--- title: A New Musical Language Is Taking Shape --- How a generation is turning fragments of the past into the sound of right now.  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­    ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­   | Not rendering correctly? View this email as a web page here. Hi friends, A new musical language may be developing right under our noses, and I’m not sure we’ve noticed it yet. As we move deeper into the 2020s, there’s a recurring argument that this decade still doesn’t have a sound that clearly defines it. There’s also the inevitable search for the artist who somehow represents the moment. Is it Geese? Wednesday? Mk.gee? Someone we haven’t heard yet? I’m increasingly convinced we may be asking the wrong question. Maybe the sound of the 2020s isn’t going to arrive as one genre, scene, or artist. Maybe the defining characteristic of this era is that music has splintered into a million pieces. Technology has radically lowered the barriers to making and releasing music. The result is a vast, sometimes overwhelming amount of it, created by people with immediate access to virtually the entire history of recorded sound. A young artist can move between shoegaze, jungle, indie rock, ambient music, hip-hop, hardcore, bedroom pop, and something they heard online yesterday without feeling any obligation to stick to any one of them. The results can sometimes feel exhaustively referential. You hear a new band and immediately start playing the game: a little Cocteau Twins here, a little Aphex Twin there, some ’90s indie rock, a drum sound from 2007. But maybe that process isn’t evidence that we’ve run out of ideas, maybe it’s how the new ideas are being made. Next weekend, and always forever takes over the Echo and Echoplex, and the lineup feels like a good snapshot of this moment. Artists move between familiar references and sounds that are much harder to place. Some seem deeply connected to musical histories we already understand, while others feel like those histories have been thrown into a blender. In theory, with this much recycling, nothing truly new should emerge, and yet it does. New technology changes how music is made. The internet changes how influences travel. Scenes no longer need to exist entirely in one neighborhood or even one country. Sounds collide that might never have encountered one another twenty years ago. And eventually those combinations develop their own vocabulary. That curiosity is also behind KCR3, a new experiment we’ve been developing at KCRW around emerging artists, alternative sounds, and music that doesn’t fit particularly well inside established categories. Part of the fun is not knowing exactly where those categories are heading. We’ll see where that takes us… Today, a generation is finding its voice using the tools of its time, along with the same dreams, anxieties, boredom, romance, anger, and curiosity that every generation brought before it. I can tell something new is happening, and one of my favorite parts is that it still refuses to be easily named. - Ale Now Spinning On My Turntable Dinosaur Jr. – There Near Dinosaur Jr. still sound unmistakably like themselves without feeling frozen in time. There Near, their first studio album in five years, is full of the fuzz, melody, and guitar language that made them so influential, while still sounding alive in the present. J Mascis continues to make distortion feel strangely emotional. Mascis also recently joined KCRW’s Olive Kimoto for a conversation about the evolution of Dinosaur Jr.’s sound, creative collaboration, and the band’s lasting influence on generations of guitar music. More Music Moments Must Listen with Lucy Dacus KCRW continues with its new weekly Must Listen series, where we introduce someone to our expansive CD library with two instructions: find a “must listen” record, and leave a note in the CD case for the next person who picks it. Our latest episode features Lucy Dacus. KCRW’s Must Listen is sponsored by Qobuz.   This Is Lorelei Live on KCRW! Nate Amos, the singer, songwriter,  producer, and guitarist of This Is Lorelei, stopped by KCRW for a live session, following the release of his new record, The Singer In My Band. This five-song performance is packed with raw vocals and  vulnerable lyrics that conjure the spirits of Elliott Smith and Jeff Buckley (“lover, I’ve got troubles on my mind”). Watch the full gripping performance here. KCRW is Going to Japan! Next week, KCRW heads to Japan for Tokyo Salone, Nourish, and Held in Sound, a series of gatherings across Tokyo and Kyoto bringing together music, design, food, technology, and culture. It’s part of a growing exchange between Los Angeles and Japan, with plenty of listening and discovery along the way. If you are there you are welcome to join us, or expect a report back from our experience. Upcoming Music Events This Sunday, November 8th, KCRW & Synth History are excited to present Catalog LA, a record label fair featuring LA-based indie labels hosted at Revenge Of comic book store. Now back for its second year, the day is free to attend with RSVP and open to the public! We can’t wait to see you there. 🎶 More Great Shows, More KCRW Picks 🎶 Discover more live music in the KCRW App. Fri, Nov 6 — KCRW Presents Greg Freeman at Sid The Cat Auditorium Sat, Nov 7 — Moby & Underworld at Brookside at the Rose Bowl Sat, Nov 7 — Jimmy Eat World & The Format at the Hollywood Bowl Sat, Nov 7 — KCRW Presents IAN SWEET at Sid The Cat Auditorium Sun, Nov 8 — Ms. Lauryn Hill & Wyclef Jean at the Hollywood Bowl Sun, Nov 8 — Mon Laferte at the Kia Forum Wed, Nov 11 — KCRW and Worlds Alive Present Dexter Story T’Som Album Release Party at 2220 Arts + Archives Wed, Nov 11 & Thurs, Nov 12 — KCRW Presents Bonobo at the Wiltern Download the KCRW App     KCRW 1900 Pico Blvd.  Santa Monica, CA 90405  You received this email because you are subscribed to Music Insider from KCRW. Update your email preferences to choose the types of emails you receive. Unsubscribe from all future emails. | | --- |