other music hyperbole? or are they all that

the most humble of new york street pizza is better than anything here.

always meaning to take a trip back down to new haven. still dream about modern a pizza there.....mmmmmmmmmmm............

(did find a nice spot in middletown, ct that has opened up and i think i might do the next wesleyan record show just to go there again...)

hey tarfumes you should just drive down to new haven to get pizza

other music are one of the few stores that stocks new release weird CDs. i hate paying absurd lifestyle accessory prices for new vinyl but i like physical media and also purchasing shit in a store. so other music is great. sorry to interrupt the faux naif fuck new york party.

new york can take it. we all heart new york.

scott, do you have used CDs?

yup.

i got rid of most of my used books and filled the shelves with CDs. i do better that way. books grow on trees around here.

I sell a lot of CDs to people who don't drive. They have nowhere else to go since the FYE chain store closed. They have to go to Newbury Comics in Northampton or Barnes & Noble in Hadley for new CDs. or a Walmart somewhere. feel kinda bad about that even though i didn't love the FYE store. it was pit that sold a lot of video games. but even i bought DVDs there.

i went to other a lot, but didn't buy that much there in the past few years. recently i've been buying more used CDs, but at other they charged $8 for a lot of them, which seems like a lot.

As many of you know, I was a part of Other Music's team for nearly ten years, both behind the scenes and quite prominently at the front of it-- I still see my face and voice pop up when OM is mentioned or referenced in articles and the media, which is both surreal and bittersweet.

As a willfully stubborn and strongly idealistic personality, I often found (and honestly still do find) myself at odds with the seismic shift in how we as a society consume and digest culture and media. Other Music was a lifeline for me as a ravenous youth in the mid-90s, helping to expose me to new sounds and to both feed and encourage my unceasing appetite for the undiscovered. I befriended a number of staffers there as I grew older-- some of whom remain close with me today-- and those friendships in turn helped bridge connections that led me on a great number of (mis)adventures both socially and creatively, opening many doors for me in regards to career and artistic expression... for which I'll forever be grateful.

As a teen, I had countless conversations with T** C******** about the kaleidoscopic eclectica emerging from Tokyo's underground, and spent many visits as a young adult dissecting the rhythmic weight of funk, soul, and psychedelic classics with D**** H*******. G***** H****** helped feed my hunger for post-punk and French pop, while D***** M******** Givens and M****** K******* assisted in my desire to more greatly explore the worlds of free jazz and the avant garde. During a fledgling lifetime of independent research and development (occurring concurrently with the birth of the internet as we now know it- before Wikipedia, the AllMusic guide, Amazon, and blog culture existed to "help" us all), these people were invaluable sources of inspiration and encouragement, helping to signpost new tributaries as my obsessions and passions continued to expand.

I began writing for the weekly OM Update while simultaneously running the mail order department of Downtown Music Gallery, another central hub of more niche-oriented avant garde musical esoterica (whose staff were also equally helpful and encouraging), and in time I ended up working in OM's physical storefront, hanging on with a white-knuckled grip to that same fevered passion for helping to educate and inspire listeners much in the way the shop's halcyon days so greatly helped me. During those years, I befriended more wonderful people and was able to provide support to a wonderful coterie of individuals who were creators and curators, some of whom have become my most beloved friends and peers. But the shift was already in place; OM had begun around the rise of the CD boom, a period when record companies still had money to invest in quite risky endeavors and signings-- it wouldn't be long before the digital "revolution" severely shifted our views on both the disposability and literal worth of music as a recorded entity and a tangible, physical product.

Price points began to radically shift for the worse, and the concept of taking chances as a consumer seemed to diminish greatly; seldom would we see clientele take a chance on an album or single simply because it seemed interesting, was dressed in an intriguing sleeve, or was released by a label with a respected pedigree and reliable track record. Consumers instead want facts and hard evidence, to try before they buy, and this shift into a post-iTunes "preview mentality" meant that more listeners seemed to stop learning how to live with an album. Why grow and evolve with a complete piece of art when you could now dissect it and only take the parts which appealed to your personal needs and wants?

That same stubbornness and immovable belief in the ideology of what made Other Music such an important and respected cornerstone in both NYC's and my own personal music worlds led me in time to begin to unfortunately and ungracefully clash with those who surrounded me. Rather than attempt to roll with the punches, I still believe more strongly that we as a collective entity beyond Other Music need to stand up and fight, to vocally encourage that same unceasing curiosity and openness to explore the unknown that led me, along with countless others, down our own respective journeys.

One cannot forcefeed esoterica, however user-friendly it might be at a surface level, to unwanting minds-- it has to be presented in a context that is easily relatable to the everyman. No one's tastes, however "basic" they might be, are invalid; it is simply a matter of establishing trust and care between corporation and consumer in order to further educate and enlighten a mind toward the unknown. If you know that someone is a rabid fan of a band, find the contextual and experiential strands that bridge their knowledge with your own or that of a peer group. One has to casually slip the esoterica and the wildly "new" in through the backdoor subtly so as not to incite rejection. This was what I so often encouraged at OM, and it's a skill which I take some pride in possessing, but that skill is born from deep knowledge and a borderline obsession with details... things which increasingly seem to be fading in importance with each year in the new millennium. We are increasingly becoming a society of dilettantes, our arrogance tricking us into believing that we only need enough knowledge to get us by, and that once we possess said knowledge, we ourselves may consider ourselves experts worthy of dispensing information with authority.

This is why the record industry is failing us, and on a greater scale, why New York City and the world's metropolitan hubs at large as living, breathing urban ecosystems are also becoming pale facsimiles: we as a culture have lost our grasp and understanding of the powers of context and how it operates as a powerful educational tool. The nation's culture capitals are withering into faceless, indistinguishable clones of one another, and Other Music's closing is a lesson in what we are doing wrong as a culture. While it's unrealistic to assume that OM would last forever, or even for another ten years, it is disappointing to witness such an entity exit with a whisper rather than a scream.

We MUST emphasize the necessity to more greatly understand and experience culture beyond our comfort zones. No piece of technology, however convenient, is ever going to replace or replicate the invaluable experience of sharing a moment with a mind unlike your own. Other Music, like many record and book shops across the world, was a central hub for such meetings. Even a prickly and headstrong outlier like myself recognizes this indispensable need, so I humbly entreat:

Please do not let such concourses go extinct.

from an ex-OM staffer on facebook. i stole it and put it here. this is where i differ with this esoterica lover:

"One cannot forcefeed esoterica, however user-friendly it might be at a surface level, to unwanting minds-- it has to be presented in a context that is easily relatable to the everyman."

fuck everyman.

Ha, I just missed my chance to ask "was that Maria logged on as Skot?"

One has to casually slip the esoterica and the wildly "new" in through the backdoor subtly so as not to incite rejection.

sounds so condescending but i do this to my friends constantly.

speaking of esoterica, did you guys know that Focus made a record with P.J. Proby? what a weird world we live in.

https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13102781_10154768458532137_4653451238411083435_n.jpg?oh=5f00512a44e0dcd92dcdef547b3117f4&oe=57E3F187

Yeah, WMass pizza leaves a lot to be desired...but coming from Chicago, pretty much all east-coast pizza tastes like cardboard to me.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, May 10, 2016 10:16 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'd be happy to recommend some NYC spots, but I like fancy pizzas in particular.

― Evan, Tuesday, May 10, 2016 9:28 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hate to drag this thread into the banal, but there is a lot of bad street pizza in NYC today -- I can see someone going into a typical place or even a Ray's and wondering what the fuss is about. You need to hit up a place like Joe's in the West Village for a genuinely good slice, and then there are also lots of great fancy/margherita pizza sit-down type places. The average level of pizza though is pretty bad. Still better than a lot of the US.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN1mKiQbi4g

man alive, I recommend place in Flushing on Roosevelt, right off the 7 train exit at its most Eastern.

i haven't lived somewhere with good pizza since i was a kid in connecticut. i was lucky enough to live in a town with a big Italian population and all the pizza places were run by people who had escaped new york and moved to the country and they all made great pizza. the same was true of Danbury back then too. the last time i went to Modern in New Haven it brought those memories back. so good. not fancy, just awesome. i spent years in bad pizza places. but what the hell there are always trade-offs. it looks like this here!

https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/l/t1.0-9/13179029_10154764589327137_7586087492182133175_n.jpg?oh=85db4911f1f261d9ee5aad171e01fd92&oe=57A531E9

good clam chowder anyway. and good local kielbasa if that's your thing. lots of old Polish people!

western MA is rad and really the pizza is not abysmal. mimmo's in northampton is better than pretty much any place where i ate growing up in ohio

i lived in wilkes-barre pennsylvania for a year...oof.

magik markers and supreme dicks tomorrow in northampton.

that facebook post seemed like it was getting close to making a point about encroaching monoculture in recorded music (or something)... but in the end all i'm getting out of it is shitty gatekeeperism... not sure i buy the argument that "preview mentality" leads necessarily to dilettantism or less thoughtful/open-minded/rigorous music consumption. needs some words about declining attention spans in this modern age, listicle culture, etc. all the vague consumptive patterns the poster laments as being endangered are still very much alive and in fact more accessible to people who don't live in new york or whatever thanks to the internet.

yes, fuck "preview mentality," god forbid consumers spend their money (which they no doubt have unlimited amounts of) on things they enjoy

what's wrong with dilettantism

like, I read things like "the concept of taking chances as a consumer seemed to diminish greatly" and think "hmm, whatever could have caused this shift in consumer spending behavior? I know, SHEEPLE!"

also, it's entirely possible to discover new sounds, bands and artists via previews, or streaming, or whatever. if the curiosity wasn't there before that's the underlying problem, not the fact that iTunes exists

also talking about an audience for sub-sub-sub-genres that will pretty much always be miniscule...

that facebook post seemed like it was getting close to making a point about encroaching monoculture in recorded music (or something)... but in the end all i'm getting out of it is shitty gatekeeperism... not sure i buy the argument that "preview mentality" leads necessarily to dilettantism or less thoughtful/open-minded/rigorous music consumption. needs some words about declining attention spans in this modern age, listicle culture, etc. all the vague consumptive patterns the poster laments as being endangered are still very much alive and in fact more accessible to people who don't live in new york or whatever thanks to the internet.

― lute bro (brimstead), Tuesday, May 10, 2016 1:56 PM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otmmmmmmmm

there is nothing wrong with dilettantism

at any rate, well done on a polemic about actually talking to other people about music instead of the insular uncreative internet that ensures that I never, ever want to talk to you, about music or otherwise

(if I actually know this guy then sorry, but this is really not a good look)

No but this is happening right on the heels of apple deleting people's rare mp3s, replacing them with more mainstream tracks of the same name

― Treeship, Tuesday, May 10, 2016 6:27 AM (5 hours ago)

underappreciated treeship posts

ILX response to that fb post is p much 2016 in a nutshell

including the digression into pizza talk

(swallows suicide pill)

Nothing wrong with pizza talk.

i lived in wilkes-barre pennsylvania for a year...oof

I once drove way out of my way to go to old forge, pa (which is more or less in Greater Scranton-Wilkes-Barre) which has its own super special Old Forge style of pizza found there and only there. But it wasn't that good, to be honest.

Other Pizza

maybe an esoteric pizza shop will open where Other Music was.

other pizza x-post!

pizza kinda beats john zorn.

i have no idea what they sold there....

CDs are great for slicing pizza, after all.

No but this is happening right on the heels of apple deleting people's rare mp3s, replacing them with more mainstream tracks of the same name

― Treeship, Tuesday, May 10, 2016 6:27 AM (5 hours ago)

underappreciated treeship posts

― da vinci beaver testicles (contenderizer), Tuesday, May 10, 2016 1:47 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

tbh i like the black key's carnival of light a lot better

as far as the viewpoints of the FB post and brimstead and katherine's reaction, i guess i don't think it's binary...people always want it to be one or the other....but technological and sociological revolutions don't really work like that, there are both good and bad consequences, new opportunities can be great but they can also result in things of value being lost

if 2016 were characterized by "maybe try not to be a dick and think through the implications of your polemic" it'd be a much better year

esoterica of a used bin-ia

...i'll work on it

show tonight at Replay across the street. I'll be open until 8 in case you need records.

Details
Doors at 7pm Music at 8pm sharp!
Bucket T - Thurston Moore / Conrad Capistran / Willie Lane
Matt Krefting - Matt Krefting
Rump Roast - Adam Langellotti / Shannon Ketch / Ted Lee + Special Guest

Not sure if I can make it, thanks

https://blogthehum.wordpress.com/2016/05/18/not-to-speak-ill-of-the-dead-but-on-the-demise-of-other-music/

which of their top all-time sellers surprise you?

http://www.othermusic.com/blogs/top-sellers

right this second I have no idea who Kruder and Dorfmeister are.

I've never heard K&D, BUT I specifically remember them being huge there. They had the one record that looked like a Simon & Garfunkel album and I remember seeing it there and it being a big thing. Hard to remember Other Music opened during that late 90s illbient electronica era. Not sure I get how something like Nite Jewel could sell more than some of Stereolab's biggest albums though!