Monday, August 22, 2011

Dolorean - The Unfazed


01. Thinskinned
02. Country Clutter
03. The Unfazed
04. Hard Working Dogs
05. Fools Gold Ring
06. Sweet Boy
07. Black Hills Gold
08. If I Find Love
09. These Slopes Gave Me Hope
10. How Is It

I’m alone as I write this. Alone as I listen, which is usually the case, letting sound bounce off empty walls or across alternating headphone channels as I try to find a memory or analogy that helps you connect to an artist through my experiences.



It’s a no-win scenario. I won’t be able to convince a stranger that a song is anything more than it is anymore than I can convince myself that music hasn’t become an art form consumed and digested as instantly as any culinary experience.




It doesn’t matter if it took years to write and months to record, songs are embraced or dismissed as if our memories and relationship to song are defined like our sense of taste. Too acidic. Overcooked. Needs seasoning. No matter what I say, you are going to scroll to the bottom and hit play. Thirty seconds; here’s your golden ticket or an indifferent dismissal. Sorry, but the journey ends here. It’s that fast and that finite.




It’s sad that we don’t give records time to grow, give them the air needed to mature. We, as “reviewers”, try to convince you we spend more time and care more deeply, but it’s a smokescreen. Usually it’s masked by an old sportswriters trick; focus on specific moments to make you think we’ve given a record more spins and more thought. “Watch Jordan’s textbook perfect footwork before he takes off for the monster flush” is no different than pointing out exhales and pauses, layers and transitions. It’s all a way of clouding the simple fact that we like or dislike the record for the same reasons you do. It’s all just taste and new content. No one can consume a new record every day.




This long winded intro signifies a change in how I’ll write on herohill and hopefully, how you’ll read. I won’t obsess over the details, and hopefully that will help you connect to this blog and the songs I love. If you scour blogs for music each and everyday, I probably don’t know more about music than you and certainly don’t know what makes you as passionate and consumed as I am, but I can tell you why a record impacts me. Nothing more. Nothing less. For the first time in a while, those feel like those words worth writing...www.herohill.com

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