By Kent Manthie
These days the landscape of new music is wide open, no longer do four to six macro corporate-machines control what gets distributed, what gets played on the radio and whom to promote and whom to ignore.
Nowadays, with the internet having really become the ultimate “extension of man” that Marshall McLuhan talked about in books like Understanding Media and Gutenberg Galaxy. In the former he goes through all the ways in which the various types of media are extensions of our own bodies: the wheel as extension of the feet, animal and then mechanized machinery as extensions of arms, hands, fingers and now with the ubiquity of the computer age – back in 1964 more likely known as the space age or the age of communication, et cetera – have, by now. ushered in. in an even more mind-blowing way than McLuhan envisioned at the time -or did he? The total extension of our nervous systems – not just through TV, telephones and the other fast-developing technologies that have evolved into almost a literal extension of our nervous systems and our personalities as well.
No longer do we have to rely on an oligopoly of news outlets to find out what’s happening beyond our horizon, but we have, as well, abilities to partake in opining on events and ideas of the moment as well as offer many takes on “the truth”, exposing everyone from the Bildergergers to the Council on Foreign Relations.
But among all the crazy ranting and raving is some good reporting and information that is getting disseminated in a way that was impossible 40 years ago. Not only can you and your band get your DIY digital recordings out there on MySpace and/or get a distro deal w/an indie label but you can spread things to alienated areas that are more dangerous than arms or chemicals or anthrax: ideas and information; knowledge.
(and here’s to the CFR! Hurrah!!!)