What is the sound of now?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

In yesterday's conversation about Pizzicato Five and pop, Cis drew a kind of distinction between pop which obeys current sonic rules and pop which refuses to (apols if my precis loses a lot of subtlety).

This interested me and got me thinking what the current rules of pop might be - not just in terms of sound, but attitude, look, emotional content, trends, etc.

What characterises late 00s pop? What is happening now which wouldn't or couldn't have happened before? What will allow a kid in ten years time to identify music from now? (in the way that a music fan who had never heard records or seen pictures of Suzi Quatro, or A Flock Of Seagulls, or Ned's Atomic Dustbin might be able to put them in place and time)

Comments

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

those of you in your thirties may remember (at least one) wave or new female singer-songwriters - i remember thinging at the time that they were part of the defining sound of the moment, but from today's perspective, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly when that era was - either because we were wrong about it being the zeitgeist, or because it's such a generic zeitgeist that it isn't pinpointable.

i mention all this because i think to some degree we are in a similar period now - the keane/coldplay/arctic monkeys/lily allen/the streets axis that seems to dominate the waves at the moment is probably not very permanent

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

That's a hell of a wide axis!

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

No wider than Germany-Italy-Japan, dude.

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

are you saying that the charts have been overrun by fascists?

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

ha - better joke = 'axis of evil'!

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

but you've really got the two poles, i think, that sort of "real (white) street experience" on one hand and then the sort of trad/mope rock. the only outliers are those urban artists essentially driven by superstar producers, but to me they seem more like a series of peaks rather than a "scene" e.g., i was quite surprised a a couple of months ago to realize that Diddy was still making records!

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

you should see Diddy's new fragrance TV ads. they're so ridiculously cliched, but perhaps this is good - hard to tell. the fragrance probably smells better than his last album.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

diddy's last album is really really good!

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

well then imagine how good the fragrance must be! perhaps i will buy it.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

so much of my favourite music at the moment is by solo female singer-songwriters or ones working with one male (producer) or fronted by same e.g. Feist, The Bird And The Bee, Cortney Tidwell, Jenny Wilson, er..maybe Psapp, Ellen Allien and MIA count too.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

trip-hop redux!!

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

and ellen IS a producer, she needs no man

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

i know, altho she tends to work with a techier guy e.g. Holger Zilske

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

all techno people collaborate but ellen really is big bosswoman - she's more responsible for them than they are for her!

we saw her at the m_nus rave yesterday, like, totally fucked off her face.

[mooxyjoo.livejournal.com]

1995