Alabama Shakes

At the end of 'Yeah Yeah Yeah: The History of Modern Pop' Bob Stanley comes to much the same conclusion as Simon Reynolds does in 'Retromania', indeed starting his final chapter with a 1992 quote from that author; 'In the future, the artist will be not so much creator as curator: someone who takes historical resources from the archives and arranges them, finding provocative juxtapositions and unexpected affinities'.

The modern pop era that the book meticulously chronicles lasted 50 years from 1952 to 2002. What comes after this Stanley refers to as the digital era in which there are so many influences just a click away that it is almost impossible for a brand new sound to be created and one particular style to dominate as they have in the past.

Music is consumed differently in the digital era. People's tastes have diversified as they become able to shuffle so easily between different styles and eras of music and singles are no longer the desirable physical items they once were. This isn't to say that there won't be any good new music produced. The recent release from Alabama Shakes 'Sound and Color' is proof that with good production and talented musicians a record can still sound fresh and exciting in the digital era without being particularly new sounding or groundbreaking.

Alabama Shakes// Sound and Color