Aimee Mann takes a swing against the music industry
Aimee Mann has some advice for aspiring musicians and songwriters: "Get the hell out of the major label system."
It’s advice Mann — who plays the Mountain Winery Friday — has followed herself, establishing her own label, SuperEgo Records. That move ultimately ended up with Mann receiving Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for "Save Me," a song featured in the movie "Magnolia," and three Grammy Awards.
"It’s a million times better than I could ever imagine ... I didn’t know what could happen (when establishing the label). I didn’t care if I was broke as long as I didn’t have someone leaning over me asking, ‘Where’s the single?’ It drove me crazy," she says.
The new label is "everything I could have possibly wanted. I sell more records now than when I was on a major label and sell out more shows. I thought my audience would dwindle as I went, but it’s actually grown."
Words of encouragement to any artist or music lover who thinks the end of good music must be nigh with the corporatization of radio stations and record labels.
And no, Mann doesn’t listen to the radio, either. Like Mann’s songs, the artists she’s interested in don’t get airplay.
"People (I’m interested in) who are out there are not on the radio. I don’t even listen to the radio anymore," she says. "I really don’t listen to music ... Making music for a living, I’m less inclined to seek it out. I’m a fairly big music snob. There’s not that much that appeals to me. My taste is pretty specific."
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While she teams with some of the best songwriters, producers and musicians in the business, including label co-founder and former Til Tuesday bandmate Michael Hausmann, songwriter Jon Brion, husband and singer/songwriter Michael Penn and current "Lost in Space" producer Michael Lockwood, her sound remains uniquely her own.
"Lost in Space" carries the trademark dry wit, matched to soaring lines that fans love about Mann’s music. While critics praise her poetic bleakness set against infectious melodies, Mann doesn’t see her work that way.
"If the lyrics on the surface sound depressing, I’m not thinking depressing. It’s gallows humor. On the surface it’s more depressing than I’m intending it to be," she says. Nor does her songwriting reflect her life.
Like many great songwriters, Mann likes to try on different people’s lives or moods and see if she can capture it honestly, like the addiction themes of "Space."
"I never had a problem with drug addiction, but it’s interesting to write from that perspective... I’m always fascinated by anything having to do with the brain and mind."
When she writes, the words and music come mostly at the same time for her. "I write a lot of stuff in the first person. I think it’s more interesting and (works for me) to connect people with the song," says Mann. "I look at this person over there and they have this situation. I want to write from their point of view."
Through the eyes of Mann, they will all have a lyrical beauty, no matter how bleak.
(Source: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2004/August/19/style/stories/03style.htm)
