Matthew Herbert & WHY? & a confession

Often it takes me a few listens to something for me to like it. I would estimate this is true for about a third of my music library. (Amon Tobin, Bjork, Buddy Holly, Casiotone ftpa., etc.)

My friend Jonathan gave me "Scale" by Matthew Herbert and I hated it so very much. It was too poppy, too produced, too sappy. It made me want to throw things at people who looked like they might enjoy such atrocities. Then I didn't delete it out of my itunes and a few months later I listened to it and it was suddenly good. Maybe I became a less interesting person in those months. I hope not.

Brandon Gorrell Scott interviewed Yoni Wolf of WHY? and I listened to The Hollows & Elephant Eyelash about three times today in response. I didn't like WHY? at first because I felt like their songs all had ADD. I wanted them to just make up their minds and stay in one mood for more than three seconds. Then the same thing happened that happened with the Matthew Herbert album. All of a sudden it just made sense and now I can listen to Elephant Eyelash about five times in a row before looking for something else to listen to.

Two musicians that I have always bristled at and have finally given up on are John Coletrane and John Abercrombie and everyone else who sounds like them. I tried! I would listen to them about once a month for the past year and I could hardly ever get through a song. I just don't think I like Jazz. Maybe some jazz I like, but I don't know of any. I just deleted all the Coletrane and Abercrombie that a very smart, musically-minded friend loaded onto my computer last summer. I am some kind of jerk.