Keytar

2011 goes down as the Year I Got Back Into Music.  Thanks to the combination of turntable.fm and the Washed Out album, I have heard more new music in the last six months than at any time...since college?  Ever?  My only worry is that I consume so many songs that none of them register.  Back in the day, I'd live on nothing but bread, water, and a new Pavement album for months.  Now, I get to listen to so many very good things on demand, but am I not giving enough time to the few great songs I hear?

But that, friends, is a  prototypical first world problem.

Besides, I'm not so far gone that I don't recognize a great song when I hear it.  Exhibit A: Teeth's "See Spaces."

Not only is this one of the catchiest songs you can imagine, but it is a great example of how thoroughly Kids These Days have conquered synthesizers.  I came of age in the era where singer/songwriter types were first trying to come to grips with the new musical DNA that hip hop, dance music, and really cool gadgets bequeathed to us.  A lot of mediocre production got very popular with a lot of people who would never tolerate such tripe out of guitar rock.

And, yes, I'm talking about that f###ing Postal Service record.  Shame on you, white people.

Sometime between now and when I last cared, a generation of Kids who were raised on electronic music grew up, so it's part of their DNA.  These Kids get technology and how to use it, get that, in the brave new world, we are all engineers and we can all make amazing, neat sounds with nothing more than a little effort and good knowledge of, I don't know, ProTools or something.  They understand what good production is supposed to sound like in the way that I once understood exactly how a guitar should sound in different situations.

And they're making really awesome music.  Good, creative acts like Atlas Sound use the tech only/always when the track calls for it.  The production fits and enhances the song.  Timbaland at his peak couldn't get a keyboard sound more appropriate for "See Spaces" than Teeth and their producer.