Anybody ever hear of Frank Black & the Catholics? Found them by accident years ago and keep listening to them every once in a while. He's the lead singer for the Pixies.
So disappointed in today's Americana
I make it a habit of getting the Grammy nominated Americana albums from the library each year. Past years have introduced me to much new music, some good, some bad, some treasures (TajMo for example). This year I just listened to Brandi Carlile's cd 'By the way I forgive you', nominated for best Americana roots album. OMG it is unlistenable! You would think singer / songwriters would strive for a pristine recording that highlights their lyrics and mostly acoustic arrangements. No - it is a sonic mess, compressed all to hell. To quote my wife "Turn that crap off". End of rant.
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I'm still not sure what constitutes "Americana" and I don't care much for folk music but if blues influenced music is part of that then check out Martin King out of Greenville, SC. If traditional R&B with an emphasis on the 'B' is Americana then check out Vintage Trouble out of L.A. and Leon Bridges from Texas. Bridges is the real deal. |
J.S. Ondara reminds me of Tracy Chapman, Bob Marley and Jason Mraz great voice and American story. https://i.imgur.com/xdf2Cac.png https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiS5Z_qhMTgAhWL7YMKHWGmDB0QzPwB... |
Have you checked out Rhiannon Gidden's? She's amazing lyrically and production is fantastic as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vy9xTS0QxM&list=PLHpYimU_rWoCNT1cD6fVmOiiuGPq4h3IU Kacey Musgraves (though pop country) isn't bad either: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbNDJRwXKGc |
Regarding Brandi Carlie and others... Is it not possible to separate the talent from the sonics here? I’m not going to stop listening/enjoying music because of less than perfect recording quality. We all know this is a problem. One that the end user has to deal with. That is the area we have control over. I get tired of reading..."my wife came in the room and said "turn that -hit off". While that sort of statement makes for good reading?, it just adds to the negative side without actually trying to fix(?) in one's own space. Quit complaining and start explaining how you're trying to overcome! |
I can't think of a worse place to start to find good music. Some good suggestions here for sure - Gillian Welch, Sarah Jarosz, Wood Brothers, Barr Brothers(more Canadiana maybe?), Jason Isbell, Kasy and Clayton, I'm With Her etc If you like the genre definitely check out Hiss Golden Messenger - his past few albums are really great and I would argue that Lateness of Dancers is one of the best albums to be released in the past bunch of years. Great sound and songwriting The Americana roundup in Uncut magazine is a great resource - I've found a ton of great music through reading this publication in all genres. Lots of great new music out there but you do often have to hunt a bit to find the good stuff... |
The DR measurements on Sarah Jarosz's albums seem to hover around 8, which I consider marginal but darn good compared to some of the albums mentioned above. There are folks here at Audiogon who consider anything less than 10 to be poor. So whoever her engineer is, either he is part of the problem or someone else is compressing the work after he's done with it. Some Steely Dan albums up up around 16. Mark Knopfler, until recently, was typically in the 12-14 range. Pete Townshend's White City averages 12. |
Sarah Jarosz is recorded by one the best engineers in the business. Follow him for great records, Gary Pacozsa. His records are ridiculously good. "Follow Me Down" (her #2 album) and Build Me Up from Bones (#3) both got Grammy noms. Her latest Undercurrent was nominated for Best American Roots performance, Best Folk Album and Best Engineered Album. He did Alison Krauss "Windy City" and "Deep Waters" from The Lone Heartstring Band. "Forever Words" Johnny Cash and "Cover Stories, 10 years", Brandi Carlile. Find his records on allmusic.com Brad Lone Mountain Audio |
That piece in the Times is actually pretty thoughtful and well written. I don't listen using ear buds but occasionally listen to something over my laptop simply to hear it, not for any serious listening-- and I'm surprised at how much difference you can hear despite the file compression (e.g. MP3, not dynamic compression). This would tell me that the fad of loudness wars isn't to compensate for inadequacies of the playback device--much like dynamic compression of TV commercials, it is used to grab attention. But, how much long term enjoyment from something that is always at "11"? I know I'm preaching to the converted here.... As to "Americana," i don't know that it is a very definite genre- it seems to be an amalgam of folk, (old) country (as distinguished from 'new' country which is really '70s soft rock), and a few other genres-bluegrass, for example, thrown in the mix. It is probably a catch-all for other things that don't clearly fit into another pigeonhole; I'm surprised Gary Clark, Jr. is labelled as Americana, since I considered him more a blues guy-- but, just like everything else, genre labels are not very instructive. They are probably even less apt when applied to someone who is innovating and doesn't fit neatly under a category that is already well-worn by predecessors. I don't have an answer other than that, like most things in the pursuit of music that is fidelous, you are going to go through a lot of material and forced to be selective. |
Here's a current article in the NYT's about the loudness wars. It even has charts, including Brandi Carlile's grammy nominated song I was bitching about. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/opinion/what-these-grammy-songs-tell-us-about-the-loudness-wars.h... |
I have to add a correction. I just got Vintage Trouble's The Bomb Shelter Sessions on CD (2011) and it does not seem as compressed as many of the other's I listed. The DR database lists the album at 8-9 but it references a lossy medium with no other data so it was probably low-res streaming that was tested. Anyway, I'm not saying it is Steely Dan level production quality but a good bit better than most of what we're getting these days. Kudos to the band for that. |
N80 - you have expanded on my original post re: compression on today's Americana. I have listened to several of the cd's on your list and concur - why trash your sound and smash your musical arrangements. Doesn't make sense for an artist that is not going to sell tons of records. Where is the pride in your art? I would add Arcade Fire to the list as an egregious example of an excellent live band that sounds absolutely terrible on recordings. I still make a lot of mixes and once in a while I insert a modern recording I love ( lets say the Decembrists w/Gillian Welch) into a mix with an older recording ( say Led Zep Gallows Pole) - the difference in volume is huge! |
I’m not even real sure what constitutes Americana per se and not sure where R&B fits within that genre. Below is a list of bands/musicians who I think are very talented and at least somewhat retro and whose music I enjoy but whose CDs/LPs and hi res file are compressed to the point that they are nearly ruined in my opinion. With some of them you can get better quality on the LP or the hi-res file, but this is an exception rather than a rule and the improvement seems to be marginal. Alabama Shakes St. Paul and the Broken Bones Leon Bridges Vintage Trouble The Teskey Brothers (Australian) Neko Case Tedeschi Trucks Chris Stapleton (Traveller CD not too bad but not good in terms of SQ) Gary Clark, Jr. The Struts (not American or Americana but retro) I think all of these are great bands with great music but horrible production quality....all related to compression/loudness. It makes me sick. I still listen to them but will admit that I typically futz with them with the computer equalizer. Pathetic. I know. But otherwise hard to listen to. Contrast this with Mark Knopfler’s latest album, which I’m not crazy about but whose production quality is very good (10 and up on the DR database) and better on the LP. The point is, it can be done. And I don’t think it requires much additional effort. As a side not I was watching a YouTube video of a guy who puts together affordable vintage systems and one system had a built in equalizer with dB meters. When he went to test it he couldn’t understand why the needles on the meters were pegged in the red until he realized he was playing a contemporary, highly compressed artist. He changed to a better quality source and his meter was working just fine. It makes me wonder that if every system had meters that allowed people to see how crappy a production was, maybe it would deter these idiot engineers from over compressing. |
2018 folk/americana/country albums I like (some of the below might be a stretch but is in the wheelhouse, no comment on SQ) Jeff Tweedy - WarmAlela Diane - CuspKacey Musgraves - Golden HourWillie Nelson - Last Man StandingStephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Sparkle HardNeko Case - Hell-OnNatalia Lafourcade & Los Macorinos - MusasMount Eerie - After (Live)Low Cut Connie - Dirty Pictures (Part 2)2019The Delines - The Imperials |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqE0Ej1J3z8&list=OLAK5uy_nJVel4dRYUUUIeiT47aWig_9EhFCB_vJM Jim Lauderdale's "Wait Til Spring" was backed by the group Donna the Buffalo, who also have some good stuff, including "Rockin In the Weary Land". |
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