As ever, I didn’t attend this year’s EMP Pop Music Conference, but as ever, I’m always anxious to hear what sort of discussions went down. I caught this bit over at The Stranger:

During the final event in a long weekend of geeking out about music, an open discussion about “The Future of Thinking About Music For a Living,” Pitchfork news editor Amy Phillips stood up in a Thermals t-shirt and told a room full of critical and academic heavies that they are basically dinosaurs. “Kids don’t care about Robert Christgau or Simon Reynolds,” she said (Christgau had left to catch a plane, but Reynolds was still there, and he seemed rather unconcerned about these “kids”). Phillips went on to say that kids want their music (and presumably their musical discourse) fast, yesterday even, that they want to hear their own voices online, and that critics no longer have the “luxury” of taking time to think about music.

Phillips is right. But the sad part of this situation isn’t the part about the fading of the “thoughtful” critic, it’s the part about the “kids” wanting their music (and their musical discourse) fast. Not only do critics no longer have the luxury of taking time to think about music, they don’t even have time to LISTEN to music anymore. But in today’s age, why should they? The kids are barely listening to it themselves. Music has become a sort of online baseball-bubblegum-cards scene– cheap and disposable, with people more interested in filling out their checklists and talking statistics than investing the time to listen to some music.

Remember that part in National Lampoon’s European Vacation? Where Clark Griswold, pressed for time, rushes around Rome and pauses for just a few seconds in front of each landmark on his list before bolting off to his next bullet point? That’s the “kids today.” I mean, sadly, “Is It Good?” doesn’t even matter anymore; the only thing that seems to matter is “Is It New?”

Right, so…

That being said, I just spent the last 10 minutes going through the 200-some-odd emails that piled up in my absence, made a short list of things to check out, and then quickly sped through ‘em:

Jr Corduroy was a staple in my listening rotations back in the early aughts, but Jr Corduroy has not been around in some time. However, Mark Kraus, the guy behind Jr Corduroy *has* in fact been kicking around (in Brooklyn, rather than Boston now), and now goes under the name Tsui. A full length Tsui album has just been completed. It’s called Half Man Army, and you can download the whole damn thing FOR FREE. (thanks to k for the tip-off.)

Here’s Love Is All being cute in the studio, recording the followup to 9 Times That Same Song for What’s Your Rupture. Not the first Swedish band to offer a sneak peek of the recording process, and hopefully not the last.

How AWESOME, new Jason Anderson news! ECA Records will be putting out a brand-new Jason Anderson, titled Tonight, on August 22nd. I’m totally stoked. Those who have seen Jason recently have probably heard most of these songs; he’s been playing them with his band, The Best, for the past year or so (you can hear live versions of several on Jason’s Myspace right now, too). Tracklist:

Tonight
July 4, 2004
On Vacation
Movin’ to the City
Saturday Night
Jonesboro
So Long
The First Snow of the Year

::: Jason Anderson - The Hopeful & The Unafraid (live) :::

More great news: a new Minus Story record (My Ion Truss) is in the can and slated for a June 19th release on Jagjaguwar. I love these guys and thus am very happy to hear this.

::: Minus Story - Stitch Me Up :::

I skimmed through a bunch of the Pitchfork reviews I missed while I was out* and for whatever reason, noted down this one, The Crayon Fields - Animal Bells. Don’t know much about them, but I found this heap of mp3s on this blog, and they sound pretty damn nice.

(* FWIW, I did not go back and read through all those worthless “Forkcast” items I missed. It’s obvious that Scott and Ryan have those writers chained in a basement somewhere, writing up gushing blog-style posts in exchange for not getting whipped with a horsehide barber’s strop.)

Okay, I lied a little bit just so I could make that joke. I *did* skim thru some of the Forkcast stuff, and picked out this one: The Myspace stream of the track “Radio” by the Roadside Graves.” Good ol’ soulful Americanica.

…AND this one, an unexpectedly upbeat and bouncy one from Ms. Shannon Wright, whose new disc, Let In The Light (and I think she has) is out 5/8 on Touch & Go.

::: Shannon Wright - Everybody’s Got Their Own Part to Play :::

Oh, did I not ever post this track by Montreal’s Miracle Fortress? I think I meant to, it’s pretty good.

::: Miracle Fortress - This Thing About You :::

The Miracle Fortress full-length, Five Roses, comes out May 22nd on Secret City Records.

Hunter sent me a note about his new Bay-Area-based 7-inch label, Gold Robot. First release is indiepoppers Roman Ruins and the second is the TVOTR-y sounds of Panther.

I haven’t even listened to the new Dino Jr record yet, but I tell you, I was just filled with joy to see the new video for “Beyond”. Sigh… good times. Good times.

Back in August of last year, I mentioned that Yeti had put together a limited edition (600) LP to be sold at their Halleluwah Festival. I got a note that they still have a few copies available. Get ‘em while you can. Tracklist:

Soft Side:
01 White Rainbow - “Wind Storm”
02 Michael Hurley - “Short Green Man”
03 Vashti Bunyan - “Hidden” (not exclusive)
04 Katharina Tunicata - “Black Letter”
05 Tara Jane O’Neil - “The Partridge Song (Live at the Kitchen)”
06 Holysons - “Torture Chamber”
07 Alela Diane - “Tatted Lace”

Loud Side:
01 Yacht - “So Post All ‘Em”
02 Deerhoof - “Forbidden Fruits (Live)”
03 Valet - “Tame All the Lions”
04 Romancing - “Mind Jail”
05 Nudity - “This Man”
06 Sir Richard Bishop - “Dhumavati”