Caner Dreams

Here's an impassioned rant on the state of the so-called underground from Reggie.

"Okay, things are starting to get really out of control. There appears to be a handful of people with no brains but a seemingly endless amount of money to burn. How else to explain someone's willingness to spend over $100 on a 3" CDr?? Think about it...a 3", that's about twenty minutes of music...you're paying $5 per minute! Given the fact that the artist has three other releases (all of which have come out in the last year or so...and one is even a double CD!) it really defies logic that someone could convince themselves that they need to spend that much money for one release. I am sure the dude is going to be kicking himself when the CDr starts skipping in two years time...

Then there is this guy...just picked up the new Six Organs of Admittance on Drag City and wants to ride that wyrd folk train. Really, getting close to $200 for a one-sided LP. Dude, it was reissued last year...and the CD even came with a bonus track...twenty more minutes of music!! It's not as if the etched b-side is that cool, in fact it is a rather lame drawing of a sun.

Of course you can't forget about the Wolf Eyes/American Tapes completists...a few years ago you could send Olson $25 and get an AmTapes 'grab-bag' which would include an LP, a couple tapes and a couple CDrs. Now anything that has the AmTapes logo on is drooled over by a small group of rabid nncks with pockets full of cash. Take this one for example...a one-off jam that warranted an edition of ten copies (must be essential). Wolf Eyes release an album on SubPop and now this is 'worth' almost sixty buck (at least in the mind of one kollector). I could literally list a dozen more examples for this one with every AmTapes release fetching a small fortune on ebay. It obviously doesn't help matters that AmTapes seem to release at least a couple things things a week in editions of 25 or something. That being said, they've been doing it that way for years so it's not as if they are trying to cash in or anything.

This whole noise and folk explosion is starting filter through the rest of the underground...some of the names that have been around forever are finally starting to get a bit more attention. Take Matthew Bower for example. He has been kicking out the jamz for something like twenty years and it seems that more and more people are starting to take notice. His newer releases under the Hototogisu moniker have literally sold out instantly...who would have thought? I can remember when this one came out to the general disinterest to the public (even I didn't bother picking it up...felt like I had enough Sunroof! shit), but now people are feelin' it.

Then there's the Tower Recordings. Well, we all know how that one unfolded...the dude from Black Crowes even likes the Tower Recordings. Matt Valentine (or MV) has definitely tried to cash in on the current craze. He's gone back to the 'vaults' and managed to put together five (yes 5!!) Tower Recordings releases (all in the past year or two). That pretty much surpasses the amount of music that the band released when it was 'active'. The dude has also managed to be quite prolific with his solo releases (and recordings with Erica Elder...or EE). I've sort of lost track, but in 2004 alone I think there were 6 releases. This doesn't include the 8 EPs that were released simultaneously with one of the CDrs, or the countless reissues of his previous OOP releases. Of course the kids can't get enough of this shit...and they have the money to prove it.

Anyway, it is just sort of strange to see this shit blowing up after all this time....wondering when the bubble will burst. I am sure that in a few years time you're gonna be able to pick up most of this shit for reasonable prices....once the losers have been cleared out."