The Talkhouse is a sweet blog in its own right- it offers a venue for musicians of certain repute to talk shop and give their two cents on new music.

In the wake of King Krule's coronation, Jana Hunter wrote a tepid review of 6 Feet Beneath the Moon that sparked a dialogue between herself and Nitsuh Abebe on a range of interwoven topics including originality in music (or lack thereof), the hype cycle, and the utility versus the cost of early exposure.

Hunter fronts her own incredibly badass band, and thus I believe she has the authority to say what she says. I don't agree with all of it, but I respect her position on the matter. And she states it all very tastefully.

Also, I think I've given King Krule enough time to percolate through all the talking heads- maybe I can start listening to him more objectively rather than through the filter of a bunch of hype wankery. Gonna give him a chance in the next couple weeks.

ButterflyEffect:

I liked this response and Hunter's clarifications a lot better than that Talkhouse piece. I think her clarification is a lot less condescending and soapbox-y.

    I wouldn’t say I’d like Archy Marshall and others like him to stop making records; I just wish I could give them a stipend and send them to some internetless middle-of-nowhere in which to do it. It’s my wish for them that they take all the fucking time they need to make the best versions of themselves possible. The culture being sold to them right now encourages the opposite, and they deserve better.

Really that's the gist of it. But that's also not going to happen with most people, not with the state that the industry is in today in terms of profitability, and also because home recordings are becoming much more prevalent. You're not really going to get a stipend to record something, and you're almost certainly not going to the middle of nowhere to record it (unless you're The Men and you feel like recording in the Catskill Mountains).

I guess here's my problem: Lets say I'm in a band and we're putting together our first album. We're just people doing this to make music and play shows, but somebody in a blog gets word of it and suddenly the hype cycle is in effect. The recordings get more and more press, a label gets interested, and suddenly you've got The Orwells. I don't see anything wrong with that.

I dunno, she seems overly jaded and negative. As with you, I don't agree with a lot of what she said, but I can at least respect the way she presented it in her follow-up.


posted 3554 days ago