laid-out-magazine-issue-1

your done listening to it and you mindlessly
click on the youtube suggestions. I prefer to
already have something that is, well, “something”
rather than try to turn a commodity
into something meaningful.
But what you don’t think about it is how
digital music not only turns music into a
commodity but a super commodity, increasing
the ephemeral nature of a commodity to
the highest degree possible. Say what you
want, but a record out of many records in
a store exists and is tangible. I can feel it,
touch it. I know it exists. But one song out
of every song that has ever existed ever is
easily forgotten thus increasing the transient
nature and commodification of music.
A lost relic in a meaningless sea of fleeting
pleasures as you move from one album to
another, or more accurately one song to
another and in most cases totally unaware
of what album they came from.
Having a small number of options adds to
the spontaneity of life, and makes life more
exciting and fun as a result. When we are
limited to only what are record store has,
we make interesting and ultimately rewarding
decisions when it comes to what we
listen to. I went to Cactus Records looking
for The Cure’s “Disintegration”. They didn’t
have it so I continued to browse around.
Then I came across Frank Zappa and The
Mother of Invention’s “One Size Fits All”. I
had forgotten how much I loved Frank Zappa,
how he is one of my favorite guitarists
and that I have been meaning to replicate
his style for a long time. I popped the CD in
and discovered Frank Zappa’s best guitar
work. Some of the songs were practically
just solos and instrumentals. It was an
amazing album and something I only could
have experienced if I had gone to a record
store. It’s a discovery I would have never
made through digital mediums.This album
would have been buried in all the music
that has ever been made had I had not
discovered it at a record store. Even if discovered
through digital mediums it would
be one of many bands waiting to be tossed
away and forgotten by another mindless
impulse.
I’m going to go listen to My Bloody
Valentine’s “Loveless”, easily one of
my favorite albums now. I just bought
it from Soundwaves, and it’s a band
that I would never have been exposed
to if I had not gone to a record store.