So... you set out from work on a Friday evening, it's nice and sunny, you start walking east. Like a moth to a flame, Rough Trade East record shop draws you in. There's nothing you can do about it.
You go inside, stare at the displays, maybe recognise a handful of names (the Strokes have got a new album out, you've heard of them!). You wonder: given that you spend so much time listening to music, how is it that hardly any of these names ring a bell with you?
You do a tour of the listening posts. The staff have added some blurb to a label on the front of each CD but you realise that this in no way describes the music within. It's commendable in some ways that there's no convoluted pigeon-holing ("acid/metal/P-Funk", "thrash lounge"), no lazy comparisons with other bands ("think Cocteau Twins meet Chic", "part Radiohead, part Right Said Fred"). But this can be frustrating when you're trying to get to grips with a lot of music in the space of a half-hour shopping trip.
Anyway, you pick some band names you like the sound of and listen to the opening few tracks of three of four of the albums... Hmmm. You've heard some interesting left-field electronica on Tom Ravenscroft's 6Music show lately so you grab a couple of CDs by artists you've never heard of and which sound... well, different. Face it, you could do with plugging that gap in the dubstep section of your collection.
You reach for your wallet and head for the till...
No comments:
Post a Comment