I really like the magazine Tape Op. It is a magazine that provides interviews with some of the most overlooked and creative (mostly working-class) music and recording people — folks who do it for the love and not bling. I have several gripes with the magazine (editor Larry Crane writes like the bullish and trouble making kind of guy you’d hate to have on your web forum, the editorials seep with pretentious and self-serving references to studio culture, drugs, and vinyl records), but the variety of interviews is awesome, and it is definitely one of the most informative resources I know of when it comes to music and audio, especially considering that you can subscribe for free.
Anyway, I was seriously irked by the latest issue’s interview with Lewis Durham. He’s from a group called Kitty Daisy & Lewis, a family band from London that only makes sense in the same sort of way that Cherry Poppin’ Daddies or Royal Crown Revue made sense fifteen years ago. In the same post that I’ll praise Tape Op for interviewing people who really make a difference in recorded music, I’ll criticize them for including Durham’s poorly-written (not to mention typewritten and scanned-in?!) history of recording. A following interview explains the confusion regarding the quality of the article — Durham turns out to be not more than a kid who’s likely obsessed with zoot suits, lucky strikes, vargas pinups, and fifty-year-old 4-track recorders for all of the wrong reasons (namely that by liking them he can recreate the sound of rockabilly and mid-century swing pop — this is clearly mirrored by the fact that using a typewriter to write your Tape Op article doesn’t make it a good article).
Why would I criticize this kid who’s just doing what he wants and trying to make the music that he likes? Well, I don’t know. Maybe I’m jealous — I too had an obsessive streak when I was eighteen, and if I had the success of his group, I would have probably taken it farther than him. I think that what he and is group are doing is fine, but that Tape Op buying-in the way that they did is annoying.
One of the things I like about Tape Op is the “it’s not the tools that matter, it’s the person using them” frame of mind. The inclusion of this article and interview go against that mentality in a very rigid and glaring way.
In the end, I won’t complain — the magazine’s free and it’s all cool — I didn’t have to read the articles. But since I decided I can complain about the absurdity of Sarah Palin ever having held an office higher than notary (and ultimately the possibility of becoming vice-president), I can criticize other people as much as I want. 
Posted by charlie 