First of all, I mean absolutely no disrespect to Sister Call or anyone who writes or performs “LDS music.” I think they are sincere musicians and are trying their best. It’s very difficult for me to word my concerns about this without coming across as brash or arrogant or mean-spirited, and I definitely don’t mean to be so. Unfortunately I don’t know how else to put it.

Sister Call mentioned that “there are Latter-day Saints who write music, but there are so many who don’t get heard because it’s so difficult to market.”

WHY is it so difficult to market? Because of a vicious cycle that is occurring in our community:

1) Latter-day Saint musicians feel culturally or morally obligated to favor LDS-themed music. They buy from Deseret Book, they buy EFY CDs, etc.
2) Therefore LDS music has cornered a market demographic that doesn’t hold them up to a very high standard. Just listen to a single Jars of Clay song: “Redemption.” That one song convinced me that “LDS music” has light years to go. And no… they don’t use the name of Deity at all in that song, and no drums. It’s about quality.
3) It’s disappointing that Latter-day Saints listen to substandard songs, but the larger tragedy is that they don’t even know WHY those songs are substandard. They don’t even know what to listen for. Nobody’s educating them. So they don’t expect anything more.
4) You say we shouldn’t worry about creating a better “production value.” It’s not about production value… it’s about art and quality. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist in LDS music, it’s just so narrow, so superficial, and so limited. It’s just not there yet.
5) Latter-day Saint musicians who DO appreciate deeper art feel out of place, and realize there ISN’T a market for their music.
6) Those musicians try to succeed in other venues… bars, the sleaze of pleasing record labels, tours with non-members… they have to move to Los Angeles or Seattle or Nashville or Portland… and many of them lose their way and never return to Church activity.
7) Because those artists either leave the Church or leave the “LDS market” altogether, the result is the continuation of the very substandard quality of the LDS music market!

But you know what? There ARE plenty of Mormons who make marketable music. Is Brandon Flowers “unmarketable?” The Killers were voted as one of the greatest bands of the century by Q magazine. What about Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker? What about Cove Reber of Saosin? Their last album hit #4 on the Billboard Alternative charts. What about Cary Judd? What about Roxy Rawson? What about Young Sim? What about Canoe, the band from Portland? The answer is, these musicians just aren’t considered part of LDS music, because “LDS music” is narrowly defined as what you’ve played here.

And it’s not even that they’re not writing songs with LDS themes. Any Low fan has surely heard “The Lamb.” The song brings me to tears, and represents everything that LDS music COULD be. Has anyone thought about what Brandon Flowers meant when he said “I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier?” It was about losing his way when he became a rock star. Has anyone heard “See Through Rocks” by Cary Judd? Pure art and pure beauty, and it all has to meet a higher standard because the US market requires a higher standard.

When Linescratchers was created, it was to provide support for those musicians who were completely marginalized by the LDS music community, but still wanted to be affiliated with Latter-day Saints. I’m still surprised at how these musicians feel. Often they think they have to choose between the Church and their music, because the Church “doesn’t support or understand” their music. It’s just sad.

Maybe “LDS music” should focus less on their music being “marketable” and focus more on making art. The market will educate itself to whatever level the musicians create. We still haven’t seen The Beatles of LDS music. We haven’t even seen the Radiohead of LDS music. We haven’t even seen the Jars of Clay of LDS music. Why? Because Brandon Flowers, Alan Sparhawk, and Cary Judd aren’t “LDS music.”

Sorry sorry sorry, I really hate saying all that because I’m a Mormon, and Mormons don’t like to say negative things about others and feel bad if they hurt somebody’s feelings. But I’m not saying our “LDS musicians” CAN’T make better music! It’s in their hearts! Deep down in there… we just need to encourage it out. I think we’ve gotten a little closer with Gladys Knight. And we need to stop defining LDS music by pushing out those on the margins. There is an impending Rennaissance out there… when one day non-Mormons will be coming to MORMONS for our art. There will one day be a Mormon Milton, a Mormon Shakespeare, a Mormon Lennon and McCartney. But we have to completely raise the bar to get there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1Zjex8VaeU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNmF8nzzPYo

I really love listening to most of these things backward. It changes the melody to something that reminds me of something celtic or from middle-earth (yes, I just made a reference to Lord of the Rings. Forgive me.) (Or maybe the celtic thing is because I just listened to the Fiddlesticks ‘cast). In any case, I do love the freshness of it, and it makes me want to use backward melodies to write songs, for a different, more haunting feel.

I don’t, personally, love the sped-up-ness of them. I don’t mind it on some, like the Walkenhorst stuff sounded good sped-up to me. But I think a) I have a really hard time listening to sped-up vocals without all the negative chipmunk associations tainting it, and b) for some songs it’s moving too fast to really catch the changes and grab onto a melody. The backward thing is so beautiful because it does things with melodies that are unusual, and thus take a few more seconds for my brain to process.

just me…

Walkenhorst and the Rainmakers (Steve Phillips, Pat Tomek, Rich Ruth) were a rare jewel. My family and I journey up to KC every summer to see Bob, we’re so glad he’s still writing new stuff and performing. Keep it up, Bob!

I only wish he were more famous so more folks could share the music and enjoy it as much as we do.