Nate has written extensive liner notes and included a reading list. He surveys the subgenres, the regional scenes, and the global influence of country-rock. But he doesn't use these labels as boundaries to limit a music that was born to cross genres (as its hyphenated name implies). "Definitional fuzziness is country-rock's superpower," Nate says.
I've lamented the shrinking blogosphere, but a set like this demonstrates the undiminished superpower of musical hobbyists (for lack of a better word). Bloggers and other online enthusiasts have created incredible compilations like this one, Musicophilia's legendary 1981 box set, Once Upon A Time (the late Mythkoz's 100-volume history of punk), Scavenged Luxury, Fathers And Sons Of Garage Rock, Lo-Fi Ladies, and A Reference of Female-Fronted Punk Rock (the latter three available here).
I believe the fanaticism (intended here as a compliment) of music bloggers and other online crate-diggers has had an influence on record labels' compilations like this year's Blank Generation box set and the Soul Jazz Punk 45 series. Perfect example: would Strum & Thrum exist without the inspiration of blogs like Little Hits and Wilfully Obscure?
Music blogs keeping the art of the mixtape alive include C90 Lounge, Architectural Dance Society, Butterboy, Global Groove, Groovy Library, Moozler Music, Musicophilia, Nothing's Going To Happen, Nothin' Sez Somethin', One Buck Records, Rhythm Plague, Surfadelic, The Unherd Music, and Vinyl Villain's Imaginary Album Series. Amazing work is also done by Albums I Wish Existed, Albums That Never Were, Save Your Face, and other blogs that create unreleased albums or reimagine existing albums (through editing, remixing, resequencing, and adding alternate takes and b-sides).
A tip of the ten gallon hat to Nate Rabe (aka Sprayon Pants) for this achievement and his other fantastic compilations at C90 Lounge!
Download links for Faded Love are here: https://c90lounge.wordpress.com/2023/12/28/box-set/#respond
ReplyDeleteThank you once again Jonder for the plug. As for c90, kudos for your remarkable work/project.
ReplyDeleteDamn, that's a whole lot of music! I'm only following about half of those blogs -- I guess I've got some homework to do this weekend. Wishing everyone here a very Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteYeah, Faded Love is about 4 gigs of music. MrDave, I see your name and Koen's in the comment section of just about every music blog I visit! Someone should rewrite Roger Miller's song as "King Of The Blogs" -- "He knows every blogspot in every town, and every site that ain't blocked when Soulseek is down..."
DeleteThanks for the tip, Jonder. This is of course totally up my alley. Your knowledge of music blogs is very impressive. I have some serious browsing to do...
ReplyDeleteWow, I wasn't aware of C90 Lounge and a few others... Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteOBG, I thought of you when I saw this country-rock compilation! Happy to share good blogs with other blog readers. Please let me know your own favorites!
ReplyDeleteFor me, the bloggers who compile their own mixes rekindle fond memories of tape trading with friends and penpals. At Christmas, I received a new book called "High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape" by Marc Masters. Haven't read it yet but it looks promising, with chapters on tapers & traders, mixtape makers, and the DIY artists who distributed their own original music through the cassette underground. I plan to share a few of those tapes on this blog in 2024. (There are some excellent mp3 blogs devoted to that scene.)
Here's an excerpt from High Bias (great title): https://slate.com/culture/2023/12/grateful-dead-tapes-cassette-marc-masters-high-bias-live-shows.html
As always Jonder, you've turned me onto great music! What a massive undertaking FADED LOVE is. I just hope there's enough room on my laptop! HNY! - Stinky
ReplyDeleteGood problem to have, right? Faded Love is split roughly in half (two downloads). The post says you can DL individual volumes, but I couldn't access that link. If you don't have an account at mega.io (50 gb free storage), this would be a good reason to set one up. You can transfer the Faded Love zips directly into your Mega account, and then DL individual volumes of the boxset from there. You can also make direct transfers from any of the Mega links posted on jonderblog.
DeleteHNY to you, Stinky -- and to everyone who reads, comments, and listens to the music shared here!
Thanks for pointing out "High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape", that looks like an interesting read for sure.
ReplyDeleteFor me the Mega links are is fastest downloads around!
Just discovered that there is a "soundtrack" to accompany the book: https://highbiasbook.bandcamp.com
DeleteA belated Tip of the Hat back at you Jonder. Its good to see the music blog world is still going strong if a bit reduced in number. I've got lots to check out for sure!
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if you ever saw this post! Glad I was able to steer a few eyes and ears toward your epic project (and the many diverse and wonderful mixtapes on offer at C90 Lounge). Your recent post on African music got me thinking about other great blogs gone by.
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