Dublin Opinion

I haven’t had time to complete the music post that I wanted to write this week, so here’s the plan of what I intended it to be about.

Point 1: Mention the cancelling of the Animal Collective gig in the Tripod on Monday night because the band missed the ferry.

Point 2: Moan on about how their last gig was cut short because one of the band had a bad cold.

Point 3: Go on about how this was one of the few gigs you were likely to go to this year and how you don’t check out new music these days in blogs, magazines or whatever, the way you used to. Blag on about how you don’t seem to have time these days, and how you feel there’s something missing.

Point 4: Mention Atlas Sound, and how you’d never heard of them until just before the planned AC show and how this illustrated how ‘out of touch’ you were because the music sounded up your street and a bit like My Bloody Valentine in a way.

Point 5: Describe the news that Animal Collective hastily arranged an alternative gig in Whelan’s on Tueday night, how they got their Irish ‘merch guy’ to sort it out and get their gear to the venue because their van broke down for a third time, how a poster was put up outside Whelan’s and people starting texting each other to say it was on. How they finally got on stage at 12 and played till 2 in the morning and how this spontaneous gig was reportedly ‘awesome’.

Point 6: Admit that you didn’t find out about this until Wednesday because you don’t read music blogs any more (the update was in the State blog) and how this made you feel old and suburban.

Point 7: Discuss your fear of ‘Dad Rock’, and how men of a certain age, an age you’re on the cusp of, tend to get stuck in a nostalgia loop, listening more and more to music that conforms to the type of stuff they used to listen to when they were in their feckless early 20s.

Point 8: Describe how people listen to music in a different way these days, and how with the advent of MP3s and cheaper electronic goods people have on average about 20 GB of music on their laptop or work PC, and more in an external hard drive while also storing a shit load on their iPod or mobile phone. They regularly burn CDs with compilations of the latest ‘sounds’ and swap CDs packed with 700 MG of MP3s with friends making their access to new music incredibly easy.

Point 9: Tentatively make the suggestion that this often means that you are less rather than more likely to seek out something different and imply that there used to be an excitement in searching and discovering new music, following new avenues and coming across stuff by accident that potentially opens your ears to something completely new.

Point 10: Admit that this may also be middle-age bunkum

Point 11: Use the Sean Hughes line: “When you’re young music is the soundtrack of your life, but when you get older it’s the background music that’s playing when you’re doing the washing up.”

Point 12: Retell the story of how you were listening to one of your home made compilation CDs while doing the dishes and ‘Check Out’ from Joy Zipper came on.

Admit how you always liked the sound of Joy Zipper because they have a clear My Bloody Valentine vibe but that the track is at least 8 years old. Point out your stark realization that you were listening to Dad Rock.

Point 13: Inform people that Kevin Shields produced tracks on Joy Zippers follow up album American Whip and that some of the tracks have a sort of soft focus MBV sound.

Point 14: Mention also that many bands, including MBV, who were in vogue in your early 20s are reforming and doing special one off shows at music festivals. Admit how this seems a bit sad and seems to be more of a marketing idea as it appeals to men of a certain age who are stuck in a nostalgia loop, craving after music that was all the rage when they were in their feckless youth.

Point 15: Change tack slightly and pull in the points about how you don’t have time to search out new music now and how you’re feeling culturally bereft because of that. Remind readers also about Mark E. Smith’s point about how all the Fall songs he’s written are largely based on the time he spent his early 20s when he was unemployed, having dropped out of college and had nothing to do. Emphasis that he thought this was time well spent, doing nothing. It allowed him to think for himself and be creative.

Point 16: Suggest that you had a similar period in your early 20s, wasting time, reading books, hanging around and most importantly getting into music.

Point 17: Quote from a great Sean O’Hagan article from last Sunday’s Observer in which he describes the circumstances surrounding the recording of My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless album and how the length it took to record it was partly down to Shield’s tendency to loll about doing fuck all for ages. Sleeping during the day and spending whole days and weeks doing nothing. Mention also that much of Bradford James Cox’s solo music comes from the year he spent recovering from chest and back surgery as a teenager.

Point 18: Reuse the quote from Adam Phillips, who Sean O’Hagan interviewed before and which he uses at the end of his article on MBV:

“When I asked Phillips what would be the single thing that might make us more content in our ever-accelerating culture, he took his time before replying. Then, finally, he said: ‘We need to find the time to daydream and be bored, and to see that, too, as a part of our creativity. We need, as it were, to find the time to waste time without worrying about the consequences.’ “

Point 19: Conclude that rather than worrying about whether the music I listen to is ‘Dad Rock’ or not I should admit that what I really miss is not so much all the new music I should be listening to, but rather the time I had when I had little to do.

Emphasis that now that everything is a rush with family responsibilities, work, and other online pursuits, I actually crave the opportunity to be creative and to discover new things, and to suggest that this creativity and discovery is intimately linked to music.

Resolve to definitely get out more.

 

 Joy Zipper Check Out: Play Now | Play in Popup

 

 Atlas Sound - Recent Bedroom: Play Now | Play in Popup

 

 My Bloody Valentine - Soon: Play Now | Play in Popup

 

 Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel : Play Now | Play in Popup

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