moment, which has found itself from National Public Radio all the way to "Saturday Night Live" taking swipes at the band for their latest album. In fact, the album had only been in the world for not even one day before media outlets were lambasting it for being the worst piece of tripe the band has ever released (ah...Pitchfork, you are so predictable in your self-congratulatory hipster "wrath") or even praising it as a masterpiece (I'm looking at you, Rolling Stone). And then those that solely exist within the comment thread fields began to strike with a variation of the statements that opened this posting and after a while, I really began to wonder just how many of them, from critics to internet trolls, actually even heard the album in the first place. Or were they all just piling on in a reactionary pose against the idea of the band and a misplaced anger against a corporation (in this case, Apple) that I am certain most of them actually benefit from and will not discard anytime soon?

What made matters even worse to me was when the official cover art for the album, a stark black and white photo of shirtless drummer Larry Mullen Jr. embracing his 18 year old son, was released. The vitriol was simply depressing to see, to say the least (I really need to stay away from comment threads and chat rooms).

As for me, I have heard "Songs Of Innocence" perhaps a dozen times or so now and I stand by my original assessment, even moreso. I like the album. Very much. No, I do not think it is one of their great albums and there are several albums that I have heard this year from other artists that I have enjoyed even more. But that said, I think it is a strong one and filled with a warmth and intimacy that is uncharacteristic for U2 and therefore, more than welcoming as it did disarm me. But who cares about anything like that because we now live in a world where Auto-Tune, committee songwriting, faceless producer driven singles and Nicki Minaj shaking her ass to an awaiting anaconda merits more credibility than the presence of one of rock and roll's great bands, who actually write songs and are able to actually sing and play their own instruments and have crafted a work of an unprecedented autobiographical openness. To me, this reality reduces the concept of "credibility" to nothingness because we also live in a time where music itself is disposable. And when art is treated as being disposable, how is one to recognize it when art does indeed arrive?

These problems also exist on the other end of the spectrum. For here is another photo...

This, of course, is Thom Yorke, songwriter and musician for Radiohead, Atoms For Peace as well as his work as a solo artist. On September 28, 2014, Yorke unleashed his own surprise release, his second solo album "Tomorrow's Modern Boxes," via BitTorrent for a most acceptable low price. Due to my personal distrust of the BitTorrent format (aren't those things supposed to be potentially loaded with viruses?), I have not purchased the album and will patiently wait for the eventual physical release. So with that, I have not heard the album as of yet.

Even so, I wanted to test out my own internal theory regarding Yorke. I again visited some comment threads and just browsed through some internet music sites and wouldn't you know that Yorke has received near universal praise where U2 has received nothing but scorn and for an album you didn't even have to pay for to boot! "That's how you do it, U2!" screamed one comment and so it went from there, with anonymous individuals celebrating Thom Yorke and BitTorrent while crucifying U2 and Apple to varying degrees. It was as if these people were just tripping over themselves to see who could come up with the best quips the fastest and again, did any of these people even hear the album yet?

Furthermore, it also felt to be this self-congratulatory hipster exchange debating the values and legitimacy of Apple Vs. BitTorrents, aspects that have NOTHING to do with the actual songs themselves. Nobody has even mentioned one song from Yorke's album (at least on the few threads I visited) which just led me to feel that what I was witnessing was the cult of personality in action as the debate was not about the music itself but the perceptions of who or what people think Thom Yorke and U2 actually are. Again, making music itself disposable.

The cult of personality truly continued within the music press, and frankly, just as expected as Radiohead and Thom Yorke have habitually existed as critical darlings whose every recorded note is treated as gold. One review (I think it was from either Stereogum or Consequence Of Sound), which also arrived after the album had not even been in the world for 24 full hours, committed the confounding statement of the album being simultaneously a "minor work" but also one that was a "masterpiece." Huh...what????

I love Radiohead, believe me, I LOVE Radiohead but I also know that for all of their greatness, everything they have recorded and every album they have released, is not gold. I really believe that if fans wee truly honest with themselves they would at least pose the question if the band has released a top flight GREAT album since the days of "OK Computer" (released May 21, 1997) and "Kid A" (released October 2, 2000). Or at least "Hail To The Thief" (released June 9, 2003). 

To my ears, and even despite the fact that I think it is impossible for Radiohead or any of Thom Yorke's side projects could deliver anything unlistenable, there are some shortcomings and questions to ponder. First of all, it feels as if Yorke has fallen a little too in love with his laptop, especially as the Atoms For Peace album did feel to be a bit too synthetic for its own good and even a tad interchangeable with recent Radiohead albums and even Yorke's solo music, this diluting any sense of individual identity for that band. Secondly, and delving backwards in time, didn't anyone else wonder if the universal praise for Radiohead's "In Rainbows" (released October 10, 2007) was more due to the "pay what you want" independent release strategy rather than the actual music? Didn't anyone other than myself seem to think that Radiohead's last album "The King Of Limbs" (released February 18, 2011) was a bit incomplete or slight as a whole piece? And really, would it kill Yorke to take his beautiful voice and enunciate once in a while? None of those questions ever enter the conversation because Thom Yorke is a figure and Radiohead is a band who can do no wrong in the perceptions of the public, from critics to internet comment threaders, as they all try to keep that "industry of cool" alive--an industry I think that Radiohead themselves would scorn.

What I am getting at with all of this is to urge each and every one of us to keep the music in focus. To keep our ears and hearts open, truly open to the sounds that are being delivered to us and just listen as purely as possible. To listen without prejudice. To listen without the noise of impersonal release strategies and vicious internet chatter getting in the way.

This month, I am hoping to post features about new 2014 music that will inspire you to go out and listen like you used to, never have before or always will forever and ever. Keep listening to the music for the music is all that matters.

And remember, as always...PLAY LOUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!