From Irene McC Sent Sat, Mar 20th 1999, 14:33
From Irene McC Sent Sat, Mar 20th 1999, 14:33
On 19 Mar 99, david turgeon wrote re: Re: (idm) music commentary: > much of the unknown stuff i buy, i discovered because of a > knowledgeable record store clerk. so many of them, however, will > look at you strange whenever you ask them a question: "how does > this sound?" "who's that?" usually they barely know what it is. > many seem to not read any news or reviews. This is completely true - due to store policy, they are generally forced to play Top 40-sellers in rotation and anything vaguely obscure doesn't get a look-in. Sometimes I walk in early in the morning when the store is still empty and there'll be something interesting coming over the PA, but generally speaking it's the soundtrack from the Titanic or some such dross. A lots of the music store staffers are students working part-time shifts, who - quite naturally - will have their own field of specialisation. Don't ask the dude in the Rage Against the Machine T-shirt where to find something ambient; likewise the guy with all the silver decorations hanging off his eyebrow probably will know the way to the techno section. The complaint I usually hear from the staff at shops is that there is just TOO MUCH music around to keep up with. The only way they can listen to new music is much like any other punter : by taking a stack of CD's over to the public listening posts when business is slow, although that's frowned upon by management - who, from what I glean, are more interested in making money rather than keeping true music lovers happy. These days spending money on CD's is an *investment* of major proportions - the cost of music here in South Africa is making this obsession a hard fix to feed. Many shops also have a no-returns policy, claiming that they do not sell second hand goods, and once a CD has left their shop, it is regarded as 'used' and thus cannot be exchanged. This leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, because skipping through tracks with a 10-min maximum listening time with wonky headphones, four other people jostling for space, a queue of others balefully staring at you wanting you to get out and some pumping crap bleeding in from over the speakers can NOT give you a true impression of whether you will or will not enjoy the full album once you get home. Oh thanks for making it this far - I feel better now! I *