Jimmy Ether

So, when I put out a 100-song psychedelic horror-core concept album called “At War With Rats”, know that it’s not metaphorical. I’m not railing against corporatism and bootlickers. Well, I am, generally but … no, it’s my literal current life. And so far the varmints are winning.

In this episode of Fretful Dreams, Randy King and Jimmy Ether talk about their introductions to playing music, the music posters they had in their rooms as kids, hair metal, and the Atlanta club load-ins in the 90s.

The Wrong Mouth For Guitar - Fretful Dreams Episode 006 In this episode of Fretful Dreams, Randy King and Jimmy Ether talk about their introductions to playing music, the music posters they had in their rooms as k...

Ted Gioia posted this about AI in music to his The Honest Broker music newsletter:

https://open.substack.com/pub/tedgioia/p/how-the-music-business-can-tame-the

I don’t necessarily disagree with anything Gioia says here. But as someone who’s consistently grappling with the concept of authenticity in music production, I’m neither concerned nor terribly interested in any changes AI technology professes to bring to it. I don’t see how this technology is any less of a manipulation than, for instance, autotune—possibly the most recent equivalent tool and a favorite poster child of lameness in production.

But practically everything a musician does is a manipulation using technology no matter how authentic they purport to be. The moment you stick a microphone in front of someone or something, you are fabricating a false reality.

So, where’s your line in the sand? Artists will use technology to conceal inferiority. Some will use it to explore new artistic territory. Recoding engineers will use it forensically to enhance imperfections in recordings. Many will use it to copy popular trends. And absolutely nobody is going to stamp “created using AI” on their album. You can’t legislate that line, because it goes back to the invention of recorded music. We’ve all bought into the manipulation from day one.

That said, there will be an AI backlash. People are looking for authenticity and a human connection. The wise artist is the one who unabashedly shows themselves—flaws and all—and highlights the things that no technology will ever be able to replicate convincingly to the discriminating listener. Artists just have to figure out what is uniquely human about what they do and lean into it.

How the Music Business Can Tame the Dangerous AI Dragon Here's a five point plan that makes a difference (and not just for music)