♫ #lastfm artists: Godley & Creme (18), Tabla Beat Science (10), Trouble Funk (8), Orchestra D’italia.. via @tweeklyfm #music
— russell davies (@undermanager) December 13, 2015
I watched a fantastic documentary about 10CC the other week. They were clearly a brilliant combination - all good musicians, two old-school high-craft song-writers and two let's-just-try-new-stuff-lunatic artists. Inevitably I found myself wanting to hear more from the loonies (Godley and Creme). And, having listened, I have to report that it's mostly interesting but mostly not that enjoyable.
I get this a lot. I look for novelty in music, new possibilities, new noises, new combinations, so my most listened to playlist is try - designed for weekly try-outs of things I don't know. Problem is, most of it's not that good. It's interesting but not viscerally pleasurable. That's why I've recently reminded myself to spend more time listening to music I reliably know I like, specifically the best, so music isn't just an intellectual exercise.
Not that I'm against empty intellectual exercises in music. I went to a few nights at the London Contemporary Music Festival and quite a lot of it was tedious, dull-witted and annoying, but it was all delivered with massive commitment and self-belief, exactly what you need for truly strange and wonderful stuff to emerge.