"The Reminiscence Bump"

R bump16 newScience is organized knowledge. I like when things are organized. I like knowledge. A perfect combination. What is the reminiscence bump? It's the tendency to have increased or enhanced recollection for events, which also appears to extend to music-related memories, that occurred during adolescence and early adulthood. Previous research has revealed a consistent reminiscence bump in autobiographical memory. A new study represents one of the largest explorations of the musical reminiscence bump across adulthood to date. The researchers found a reminiscence bump in adolescence, peaking around age 14, for both ratings of the autobiographical salience of songs featured in the charts during that period and the familiarity of these songs. At last, science explained. That's why you are a sucker for the music you grew up with. The 16 albums in the image are tattooed in my mind (if you hover over the image an explanatory text with titles and artists will appear). This is what I listened to when I was 14 years old. I played them over and over again (but not so often these days). 11 of the 16 albums are live albums. Not so surprising. The golden age of live albums was the 1970's. The next topic for research: why have some of the albums aged with dignity and others not? One brutal hypothesis could be that some of the albums you listened to when you were a kid weren't that good in the first place. Further research is needed.        

 
      

"Exhortation, confrontation and intervention"

cd kvadraterQuestions are never indiscreet, answers sometimes are. Existential questions are deep and philosophical questions that concern our very existence. One existential question is: Do you lend your records / CD's to others? This question was raised in a Discogs forum. The questioner wrote: "I have years ago but never again. And I'm not comfortable borrowing other folks records either. Seems too personal and intrusive. Or maybe you've borrowed friends music and never returned it?" One of the first comments hit the head of the nail: ”Frankly, I'm pretty sure my friends know better than to ask.” I agree. My policy is that I'm more than willing to burn a copy, but the original stays with me. Isn't this policy a little parsimonious? Maybe, or maybe not. In a modern and developed society there exists an implicit contract that if you lend your records to someone you expect to get it back in a certain time and in the same condition. This is the underlying theory. In practise, there's an evident risk that it will be damaged, misplaced or lost forever. Even close friends can make mistakes. My strict policy is built on expensive lessons from late adolescence. We lent and borrowed vinyls like there was no tomorrow. I borrowed from you and you borrowed from me. The lending-borrowing system wasn't foolproof. Some unscrupulous individuals could lend your vinyls to a third person. This led to unclear return responsibilities, questioned ownership and bitter disputes. We didn't know anything about treatment of vinyls. Mistreatment took place on a daily basis. Apart from the mistreatment, a huge problem was recovering what was left of your vinyls. I had a recovery rate of nearly 100 percent, since I'm both dedicated and perseverant. It could have been a brilliant career within the Enforcement Authority.  

 
Many people find it hard, awkward or embarrasing to ask someone to return an item (like a vinyl or cd) they borrowed, especially if this someone is a friend. To ask for its return may be perceived as confrontational and could damage the friendship. For me, it's the other way around. Not returning a record will most certainly damage the relationship. Time is of the essence. You have to act fast and firm. In my experience, escalation is a simple technique to use. Stick to the manual and don't waver. The first step in an escalation procedure is exhortation: "Hey, I would like to have my vinyl/cd back". You may add the word "please". If this doesn't help, the next step is confrontation. "Hey, this is not acceptable. I have asked you to return the vinyl/cd and I want it right now." If this sharper tone doesn't do the trick, the next and final step is intervention. Sometimes you have to improvise, adapt and overcome. Hard-core borrowers-procrastionists are particular difficult to deal with. They are in the second and anal stage in Sigmund Freud's theory of psychosexual development. Returning is contrary to their belief. A couple of years ago I helped a close friend to collect his beloved vinyls from a former friend after more than 15 years. I had a personal interest in the matter since I wanted to borrow some of the rarities and transfer them from vinyl to digital format. I told my friend to call his former friend and tell him that we were coming to collect them. My friend wavered: is this really socially accepted? I asked him rhetorically if borrowing records and not returning them was socially accepted. Of course, my friend had never got any further than to the first step in the escalation procedure. The intervention didn't last long and went pretty well. Some of the vinyls were in bad shape or missing. My friend let the matter pass, due to the awkward social situation but also because he didn't have full control over his record collection. Forgive and forget. Personally, I'm not that magnanimous. There's a special place in hell for people who not return vinyls/cds they have borrowed. Justice will, sooner or later, be served. And, the sooner the better.        



"Not more than 10"

notmorethan10The American magazine Rolling Stone recently published a list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". The list was originally published in 2003, with an update in 2012. For some reason it has become the most widely read and debated feature in the history of the magazine. One critic referred to the list as an example of "unrepentant rockist fogeyism". Personally, I have never cared much for Rolling Stone. It says nothing to me about my life. 500 is a large number. In fact, a ridiculous large number when it comes to lists. In this blog entry I will explain why a list of artists, bands, albums and songs never should exceed the number of 10. A bright and attentive Rolling Stone subscriber wrote in the commentary field: "Such an odd mixture of incomparable musical categories that really, it's a fools errand to even try to make a coherent list. That said, even within well defined groups that are comparable, the rankings are puzzling and seemingly arbitrary. A more interesting list would include a short statement as to why an album rose or fell 30 places from the last list in relation to another album that was also on the last list." This precise comment encompasses the three basic rules for lists: logic, consistence and level of originality. It seems like the staff of Rolling Stone missed that memo or consciously broke protocol (involved advocacy groups(!), used gross lists and allowed votes). "Shit in, shit out", the concept that flawed, or nonsense input data produces nonsense output is applicable in this case. Here's my bill of indictment. First of all, absence of logic. The unit of measurement must be accurately defined. The Rolling Stone list deals with the concept of "greatest". This is all very well, but "greatest" in what sense (commercially, artistically or some other aspect)? There must be a logical explanation to why no. 333 on the list Bill Withers "Still Bill" (1972) is greater than no. 334 Santana "Abraxas" (1970)? If it may as well be the other way around, you are out of your depth. The Rolling Stone list is equal to when an untrained student begins to write an essay without disposition, goal and meaning. Secondly, lack of consistence. A list must stand the test of pairwise comparison. This is a good way to determine how to access alternatives by providing an easy way to rate and rank decision-making. Not only must no. 333 on the list be greater than no. 334. The procedure will have to be repeated from the beginning, comparing no. 1 to no. 334, no. 2 to no. 334, no. 3 to no. 334, all the way up to no. 333. This is combinatorics. If the pairwise comparison test fail, you will have to start all over again. Pairwise comparison is a reliable method, but very time-consuming. Maybe, this is an area for machine learning in artificial intelligence. On the other hand, humans are complex. Thirdly, inadequacies in level of originality. A list should be unique. Copyright law and lists of artists, bands, albums and songs both require that a work must be original to the author, which means it must be independently created and possess at least some minimal degree of creativity. The Rolling Stone list doesn't meet one of these basic requirements. It's an impersonal concotion without an originator. And, last but not least, why should a list never exceed the number of 10? The answer is this. Logic, consistence and level of originality are perspicuous, controllable and manageable. This isn't a complicated theory. It's just good practice. I learned it the hard way. 

 

"Absolute zero"

Skivbörsen 2020 12 02 800pxAbsolute zero is the lowest limit of the temperature scale, −273.15° on the Celsius scale −459.67° on the Fahrenheit scale. At absolute zero, all motion comes to a standstill. This pretty much sums up the impact of covid-19. One of the early victims of the pandemic was Atlas Records, read more here (opens in a new window). A month ago, I took a walk along S:t Eriksgatan in Stockholm, the former hub for second hand record stores in Northern Europe. I walked past one of the few remaining (?) and also best store, Skivbörsen, located at S:t Eriksgatan 71. The store has been closed since March 2020 due to covid-19. It's a wonderful establishment for cds and vinyls. Skivbörsen gives the concept of chaos a new and deeper meaning. However, the supply is unmatched and prices are very moderate. A hand-written note on the entrance door. Closed until further notice. The modest shop lighting is still on. I took the photo through the storefront. A lot of vinyls on the counter in their protective sleeves. It seems like the owner was handling them and then suddenly decided to evacuate. I came to think of the Chernobyl disaster, the nuclear accident on 26 April 1986 near the city of Pripyat in Ukraine. Pripyat was not evacuated until the day after, approximately 36 hours after the initial blast. The evacuation of 47 000 inhabitants, in 1 200 buses and 200 trucks, took only a few hours. Initially it was decided to evacuate the population for three days; later this was made permanent. Nowadays, you can go there on guided tours. The phenomenon is called disaster tourism. It has been defined as the practice of visiting locations at which an environmental disaster, either natural or man-made, has occurred. It's a ghost town. Cracked concrete buildings, abandoned apartments, peeling wallpaper, moldy daycares and the never opened Ferris wheel located in the Pripyat amusement park. The Azure swimming pool and Avanhard stadium are two other notable tourist attractions. Urban explorers find decay of uninhabited space profoundly beautiful. I don't think Stockholm will decay, but maybe change. I can already detect small changes in the streetscape: clearance sales, bankruptcies and vacant business premises. For many years we have been visiting second hand record stores. Not so much anymore. Is this delight over now?  

 

"What to expect and wish for in 2021"

the darkest hour is just before the dawn quote kvadrat"The darkest hour is just before the dawn". The English theologian and historian Thomas Fuller is attributed to this saying (from A Pisgah-Sight Of Palestine And The Confines Thereof, 1650). It means that things often seem at their worst just before they get better. It's a positive and uplifting message, but the darkest hour is when the sun is farthest below the horizon. This is clearly not just before the dawn. But, let us put the astronomy aside for a moment and focus on the message. The new decade began with great expectations. Well, covid-19 has put a dampener on things. Death is the worst of all. Getting very sick comes second. Other negative aspects comes third. The economic, social and psychological consequences are impenetrable. People have lost their jobs or their income. Some people have been hit harder than others, predominantly in the so called culture sector. The times are hard in this sector even when the economy is booming. Music production and live events came to a grinding halt. It's sad and depressing. Very few albums were released in the gothic country genre this year: "Trouble of this World" by Uncle Sinner, "The Child Who Does Not Feel the Comfort of the Village will Burn it Down to Feel its Warmth" by T.K. Bollinger. You can read the reviews in the blog section. Lonesome Wyatt And The Holy Spooks released two albums, "Agonizing Love" (released in 2019, but the cd version was released in 2020) and "Dream Curse". They were both good releases, although the latter is the slightly better one. In terms of quality, 2020 was a passable year considering the circumstances. But this is not possible to establish with certainty. There are probably too few observations in the dataset.  

What about next year? For many years, I've been very pessimistic and petulant about the future and often declared that the best years for the genre have come and gone. But, maybe now is the time to reconsider. I've had the same three wishes for five years in a row. The first wish: a new gothic country album from Christian Williams. The last album was released over ten years ago. A new album is on the way in 2021! This was a surprise, to say the least. Wonderful news. The second wish: a new album from The Victor Mourning. This wish will come true, hopefully in 2021. The third wish: to acquire at least one of the hard-to-find four missing albums (read more here) and to get all albums from the defunct label Devil's Ruin Records. The first part of the wish failed. But, I managed to get a hold of a physical copy of "Bangtown" by Big John Bates. The complete Devil's Ruin Records catalogue is (maybe) within reach. I wish for the same three things in 2021. It's now or never. It seems like next year is when all wishes (or most of them) will come true. What about new releases in 2021? Wovenhand's ninth album "Silver Sash" was scheduled to be released in 2020, but has been postponed to February 2021. Antic Clay is planning to raise funds to release an album called "Broom of Fire". It was originally scheduled to be released in 2017 as a 10 year anniversary of the release of "Hilarious Death Blues" (HDB), which is a milestone in the dark americana (or if you prefer gothic americana) genre. Artists and bands are queuing up in 2021. We need to make up lost ground here. Sons of Perdition, Slackeye Slim, Oldboy (of the Fens), Uncle Sinner, Mr Plow and T.K. Bollinger are all working on new albums. Maybe Those Poor Bastards will be added the list. If everything falls into place then next year is going to be a fabulous year. Maybe, the darkest hour is just before the dawn, after all.  

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