You can check out Pt. 1 of this series here
Not necessarily looking for clones (head nod to the funk) but we need each other and by we I mean folks who love great music, period. I don’t mean good music I mean great, I don’t mean giving a pass because the music or creator has attached themselves to some “label” (and by label I mean name of genre not company) and I definitely don’t mean because someone had one hit eons ago that somehow they are granted some sort of faux-legendary status and we should be compelled to listen to their feeble attempt at making music that appeals to the “young people”. Nope. Not going to do it. At all. You know why??? We. Do. NOT. HAVE. TIME. It’s a simple as that, however I do believe we have time to find persons out there who will go about the task of coming to the conclusion that we don’t have time for mediocrity because ultimately in the end it will save all of us time. What do I mean by that?
Looks, Walks, Quacks
I’m nobody special but I can usually tell within the first couple of measures of a song if I want to continue the journey. Not always, but well over 90% of the time. That’s me and I only have a capacity to listen to so much music that I have not listened to before in a week, why? Well, for one thing there’s a whole lot of music that I need to listen to, that I’m familiar with because of how that music works with my psyche. It’s like an exclusive club, a privilege to get in if you will. Again, it’s not because I’m so important, but the music I choose to spend time with and time itself is that important. But, if there’s more than one “me” in the collective, in the aggregate we can get a lot more done together and if another “me” recommends some music I’m waaay more apt to listen to it than if someone who’s paid to hype something recommends(in some instances demands)something to me to listen to. There are exceptions, but again if “I/me” tells me before I even press play or before I open an email or follow a link that’s something is garbage and not worth the time then it’s done for me. Sorry. No, not sorry because I trust “me”. That’s what we’re doing when we seek each other out, we’re building trust. No we do not agree on everything, but when it’s right there’s enough trust that’s been built that you go with it even if initially you were inclined not to.
Libbie(Indie)on the label: By choice or default
There once was a time where being on a label mattered. I might also advance the controversial there was once a time where “Indie” meant something altogether than it does now. I don’t listen to any music because of what or who it is aligned with anymore. I listen for greatness. Just because it’s Indie doesn’t make it anymore real than something on a major label although we acknowledge what 95% of the output of Black Music released on major labels sounds like to persons who require a little more music with their music. I’ve heard fantastic music over the last half-decade that has been released independently that should be the envy of any major label catalog but I don’t necessarily chalk that up to the artists being independent, I chalk it up to the artist themselves being that good. At the same time there have been a few times that a major has gotten it right over the same time period and something decent has slipped through the cracks but again I chalk that up to the artist because I believe greatness stands on its own. Yeah, yeah, yeah we all need publicity to a certain extent because how would we know if something is great if we don’t know it exists at all? But with the advent of Social Media a lot of this has gotten way too out of pocket. That’s why I need you/me/we to tell me who to unfollow, delete, silence because we’re building our own network where the bull-ish just won’t be allowed in… go spam someone else with your wack beats and hardly intelligible lyrics.
Seekers, tellers, creators of Truth
Please tell me the truth because that what I’m looking for and what I ultimately want to create and consume. Life when it’s on the good foot is full of truths: You love me, I love you, you look good, I want to spend time with you, that’s great, that’s ohhh soooo good and on and on and ’til the break. However, there’s far too many infidels out here lying to the people in order to prophet(yes I meant to spell it in that manner). We know who and what sucks and as we seek to find each other we have to be honest with ourselves about who and what that is and once that is established amongst our “me/we/I” then we have no need to criticize anymore we simply go our own way and embrace our collective truth. Oh sure if you’d like to get with us we’re open to listening but due to time constraints you get about :30 and that’s gon be bout it because we don’t have the time because we have so much other great music that we need to deal with in our truth.
So… now that we know what we want to do, how do we do it? Check back next week for Pt. 3
Ivan Orr is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, performer, and writer. A native of Charlottesville, Virginia Ivan was involved with the forming and nascent days of The Music Resource Center as its first Program Director. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Music, Ivan currently resides in Richmond, VA where he maintains an active performance and production schedule while serving as the Music Editor for Grown Folks Music, a position he has held since 2010.
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