Vinyl Notes

On a long drive from Harbor City to the Valley, I popped in Kissey  Asplund as an alternative to completely rocking out. My taste in music may be eclectic, but when I’m driving I like the music loud, abrasive and super high energy. But I digress…

Having never heard of Asplund before, my aunt began asking me questions trying to get an idea of what I think (my family may not like my music, but they respect my analysis). I told her that I liked Kissey’s style but that her voice was not that great.

“That’s interesting,” said my aunt. “I wonder why it is that Americans put so much emphasis on vocal ability as opposed to the quality of the content.”

To me, the right combination of both is preferable. If you’ve got a great voice but crappy lyrics, you’d better be a damn good performer or have something else going for you. But there is nothing like poetry set to music and quite frankly, people who can kinda sing, can always get lessons to improve. You can’t teach star quality and it’s hard to teach songwriting to someone who just doesn’t have the talent for it.

I thought about the concept of voice over lyrics and decided that this paradigm is exactly why music from the US is not always that great. Granted, there are a bunch of awesome groups, bands, and artists from the US, but the US seems to put out more shitty music per capita, compared to other nations. Think about your favorite bands (not hip hoppers or R&B singers) and where they come from, I’m willing to bet that the majority of them are not from the US.

Back to Kissey though…One of the things I liked about her was the way her voice seemed to float and flitter on the tracks. I don’t know if it’s the way the tracks were mastered or if it’s just the tendency for some of the magic to get lost in recording, but Asplund’s voice almost sounds vulnerable in some of the songs on her album. AllMusic even described her as a space cadet going in and out of consciousness. When listening to her album, I would agree this is an accurate description, but watching her perform “So Good” live, you get to see that Kissey is very energetic. Everything about her points to her being a creative soul and usually, it’s the level of creativity that makes the difference between good music and great music.

What I really like, though, is that her music is unique and poetic. I tend tend to be a snob about voices, but that is probably because I have a keen ear for pitch and tone. I’ll give an artist with smart composition a chance before I will an artist completely lacking substance. Ultimately, it comes down to the total package. I may like thinking music, but there is definitely a time and place for something fun and funky, that doesn’t really mean anything at all.

Which do you think is more important, vocal talent or substantive lyrics? Or is it about the whole package?

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