Are You a Swifty?

Huge numbers  of people love her and I think that's just fine. I do not happen to be one of them. She is clearly a talented songwriter-- I have several of her records -- but what she mostly writes about -- her social life -- isn't very interesting to me. She's more entertainer than artist-- but if you want to grant her the latter then I would hope that her interests eventually goes beyond creating well-crafted songs about boyfriends, breakups, and the trials and tribulations of being rich and famous-- it just bores given the many many other female pop-artists out there that explore more interesting veins of introspection and what's going on in our times besides who you're dating. She seems pretty cool in all other regards and I wish her continued success.

Not really, at least for me. I heard Evermore was good so I picked that up. Also 1987, and the other folky one -- Folklore. They all good, but it doesn’t really speak to me-- and I’m not really into the whole Easter Egg kind of fan thing that’s a big part of her appeal from what I’ve read. My tates do run all over the place.

You can check out my record collection here on Discogs. Don’t have everything curated yet, but this is about three quarters worth. I’ve got multiple copies of many releases. Nothings for sale, but you’ll probably see why it would be natural for me to give Taylor Swift a try. Not ruling out buying future releases from her either.

Wes's Discogs collection

@tylermunns 

I'm able to appreciate songcraft without always being interested in what the writing is about (and I'm far from literate with Taylor's full catalog). There are many pop artists that I've sampled where I would never buy an album because I just don't like what I've heard at all-- Brittany Spears, Lizza, Kate Perry, Miley Cyrus, Beyonce' all come to mind. A lot of that stuff feels like it came more out of a corporate boardroom than an artist's or a band's imagination.

You have to try new things all the time if you're really into music IMO, or you just silo yourself into a comfortable, but eventually boring and too safe little world. I've been buying a lot of music since I was a small kid. There has always been great music being released, but at present far too much of it is just a weak hack on better stuff, really boing loops and samples based stuff, bad singing coated with equally bad excess auto-tune, lazy writing, lazy of fully absent melody, ect. That's most of today's pop/rock/hip-hop -- yet truly amazing stuff still happens-- just not as frequently as when I was a kid. I think that's pretty obvious to anyone that been listening to the musical and genre arcs of the last 60 years or so.

We live in strange and objectively sad times-- this often triggers waves of intense artistic creativity and shines some light into that darkness-- so I never give up on music despite the dullness, narcissism, and laziness of what tends to make the charts today.

@toro3 I don’t believe in most maxims either, especially when it comes to our own  minds, but these observations that you listed are good things to consider and think about.

Even as a kid there were albums that didn’t grab me right off, but there was something in them that made listen again, and eventually, in some cases, I’d "get it".

It took me literally forever to start really loving jazz. I had so little exposure to it as a kid that, as an adult, I had to do a lot of listening to begin to start loving it. For me, jazz is a whole new world that I’m just now getting to explore and I’m having a lot of fun doing just that!

@tylermunns "Perhaps what you’re saying is, “there is great potential for personal growth in exposing oneself to stuff they typically assume to be crap, as one may surprise oneself and avoid a certain stagnation of musical awareness,” or, as Werner Herzog likes to say, “the poet must not close his eyes.”  
These things I can appreciate."

That is pretty much what I'm saying, and the reason I linked to my Discogs collection was so that you could see that. I buy a mix of old and new releases.

For female pop artists I'd put Lana Del Rey up there with the very best of them-- from any era. There just isn't as much of it -- and algorithms now often drive artistic and production decisions, whether we realize it or not, and that very idea kind of repulses me.

There is still incredible music being released today-- but it's at a much lower volume and pace than say the 70s, 80s, or 90s I'd generally say. 

Newish releases that I'm liking a lot are:

Real Estate - Daniel
MGMT - Loss of Life
Hurray For The Riff Raff – The Past Is Still Alive
Woods – Perennial
The Smile – Wall Of Eyes
J Mascis – What Do We Do Now
Peter Gabriel – I/O (Dark-Side Mixes)
DC Gore – All These Things
Waxahatchee -- Tigers Blood

@tylermunns You’ll get no argument from me regarding the fake divide between male and female artists. When I ask myself what am I in the mood to listen to, I don’t think I’ve ever thought about it in terms of ’male’ or ’female’ artist. I think more about the style, sound, or overall vibe of the music and then I make my choices.

It’s like when people assume that since most of the great chefs that they can think of or name are male, that therefore males must make better chefs. I think BS! What’s happened is that males got most of the "opportunities" over the decades so it isn’t surprising there’s more of them in this or that category. I really do believe that this is changing, but like most things, it feels like its taking forever!

There are now more females in PHD programs in the U.S. than there are males for example. There are definitely more females in music these days than ever before as well. Change is always hard and the status quo is always very sticky.

@tylermunns 

Ha! You're right! I should not make that distinction unless asked to.

Regarding Lana Del Rey -- have you listed to her album "Norman Fucking Rockwell"? She's an exceptional songwriter. She does not write by committee like say, Beyonce'. Check it out here. 

I will say that there is nowhere near the volume of exceptional work being released these past couple of decades like there was during the 60's or 70's, or even the 80's - 90's. Especially when you consider the lyrics, which usually range from the trite to the unbearably bad (with exceptions!).

@tylermunns

I’ve slowly, very slowly, come to the conclusion you have come to about Antonoff. He HAS made Lana more bland and I keep hoping she’ll find a new producer, or go back to one like Dan Auerbach. Her writing I think remains strong... but the music has become increasingly bland. I’ve checked out his band the Bleachers and found them to sound highly derivative and mediocre-- like a bad Bruce Springsteen tribute band.

I have not give St. Vincent much of a chance, but bought Daddy’s Home and was not too thrilled about what I heard-- may try listening to some of her older material.

Antonoff does seem to be a kind of a vampire that sucks the life out of many of the artists he produces. Had high hopes for Lorde’s last couple of albums-- but the last one in particular was a real snooze-- just went and checked who produced it-- Jack Antonoff, again!

@waytoomuchstuff 

Your musical references are all things that I like a lot. They are all very singular in their sound. So based upon that, here are a few things to try that you might like:

Woods - Strange to Explain
Vetiver - Up on High
Real Estate - Daniel
MGMT - Loss of Life
J Mascis - Elastic Days
Those Unfortunates - Welcome to Woodbury Down
Bryan Ferry -  Mamouna
Steven Wilson - The Harmony Codex
Jonathan Wilson - Rare Birds
The Clientele - Bonfires on the Heath
Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood
Angel Olsen - Forever Means
Tennis - Yours Conditionally 

Hope you get a chance to hear some of these and enjoy them as much as I do.