The Best Record Review.

Just a quick, off-the-cuff link post, but, having read it this morning, I would like to thank Andrew Breckerman for writing a record review that pretty much summarises all that needs to be said about the process of listening to rock / pop music in the 21st century into five easy paragraphs.

At the time of writing, I don’t know anything about the band Swearin’ or their album Swearin’, but when I’m home this evening with a computer that has speakers, I’ll certainly give ‘em a shot.

Regardless though: point is, I know that in future, on the increasingly rare occasions when I actually find a band playing song-based guitar/drums/singing music that moves me in some way, my first instinct will probably be to just take Breckerman’s text and paste in the appropriate details. Maybe I’ll try to avoid charges of plagiarism by rewriting in-my-own-words and throwing in some local colour and faux-journo blather, but basically there is little more that needs to be said on the matter. Case is closed.

Or is it? I mean, by this point in our lives, shouldn’t we have got over this idea that songs need to be “transformative”, or somehow exceptional? I know that in the past year or so in particular, I’ve increasingly found myself enjoying rock music on a purely utilitarian level – riffs and rhythm tracks and cool guitar sounds to get me from A to B. “Special” in quite a different way from all that rousing, heartstring-tugging song-centric stuff – music that prioritises its own basic craftsmanship: getting the job done, keeping the motor running.

I guess that every now and then, when a Royal Headache or Shoppers come my way, I’ll revert to the Breckerman hypothesis. The rest of the time, I’ll just listen to Creedence and shut up. Either way, I’m happy.

Labels: blather, things of interest, thinkpiece