The record store, as we know it, is dead. There are, of course, some pockets of resistance left here and there and some of them will even manage to survive. But the basic concept of a physical store dedicated to selling physical albums is dead as a doornail. Not even enthusiastic "Record Store Day" every year can't change this very brutal fact. A trip to London recently made me think and reflect over the structural changes that have occured over the last 10-15 years. Record stores comes in all shapes, forms and sizes. Some record store purists only acknowledges stores that are personal, small and with a very limited but exclusive stock. Indeed, that's charming, but I've never had any problems with a store that is unpersonal, big on the verge to gigantic and with almost unlimited stock. We buyers have been deprived the pleasure of browsing physical albums. The big, unpersonal stores with almost unlimited stock never went to any extremes due to its size. The staff (often music lovers of all kinds) were knowledgeable and helpful. The stores were often divided in different departments with a filing system based on artists and then subdivied into albums (!). I can't help feeling very nostalgic about this era. This was the Golden Age of plastic. The format cd was here to stay, at least we thought so at the time.

However, the signs were there for those who could read them in form of highly overpriced albums, unaware and unsensitive record companies, increasing rents and salaries, introduction of digital formats, internet explosion and illegal file sharing and copying. First to die was Virgin Megastore in 2007 (opened in 1979). The same year Tower Records located at Piccadilly Circus closed down (opened in 1985). His Masters Voice, HMV, held out to 2014 (opened in 1986) when the flagship at 150 Oxford Street was closed down. HMV have downsized to smaller premises at 363 Oxford Street. HMV today is a very pitiful sight. The stock of cds have decreased every year and the store have changed their profile. HMV tried to transform themselves into a multimedia store selling dvd's, t-shirts and mobile shells among other stuff. It's very painful to watch this decline close up. In my opinion, it's better to burn out than to fade away. The store closures are not limited to Europe. J&R Music at Park Row in New York (very well-stocked by any standards) was closed in 2014 (opened 1971) and you can see the same disturbing trend all over the United States.

Sweden has experienced the same trend. Mega Skivakademien (often called just Mega) located at Sergels Torg in the central of Stockholm opened in 1990 (the same year I literally ditched all my vinyl and went for cd). It was Northern Europe's largest record store at the time with its 3000 square meter. Larger than life and state of the art. The classical department in the store was located at the ground-level and was separated from rest of the store by birch wood and glass in classic Nordic interior style. In the classical department, discreet and knowledgeable staff gave personal advice to customers in low voices, while classic music on moderate volume was lingering in the background. At the much larger lower-level of the store different music genres coexisted in a friendly way. You could spend hours there. The staff at Mega had specialist knowledge in different music genres and was very helpful. However, on March 31 2009 it was all over. The store was closed down because of lack of profitability due to competition from increasing online purchases and illegal filesharing. Before that, the store languished slowly but surely.

The bottom fell out. This also affected the vivid second hand market for cds in Stockholm. From the beginning of the 1990s the "north by northeast trail" on S:t Eriksgatan and Odengatan (the purple line on the map) offered the most favorable climate for second hand record stores in Northern Europe. You can read a dated but valid article here (unfortunately only in swedish, but you can use Google Translate). In those days it was very stressful to strive to visit all record stores on Saturdays. After a while we changed trawling day to Fridays. My friends and I have been walking these streets for 25 years now and had the opportunity to watch the death-struggle at close range. About half of the record stores are now long gone. Among them are: "unknown” (S:t Eriksgatan 48), 55:an CD (S:t Eriksgatan 55), Record Palace (S:t Eriksgatan 56), Diamond Records (Atlasmuren 18), Freak Scene (S:t Eriksgatan 64), Trespass Records (Bråvallagatan 14), S:t Eriks skivbörs (S:t Eriksgatan 80) and Marquee Records (Odengatan 86). However, some stores have weathered the storm and have managed to survive. Among them are: The Beat Goes On (S:t Eriksgatan 67), Record Hunter (S:t Eriksgatan 70), Skivbörsen (S:t Eriksgatan 71), Atlas CD (S:t Eriksgatan 78), Runtrunt (Odengatan 90) and Wasa Skivbörs (Hälsingegatan 2). It may be appropriate to end this blog entry with a vulcan greeting to the owners: "live long and prosper". We can only hope for the best and prepare for the worst.  

I'm sick to death with artists and bands who are more concerned with social media than with their music. The "gothic country" genre is not spared from this disturbing trend, on the contrary. Don't get me wrong. Social media can be a cheap and effective tool for reaching out with music that you don't find in a rack at your local gas station. However, for some people things have got out of control and their priorities have been mixed up. There's a thin line between wrong or right use of social media. In the assessment it's not sufficient to study the number of social media channels and the use of them. You also have to look at the content. Some artists and bands spit out posts and updates in a frantic pace until it collapses under its own weight. But there are some encouraging examples of organic growth. The use of social media has previously been a neglected area for the highly overlooked band American Sinner from Washington D.C. In an e-mail they expressed a very relaxed attitude: "Also, social media ain't country, so posting too much could cramp our style...maybe we'll get an intern." But if you want to reach out with your music and score very high in obscurity according to the Obscurometer, see link here, then you're more or less coerced to use social media. American Sinner have since their e-mail revised and updated their website, opened Twitter and Instagram accounts as well as updated their Facebook-page with news, pictures and links. I haven't got enough data to statistically assess the causality, but their obscurity level according to the Obscurometer have dropped from 98,5 to 98,4 percent. However, I think the activities will be significant. I have the deepest respect for their ambition to reach out with their music. And, let me be absolutely clear: I don't believe for a nanosecond that American Sinner have confused the means with the end since, as they elegantly put it, "social media ain't country".

In the main article about Sons of Perdition I briefly discussed the dispute about the origin of the pseudonym Zebulon Whatley. One school (Military-Sheriff theory) argues that it’s composed of the first name of the military Zebulon Montgomery Pike and the last name of sheriff Willis Whatley, while a competing school (H.P. Lovecraft theory) argues that Zebulon Whatley refers to the character Zebulon Whateley (another spelling) that appears in a couple of H.P. Lovecraft's short stories. In this blog entry I analyze the arguments and evidence.

Theory

Zebulon Whatley is a pseudonym composed of the first name of the military Zebulon Montgomery Pike and the last name of sheriff Willis Whatley.

Theoretical support

Zebulon Whatley is known for using several layers, multiple meanings and, occasionally, smokescreens.

Empirical support

The composition of the pseudonym is highlighted in yellow frames (see picture to the right) on this historical marker outside Pike County Courthouse in Zebulon, GA. 

Source criticism

The historical marker is the only emipirical evidence that supports this theory. The evidence is not strong. The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare. In this case it's only the first name (Zebulon) and the last name (Whatley) on a historical marker and certainly no match for a hard hitting monkey. Zebulon Whatley, who is a Texan, is moreover not known to have any connection with the state of Georgia (except the town name Zebulon, that is). The Ambassador (normally fact-orientated and evidence-based) is for some reason a strong supporter of this theory. The theory seems far fetched even by a benevolent interpretation.  

Overall assessment

The theoretical evidence is plausible. The empirical evidence is weak. The advocates of this school will have to present some additional evidence to be taken seriously.

Theory

Zebulon Whatley refers to the character Zebulon Whateley (another spelling) that appears in a couple of H.P. Lovecraft's short stories, for example in "The Dunwich Horror" (see picture to the left).

Theoretical support

Zebulon Whatley is known for his interest in books of science, pseudoscience and religion, mythology and human behavior. 

Empirical support

Zebulon Whatley is a member of H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. The step is thus not far to adopt a fictitious name of a H. P. Lovecraft character. 

Source criticism

Zebulon Whateley appears in "The Dunwich Horror" and is a distant relative of Wilbur Whateley from a branch of the family that was not completely mad. The Whateley's were a "decayed" family. The theory is based on the idea of a man from a poisonous family line would have left the area and started anew. It's well documented that people often change the spelling of their surname to leave the past behind. Some scholars argue that this particular excerpt from "The Dunwich Horror" is the key passage in the understanding of the pseudonym: "Old Zebulon Whateley, of a branch that hovered about halfway between soundness and decadence, made darkly wild suggestions about rites that ought to be practiced on the hill-tops." The theory seems to be comprehensive and consistent.

Overall assessment

The theoretical evidence is very plausible. The empirical evidence relative strong. The advocates of this school still have to present some hard evidence to support their theory.

Concluding remark

The evidence supporting the two competing theories are insufficient and further research is needed. Maybe Zebulon Whatley's spitting image Douglas Wheatley (a cousin?) could shed some light on this matter and advance research? You may now ask: for God's sake, why not settle the dispute by just asking Zebulon Whatley? Uhm…this is not the way we do things in Sweden. 

The Death Roots Syndicate is a free digital download label specializing in the promotion of dark country, folk, blues, americana and roots music. The Syndicate covers dark roots music in a very broad sense. The music is free (for promotion), legal (all releases are officially sanctioned by the artists) and spectacular (there's a virtual goldmine to immerse in). You can find a link to their Bandcamp page here. It's not common for the adjectives free, legal and spectacular to occur in the same sentence when it comes to music. But despite the high odds, sometimes it happens. Death Roots Syndicate is 100 percent non-profit. At the moment there are about twenty albums available for free download. Among them, three spectacular compilation albums released digitally: "The Death Roots Syndicate Volume I-III". Several "well-known" artists are represented: Sons of Perdition, Slackeye Slim, Uncle Sinner, Christian Williams and Reverend Elvis. But there are also artists that I guarantee you never heard of. It doesn't matter that the quality is shifting somewhat. It's the authenticity that counts. And there's no shortage of authenticity here, believe me. I have discovered (for me) new and fascinating music through the compilations. The selection process is loose. It doesn't matter if the song already has been released in another context or not. The artists come from US, Canada and Europe. The only thing they have in common are dark roots. The three compilations are shown below. The album covers are stylish. All cover art is designed Christian Dubé.

The three adjectives free, legal and spectacular appeal to me. It's free, which creates a small dilemma for me, since I want to pay for music and support the artists (in this case it's promotion), legal (well, you can read what I think about stealing music from artists in a blog entry here) and spectacular (the lengthy and time-consuming process of trawling the genre has been somewhat facilitated by The Death Roots Syndicate). The compilations reminds me of the fact that music is strange. When I hear Phil Collins "In The Air Tonight" I instantly think of mass consumption music safely placed on the painted center line. But Sons of Perdition's version of the song on the third compilation is really scary(!). It's obvious the same song, but quite different performed or deformed. It's just a tiny little problem with DRS. The albums are not released in the cd format. My tiresome nagging about the CD format is not new to returning visitors of this site. In this case, digital release, is for the greater good. Otherwise, it would't be released at all. The compilations wouldn’t fit on a physical cd anyway, since they are packed with music and well over the 80 minute cd limit. On the other hand, the albums are luckily enough released in FLAC format so I can make my own cd-r albums including the beautiful artwork. The people behind "The Death Roots Syndicate" perform a cultural act when they put out this kind of music. I can only imagine how much time has been spent on contacts, planning, administration and the actual production of the compilations. The Death Roots Syndicate is an anomaly in music industry, non-profit and specializing in the promotion of music that doesn't reach out so easily (for very obvious reasons). It takes equal parts commitment, endurance and obsession to pull a project like this through. You can read more about The Death Roots Syndicate here.

O'Death released their long awaited album "Out Of Hands We Go" on Northern Spy Records on October 7th. The last album "Outside" was released in 2011. Some people missed the raw and rough sound from the two first albums (not counting the cd-r "Carl Nemelka Family Photographs") on this album and was not too amused by the worked through and more melodic sound. However, in my opinion it was the right move and a natural progression for O'Death. The right direction is always forward. I got a link with a digital download in FLAC format of the new album, while waiting for the physical cd copy to arrive. I was so curious of the sound that I condescended to this despicable format. This is what I found. "Out Of Hands We Go" takes its starting point from the point where "Outside" ended. The album starts off with "Herd", a haunting and beautiful song. The banjo-picking and choruses are extraordinary. The introduction to the album is so epic that for a moment I worry that O'Death have burned everything they have in just this song. In the following songs "Wrong Time", "Roam", "Wait For Fire" and "Go & Play With Dead Horses" they prove that my concerns are unfounded. A few songs on the album "All Is Light", "Apple Moon" and "When My Dog Gets Out Let Him..." don't meet the high quality standard of the other songs on the album. But it's a small remark on an otherwise almost perfect production. The last songs of the album "We Had A Vision", "Heal In The Howling", "Isavelle" and "Reprise" are very strong and reinforces the overall impression. This is without a doubt an album full of gifted songwriting, sparse and balanced instrumentation and worked through arrangements. It can be charachterized as a highly sensitive and introspective album. But, dont worry. It's still, by normal standards, raw and rough. This album is one of the best albums this year in the "gothic country" genre. You can order the album here.