A Sentimental Vintage

As I sit here and watch the Premier League scores because I'm too pov to have Foxtel and finished work late and cbf going to the pub, I thought I might as well put something on here to sate those of you who also suffer from a lack of social life (aka. working in hospitality, being poor or just having no friends).

Im a big fan of old music, as I'm sure alot of people my age are. I dont mean 80's, I fucking hate the 80's and if you like it thats cool, but I'm talking about OLD music. Anything from the early decades of the 20th century, all the way till disco. So much evolution in so little time. There are two things I must say, and please feel free to relate if you were also brought up on classic hits FM stations or AM radio:

1) When you're a kid in a way you detest this music and you resent your parents for making you listen to it. You wanna be cool and styling and have some rad modern tunes for your Walkman (thats right, walkman) and to talk about with your friends, and every time the radio was flicked on and that music started you got the shits.

2) As a direct consequence of this, when you finally started having some money to spend and wanted to get yourself a CD (cos they were the new thing apparently), you went for modern, you went for popular and you tried to establish yourself as someone of independent taste.

Now what follows from this, generally, is that you find out that the music you're listening to is shite and temporary, and you ALSO start to realise that the songs with credibility, the songs people truly appreciate were written long ago. You also realise you KNOW all of these fucking songs because you were brought up on them! And then if you're a person of sense and musical appreciation instead of some top 40 fucktard (pardon my french) you go back, you listen and, if you stop trying to be cool for a moment, you realise that you were wrong all along. If you can't tell, by now I've gotten well off track. Lets reel it in...

Move forward many years and the whole world has changed entirely. Even the music world. Technology and technical (playing) development have brought music forward as exponentially as science. Everyone is looking for the new way to get ahead. But the sad thing is, in our dollar-chasing world, not many people seem to be looking back.

And the purpose of this post, before I started rambling, was to bring your attention to a few acts I truly appreciate based solely on the fact that sometimes a step backwards and to the left or right is a better option.

Beirut (aka Zach Condon) has a few albums under his belt and a band to orchestrate. If you aren't aware of what he sounds like, his musical direction was shaped distinctly upon central and eastern European folk music. His first album - The Gulag Orkestar - was written and orchestrated alone in his bedroom, and he played a wealth of the instruments used in the recordings before obtaining a full band. While alot of people tune out, this is a type of music I must say I truly have an appreciation for. And given that he's my age, and this album came out about 3 years ago, he has a voice BEYOND his years.

Everyone knows who Mike Patton is. Well, most people do anyway, and if you don't you should. He's the voice behind the likes of Faith No More, Mr Bungle, Peeping Tom, Fantomas, Tomohawk etc. A man of many talents and obscure tastes. His latest project Mondo Cane is essentially a cover project revamping 50's and 60's pop songs. Sorry, ITALIAN pop songs. I've little doubt he orchestrated most of it himself and the results are truly beautiful. This is in my running for number 1 of this year.

Last but not least I have to throw back to Little Red - their first album 'Listen to Little Red' stole my heart with beautiful harmonies, fantastic simplicity and production values I just loved.

Sometimes the newest sound isn't always the best. Its not about what you've got, it's about how you use it. The reason I love all of these artists is because they're not trying to pretend to be something they're not. Each of them, you can tell, truly love what they have done. Its not so much an homage as it a complete lack of bullshit. And sometimes, more often than not for someone who feels like he's 50, thats all you can ask for.