I read this article by Malcolm McLaren on 8-Bit Punk. McLaren, a legend in punk rock from the 70s (who I saw speak once in NYC) seems a bit overwhelmed by technology:

“Until recently, I was feeling stifled by the tyranny of the new. New corporate lifestyles for doing everything well. Too well. iPod this. PowerBook that. Listening to albums, like Madonna’s latest, that were made using Pro Tools – software that reduces virtually every mixdown effect to a mouse click – left me with a depressing sense of sameness, like everything on TV. I had decided to make an album about the “look” of music: the visual gestalt of youth culture. For me, music has always been a bridge between art and fashion, the two realms I care about most. It’s one of the most natural expressions of the youthful need for confrontation and rebellion. Now it was lost in the hearts and minds of a karaoke world. I couldn’t find my place in it.”

He goes on to talk about “chip” music and how this is spurning the next wave of independent artists making tracks for a fraction of the cost of yesterday’s groups. Umm.. not really a breakthrough but a good read nontheless from a guy who pretty much started an era.