Thinking further about musical fecundity

Thinking further about musical fecundity

Following my response to the moans of the over-privileged, yesterday, I find myself reflecting that most of my favourite artists release very little. Less really is more in some cases. Examples:

• Kraftwerk (inevitably). The name of their last release? Minimum Maximum. Number of releases of new material in the last two decades? One single (Expo 2000), One Album (Tour De France).
• Scott Walker, releases in the last 20+ years? Night Of The Hunter (30 mins long), Tilt and a soundtrack (Pola X, half of it made up of contributions by less worthy others).
• Jon Hassell: releases in the last 15 years? Three: Dressing For Pleasure, Fascinoma, Maarifa Street.
• Mark Ernestus and Moritz Von Oswald (Basic Channel)? Quite a lot more than the others, but they’re not exactly profligate.
• Miles Davis in the last 15 years? None (might have something to do with his being dead and all). Bad joke I know.

Do I want them to increase their work rate? Not really, definitely not if it in any way diminished the quality of their oeuvre to date. From Will Montgomery’s feature on Rhythm And Sound (The Wire, Oct 2003):

“There’s something reassuring about people who don’t risk saying something that they’re not absolutely sure they mean.”