The story of Portishead, celebrating Gomez's underrated classic, and Vale Daniel Johnston
"The album is dying".
I've been forced into having this argument at barbecues and christenings and footy training and music conferences for years.
It's one of those lazy, sweeping statements that generally gets a reaction, because no one really wants the album, as an artform, to die.
Most are quick to leap to the defence of the format – "I still listen to them!" – while harbingers of gloom will tell you the kids just don't care anymore.
It's a complex argument if you really get into it. Artists, especially in the mainstream, are using the album differently in the streaming era.
But you can also draw a simple conclusion: while artists are releasing good albums, how can the artform be dead?
Today Sampa The Great releases an album that stands among the best of this year. I fell hard for the singles released in the lead up, but it's only in hearing all 80 minutes of The Return that I felt I really understood her as an artist, as a person, as a force for change.
The album isn't dying. I feel that today more than ever. |
| | | | - Dan Condon, Music Editor | | |
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| | | | | "When the album came out, I wasn't sure if it was any good or not," Beth Gibbons once said. "You could have said it was crap and I'd probably have agreed with you." | | | | | | |
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| | | | | | | | | Gomez's Liquid Skin, which turns 20 today, didn't sound like other albums of the time. | | | | | | |
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| | | | | | | | | A truly unique hero of modern songwriting has died at the age of 58. | | | | | | |
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| | | | | Sampa The Great has helped to change Australian hip hop over the past four years. Her debut album, The Return, is a peerless statement about identity, strength and staying true. | | | | | | |
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| | | | | | | | | The world's most remote music festival will also feature Tim Finn, Vika and Linda Bull and more. | | | | | | |
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| | | | | | | | | The Darwin singer has released one of the best new tracks of the week. | | | | | | |
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| | | | | The Chats are coming back from smoko just in time to guest program Rage. Join them this Saturday 14 September from 10am and 11:55pm on ABC TV. | | | | | | |
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