The Search for Quality

[Steven West]

Phz brought this up not to long ago. And I still stick with 'commitment to stand with the music'. Whether you just have a pair of bongos and yell out a train of thought, or you have the best most expensive digital studio in the world and come out with a 78 minute CD of a synthesized shutter smacking in synthesized wind constantly. As long as you can give it some meaning or purpose when someone asks 'What the f**k was that dude?'. You could go on with this 2 hour explanation of the political and social discrepencies that urged you to do such a minimal and lackluster musical perception of it. Or just simply say 'If you don't get it, you shouldn't be anywhere near the art gallery young man'. As long as people see or sense 'commitment' from what you're doing - wildly experimental to beautifully orchestrated, they want to 'get something' from your music and your mind. So many in past and today are so concerned with 'creating' and 'quality' - they've totally lost the signifigance of 'purpose' and 'urgency'. Whether it's experimental, serious music, or pop and rock tunes. So many people will look/listen to a Britney Spears song and ask themselves 'What do I get from this?'. I think we here at KVR are an exception, we listen to everyones music and ask 'What do I want from this?' Bigger bass, less piano, longer, shorter... And I always seem to use vurt as an example - but I think about why he created this for 19:00 and gave it a title like 'Fruit Pie Suicide' or something really unique.
What's the story behind it? Was it mapped out, or just organically happened? Could it have been worse or bettered in any way? Why does he feel confident to share this with us now? So maybe not so much about 'the music' for me, but 'why is the music here and at this moment in time?'

That question can generate appreciation and insight to so many other levels personally, socially, politically, economically. And I think the majority of us here want that when we give and listen to music. So, as long as you can stand behind it and say 'Ahhh, it's just a demo of this new synth I got/made' or 'It's a token of appreciation for Asian people. Past, present, and future.' I think many respond really well to that here... As long as you feel you have a purpose, and have done your best to express yourself musically, we WILL be interested.

As for labels, hell - I'm 'experimental' as far as I'm concerned. But if someone says 'Naw man, that's IDM' or 'This sounds more Hardcore to me?'. I'll smack the genres on them to see if they float better? I might even say 'Hip Hop' for a tune for a bit, just to freak the crowd out momentarily and plant the seed - so to speak.

Say, hows 'Shawnna Is Da Bomb' doing these days I wonder? She hasn't posted anything here in a long time.

[clueless]

I thought this was going to be a post about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Interesting reading, though.

so did I!

[shamann]

Or just simply say 'If you don't get it, you shouldn't be anywhere near the art gallery young man'.

An interesting post Brother West. The only part that gives me pause is this bit.

Following the wisdom of Brother Herodotus, I shall not talk politics (as much as they can be separated from everything else).

But I was thinking about this more on the commute home. Perhaps instead of 'If you don't get it' it could read 'What's to get?' One thing that grows out of the Romantic/individualist tradition is that music is considered special, and that the makers of music are then special too. Then there are degrees of special, to the point where the talents of Bach or Mozart become practically deified.

But musicmakers aren't special for making music. They're merely alive. I don't think music (or any kind of art really) is anything special, it's vital. There's a difference. It's a fundamental of life, one more way for us to contextualize, appreciate and participate in the material and social world. Music shouldn't be championed, it should be made. By all of us. That's why my music is free for anyone to reuse, redistribute, reappropriate.

When music is made special, it becomes divorced from our daily lives, becomes polarized (maker/listener) rather than participatory. On the gamelan music example, had it not been sold to us, we might not have heard it. But so what, if buying it would deprive us of the urge to make our own music. How many people do you know who say they can't sing? Of course they can sing, we all can. Maybe not to match someone else's stricture, but they can sing as they see fit.

In uni, I had a professor for a year who was visiting from India who told us about Indian classical music performances. One of the features of these performances is audience members, when they hear a part they like, will shout out for it to be played again. This can go on for hours as lines get played over and over. I think that sounds right, because it grows out of music being more than just the personal expression of the individual.

Or, in my best Superintendent Chalmers voice (see The Simpsons):

Goethe!

Cheers,
Steve

[vurt]

And I always seem to use vurt as an example - but I think about why he created this for 19:00 and gave it a title like 'Fruit Pie Suicide' or something really unique.
What's the story behind it? Was it mapped out, or just organically happened? Could it have been worse or bettered in any way? Why does he feel confident to share this with us now? So maybe not so much about 'the music' for me, but 'why is the music here and at this moment in time?'

i can at least answer this
to me my output isnt always what i consider music in any form.yes it is sound but its sound collage or paintings rather than "music" as is the general term described for things with melody n the normal stuff doin well here arent i
so some of the tracks i do are done at random ie i just sit down and go,no real idea in mind just enjoying what im hearing,so whether it turn out as a big scarping glass sound for 20 mins with minor nuances in the sound then to me its a snapshot of those 20 minutes,and how i was feeling at the time.
my more musical stuff is then an extension of these noodles where i will hear sounds in the playback that i can then use later
basically i see everything im doing at the moment as a learning experience,its not that i am confident either with the stuff i just dont see the point in hiding what is essentially the real me?and i want people to help me get better so therefore i need to show where i am?
i cant always express myself in words(see this post as an example)but waht i mean is at times id rather not use words,as i may hurt people,these are the times i turn into myself for most of my tracks
life eh?cant live with it cant live without it



btw zen and the art of ...
i got the wrong one i got magic roundabout maintenance

[dystonia_ek]

I totally agree, shamann. The ego stroking/cult of personality needs to be removed from music to the greatest degree possible.

[shamann]

The ego stroking/cult of personality needs to be removed from music to the greatest degree possible.

I'll drink to that. Now I just have to go get something to drink.

[shamann]

I'll drink to that. Now I just have to go get something to drink.

Done and done.

[dystonia_ek]

I'll drink to that. Now I just have to go get something to drink.

Done and done.

A wise choice... don't know what sort of day you had but I could use a drink right about now... I have Absynth open in front of me but it's not the drinkable kind.

[shamann]

I have Absynth open in front of me but it's not the drinkable kind.

That is both happy and sad. Hurray more music, but a shame about the absinthe. If it's any consolation, I'm only drinking some girly white chocolate thing. It was a gift and needed to be used up.

[dystonia_ek]

I have Absynth open in front of me but it's not the drinkable kind.

That is both happy and sad. Hurray more music, but a shame about the absinthe. If it's any consolation, I'm only drinking some girly white chocolate thing. It was a gift and needed to be used up.

Fortunately gifts of alcohol were few and relatively tasteful this holiday season in my household... and generally once I'm working on something I tend to forget everything else.
I'll get to pick up on the absinthe drinking this weekend anyway - a friend of mine constructed a bizzare Jules Verne-esque distilling device for the stuff recently, and the results have been much better than what is commercially available 'round these parts since they legalised importation. Though I'm not much of a hard drinker anyway... got that out of my system a long time ago.

Wow, this thread has really drifted. Sorry about that folks! One of those days.

[Sicklecell666]

I have Absynth open in front of me but it's not the drinkable kind.

That is both happy and sad. Hurray more music, but a shame about the absinthe. If it's any consolation, I'm only drinking some girly white chocolate thing. It was a gift and needed to be used up.

Fortunately gifts of alcohol were few and relatively tasteful this holiday season in my household... and generally once I'm working on something I tend to forget everything else.
I'll get to pick up on the absinthe drinking this weekend anyway - a friend of mine constructed a bizzare Jules Verne-esque distilling device for the stuff recently, and the results have been much better than what is commercially available 'round these parts since they legalised importation. Though I'm not much of a hard drinker anyway... got that out of my system a long time ago.

Wow, this thread has really drifted. Sorry about that folks! One of those days.

To hell with the thread, send me some of the green stuff!!



Tell your buddy to name his price

[dystonia_ek]

I have Absynth open in front of me but it's not the drinkable kind.

That is both happy and sad. Hurray more music, but a shame about the absinthe. If it's any consolation, I'm only drinking some girly white chocolate thing. It was a gift and needed to be used up.

Fortunately gifts of alcohol were few and relatively tasteful this holiday season in my household... and generally once I'm working on something I tend to forget everything else.
I'll get to pick up on the absinthe drinking this weekend anyway - a friend of mine constructed a bizzare Jules Verne-esque distilling device for the stuff recently, and the results have been much better than what is commercially available 'round these parts since they legalised importation. Though I'm not much of a hard drinker anyway... got that out of my system a long time ago.

Wow, this thread has really drifted. Sorry about that folks! One of those days.

To hell with the thread, send me some of the green stuff!!



Tell your buddy to name his price

He'll be bottling some more up soon... first batch was for xmas gifts. You'll like the packaging - it has a Victorian engraving of a baby skeleton on the label.

[Sicklecell666]

[dystonia_ek]

So I guess I'll put you down for a bottle.

[Sicklecell666]

correctomundo