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.