[rant] Music is boring
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- Rad Grandad
- 38041 posts since 6 Sep, 2003 from Downeast Maine
sorry I wasn't being sarcastic...songs can sound the same on the surface, but it's up to each artist to recognize the potential for more depth and how to use it to keep each song unique...so what you feel needs deeper exploration is your answer...
The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound, purpose‐larger‐than‐the‐self kind of understanding.
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- KVRAF
- 6596 posts since 21 Jun, 2004 from Secret Underground Hideout
i've found a way to make music exciting. i play the wrong notes, make mistakes and record it. when i listen to the recording, i hear things that make sense in new ways. i heard a couple of other examples of this recently. i feel like i'm hearing something new emerging (well maybe new for western thinking) . anyway, it's destined to be tomorrow's overdone pop.
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- KVRian
- 1244 posts since 21 Nov, 2003 from San Francisco
Try world music. I've heard some really badass new stuff coming out of Cuba. A lot of great new African pop music too. You should check out South American folkloric music too, like music from Peru and Argentina, simply beautiful stuff. Also, folk music from Vera Cruz Mexico is fantastic as well. Although none of it is new, I think it's played with more virtuosity than ever before.
Also, you might want to try picking up a new instrument. I never really listened to very much calypso music and I was never really excited by it, but now that I'm learning how to play steel pan I absolutely love it, and I cant wait for pan band rehearsal each week.
Also, you might want to try picking up a new instrument. I never really listened to very much calypso music and I was never really excited by it, but now that I'm learning how to play steel pan I absolutely love it, and I cant wait for pan band rehearsal each week.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1955 posts since 5 Sep, 2003 from Denmark
I’m reading this thread with great interest. There seem to be a few different schools here.
1: Just listen to X or Y and everything will be fine. X or Y being everything from this obscure indie-band to that little known exotica.
2: Go away from music for a while.
3: I too feel a bit tired of the music scene now. Maybe it’s because of age/experience, maybe the music scene is truly boring.
3.a: Explore depth!
4: You are stupid.
Thoughts/answers:
1: Believe me, I’ve listened to most of what you suggest – or similar stuff. I think that most obscure music is obscure for a reason: It’s not that good. I can be very interesting, provoking, inspirational etc. But it’s not good. There is of course exceptions, so please don’t tell us about that this little known band or ethnic flavour is the best thing that happened to music since Hildegard von Bingen. But thanks a lot for your suggestions; if nothing else it shows that you know something obscure enough to make a reference that isn’t known to everyone.
2: No thanks. I’m enjoying making music more than ever. And reading about music, and talking about music, and writing about music etc. I don’t really need to listen to recorded music. I’m just wondering why it has lost its appeal to me. And why the music pollution (radio, supermarkets, TV, neighbours, bad soundtracks etc.) is so annoying to me
3: Your thoughts are very interesting. That was what I was hoping for. It’s sort of comforting to learn that some of the guys I respect in here have similar experiences.
3.a.: Exactly. That’s a very important point. As I started out stating, I still find immense pleasure in the few truly great performers and/or interpreters. I find more pleasure in 50’s Frank Sinatra crooning some beat-to-death standard with a loud big band than 99% of to days hit music. But those performers are few and far apart.
4: Yes. But you are too
1: Just listen to X or Y and everything will be fine. X or Y being everything from this obscure indie-band to that little known exotica.
2: Go away from music for a while.
3: I too feel a bit tired of the music scene now. Maybe it’s because of age/experience, maybe the music scene is truly boring.
3.a: Explore depth!
4: You are stupid.
Thoughts/answers:
1: Believe me, I’ve listened to most of what you suggest – or similar stuff. I think that most obscure music is obscure for a reason: It’s not that good. I can be very interesting, provoking, inspirational etc. But it’s not good. There is of course exceptions, so please don’t tell us about that this little known band or ethnic flavour is the best thing that happened to music since Hildegard von Bingen. But thanks a lot for your suggestions; if nothing else it shows that you know something obscure enough to make a reference that isn’t known to everyone.
2: No thanks. I’m enjoying making music more than ever. And reading about music, and talking about music, and writing about music etc. I don’t really need to listen to recorded music. I’m just wondering why it has lost its appeal to me. And why the music pollution (radio, supermarkets, TV, neighbours, bad soundtracks etc.) is so annoying to me
3: Your thoughts are very interesting. That was what I was hoping for. It’s sort of comforting to learn that some of the guys I respect in here have similar experiences.
3.a.: Exactly. That’s a very important point. As I started out stating, I still find immense pleasure in the few truly great performers and/or interpreters. I find more pleasure in 50’s Frank Sinatra crooning some beat-to-death standard with a loud big band than 99% of to days hit music. But those performers are few and far apart.
4: Yes. But you are too
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- Banned
- 541 posts since 17 Nov, 2002
re: goodrespirator wrote:1: Believe me, I’ve listened to most of what you suggest – or similar stuff. I think that most obscure music is obscure for a reason: It’s not that good. I can be very interesting, provoking, inspirational etc. But it’s not good. There is of course exceptions, so please don’t tell us about that this little known band or ethnic flavour is the best thing that happened to music since Hildegard von Bingen. But thanks a lot for your suggestions; if nothing else it shows that you know something obscure enough to make a reference that isn’t known to everyone.
This is where your logic is dodgey. "Good" is undefineable. You're really talking about "passion" and that is what concerns most fellow musicians here
You lose that and you might as well be dead
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1955 posts since 5 Sep, 2003 from Denmark
Fair enough. Translate "good" to that undefinable "thing" that... that... argghh. I give up
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- KVRist
- 67 posts since 8 Apr, 2005
Regerding obscure music I remember what a friend told me once... "Being original doesn't mean being different, but totally the oposite. By being original you should bring people back to the origin that they've forgotten."
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- KVRAF
- 7217 posts since 21 Aug, 2004 from Trondheim, Norway
My theory on "good":respirator wrote:Fair enough. Translate "good" to that undefinable "thing" that... that... argghh. I give up
Most music that I find interesting has the band/composer/performer/other noisemaking entity surfing the very edge of *their own* capabilities. There's a sense of pride and accomplishment, even to very simple stuff (louie louie), when it's hard for the performer. When you sense that the performer is breaking through some kind of barrier, whether it's managing to get their fingers to play the notes they've decided on or exploring a new genre, it's about the nerve of almost not pulling it off. A lot of music (like jazz and metal) has lost this, because the performers are way to secure within their field. They're not pushing the limits. If it's not difficult or challenging to the performer, it's not interesting to listen to,no matter how complex it might be. And this nerve or edgy feeling lives on, which is why listening to Kind of Blue is still mesmerizing, while listening to a modern jazz quartet play All Blues is boring.
It's just a thought, but I've had it for years. Playing like Jimi Hendrix doesn't make you a legend. The berriers they break are often as much within themselves, and whether they're technical, theoretical or of some other kind, the thing that makes it interesting for me to listen to is the fact that they are on some kind of edge and that they know they're making history, however local.
Rakkervoksen
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- KVRAF
- 6478 posts since 16 Dec, 2002
Like you yourself already realise, it's mostly an age thing. Reminiscing "the good ol' days" shows the pattern all too clearly. It's unfortunate but it's only going to get worse with old age for all of us, something to do with how our brain stagnates on the "tried and tested" paths the older we get. The same happens with learning and new ideas. "They don't make 'em the same anymore".. "the kids these days..." etc.respirator wrote:3: Your thoughts are very interesting. That was what I was hoping for. It’s sort of comforting to learn that some of the guys I respect in here have similar experiences.
3.a.: Exactly. That’s a very important point. As I started out stating, I still find immense pleasure in the few truly great performers and/or interpreters. I find more pleasure in 50’s Frank Sinatra crooning some beat-to-death standard with a loud big band than 99% of to days hit music. But those performers are few and far apart.
(I'll loosely quote myself from another recent thread) But the fact is, just because something wasn't recorded on tape, in motown studios and 30 years a go, doesn't mean it's not equal, innovative or brilliant.
If you want to see more of this age phenomenon, go to gearslutz and mention Led Zeppelin. Apparently nothing ever touched their brilliance since and everything has been shit. The stagnated mind refuses to believe there might even be something better happening *today*.
Last edited by Kingston on Wed Nov 16, 2005 10:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRAF
- 3139 posts since 6 Sep, 2002 from United Kingdom & Opinions Will Travel :O)
Break 'rules' if someone says 'its not done like that' then you got a perfect way to find new styles and sounds then music.respirator wrote:I don’t really like music anymore. Maybe I’m getting old and blasé? Maybe it’s just a phase? Almost any new music seem like old news to me. It’s all tried and tested formulas, tired melodies and harmonies, conservative use of rhythms and instrumentations. This is not a lamentation about pop or commercial music in specific, but more about me being seemingly unable to enjoy music. There are exceptions. Off course there are. I can think of a few very great performers or – to put it more precisely - interpreters of an existing stylistic expression that I occasionally enjoy. And some of the very experimental stuff is listenable too, though mostly as an ear opener to new approaches, i.e. when listening as a musician.
I’m not defending yesteryears music either. Just because it’s old doesn’t make it more interesting to listen to. Music that was truly original 40 odd years ago doesn’t have the same effect today. The original formulas and ideas have been copied, used and misused so much that the originals is hard to listen to today without bias. The same goes for the giants of compositional (“classic”) music. If you can listen to Bach or Mozart without the filters and distortion of the countless copycats you’re truly blessed. I’ve turned to obscure figures like Harry Partch, to name one I’ve studied recently. And although his life and philosophy are extremely interesting and inspirational, I must confess that his actual music isn’t that good. The same goes for a lot of the alternative crowd.
So what to do? Besides making music (for) myself, I’m listening more and more to the music in the surroundings. Right now I’m listening to the music in the quite office space I’m working in right now. The funky rhythm of a determined programmer pounding away on the keyboard etc. In a few ours I’ll be enjoying the music of the afternoon traffic as I drive home. Pretentious? Probably is, but right now it works for me.
Sorry for ranting.
Best regards,
Spe3d
:O)
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- KVRist
- 326 posts since 13 Sep, 2002 from Perth Western Australia
tek step grind core folk-hop (in reverse)
listen to my tunes here:
http://soundcloud.com/damien-chamizo
http://soundcloud.com/damien-chamizo
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- KVRAF
- 6478 posts since 16 Dec, 2002
To underline a few points emerged here,
brilliance has always been rare, even in the "good ol' days". It's just that of everything we mostly remember the good bits and less of the boredom. Hence the illusion that things used to be somehow better or different.
Shining lights of greatness are few and far between, have always been. Since we consume this stuff so fast it can make the wait time before the next thing seem gray and unenlightening.
brilliance has always been rare, even in the "good ol' days". It's just that of everything we mostly remember the good bits and less of the boredom. Hence the illusion that things used to be somehow better or different.
Shining lights of greatness are few and far between, have always been. Since we consume this stuff so fast it can make the wait time before the next thing seem gray and unenlightening.
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- KVRAF
- 1818 posts since 5 Apr, 2002 from Seattle, WA, USA