Music & Industry

Whether reflecting the worst of pre-fab pop culture or the best of lofty artistic aims, music constantly begs a vexing sonic question: Where will the next Big Bang originate? For inspiration, let’s look back to the days of classic rock — as in, ornately carved marble. In fifteenth-century Italy, the city of Florence experienced one of the greatest artistic flowerings in history. Over a mere 25 years — between 1400 and 1425 — some of the Renaissance’s most beautiful art was produced, from Lorenzo Ghiberti's “Gates of Paradise” to Donatello's sculptures.

What happened? A renowned psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced “sheek-SENT-me-high”) of the University of Chicago — known for his work on “flow” (defined by ancient Taoist scholar Chuang Tzu as the creative state where “perception and understanding have come to a stop and spirit moves where it wants”) — takes a stab at explaining it in his book Creativity.

“When the Florentine bankers, churchmen, and heads of great guilds decided to make their city intimidatingly beautiful, they did not just throw money at artists to see what happened,” he writes. “They became intensely involved in the process of encouraging, evaluating, and selecting the works they wanted to see completed.”

The people with the cash — most notably the Medici family — not only gave their artists freedom, but a remarkable mission: to produce great art that would glorify God and uplift their city. The Florentines believed that a beautiful city would hold up under invaders and time, and they were right — even the Nazis were reluctant to destroy Florence’s treasures.

Now, away from Michelangelo’s “David” back to the new millennium…Like art of any type, music needs incubation centers — hatcheries for novel ideas, places where people can mix old influences into new styles. In the early 1960s, Liverpool was a seaport where the sailors brought back country & western and Motown records. Who would have thought the two would combine as key ingredients of Beatlemania?

A decade or so earlier, Memphis was a home for hillbilly musicians, bluesmen and glorious gospel choirs. Who could have foreseen that a Mississippi teen would absorb all those ingredients, then with one hip-swivel pour forth a musical mélange known as rock-and-roll?

Music also needs Medici-type patrons — or at the very least, “intensely involved” supporters such as Sun Records impresario Sam Phillips in Memphis, Sub Pop founder Jonathan Poneman in Seattle, or Metro owner Joe Shanahan in Chicago- (an early and avid backer of the Smashing Pumpkins).

Modern music has had no shortage of creative wellsprings — Minneapolis, Austin, Chapel Hill, N.C., and Athens, Ga., to name a few. Those places, it should be noted, are also communities: places where, much like Florence, artists flock to mix influences and share ideas (along with a pint or two) as they enjoy each other’s company.

And whether it’s the patronized painter of the Renaissance or the starving guitarist of Seattle, both share a common link: the love of the craft. In his early studies of flow, Csikszentmihalyi (a one-time painter himself) was fascinated that artists could sit at a canvas for hours, absolutely absorbed in the work, oblivious to the need for lunch or dinner (though coffee, many artists might argue, is another story).

Put enough of these like-minded people in one city, and it’s enough to cause a revolution of the heart (which is where all art begins, says Artist’s Way author Julia Cameron). My feeling is, any major city probably contains a surplus of these musicians; it’s just that they haven’t been discovered — or, perhaps, that they haven’t discovered each other.

So, where to look then? Here are a few promising points on the musical map where creativity and collaboration are in abundance.

CHICAGO:
The city that birthed electrified blues and enjoyed an alt-pop revival in the 1990s is now very much the hotbed for “insurgent music” — alternative country that is as far from Toby Keith as Toby Keith is from The Damned. In the last decade, Chicago has become home to dozens of expatriated punk rockers, brash singer-songwriters and urban cowgirls and cowboys who have given new meaning to country's long-lost traditions. Whereas Nashville now specializes in mimicking ’70s mainstream rock, Chicago has become home to a motley array of musical outsiders. Among them: Kelly Hogan, Freakwater, Englishman Jon Langford (of the Mekons, whose side projects the Waco Brothers and Pine Valley Cosmonauts reflects what’s best in the brash movement), Robbie Fulks, Anna Fermin and Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy.

Central to this Chicago scene is the Bloodshot record label and plenty of venues friendly to insurgent music, such as The Hideout, Schubas, Abbey Pub and FitzGerald’s. Chicago Tribune rock critic Greg Kot sums up the Windy City’s alt-country movement thus: “It's a brand of in-your-face twang made by people born long after Hank Williams curled up and died in the back seat of a white Cadillac.”

BROOKLYN/NYC:
It’s a familiar story: Skyrocketing city rents have artists scrambling to the city fringes, searching for cheap living and working spaces. But what began as economic necessity flourished into vibrant artistry, as Williamsburg, Brooklyn has become a hotbed for bars, restaurants, art galleries and music venues. A recent ASCAP showcase at Northsix featured some of the bands and performers who are making a mark, ranging from the duo Scrapomatic (a blues/soul/gospel amalgam) to Vic Thrill (a self described “electronic, organic, dance, rock freak-out”). Not to mention the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who have generated amazing hype from one EP.

Not far away in New York City proper, an eclectic original music revival is going on, unlike anything the city has seen since the CBGB days of The Ramones and Blondie. The Strokes are perhaps the best-known example, and the staging ground for their ascent was the Mercury Lounge — which has also been a home for other rising Big Apple artists such as Serafin, Big Sur, White Light Motorcade and Kristin Hoffman.

BERGEN, NORWAY:
The 2003 Bergen musical festival will host Robert Plant, Taj Mahal, Delbert McClinton, and the Raveonettes, but the city of 230,000 has begun exporting some good music of its own. Erland Øye and Erik Glambek Bøe of The Kings of Convenience put the 933-year-old city on the musical map (no offense to fans of 19th century composer Edvard Greig intended) with their self-titled 2000 debut on Kindercore Records. Astralwerks released their follow-up, Quiet is the New Loud, and went on a Bergen artist signing spree. Last year the label introduced the world to Sondre Lerche’s masterful pop and the pulsing, yet melodic beats of Röyksopp. This year, they’ve already released Øye’s solo debut. It’s only a matter of time before other record labels follow suit.

ATLANTA:
While nearby Athens might get most of the ink, the Atlanta acoustic scene has helped launch the careers of the Indigo Girls, the Josh Joplin Group, Matthew Sweet, Shawn Mullins and John Mayer. Many of the above artists owe their success in part to Eddie’s Attic in Decatur. Todd Van Sickle has recently taken over the reins from Attic founder Eddie Owen. The next artist to break could come from a talented group of Atlanta veterans including Michelle Malone, Matthew Kahler and Kristen Hall. Or it could be one of the many younger artists like Jennifer Daniels, Clay Cook, Screen Door and John Austin. If there’s truth to the adage about strength in numbers, then the smart money is on Sugarland, a new supergroup that includes Jennifer Nettles (Van Sickle’s wife), Kristen Hall and Kristian Bush (of Billy Pilgrim).

LOS ANGELES:
Lucinda Williams recently relocated herefrom Nashville, and she had nothing but great things to say about the burgeoning roots scene. While Tinsel Town may be best known for glam bands and surf rock, Williams says, “There’s more country music in L.A. than there ever was in Nashville. … It’s the way country music was meant to be played.” Ronnie Mack’s Barn Dance, a weekly gathering of roots artists, just celebrated its 15th anniversary, and artists like Jonny Kaplan and the Lazy Stars, Bryson Jones, Keith Grattis, Randy Weeks, Waylon Payne and Mike Stinson are carrying on the alt. and outlaw country traditions. With Williams and Dwight Yoakum serving as mentors to these young artists, greater recognition may be soon to follow.