File this one under: Things that an editor would probably encourage me to workshop a bit more before printing. What would a good blog post be without at least a little navel-gazing though? For the better part of a year I’ve been ruminating on something I wrote about “local” music because it didn’t quite feel right once I put it out there. I think I meant it the way I wrote it, but sometimes the things you mean in the moment don’t turn out to be honest representations of a message you’re trying to communicate. In these kind of situations, the spirit of the words might come across, but the message itself comes out a little sideways. At least that was the case with me when I wrote, “The health and vibrancy of a city or state’s music scene is directly influenced by those it relies upon to champion and support it. To not care for local creative work is to communicate that it’s better off existing elsewhere.”
One of a couple issues I have with this is: what exactly is the word “care” supposed to mean there?
I’m not sure I even really had a sense at the time I wrote it. To rely on the spirit of the message, I think what I was hoping to do was signal the value in celebrating local artists, but… actually, there I go again. “Signal the value in celebrating local artists”? This is getting a little dicey. Let me try to get to my point from a different angle.
I saw a social media post yesterday; a version of which I’ve seen no fewer than dozens of times over the years. You might recognize it. It goes, “Following someone = $0. Liking a post = 1 second. Replying to a post = 10 seconds. Supporting doesn’t have to cost anything.” Yes, there is no financial cost to commenting on someone’s social media post, though I might add a “Yeah, but…” So here it is: “Yeah, but even a small army of individuals dedicated to following, liking, and replying isn’t going to pay someone’s bills.” I’m not dismissing the value that can come from the compounded impact of small public gestures, but in terms of creative work being shared online: if the end of the transaction between someone creating work and someone consuming and enjoying that work is a only ever a follow, like, or comment, that’s creating an imbalance. This is one of the reasons curmudgeon musicians aren’t wrong when they gripe on about how the digital economy has stripped artists of their means to earn an income: Because posts like this, no matter their earnestness, fail to value the cost of creative work. They don’t “care” in the “right” way.
When I was growing up, my dad helped run a non-profit, working with transitioning homeless youth off the street. I gained plenty of life lessons with all the different worlds I was exposed to through that project, but one stands out now that has nothing to do with the work itself. For whatever reason, I was in the office one night and mail was being opened. I think it was around the holidays and I remember watching as letters were being sliced open, including some with checks from donors. I couldn’t tell you what exactly led up to the moment, but I remember seeing one that was for a modest amount of money. My memory says it was $2, which even back then wasn’t a hell of a lot. Ever the smart-ass, I made a comment like “That’s it?!” I couldn’t tell you who it was, maybe it was my dad or maybe someone else who was working there, but they looked at me and said, “Maybe that’s all they had to give.”
“Care” doesn’t mean the same thing to different people, nor does it mean the same thing to the same person at all times. There have been times of my life when I’ve paid to see local musicians play live, and bought merch, dinner, parking, and tipped the waitstaff, while there have also been times where all I had in me was a passing like on Instagram. One of the things I want to make space for, as this store idea continues to develop, is a sense of care for local music in a way that genuinely makes a difference. I know I want to add actual value to local artists beyond any token gesture of adding songs to playlists very few people will ever see, let alone hear, and I want it to be something more than a bin in the back of the store with a stack of forgotten albums. But what form that needs to take isn’t quite clear to me yet. I have a few other gripes with the particular piece of writing that inspired this thought, but what I’m grateful for is that it helped me ask questions about what level of support I’m capable of delivering when it comes to something I purport to care about. How can I show up in a meaningful way?
This week’s playlist is littered with “local” music. “Local” to me, probably doesn’t quite mean quite what it means to you, however. Over the past two years I ran through a self-imposed crash course in the Iowa music scene (and I have the playlists to prove it), and this week’s mix includes recent tracks from a small selection who stood out to me along the way. A wide spectrum of tastes are represented here, ranging from rap and hip-hop with B.Well to Big Teo The Trap Man and NickWit2Ks to Bo Ramsey‘s grizzled twang to Early Girl‘s spicy garage fuzz to the electronic post-punk of Mr. Softheart. For over a quarter of my life though, I lived down in Tennessee, and for this week’s update I figured I’d share some (relatively) recent releases from “local” Nashville artists, as well, including music from Starlito, Gee Slab, Super Duper, and JOTA ESE. (For anyone looking to explore those further I, once again, have some playlists to help you on your way.) The mix also includes a swell of psych in the form of “The Glory I” by Moline’s Condor and Jaybird, taken from the band’s 2020 album The Glory. If the latter toots your horn and you’d like to get your hands on a copy of The Glory for yourself, I have a few copies of it up over on Discogs.
Listen to R▲ZZ D▲ZZ WEEKLY on Spotify or YouTube
- Gee Slab feat. AndreWolfe & Namir Blade “TALK TO ME NICE”
- Denzel Curry feat. TiaCorine & A$AP Ferg “HOT ONE”
- Starlito feat. Tha Landlord, Don Trip & Propain “Ultimate Team/Road to Glory”
- B.Well “Darling”
- Underworld “Techno Shinansen”
- Super Duper feat. Daniella Mason “Silver Lining”
- Salt Fox “STARS”
- Big Teo The Trap Man & NickWit2Ks “Sacrifices”
- Bo Ramsey “Down To Bastrop”
- Mr. Softheart “It Happened Like This”
- Early Girl “STR8”
- Condor & Jaybird “The Glory I”
- RIFF & The HEIST “Lost Souls”
- JOTA ESE “Your Love Makes Me A Wiener”
- Flying Lotus “Ingo Swann”
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