It’s the economy that I hear most people blame for the way that things are shaping up in the world. And, since they’re probably not entirely wrong, they might as well toss rock n’ roll on top of the pile there as well.
Could money and rock music be connected? Don’t be naive! Just in the same way that your favourite bagel, pizza pie or piece of software has gotten worse because of money, so has the music that you depend on for spiritual nourishment. Thankfully, there are groups like Arn-Identified Flying Objects and Alien Friends that won’t listen to reason.
With so many incentives to do things quickly and move on, products of all kinds get smaller, are made with cheaper ingredients and, eventually, get replaced with something that’s even easier to make. In the era of 1-minute pop singles created with the assistance of boxed beats or AI, how can you expect more from artists?
Only that there’s hope. Arn-Identified Flying Objects and Alien Friends uses the 12-minute-long single odyssey “Summer’s Gate” to create a complex prog-rock romance and murder novel set up, by the likes of it, on some mysterious Swedish island where the Sun either doesn’t set or shine for months at a time.
Yes, you get your money’s worth, not that such demands had been made beforehand. In fact, the quirkily titled music project delivers all of the attention to detail and ambition that one would have expected from an expensively packaged 1970s progressive-rock vinyl. You’ll find this on streaming apps instead, and you’d better thank your lucky stars that there are still people devoting themselves in this way.
