Leave it to Bob Lefsetz to remind you that great music is still being made, but it’s buried in an infinite record pile. Only the pop hits rise to the top, you’re going to have to dig for the interesting tracks. The ‘deep cuts’ are deeper than ever.

His blog ‘New Release Paradigm’ sent me down the YouTube rabbit hole this morning. His glowing recommendation of Kurt Vile reminded me that rock ‘n roll can still happen and I went from there. I’m posting these videos here so I don’t forget them:

Kurt Vile, “Pretty Pimpin'”

“If you want to be bigger than you are, you have to deliver a catchy track that grabs the listener in four seconds or less that they not only want to hear again, but tell everybody about. You don’t get more time. People judge immediately. And good is not good enough. If your album doesn’t have a hit, you’re preaching to the converted, whose size probably won’t grow, but shrink, because people are drawn to that which is hot. Once again, a hit is not necessarily something that plays on the radio, but something that gets someone to jump out of bed, toss their pajamas, dress up and walk to the all night record shop to buy. That’s what Ahmet Ertegun said, the only difference today is you grab your mobile and search for it on Spotify or YouTube. The essence is the same, you’ve got to hear it again. Everybody’s overloaded with input, you can only break through with your work, no media campaign, no amount of imploring can make you a star anymore, you either have the goods or you don’t. And if you don’t, you’ll know right away and need to go back to the drawing board immediately and make new music. Don’t beat a dead horse, it’s sad and ineffective.”