JIM CARROLLon music
So the album's dying? Not as an art form, it isn't
It’s the meme that refuses to go away. Every so often, a music business pundit sticks his or her head above the parapet and declares that the death of the album is nigh.
This time, it’s former Warner Music Group tech leader Ethan Kaplan who is predicting the death of the format.
Writing on Hypebot about REM (Kaplan runs the band’s fansite, Murmurs), Kaplan predicted that their new album Collapse Into Now would be “the last ‘Album’ they will release” and that “2011 is the last year of the Album (capital A).” Kaplan believes the album has become outdated in what he calls “a post-album universe”.
“Some bands might choose to keep the album as an atomic entity (ie Radiohead), but to me it almost seems anachronistic. My view is that bands need to take the concept of an album and move toward the concept of a Release, in the software sense.”
Of course, there are others who will refute this. Speaking during a panel at SXSW, Simon Wheeler from the Beggars Group (the entity behind XL, Matador, 4AD and Rough Trade), said that 60 per cent of the group’s digital income comes from digital albums. He also pointed out that it was much harder to get attention for a track than for an album.
Then there are the artists themselves. Bands still talk in terms of albums. It’s still the goal of every newbie act starting out in a garage to record and release an album.
It may be “anachronistic” to many in the industry looking at revenue projections and bottom lines, but it’s what the artists who create the music in the first place want to do.
And maybe we need a reminder that music is still as much about art as it is about commerce.
New music
CALLERS
Dusty, eerie, soulful sounds from the band who first started making music together in New Orleans before relocating to New York. Last year’s Life of Love album is where to go to swoon over Sara Lucas’s voice and Ryan Seaton’s guitar work.
myspace.com/callers
SUPERHUMANOIDS
From Echo Park, Los Angeles, Superhumanoids are all about tough electric pop tunes with a bundle of energy, sugary ambience and melodic muscle. Last year’s Urgency EP was a wow, but new four-track release Parasite Paradise (especially Malta) is even better. superhumanoids.com YOUNG BEE
Navan dude Chris Holten has been making buzzy, experimental psych-folk jams since last year. Tunes such as Ya Bit and Kids Don’t Say Home Enough These Days owe a few cents to Animal Collective and Panda Bear, but there’s striking potential here. soundcloud.com/ young-bee
Now playing
Baths Cerulean(Anticon) Reacquainting ourselves with Will Wiesenfeld's outstanding debut of spiky, bleepy electronica ahead of his show at Dublin's Workman's Club, April 29th.
Dorothy Ashby Afro-Harping(Verve) Superb album of far-side soul, jazz and funk cuts from jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby from 1968.
Primal Scream Screamadelica(Sony) Bobby Gillespie and co's best-ever album gets the 20th-anniversary reissue and remaster treatment, including a smattering of extra tracks and alternative versions.
The Chills Kaleidoscope World(Flying Nun) The essential document of the seminal New Zealand band's early years. They don't make 'em like this any more.
Various Treme(Geffen/HBO) Music from David The Wire Simon's New Orleans TV show – get your swagger on to John Boutte's theme tune and other prime NOLA cuts.
For more see: irishtimes.com/blogs/ontherecord
