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The future of music is heading towards its past. With digital downloads gaining in popularity every year, more and more people purchase fewer albums and purchase more single songs on the internet. There are many debates over this subject that revolve around the “what came first the chicken or the egg”. Did musicians as a whole stop making great albums which ultimately led people to only want the two or three songs that were good, or did people’s short-attention span stop giving albums enough of a listen to really get the other non-accessible songs? I believe it is a combination of both, but regardless the full length album will eventually take the way of the dinosaurs.

When musicians first started recording music for distribution they would record 2-3 songs and send them to a radio station, i.e. Elvis and etc. Two of my favorite bands, The Smashing Pumpkins and Muse, have recently announced they will no longer release albums but release 2-3 songs at a time on the internet. It is where the past meets the future and very interesting how things tend to go in cycles.

This is bitter sweet for me since I believe my favorite albums are great because they captured a theme or a general feeling of a moment in time. These 2-3 songs released will in no way have the same impact as a full length album, but it will ultimately result in more releases through out a 2 year period. Generally a band will release one album every two years and would probably release 2-3 song blocks every couple of months, which is typically a net gain in songs.

So at the end of the day we lose some and gain some. Ultimately, I want more great music and I am excited about what the future will bring as the music industry continues to evolve.

Raise your hand if you think the RIAA is a good institution?

Bueller? Bueller?

That is what i thought.

Apparently someone in the music industry is actually “starting” to think the same thing.

Check out this article at pcmag.com talking about EMI (one of the 4 big record companies; they own Virgin & the venerable Capitol Records)  considering substantially cutting their funding for the RIAA. EMI recently acquired by Terra Firma and it seems in layman’s terms Terra Firma decided they are throwing away money at the RIAA. 

Now I’m not an expert on the subject matter and i won’t pretend to be, but evidently the big record companies poor millions of dollars to the RIAA so they can “protect” their product. AKA sue the shit out of us the customers.

I’ll get excited when one of the companies cuts them off completely and the others start to follow suit, but i guess when you are dealing with an institution that thinks it is a good business practice to sue its own customers you have to take baby steps……

It is that time of the year. Every December lazy music writers/critics can count on putting out their very own “best of” list.  That’s right just throw it out there and let people come and rip you apart because you forgot the old rock dinosaur’s new album or the newest pitchfork darlings “it” band.  I won’t lie i love reading over them and seeing what folks are drooling over.

One of the first ones that has caught my attention is Paste Magazine’s year end 2007 List  Be sure to check out their editors individual list as well. This list obviously caters to their readers which tend to be a bit “folky” or “indie”. 

I actually like most of the albums in their top ten (well the half of them i have heard at least). Not sure if i would rank them like that though. Here is their top ten:

1. The National - Boxer
2. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
3. Bruce Springsteen - Magic
4. The White Stripes - Icky Thump
5. Feist - The Reminder
6. M.I.A. - Kala
7. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
8. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
9. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
10. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd’s Dog
full list

In a similar vein Harp Magazine dropped their list recently.  Similar indie/folky style but different results. 

Again I have about 50% of these but i don’t think many of these would make a top ten for me. For instance I love neil young but his new album is far from good and even farther from the best of the year.

The first list i saw came out months ago from Stylus. Quite an odd list. Here is their top ten:

01. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
02. Miranda Lambert - Crazy ExGirlfriend
  
03. Panda Bear Person Pitch

04. Lil Wayne - Da Drought 3
05. The National - The Boxer  
06. Kanye West - Graduation 
07. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga  
08. M.I.A. - Kala    
09. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime  
10. Radiohead - In Rainbows 

full list

Now if those list don’t get your testosterone flowing take a peak at Decibel’s year end list (in stores now) Here is the top ten according to the metal mega magazine:

10 - A Life Once Lost - iron gag
09 - High on Fire - death is this communion
08 - Portal - outre
07 - Witchcraft - the alchemist
06 - Neurosis - given to the rising
05 - Baroness - the red album
04 - Jesu - conqueror
03 - The Dillinger Escape Plan - ire works
02 - Watain - sworn to the dark
01 - Pig Destroyer - phantom limb

Full list from Idolator

I actually only own 2 albums on this one so i can’t say much. The Baroness album is worth the hype though (think mastodon meets isis) & the High on Fire album comes with all the fury one could expect from the metal masters. I do want to check out the new Pig Destroyer. It is on my Christmas list for Santa to bring to me.

Anyone else seen any other good list? Any surprises on these? What albums did you love that have been “looked over” this year so far by the critics. Most importantly curious minds want to know what albums melvin has been listening to this year?