Whatever Happened To...

Heard this week that one of Scotland's up and coming bands Aereogramme had called it a day. Saying "the never ending financial struggle coupled with an almost superhuman ability to dodge the zeitgeist" had finally taken it's toll. Just this same week, I bought an album in FOPP for a quid - Lewis Taylor's "Lost Album". Maybe his vocal style was an acquired taste, but jeez, listen if you can to the songs, which he played entirely on his own. Sort of Todd Rundgren "A Wizard a True Star" meets Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young with some Brian Wilson. (I always liked the idea of someone in a studio doing it all themselves - Roy Wood, Prince and Dave Edmunds (eek!)) Thought I'd check his website; "Lewis Taylor has retired from the music industry". What a bummer. Somewhat naively ask myself "How can this happen to such talented people?" Recent Word magazine declared this as a golden age of music. I agree, but is there hope for good music to flourish in the web 2.0 age? Or will the diet of safe, survey group big label nonsense that saturates the airwaves and supermarkets distract the mass market and kill off talent and innovation in music? I get to work with some of the artists and labels in Scotland; be interesting to see how they make best use of the web to promote and survive. We have great music in Scotland, must get it out there!