Music is my boyfriend

[charybdis]

“Music brings a warm glow to my vision, thawing mind and muscle from their endless wintering.” —Haruki Murakami

While we have a WAYLT thread, I don't really think it's that conducive to discussion and every time I open a thread my laptop shudders in horror trying to load all those music links and we post songs but never really talk about why we care about them. So what about just a general thread to chat about music and our feelings about it?

Two things for me:

1. The New Yorker just did an interview with M.I.A. about "MATANGI" that is worth a listen. I personally really dig her aesthetic, there's something super ironically lo-fi about it and in the interview she says "I want to re-invent the 60s hippie" which is kind of interesting. ...........I also just really like angry girl music.

2. I'm not a huge music listener myself, so a lot of the music I listen to is tied with the people who bring it to my attention. So I can't listen to "Oops I Did it Again" without thinking about my childhood girlfriends who used to sing it on the playground to harass the boys. "Get Free" is tied up with my friend Jack who enthusiastically recommended it to me at 4 am one morning over facebook messenger while high. I think about averagefruit when I listen to Vitalic and C2C. And so on and so forth.

The songs I mentioned are follows:

Spoiler:

[UnwashedMolasses]

I've had music playing in my head constantly for years, not a moment goes by where I'm not either remembering music or inventing new music in my head or with my hands or feet or joints or teeth. I think music is similar to love in that it's one of the few things in reality that can transcend the human experience.

[kyung]

a lot of the music I listen to is tied with the people who bring it to my attention

I think everyone can relate to this in some way, whether it be a friend sharing a mixtape or dad turning on some old records, music can become imprinted on certain feelings or memories that help us recall those times in the future, that's part of why music is so great!

I have this one memory as a child of driving home from Grandma's in Queens over the George Washington Bridge on a foggy night. I had just finished a huge meal and in my drowsy state I heard my dad turn on the smooth jazz station as usual. But this Kenny G song started playing and the whole experience of the weather and seeing the blurred streetlights through the car window with this rich saxophone playing in the background just felt so intrinsically cool. This one experience alone made me want to play the saxophone, and I've been doing it for about 8 years now.

Also, I like creating soundtracks to life. For whatever situation I'm in (weather, time of day, location, etc.) I think to myself, "If this were a movie, what would be playing in the background?"

Nothing beats walking home on a snowy night than with some piano instrumentals

Spoiler:

[SisterRayVU]

One of my favorite quotes about music may be apocryphal but it's colored my thought nevertheless. Supposedly Coltrane said he just wanted to make beautiful noise. I thought that was a wonderful expression, especially considering how his career progressed. But think about it in the context of music. My Bloody Valentine buried their changes in fuzzy noise. The Jesus and Mary Chain simultaneously used noise to obscure their bubblegum, Beach Boys inclination, but also used noise to lift out their melodies. Sonic Youth made some of the most wonderful songs out of noise.

I like the idea of noise and of visual snow represented aurally. You still see the image but it's hidden by distortion. And sometimes one piece of the image just comes through extremely clear and that's something I like I guess.

[starfox64]

Haven't watched the MIA interview yet but just a few related things:

messy profile of her that is not especially flattering but also has some journalistic flaws: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/magazine/30mia-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

maya's response: http://pitchfork.com/news/38945-mia-takes-revenge-on-new-york-times-writer-lynn-hirschberg/

some kind of rundown of everything that happened. i don't think either people involved come off especially well. http://observer.com/2010/06/more-on-mia-the-times-and-trufflegate/

anyway, i haven't listened to her newest album but MAYA was a huge disappointment, especially because Kala is like a 10/10.

[sknss]

One of my favorite quotes about music may be apocryphal but it's colored my thought nevertheless. Supposedly he said he just wanted to make beautiful noise. I thought that was a wonderful expression, especially considering how his career progressed.

hold on, who said that?

[b4my]

I like the idea of noise and of visual snow represented aurally. You still see the image but it's hidden by distortion. And sometimes one piece of the image just comes through extremely clear and that's something I like I guess.

Also I dunno if you've ever listened to Burial, but it's a lot like that imo, the way it uses rain sounds and hissing and these vocals that weave in and out. It's like being on the night bus home half asleep and hearing all these fragments of sound, people around you, the world outside, in that sort of half asleep half awake haze. Cliched comparison to use but also a really accurate one.

Always weird to me when people into fashion say they're not into music, they're so tied together for me. They're both about making yourself feel like you're the type of person you want to be, or a person that's appealing to you, and the way you dress and what music you listen to are what separate people into subcultures. And obviously at least half the major designers in the world have done collections specifically referencing music.

I mean obviously it's no big deal if you're not that into it, just that liking fashion pretty much came out of liking music for me.

But I agree on liking stuff based on its association with a person or memory, I definitely do that.

[SisterRayVU]

One of my favorite quotes about music may be apocryphal but it's colored my thought nevertheless. Supposedly he said he just wanted to make beautiful noise. I thought that was a wonderful expression, especially considering how his career progressed.

hold on, who said that?

Woops. John Coltrane.

[SisterRayVU]

And yeah, Burial is one of my favorites. Should be spoken of in the same sentence as Coltrane, Lou Reed, etc. He described his music as the filtered sound you get when you're walking around the streets and you hear the clubs but can't get in. But yeah, I also love music that's so identifiable as being from one place in specific. Burial is distinctly London music. He couldn't be from NYC, LA, Boston, or anywhere except London. So cool.

[charybdis]

Haven't watched the MIA interview yet but just a few related things:

messy profile of her that is not especially flattering but also has some journalistic flaws: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/magazine/30mia-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Ooof, couldn't make it through the profile. At least the several paragraphs made me feel the same way the Kendrick Lamar GQ profile did.

I guess it's wrong of me to pass judgement without reading the whole thing, but it's 3am and I don't feel like feeling down you know?

[bels]

Lyrics to the new Death Grips song "Final Course Detergent Scourer" have been leaked

Tapioca pudding, broken fist
open flesh wound
desserted dish
scorched spoon soap wash
surface tension, bubbles like satan's invention
scrub so hard it's anti bac
never bring my sweet tooth back
who's the washer, who's the dryer
drainage rack's a flaming pyre
jagged edges tea towel strewn
darkened kitchen torture room
waterboard the kitchen sink
pull the plug this drain won't stink
pull the plug
pull the plug
(screaming)
pull the pluuuuuuuuuuug

Can't wait for the track to come out so I can tell people I listen to it whilst never listening to it.

[rjbman]

It's really funny how my tastes have evolved over time. I don't really remember much about my tastes pre-ipod (12 or 13 I believe) except for one very special song that I remember listening to with a really close childhood friend who has since moved away and I don't see anymore. That song: "All the Small Things" by blink-182.

I think when I first got my iPod I listened to a bunch of rock; my uncle gave me his music collection which consisted of a lot of classic rock, with a few more recent things like Green Day. I remember liking the pop-rock (pop-punk? I suck at putting music into genres) shit like Simple Plan and Good Charlotte. From there I moved on to more modern rock; my freshman year of high school I went to a concert for Papa Roach, Buckcherry, and Hinder. I do remember Guitar Hero contributing a lot to my tastes. Some mid-high school loves: Linkin Park (who I still love their albums, even the later ones, but it seems like they're putting all their energy into a fucking MMO game?!), Rise Against (whose albums have become a lot more explicitly political which annoys the fuck out of me), Rage Against the Machine, and Three Days Grace.

I also started listening to alternative stuff. Weezer (skipped senior homecoming to go to a concert of theirs, as did many others from my school), Muse, Incubus, RHCP were a few that I really enjoyed. Gradually moved into more indie-ish stuff like Bon Iver, Mumford and Sons, Naked and Famous, Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire, etc.

Right now I'm into listening to classical, though for the most part I couldn't name a song if I heard it. Listen to a fair amount of classic rock too (AC/DC, Guns n Roses, "Sultans of Swing" is my goddamn jam!), a fair amount of alternative/indie stuff (though largely I get new bands from the radio and I don't really listen to it this year), a teeny bit of hiphop/rap, and a few game/movie soundtracks. Oh, and also really big on 90's alternative/grunge/rock, which is sort of interesting in that I recognize almost all the songs, even if I couldn't tell you the artist/song, given I was around 7 when the 90s ended.

There's a lot of music that I discovered relatively late in my life, bands like Foo Fighters, blink-182, Billy Joel, Nirvana, etc. Hell I don't even consider myself to have "discovered" the Beatles. I like their music but I still haven't really invested any time in consuming their discography.

TL;DR This is an extremely long post and I apologize

[agvs]

Most of this will probably sound pretentious but whatever...

I used to live and breathe music. I play a bunch of instruments (only guitar proficiently) and write songs. I had been doing that so long that it was actually ruining listening to other people's music for me. I couldn't get into anything beyond trying to analyze the melody, song structure, etc. Now that I haven't written or created anything in a while I can actually enjoy music again.

When I'm writing or recording or performing it's the only time I ever feel a complete sense of peace (maybe not the right word). A bit dramatic but it's honestly what I feel like it's what I am meant to do. I can get lost in it. I guess it's kind of a spiritual thing for me.

When I was real young I loved hip hop but that was more me trying to fit in with a group of people. Grunge hit when I was an angst-y teen so it was right up my alley. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, etc. My brother got me into Led Zeppelin and from there I went through all the standard classic rock stuff - The Beatles, Stones, Jimi, Dylan (pre and post electric), Pink Floyd, The Who. Nowadays it's usually more mellow stuff Wilco, Radiohead, My Morning Jacket, The Avett Brothers. I really like bluegrass and old country music (think Gram Parsons) but I don't know a whole lot about it.

Also been meaning to listen to more M. Ward

Spoiler:

[SteevMike]

In my hometown, there was only one FM station (started in 2001!), MuchMusic, and the CD selection at Wal-Mart. Most people listened to the same music, and if you weren't into that music you just had to deal with it. This was like the late 90s/early 2000s so pop music was in dire straits. I remember when everyone in my town started getting internet and the principal of our school interrupted our class and showed us all how to use Napster. That, combined with various music subforums of non-music message boards, was the only way for me to find music.

I think the first non-hugely-popular band I really latched onto was Bad Religion, which drew me into late 80s-early 90s guitar bands (faith no more! nirvana! smashing pumpkins!), which directly led me to finding more difficult (every other mike patton project, early boredoms) and beautiful (later boredoms, MBV, bedhead) music.

[Catfush]

I was never really into music in my childhood or early adolescence. I would listen to current stuff from essentially every popular genre, but I think I did it to fit in with my peers.

It wasn't until I was 18 that I started finding some value in music. My friends had me listen to "Little Lion Man" by Mumford and Sons and I thought, "Hey, this sounds pretty neat." So I started exploring folk and bluegrass music on youtube and I eventually stumbled upon Fleet Foxes. I remember listening to songs like "Helplessness Blues" and "The Shrine/An Argument" and feeling this sense of elation and connection with myself. Music had never made me feel this way before, and I'm not entirely certain if I was projecting my newfound spirituality onto the music, or if the music was creating a sense of spirituality. Either way, listening to them became a very spiritual experience for me.

I'm now listening to The Avett Brothers, Bon Iver, Beach House, Tame Impala, Volcano Choir, The Antlers, and St. Vincent. And while I enjoy all of them, only The Avett Brothers and Bon Iver give me that spiritual elation, and I listen to Bon Iver's entire self-titled album almost every day.

I guess I realized that it's not about what music I listen to, what merit the artist has in the industry, how big they are, how creative they are, etc. It's about what the music does for me that matters.

[can-]

what the hell is the new m83 all about

[Stingray Sam]

i really love music, but i haven't really analyzed my relationship with it much. I agree with dwindles about having specific sounds remind you of certain events or people. To me a lot of sounds just represent an idea and i really like it, not the lyrics, not the chord progression or anything, just the entire sound of a song or whatever represents an idea that is deeply personal to me. i really like a variety of music, i enjoy hip hop that has either a really downbeat chill sound or a real aggressive sort of punk/metal influence. I enjoy the emotion behind punk, but i can only take so much before a lot of it starts sounding generic to me. In the vein of punk i enjoy music that incorporates a lot of heavy noise and distortion without much drive, like an almost apathetic anger. I really enjoy bright eyes or any other music that makes me feel sad and depressed. i also like folk/blues music (not contemporary folk like fleet foxes, though they are good) like greg brown, as well as traditional blues music. I think what i most enjoy about blues is the story telling aspect. i like some indie/indie pop music that is more mainstream, but a lot of it sounds very generic to me and i'll almost exclusively listen to it for the novelty of it. I like house music as well, particularly stuff coming out of france, i also love james blake. i also like b4's description of music that sounds like the background noise of the world like driving through the rain or being half asleep on a bus, i like music that i can fall asleep to and wake up feeling like i'm somewhere else. i feel like bright eyes incorporates a lot of sounds that makes me feel that way. I also love jazz and have been getting into classical lately, just listening to it on the radio. I want to go to the symphony sometime though

[UnwashedMolasses]

Hell I don't even consider myself to have "discovered" the Beatles. I like their music but I still haven't really invested any time in consuming their discography.

I hate to be that guy but I would really suggest investing a weekend and going through their albums. It's difficult to overstate how groundbreaking the majority of their work was. The Roots are the only band that I would consider to have a superior discography to The Beatles, and that's because of With The Beatles and Beatles For Sale, which are both largely skippable as they were cover-filled cash grabs by their management. Yellow Submarine also isn't really a Beatles album as it's primarily orchestral soundtrack composed by George Martin, but there's a few originals on there (and "Hey Bulldog" is phenomenal). Each of their other albums show a drastic change of influences and abilities, and listening to them straight through is a wonderful experience.

If you can't tell, I'm a huge Beatles fan. That's why it bugs me so much when people call them overrated.

[deadkitty]

Here's a really fantastic analysis of The Beatles and why (in Piero Scaruffi's opinion) they're overrated

[Syeknom]

I've not read the article sorry but do feel that putting any energy into describing bands or music as "overrated" is almost entirely ridiculous. I don't get why we feel compelled to quantify the extent to which a band's music is enjoyed by others or in the popular sphere and if this is Correctly Justified or not.

[deadkitty]

Well to be fair, Scaruffi is a music critic, so that's what he does. It's the same as any art form.

[BobbyZamora]

It doesn't really matter though if the Beatles are "overrated". They unarguably changed music in a huge way- you could go on for hours, pointing out holes in Jimi Hendrix's technical guitar playing ability, Muddy Water's' songwriting, or Bob Dylan's singing, but in the end it's irrelevant. Once you pass personal enjoyment/subjectivity, the only quantifiable way to judge music is by how much it influenced other music.

Besides, just like fashion, music isn't about better or unique. It's about "different", and the Beatles definitely created their own unique sound that people replicated and put their own spins on for decades afterwards (people still do it today.)

[deadkitty]

There is no quantifiable way to judge music. How do you quantify influence? That doesn't mean it isn't interesting to hear a different take on a band that hasn't had much of anything except universal praise for the last 40-odd years.

[BobbyZamora]

Have you ever listened to how most solo guitar sounded pre-Jimi Hendrix? Or how rap sounded before Rakim? Have you ever looked up the Amen Break?

There are tons of ways to quantify influence. Many musicians just flat-out say it, and make it obvious. A good portion of Jimi Hendrix's discography was made up of Muddy Waters covers.

I don't consider the link you posted very interesting; it's mainly just a guy being overly negative and cynical toward a band he doesn't like and insulting rock as a genre. The whole "The Beatles are overrated, they were just a pop band." discussion isn't anything new either.

[deadkitty]

Also, to your second point, how "different" were The Beatles? I think Scaruffi makes a really good point that it seemed as though The Beatles looked at other types of music and said "hey let's do that!" However, I do think that he majorly underrates their ability to take these other genres and make them much more accessible and in turn bringing them to a much wider audience.

[deadkitty]

How do you quantify influence then? Can you give me a number? Whether The Beatles were influential or not is beside the point anyway and doesn't make any of Scaruffi's points less valid.

[BobbyZamora]

Every musician did that. "Different" doesn't mean something completely new, or something super-innovative. It means exactly what it says; that they were different, and for whatever reason it appealed to people. Art isn't a science, and you really can't quantify anything other than people's reactions to it- even though you can quantify the building blocks (music theory, etc)

This is why people like to listen to covers. Different artists can bring something unique out from a different style or even song; it's rare (and usually boring) to encounter a "perfect copy." Most blues (and folk) songs had the same chord structures, and often the same (or similar) lyrics. What made two different artists stand out was just the quirks and unique qualities in their delivery/interpretations.

And if I gruelingly spent a few months I could probably give you a number of the amount of artists (Both respected/successful, and not.) who cite "The Beatles" as one of their major influences, or have a bunch of Beatles covers in their discographies, or a sound that reminds one of that classic "Beatles sound" (I'm not going to do that though- you probably aren't going to deny that The Beatles were influential.)

The whole discussion revolving around certain artists being "overrated" is silly. I've skimmed over the article and there are tons of lame, pretentious mentions of "elevating rock music to art", "real musicians" and "sophistication". These things only extend themselves in to greater, dumber discussions about what "real music" is, and overdone discussions about how pop music is "pointless drivel." Pure snobbery.

It's also a travesty that the "influence" he attributes to Jimi Hendrix is "furthering the myth of LSD." Really a silly article, and much too long for what it's actually saying.

[SteevMike]

Two notes about Scaruffi:
1) He thinks that Ringo was the most talented Beatle
2) He thinks that Fred Durst is one of the "best male rock singers of all time"

[BobbyZamora]

My musical tastes have evolved in a pretty straightforward manner, I guess- although they've ended up pretty eclectic. The first time I recall being "into music" was just after I got in to highschool, where I mainly just listened to terrible powermetal bands. That sort of tapered off, and I mainly listened to vidoegame remixes (OCremix) for a lengthy period of time until I started listening to classic rock and picked up the guitar and the harmonica, which threw me down in to the well of blues music.

For a decent period I was one of those obnoxious "music fans" who complained incessantly about pop music and hip hop, but the more I got absorbed in to the blues and the more I experimented with the guitar the more my mind opened up to other forms of music; I realized how influential the blues was and how dead simple it was as well- the chord structures were all the same, these guys pretty much just stole the most basic and catchy riffs from eachother over and over again, and their lyrics talked about nothing but trains and women and drugs. Rock and roll was just the blues with a backbeat- it was important and great, and yet it was so unnecessarily deified by "music fans" even though it was so simple.

I started to get a feel for rhythm and learned a lot about music history, and I guess that just naturally lead me in to liking hip hop and electronic/dancey sort of music. These days my taste is a balancing act between blues, classic rock, rap, mopey alternative rock, indie-folk, post-rock and the aforementioned electronic/dancey stuff (Which is annoying and difficult to categorize since it's all over the place, probably more than one genre..)

My favorite artists are probably Jimi Hendrix, Kanye West, Bob Dylan, Skip James and Gramatik. Though I like a lot more than that; Velvet Underground, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Recluse, The Pixies, Kendrick Lamar, Danny Brown, GY!BE, The Protomen, Tom Waits, Howlin' Wolf, Shawn James, Gary Clark Jr, dozens of other artists.

The blues is probably my favorite genre.

Spoiler:

My favorite song.

[UnwashedMolasses]

Assertions:

Blues is a dead genre.

Jazz has expended its innovations and now exists primarily in one of its earlier forms, club musix.

"Alternative" and "Indie" as descriptors hold no value or meaning other than the most literal interpretations.

Question:

Are trends in pop music a reflection of cultural change or do they influence culture? I study pop trends as an aspect of my career and it's always interesting to see different fads of rhythm and melody and production and instrumentation change over the months/years.