Apparently Todd Rundgren is in some hot water these days for having said, in an interview with Vulture, that "there’s an argument to be made that [Taylor Swift] ruined music," and that to him, she's the "apotheosis of mediocrity." This seems harsh to me, but I was actually more interested in what he said next — that we're in the “'era of female artists,' and that the biggest artists in the world are all women 'because boys in the ‘90s started spending money on video games instead of music.'" Todd seems to have forgotten that boys in the 90s didn't spend money on video games either, they were actually pirating pretty much everything, including movies, music, and games, that could be distributed electronically. But that still doesn't explain why so many more female artists have become prominent lately. Looking at the list below, for example, only four of the twelve artists are, or have, male singers. My theory is simply that men finally realized that women are more attracted to guitarists and drummers, so they started handing the microphones over to women, who don't care as much about who among their fans is attracted to them and have nicer-sounding voices anyway. Another advantage to having women in your band is that they have friends, many of whom are also women. Of course, this is just a theory. Meanwhile, Todd Rundgren once produced an XTC album, so I can't say anything too mean about him... let's just say that I've heard he can sometimes be "a little difficult to work with."
Hmmm.... I guess video [games] did kill the radio star. I blame Lana.
What will become of humanity when people finally lose the need for music composed by the chosen of the heavens? In my view, the answer is easily found in news feeds.
Who (or what) are the chosen of the heavens?
I realize this is a trick question.)) Of course, I’d like to believe I can spot those who speak the language of the stars. But the rules of the game dictate that no one is supposed to know that.
And when those rules are artificially broken, the whole point is lost—the motivation vanishes.
I once saw a child—born around the turn of the millennium—watching *Teletubbies*. It took me just two minutes to realize how dangerous such characters are—completely devoid of any motivation. I nearly threw up right there in front of the TV. It came as a shock to me to learn that it was a British production.
Music—much like human health and safety—has been turned into an ordinary commodity, with attempts made to extract maximum profit from it. All of this inevitably affects people's psyches and their motivation.
But we live in a closed space; there is nowhere for us to escape from this planet. And it is round, as we know, so all sellers will inevitably meet their buyers someday.
Here is an example of how the stars might speak to you—or, more accurately, mock you. After posting the comment above, I set out—as usual—to track down that "voice from the heavens" in the form of new music releases. On one of the channels, the very first post I encountered was the brand-new music video for a song titled "Private Lives" by a band I hadn't heard of before: Death From Above 1979.
For me, that figure—1979—was like a red rag to a bull. I immediately set out to find a translation and an explanation.
Quote:
The name of the Canadian dance-punk duo Death From Above 1979 conceals a story involving a legal dispute, military slogans, and the birth year of one of the members.
Initially, the band was simply called Death From Above. Musicians Sebastien Grainger and Jesse F. Keeler adopted the phrase from pop culture; "Death From Above" is the official motto of the US 82nd Airborne Division and frequently appears in films (for instance, on a helicopter in *Apocalypse Now*).
However, shortly after the band's formation, issues arose that led to a name change:
• Conflict with James Murphy: Immediately following the release of their successful debut EP in 2004, the New York indie label DFA Records—co-founded by James Murphy (frontman of LCD Soundsystem)—sued the band. Murphy’s label originally stood for "Death From Above Records," and they demanded the Canadians change their name to avoid confusion.
• The addition of "1979": To avoid a complete name change and protect themselves from lawsuits, the duo simply appended "1979" to the end. This is the birth year of the band's drummer and vocalist, Sebastien Grainger.
Fun fact: In 2017, the band officially dropped the numbers, deeming them "too long and silly," and performed as Death From Above for a time. However, to the delight of longtime fans, the musicians later returned to their full, iconic name including the numerical suffix.
Let me remind you that just recently I mentioned once again that...
Quote:
I have always believed that music reached its peak in 1979, when the album *The Wall* was recorded.
I also believe that it is no accident that this album is regressive in its structure.
Once again, it’s as if I’m being given to understand that time isn’t what we think it is.
This band has existed for over twenty years with a name I couldn't possibly have missed, yet it only catches my eye at this specific moment. It’s as if they never existed at all and only appeared retroactively—just so someone could have a laugh at my expense.))
Now, I hope it has become even clearer to everyone that my musings shouldn't be taken too seriously.))
I realize this is a trick question.)) Of course, I’d like to believe I can spot those who speak the language of the stars. But the rules of the game dictate that no one is supposed to know that.
I actually didn't intend it to be a trick question, I was just worried that you meant "men, specifically" instead of "people in general" or (ideally) "living creatures as opposed to machines."
There are actually lots of other reasons why there are (ostensibly) more women recording and selling music now than there were 30 years ago... we could go into them if you like, though it probably wouldn't be appropriate for this particular thread, other than to explain my apparent preference (recently at least) for female singers.
I will say though, even though it's excessively self-congratulatory, I was looking at my 2026 album chart just now and out of the Top 20, there's an even gender split — ten of the artists have male singers and ten have female singers. (Admittedly one of them has both, but I don't really like the male singer so much in their case so I counted that one with the females). Obviously it's a tiny sample size, my musical tastes are somewhat unusual, and it amounts to completely anecdotal "evidence" regardless. But maybe it could also indicate that aging male pop musicians like Todd Rundgren are just hearing more women in a field where there used to be relatively few, and they're having some sort of male-ego panic reaction whereby they think women are "taking over, OMG!!!" when they're really just bringing things into the kind of balance that should have been the norm in the first place.
By the way, the next Death From Above 1979 album album doesn't come out until January 29. I used to confuse them with Death In June because they're kind of similar-sounding, though less punky. Death From Above 1979 sounds more like Green Day... also, starting in about 2000 or so, which is when Death From Above 1979 initially formed, the lead singer for Death in June started wearing this mask most of the time, at least in public:
... But maybe it could also indicate that aging male pop musicians like Todd Rundgren are just hearing more women in a field where there used to be relatively few, and they're having some sort of male-ego panic reaction whereby they think women are "taking over, OMG!!!" when they're really just bringing things into the kind of balance that should have been the norm in the first place.
I agree—balance is the key word in this whole story.
Men need women and vice versa; it is a condition for the survival of the species. I have no doubt that I enjoy female voices just as much as male ones.
I don’t think Todd Rundgren has anything against women in music. He opposes the mediocrity that gets hidden behind attractive female faces—using them like masks. I am well aware of the current state of women's rights globally. Yet, no matter how hard the world tries, women remain the physically weaker sex. This means they are still easier to manipulate. So, in my view, there are usually men behind all these masks—whether the face is a woman’s or an AI’s. And these men have found a way to monopolize the music industry. This didn't happen overnight; today, we are seeing the consequences that inevitably arise when competition is absent.
What October 2, 2026 releases are YOU, you, YOU! It's always about YOU!
Not a lot of big names this week.
Ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr has a new album out called The Age of Everything, which is said to be a good album, and similar to his previous four as far as style and approach are concerned. Okay... Meanwhile, experimental art-punks Deerhoof aren't really a big name (more medium-sized if we're being honest), but at least they've been around for a while, and now they've got a new one called Divine Schism — it's like their 30th album or something. But this time, if you want a physical copy (despite the not-so-good cover art), it seems you have to buy it at one of their shows —their label, Joyful Noise Records, is letting them release this themselves, and apparently that's just how they want to do it. Why, we don't know. It's Deerhoof, so you can't really question it, I guess...
Swans have a new LP called Newly Sentient Being — it's a live album, but three of the five tracks are new and unreleased, and the whole thing is 160 minutes long, despite only being five tracks. They've declined to provide preview tracks (I guess since each one would be almost an entire album's worth of material in itself), but I expect it'll sound pretty similar to 2024's Live Rope, which was even longer. And back in the UK, a former member (Ding Archer) and a former manager (Ed Blaney) of The Fall got their hands on some "unused vocal recordings" of Mark E. Smith and are issuing a so-called "final studio album" called Post Script, I guess because the title "Crass Posthumous Exploitation" had already been used. Some folks are calling the album "illegitimate," and they may just have a point. No preview tracks for that either, but still, how bad could it be, right? Don't answer that.
Renowned soul/jazz/funk/etc. bassist/singer Meshell Ndegeocello has a new album out called Synonym, on which every track is a collaboration with a different recording artist. Among the collaborators are Cat Power, Brandi Carlile, Chaka Khan, and Ink... It just happens to be coming out on the same day as the new album by LA-based electropop guy The Album Leaf, aka Jimmy LaValle, entitled A Body of Voices, on which every track is a collaboration with a different recording artist. Among the collaborators are Twin Shadow, Warpaint's Theresa Wayman, Black Mountain, and Spencer Zahn. Was Frank Sinatra the first to do this, with Duets? Seems like there must have been people doing this before that...
As for this week's scheduling issues, the new LP from Queens of the Stone Age, Perfecth, has been moved back to October 30, so that should be helpful. Lily Seabird's new LP, Lightspheres On Their Way, which was supposed to have come out back on Sept. 4, got moved back to this week — so we get to hear that now, at least. Thank goodness!
Women Who Synthesize Dept.
In another interesting coincidence, the new album from experimental modular-synth person Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, entitled Ruin: It’s Not Just Music, is coming out on the exact same day as Cyano, the new one from experimental modular-synth person Emily A. Sprague. Sprague used to be in Florist (the American one, not the Japanese one). Smith's work is more accessible and pop-like, whereas Sprague's is closer to Kraftwerk-style pure synthesis, so you can tell them apart... but the whole thing still seems really "fishy" to me.
The Swedes Win Again Dept.
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
My personal pick-of-the-week this time around is the new LP from Swedish shoegaze/dreampop band Kallsup, entitled Alldeles För Nära — which in Swedish means "Far Too Close." Unfortunately, the name "Kallsup," which is also Swedish, means "cold soup." Their lyrics are also in Swedish, but despite all this, the band claims not to be entirely Swedish because their members come from all over Northern Europe and Scandinavia. The album is great, their singer is great, they remind me of Sad Day For Puppets (also from Sweden!)... it's everything a shoegaze-type guy like myself could want! (Admittedly, the competition this week was... a little thin, perhaps.)
Little Thinners Dept.
The Sewing Club, Sew
The debut album from a grungegaze, slightly-pop-like band from Nashville, this one starts out with a great track called "Complicated," but then falls off a bit into more standard indie-rock fare — otherwise this might have gotten the nod from me over the better-assembled Kallsup album. (FWIW.)
The album also doesn't seem to make any lyrical references to sewing, but that's... fine. Oddly enough, they cite the band Wishy (see immediately below) as a principal influence, which seems to be another interesting coincidence since they don't sound anything like Wishy at all...
Wishy, Nature's Pill
As I mentioned in a recent post, the term "twee" is now being deprecated (i.e., replaced) by the term "jangle-pop." So this group is therefore a jangle-pop band from Indianapolis, Indiana — not the sort of place you expect a "twee" band to come from, since it's not in Northern England or Scotland. (Also, it looks like the alternate genre-name "C86" is being deprecated too, since it tends to "lock in" the genre to a specific date that's 40 years in the past, and a lot of the people who invented and popularized it aren't even alive anymore.) This is Wishy's second full-length LP, in addition to three EPs that have at least 5 songs each, and it's pretty good, though to be honest I might have already "maxed out" on this particular subgenre, for this year at least.
The U.S. Rip Van Winkle, ST
Here's a new side project from longtime Guided by Voices bandleader Robert Pollard and three other guys. It's very loose and lo-fi (as you'd expect) with occasional psychedelic bits. Pollard's voice is getting progressively weaker with age, and his continued insistence on low-tech production doesn't help with that, but if you're a GbV fan then I guess you should check it out.
The Black Watch, The Fuzzy End Of The Lollipop
Here's the 27th album of fuzzy lo-fi psychedelia, Beatle-pop, and proto-punk from this Los Angeles-based band led by John Andrew Fredrick, who are famous mostly for not being as famous as some people think they should be (note that BEA only has three of their albums listed). I've never been a huge fan myself, but this is actually a pretty good record — maybe the best one of theirs I've heard, though I've heard very few of them — and there's always a chance it might be their last.
There were a lot of other releases this week that I just didn't think were all that good, or if they were, just not the sort of thing I would ever listen to (unless forced to while detained in some sort of CIA black-site torture facility, or maybe just my bathroom). Still, some of them were interesting, like the ones from Revenge Wife, Sidewave, Whippets, Dev Lemons, TV Buddha, and of course Bombstrap. I'll try to give them another listen, but next week the gradual falloff continues despite new albums from Teenage Fanclub, the Pet Shop Boys, Sheryl Crow, Matt Pond PA, the Pineapple Thief, Tramhaus, Imperial Teen, and everyone's favorite terrible band, Animal Piss It's Everywhere. (Seriously, that album is completely unlistenable.)
The first artist is someone who has long held a firm place on my list of the best albums of all time.
I also consider this year's album—at this point—to be at least the album of the week. Unfortunately, there is a link only for the lead single.
Deep Forest - Soul (2/X-2026/40) (Album)
An album by an artist relatively unknown to me. However, the album's lead single could easily have been my "release of the week" had I continued filling out those hypothetical charts this year. Unfortunately, based on my initial listen, the only tracks that stand out are the two singles and the song that had a video released on launch day.
Sycco - Look Up (2/X-2026/40) (Album)
I was already familiar with this band thanks to their interesting videos and quite successful singles from previous years. However, almost all of this year's singles turned out to be rather uninspired. After a quick listen, the only track that stuck with me was the first one—which hadn't even been released as a single. In my view, the band is facing something of a creative slump.
walt disco - walt disco (2/X-2026/40) (Album)
MadhattanJack wrote:
musicoed wrote:
Yet, no matter how hard the world tries, women remain the physically weaker sex. This means they are still easier to manipulate.
You've never been married?
My close interactions with women have been sufficient for me to draw certain conclusions—ones I am by no means trying to impose on anyone else. It is a very simplified explanation, operating at the level of basic instincts. Unlike a man, a woman still finds it harder to survive in complete solitude, which is why she has to make compromises more often.
I don’t think Todd Rundgren has anything against women in music. He opposes the mediocrity that gets hidden behind attractive female faces—using them like masks. I am well aware of the current state of women's rights globally. Yet, no matter how hard the world tries, women remain the physically weaker sex. This means they are still easier to manipulate. So, in my view, there are usually men behind all these masks—whether the face is a woman’s or an AI’s. And these men have found a way to monopolize the music industry. This didn't happen overnight; today, we are seeing the consequences that inevitably arise when competition is absent.
So many questions...
Um...yes, Todd Rundgren obviously DOES have a problem with women in music. Female singers are wearing masks to hide their mediocrity? Women are the weaker sex...the same women who handle the pain of childbirth? Women are easier than men to manipulate? Men are the reason for the success of women in music? Men monopolizing the music industry didn't happen overnight? The competition is absent?
Really?
REALLY?? _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
I could be mistaken, but it seems you refuse to spend time looking for new music. I believe you even mentioned a five-year timeframe. Is that the amount of time needed to take rankings seriously? Incidentally, your experience would be extremely valuable in discussions specifically about new music—because the absence of such discussion is precisely what makes it possible to manipulate not just women, but the entire world!))
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