Eyeballs vs Eardrums

What I have been listening to and why write about music when I know it won’t get many reads

This week I wanted to share some of the music I have been listening to recently. I post such pieces in the full knowledge that this won’t go viral or even get many reads. But this is my personal Substack and I will write about music if I want to.

It is a shame, but I will admit that I have learned that being in a sardonic state is the one where I write the most readable and Speccie publishable pieces (another one is up by the way), but I don’t want to be overly focused on the negatives or invested in the macro level fights that happen at the expense of the things that add beauty and pleasure into my life. After all, why point out the failings if you ultimately don’t see value in the thing and want to see it improve? What is the point of fighting the culture wars if there is no culture that you actually want to see preserved or created? There are some culture warriors that I wonder what they will do with their life if they win. Will they too end up with St George in Retirement Syndrome in the same way as the Wokelings that insist that the battle for enforced pronoun use is fighting against oppression in the same way as those at Stonewall or the first march down Oxford St.    

I know there is good evolutionary reasons for why bad news and doom messaging goes viral in ways that “this is lovely and beautiful” does not. We are the ancestors of people that took news like “there is a sabre tooth tiger over there” seriously and passed it on to our tribe, but at scale this leads us into a cycle of rage and tribalism.

Someone recently recommend I read this piece. The basic premise is that the meme-ability of messages is driven firstly because it is a signal that is polarising (in that things that everyone agrees with are not much of a signal of loyalty to a cause) and that it is rage inducing. This leads to people sharing it because they like it but also people sharing it because they hate it. Then those that like it share the commentary of those that hate it saying how much they hate those that hate it and then those that hate it share that as an example of how much those that like such things are full of hatred. And on it goes in a self-perpetuating cycle.

I would add that the controversial cases rather than no-brainer cases have a particular meme-ability not just because they are a costly signal of ingroup loyalty, but they are also ripe territory for humour and mockery. Think of all the jokes about accents and other ways we used to judge who is in and out of the group in the past.

It is why not straight up anger, but a kind of sardonic temperament is the kind that does best on a platform like Twitter, but maybe that’s my in-group preference talking.

But just because it is meme-able doesn’t make it good for you… or something that adds value.

So, on to the music…

HipMama

I discovered HipMama recently after asking what happened to Ollie McGill the genius pianist from the Cat Empire. As it turns out he has been busy composing viral jingles and starting other bands like the bluesy, funky Belligen-based band HipMama.

Nick Cave

I go through Nick Cave phases quite often and I am in one right now. I haven’t warmed to Ghosteen yet - mainly songs from the albums Push the Sky Away and Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus like the Higgs Boson Blues. I am also listening to songs from Grinderman, like Palaces of Montezuma, Go Tell the Women, and Heathen Child.

Emiliana Torrini

I am a long-time fan of Emiliana Torrini, but I recently discovered her collaboration with the Colourist Orchestra. I have been listening to many versions of her old songs played with them in particular I love the versions of Jungle Drum and Thinking Out Loud.  

Morcheeba

I hadn’t listened to Morcheeba since I was young (and they had hits like Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day) but my rediscovery of Emiliana Torrini led me to listen to the songs she wrote for Kylie which then recommended I listened to Morcheeba. I have been playing the songs Slow Down, Otherwise, and Trigger Hippy a lot. 

Sixto Rodriguez

I watched the film Searching for Sugar Man when I was sick recently and have been listening to many of his songs since (which I had heard before but didn’t know who sung them). Obviosuly the song Sugar Man is at the top of the list but Crucify Your Mind, I Wonder and Establishment Blues are also great.

Róisín Murphy

I hadn’t heard of this Irish pop star until people tried to cancel her latest album, Hit Parade. It is not what I would usually listen to, but it is really inventive - a very different style of music. So, I have been listening to that album a lot as well.