A blog and nothing but since 2003. Some tech, lots of music, and if rambling was money, drinks are on me.
Repeatedly delayed: Why the album as we know it should die
As I sorted through the content cupboards looking for some leftovers that I could use to make a meal, I found this description of the new Del Tha Funkee Homosapien record, and it brought up a well-worn but still-intriguing topic:
After a lengthy hiatus, the indie rap star teams with Def Jux and issues a straightforward and uncluttered record that flows surprisingly naturally for an album that’s been so repeatedly delayed.
It was that “repeatedly delayed” part that rankled my cockles. It’s not because I’ve been eagerly awaiting the new Del record, because I haven’t, but I keep thinking that there’s no good reason for a record to be repeatedly delayed anymore now that we’re in the digital world. Music should be released when it’s ready, and full-time artists should not take so long to put out music.
I was thinking about this kind of thing the other day as I hopscotched through topics in my head walking to work yesterday, ending up at Neko Case. Her Canadian Amp EP is one of the best things she’s done, and it was recorded at home and released on tour quickly, and yet it took her four years to put our her last record, and who knows how long it’ll be before she puts out another.
I’m softening you up for my oft-repeated opinion that the our current concept of “album” needs to die. Now, I’m not talking about going to an all-singles music world, or that 10-15 song collections are going to go out. What I’m saying is that the music world has progressed to the point that the album has become the artistic eggs-in-one-basket. Artists spend years (and years) refining one single artistic statement that’s intended (and expected) to be consumed as a whole, and spending so much time crafting a single statement is setting everyone up for disappointment.
That’s obvious, but where the digital part of it comes in is that very few of us need to have the patience to give an album more than a couple chances to impress before we turn back to our huge libraries of music and the promise of moremoremore on the web. Great albums will still (and always) survive, but all artists need to start looking beyond this one format and just concentrate on making music. If you have two songs, great. Release them. If you want to do a 20-song concept record, fine. But get it done and release it. Musicians need to go back to letting true inspiration set their timetables, not whether or not they have an album ready.
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March 13th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I agree with you to a point. When an album release date is dictated by a marketing department as opposed to the artist him/herself…it’s frustrating. But I’m not really looking forward to the inveitable day when the digital release is the standard and the actual cd/lp/whatever is an afterthought, if it’s even done at all. It may take less time to finish a track and post it on a web site…but it takes a little longer to actually create something tangible. I’m willing to wait for that at least.
Obvious point to make, but it seems Radiohead found a good middle ground with “In Rainbows”. The album was available at the moment they wished it to be, and there was still a reason to visit an actual store a few months later.
I think you point to something sort of troubling when you correctly point out the realities of the “moremoremore” interntet age we live in and its affect on our attention spans. I sorta fear a tipping point: when the amount of music I want to hear actually far outweigh’s the time I have to actually enjoy it. Well, damn…when I put it that way, it seems I’m already there.
I guess I’m just looking for a way to slooooooow things down a bit. I hate how I barely have time to savor something new before I move on to hunting for the next. I constantly find myself resolving (and subsequently failing) to give into that kind of mentality.
March 13th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Excellent. Great to have your thoughts on this, Xtian.
The marketing doesn’t help, but the point I was really driving at is that I think music is getting held up by the insistence on constraining music releases to the 40-50 minute format. This is a constraint that was decided on by the LP, simply because it was the medium available at the time. It was expanded a little by CDs, but we still have that concept that music can’t be released until it can be attached to a full album.
So when I say that the digital age should change things, I don’t just mean it in the Radiohead sense of releasing things immediately, but mostly in the sense that digital releases now allow art to be delivered however and whenever the artist chooses and whatever is best for the tunes.
I don’t want to see the end of tangible product either. I just want to see people move from the idea that the 40-50 minute grouping of songs as the only way new tunes can be released.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
You’ve gotta love this: the Raconteurs announced the release of a new album today. It’s out in 8 days. The album was finished in early March and will be available for purchase (download, cd or vinyl) only weeks later. They are out-Radioheading Radiohead! Kinda nuts. And very cool. Makes me wanna buy it on principal alone.
March 18th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
You know I love it. Even thought it’s really only being done to beat the leaks, it’s created a new kind of excitement around new music. I haven’t gotten excited about a Tuesday new release in a very long time, so it’s awesome to have this world where, AT ANY MOMENT, your favorite band could release a new album. Not that the Raconteurs are my favorite band, but…you get my point.
March 18th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
[...] gambit, one that ups the ante from In Rainbows certainly and throws down a gauntlet that I know at least one person should [...]