On Wed, 9 Aug 1995, Alex in Fonthill wrote:
> Perhaps my view of what music should be and how it should be discovered is > a little idealistic, but I TOTALLY disagree with this. It's not like Sonic > Unyon is some giant factory full of computers that spits out records > according to some formula. I did not mean to imply that ANY label spits out records according to some formula, but each label DOES actually choose what bands to release, and you should be able to get to trust the taste of the label. I don't expect a label to put out the same sounding record by several different bands. I DO expect a label to be consistent in the quality of the music they release. If I like one band on a small label, I would hope that some of the other bands fall into my area of taste as well. > I prefer to treat the music I own as music/art created by the musicians, > not as a commodity or product of anyone else. I think it's dangerous to > generalize about music for any reason. Why buy a record if you have no idea > what it will sound like? If you pick up a Sian record expecting it to sound > like heavy metal, I think you're going to be let down. Well, Buying records that I have no idea about is a favourite thing of mine when I can afford it. I buy albums because I like other bands on the label, or because I like the packaging, or because someone told me it was "a good record". I buy them with no expectations and hope to be impressed or to expand my horizons. In some cases I do it to support a label or band that I believe deserves support. Perhaps if I were to buy the Sian record I would be impressed, I don't listen to solely HEAVY music, I generally like lots of styles. I don't buy anything with expectations if I have yet to hear it. > > Buying a recording of a band's creation because you like the other work of > the people who pay to manufacture the records seems to me to be on the same > level as buying an album because you like the singer's hair, or because you > like music by bands that have girl bass players. It's like a less serious > form of prejudice. At the record store where I shop, I can listen to the > album before I buy it, so I can form my own opinion about the album BEFORE > I buy it. What may have originally attracted me to the album may have been > a criticism, or maybe I already know the work of the band or people > associated with the band. This is no case of prejudice! If I were NOT to buy a record because it was on a certain label, or because I didn't like the singers hair or because there was a girl playing bass, THAT would be prejudice. Buying a record because you like the appearance or presentation of a band is an everyday occurrence. It is part of marketing and may actually introduce you to some bands that otherwise you would never hear (and subsequently enjoy). Until recently here in St.John's you could NOT listen to records before you bought them and I'm sure it's still that way in many smaller towns, so some people are forced to buy records without hearing them and are then forced to use other criteria for buying records. > > Except in the case of labels like Sappy, it's futile to expect an album to > sound a certain way because it's on a certain label, ESPECIALLY in the case > of such a diverse label as Sonic Unyon, which runs from the heavyhardcore > of Shallow to the spacy sounds of Sian. Investigate the band, investigate > the music, read the interviews, read the reviews, and throw the rest out. Fuck that, buy the record for whatever reason you like. You'll be surprised how often you are impressed or excited by what you discover. I personally enjoy buying albums for the packaging, then if you happen not to like the musci you can at least put the cover on your wall. Expand your horizons, support indie labels that release stuff you like, trust them, if they fail you then stop buying their products. Don't base all your purchases on media representation of an album. Saying that labels like SAPPY are an exception is a bit hypocritical. The only consistency in SAPPY is the production quality, on other labels the consistency is in the musical taste of the label managers (the same reason SAPPY is consistent). > > Sorry if I was a little long, everyone. DITTO Peace, HUB
