Accordingly, we are living in the age of the democratized music industry. This is in keeping with the nature of technology generally, which is that it trends downwards in cost and upwards in availability over time, and has done so ever since only the fanciest cavemen in government labs had stone tools. However, having access to a computer and the iTunes store puts all the tools necessary for a self-released album within relatively easy reach. The creative accomplishment of actually putting thought to word and word to deed is not diminished one iota by a change in medium, and someone who puts out a great record on SoundCloud isn’t any less of a musician than somebody who puts out am equally great record on a prestigious label. Now, I don’t mean they’re too easy to write and perform. In comparison to that, contemporary online album releases aren’t all that hipster because they’re too straightforward. Along a similar vein, I have an old Jamaican dub record produced by David “Coxsone” Dodd, and the dust jacket is printed on reclaimed cardstock from a case of tea, which I like to think was because the record was pressed by a ragtag bunch of hipsters who did their best with what they had. Fahey really laid the ground work for the tradition of hipster musicians doing everything the hard way, and anyone who doesn’t think that’s hipster AF is being difficult. Not only did Fahey have to compose and perform all the material, he had to take care of everything from having the vinyl pressed to designing the dust jacket. The album was never marketed or sold to the public. Fahey founded his own “label,” Takoma Records, and pressed 100 copies of his debut album in 1959. Grandma Hipster, who was big on etiquette, used to tell me, “It’s not always what you say so much as how you say it.” The hipster cognate to that folksy truism is, “It’s not what always what you do so much as how you do it.”Īmerican guitarist John Fahey is widely regarded as one of the first indie musicians, at least according to the contemporary hipster understanding of an indie musician (to thwart anyone who wants to jump in here and talk about some indie Renaissance minstrel). This is a prime example of how there’s more to this hipster thing than simply being in a pop cultural minority.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |