THAT'S NOT ROCK

Listening to Neutral Milk Hotel the other day, Jeff Mangum, the group's lead singer, laughs at one point during a particularly crass section of "Oh Comely." This got me to thinking about the performance aspect of the music. Mainstream music is heavily "produced." Individual notes, riffs, and passages are slowly and painstakingly changed, fixed and modified using computers and other technology. Somewhere along the way, the little things that make music so personal are lost. That's not to say that there is no connection, but what are you really connecting with at that point? The artist or the producer?

I believe that the rise in popularity of Indie music is largely a backlash against the produced feel of music in the mainstream today. I understand that to ignore the value of production technology would be foolhardy, but I also believe that there is a line that needs to be drawn if music is to stay the same. The way I think of it is "organic" music vs "electric" music. I think of organic music as sound produced without the aid of digital logic. Electric music simply means any sound altered digitally. Of course there are places for each of these individually, but when is rock and roll "electronic?" If a live performer cannot reproduce their songs on stage without the the aid of digital technologies, is it still rock? Is the future of all bands some sort of hybrid of electronic and organic music making?

All of this is very interesting from the standpoint of a listener. However, I believe it could also be a boon to a fledgling music maker. My roommate commented that "to make good music, you have to be a rock star." This comment referred to the high price of good analog equipment such as amplifiers, effect pedals, and mics. However, With the cost of technology rapidly declining, it is very possible to make a highly polished piece of music with this equipment and limited resources. It's also possible to be a mediocre musician and sound great with this equipment as well. So all of this really gets me wondering what rock is, and where it's going. For now, though, I'll sit back and enjoy it.

More about Tech & Music

My last entry spoke about Soundcloud. In this entry, I would like to focus on the broader effects technology has on tastes and trends. This includes things like Facebook, MySpace, and Last.fm.

Musical communities prior to the internet were probably a lot more intimate. Often the sharing of music was between friends and family. The way that music was shared really influenced an individual. Even though a person developed his or her "own" musical preference, there was a huge amount of influence involved from various sources. One of the things today's technology offers is a much more isolated exposure to various musical genres and styles. Although there is still a highly social element to musical tastes, it is easier to hone one's preferences "in a bubble," if I may. Websites like Amazon, Last.fm, and others now have suggestions based on other user's feedback and in some cases, algorithmically determined musical compatibility. And while this will ultimately lead you to other music you enjoy listening to, how much is lost in translation here? While we all enjoy finding a new artist that tickles our fancy, there's no feeling like recommending a cool new album to a friend and becoming fans together. Of course, this still happens plenty, but the ease with which finding music online facilitates means that more and more of our musical tastes are developed in a less personal manner.

Now, of course that's not to say that many of these recommendations are done without human interaction. Often, the recommendations do come from other people. However, it's often users who you will never meet. So, although the collective musical community is helping each other, they are doing so through GUI's and Tag Clouds rather than intimate conversation. This dehumanization of the process changes the whole idea of what "taste" means. Most people perceive tastes as being an extremely personal decision. They also see it as a defining characteristic of their own sense of individuality. However, musical taste is a peculiarity in its means, as it is decidedly outside an individual. Short of a person who has never heard music in their lives picking up a twig and some stones and making noises from it, every music someone is exposed to is based on other people's ideas about what music should sound like. Our tastes come into play where we decide whose ideas most align with our own. But there are a whole plethora of things that affect our ideas, about what sounds good, what you can relate to, and what is simply rubbish.

So, on the flipside, perhaps this expansion of options actually improves our ability to define our own tastes. By removing the nudge of those we care about, we are free to pick whichever music we like (so long as our roommates don't hear us listening to it). What is certain, though, is that finding new music has never been so easy. Musical proliferation is certainly at a high point these days. Genres are constantly emerging, dying, splitting, and changing. It's left to the individual where they fit.

Musical community

If you've never heard of the website Soundcloud, you're missing out. I was recently perusing my brother's songs ( available here) and I was thinking about the potential that technology has brought to the industry at large. Now, artists can immediately receive feedback on their style, songs, and techniques immediately. It acts both as a marketing tool, as well as an interesting sort of "community-critique." Other users can select points in the song to tag with their own comments, thereby making contextual remarks within individual songs. This sort of up-to-the-minute style review is extremely new. It used to be such that songs were made largely with no input from members outside of the band. Now, the song-making process has been simplified through software packages such as Fruity Loops, and the refining process is being revolutionized through services like Soundcloud. I will be interested to see where social networking trends take the music industry in the future, as innovations like this can really be game changing.

Gospel & Soul

I just finished watching the Coen Brother's remake of "The Ladykillers." I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite lukewarm reviews. But one of the things that really struck me was the use of Gospel throughout the movie in a variety of ways. However, the ironic use proved the most enjoyable. During each of the movie's most morbid scenes, gospel featured prominently. Particularly, when one character known only as "The General," sneaks into Ms. Munson's room to kill her, gospel music plays on an unseen turntable. Although it seems the spirit of the woman's deceased husband ultimately protects her, the hilarious twist that ensues is underscored by the uplifting gospel music in the background singing "We must get back to the Lord."

The Coen brothers have a certain knack for film making. I enjoy many of their movies, particularly their use of sound. The music in the film becomes essential to the atmosphere. I often had to remind myself the film was set in present day. Not only because of the mannerisms of the main characters, but because the music hurled you back to a different time. The way that we connect music with peoples and traditions is indeed a powerful binding. Without that connection, we would be forced to draw these connections in other ways. The music allows us to slip into the scenes without effort.

My final point is about gospel. I am always at a loss when I hear the raw power inherent in this music, rooted in the soul and faith of the singers. It seems that the voices, so fraught with emotion, are reaching out to you. I do not know that any music has the kind of emotional power that gospel, and later, soul, evokes. Without the music, it probably would have been just another caper. With the music, it became an interesting, endearing commentary on life, law, religion, and trust. The musical score brought about an emotional connection. As the choir sang in the final hilarious moment, the brothers showed you clear as day the very comeuppance these gospel singers were proclaiming.

Introduction

This blog will chronicle my daily listening and why I pick the music I do. I will try and tie this in with the broader themes of the class, such as a focus on contributing artists, the societal impact these bands have had, and of course, just how Rock & Roll this stuff is. I will attempt to update the blog as often as possible, in theory, once per day as I need to write ten pages about the experience, and the paper is due fairly soon. For this reason, the entries will not follow a narrow path, but rather attempt to cover as much ground in as little time as possible.

My musical tastes include alternative rock, post-rock, pop, pop-punk, among many others. My favorite band is Radiohead. Although I enjoy going to shows, I would not consider myself a regular concert-goer. I am as much an audiohpile as my limited collegiate budget allows. My lastfm page is available here. Check it out!