About this episode
Joe Martin discusses his new album and the impact of AI on music and culture.
Joe Martin finally made it onto Sunday Brunch after a few months of being impossible to pin down, which turns out to be a good problem – his new album Alone in Valentine came out in May and he just wrapped an eight-date UK tour to go with it. The album was recorded in Nashville at Glen Campbell's old house with Cal Campbell and Cornelius Webb producing, cut in about a week of 12-hour days with most of the arrangements happening live on the floor. Joe describes it as made by humans for humans, finished before AI slop takes over the world and makes a pure record harder to come by. We spend a good chunk of the hour in the weeds on craft – what mixing actually does, why mastering is a dark art that affects how a record feels more than how it sounds, why vinyl needs its own master because of the physics of a needle in a groove. From there the conversation drifts into territory that has been on Joe's mind: AI music and its uncanny perfection, the decline of grassroots venues as a downstream effect of cheap debt favouring the chains, why the kids are at stadium shows instead of small rooms, and what happens to culture when food and architecture and music all converge on the same shape…
People in this episode
Hosts: Avi Burra, QW
Guest: Joe Martin
Topics covered
- music production
- AI in music
- live performance
- value-for-value
- cultural decline
- grassroots venues
Keywords
- Joe Martin
- Alone in Valentine
- music production
- AI music
- grassroots venues
- value-for-value
- Spotify
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Nostr, Glen Campbell, Spotify
Books & works: Alone in Valentine
Places: Nashville
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