I'm not sure which state I was flying over by the time I got to the the James Blake feature in the most recent issue of FADER. I don't remember what I was listening too at the time either. The piece, in typical FADER fashion, is a snapshot of the artist, detailing what you'd predict--where he lives, his disheveled record collection, and his thoughts on remixes. What struck me most wasn't the telling ephemera, but Blake's own musings on the resonance of his music.
"My theory on why people connect [with my music] is because a lot of people sit in front of their computers listening to music, and when I write I sit in front of the computer," explained Blake. “Having spoken to a lot of people, everyone is kind of just distracting themselves from the fact they are devastatingly alone. I know that sounds like quite a dramatic thing to say, and I don’t mean to be melodramatic, but I think that is a truism.”
"And maybe those people, sitting at home, 'with the lights off, in the evening, in their bedroom,' are as lonely as Blake when he writes his best songs," mused the piece's author.
Those sentences get at a point I've been unable to make in my own posting about the artist. Though I've tried to get at what makes Blake significant--why he connects with me and should connect with you--his words humanize the proceedings.
And that's important. As a blogger, it's up to me (us?) to help the cream rise to the top and explain why it deserves to be up there. I was talking to my friend Chris the other night about how music today isn't as good as it once was in the 60s and 70s. While that's a topic too big to unpack here, my short answer is that, nowadays, great music exists, you just need to know where to look.
Not just which websites to bookmark or RSS feeds to subscribe to, but which genres to mine.
There's no question Blake makes electronic music, but with each release, he's pushing the envolope further and further, injecting classical composition and organic textures, evolving England's dubstep sounds.
So how do I sell the idea of "post-dubstep" to someone like my friend Will, who listens to Bruce Springsteen and party rap almost exclusively? How do I explain this is a record for the patient, one that rewards a listener with a good set of headphones and an isolated hour to spare? I've labeled Blake avant garde as much to brace the listener as to define his sound.
The best answer I can come up with is a post like this, where quoting Blake secretly reveals a mission statement. Where the emotions behind the myriad samples and and strained vocals are spelled out by their owner. Where I try to earn your trust. There's brilliance to be heard here.
MediaFire Link:
James Blake - James Blake
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James Blake - The Wilhelm Scream
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