You know the thing about musical indulgence is, the guys who are well and truly absorbed in their own technical prowess, don't realise that their music is at risk of being persecuted for it's tedium and intensely frustrating arrogance.
I think the thing is, we can all appreciate guitar solos here and there, if they have soul and meaning and have a place inside a composition, to add something to a piece is great and great guitarists over the past 60 years have been able to utilize their talents in complimenting their music that's made.
But artists like Steve Vai, Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen etc. Abuse their prowess and put on clinics for everyone. Now don't get me wrong, these guys should be well respected for what they've accomplished with the guitar and they are brilliant technically. But it is not music for people who aren't guitar players! It's as simple as that.
If you go to a concert of any of these guys, you're guranteed of one thing. High velocity riffage and nothing more. I play five million notes a second to impress people and that's the price of admission.
They are very popular amongst musicians circles, and rightly so. They inspire a lot of keen admirers who would kill to play like these guys. What I fear is that they might sink into the same mediocrity as the likes of Vai & Co.
I don't want this to happen, develop songs use space wisely and inspire people. Not make people flabbergasted by utter wankery with solos going on for 18 minutes at a time.
Malmsteen does make me upset inside a little. The quote of "the death of Hendrix was the birth of the guitar for Malmsteen" not quoted correctly, but that makes me sick inside in a way because Hendrix could very well be rolling in his grave at these statements.
He should feel flattered, but the truth is guitarists have modeled themselves on his spirit and claim to have been soo inspired by him, that his spirit lives on in millions of guitar players worldwide today.
The difference with Hendrix, is that he used space. His songs were of beauty and you can't take that away. He did love to show off and there's no doubting that, but he had a great way of perfectly balancing between the song and the solo, it was needed for a song so he would play a solo. Moments of indulgence are evident on live occassions, but the albums were particular tight with the exception of voodoo chile off electric ladyland.
What can anyone do, well I just write opinions on this blog, so anything I say has a right to be critcized well and truly and I accept that. There's nothing that anyone can do. But realise now that the art of the guitar solo in popular forms of music has kind of died a little.
I've got evidence to support this one too!
Metallica St. Anger 2003- SOLOS HELLO (okay Metallica switches to defcon 1 in an attempt to revitalise their career, something they are yet to accomplish but may see in a few days time when Death Magnetic is launched)
Popular music from 1992-present: Solos anyone, grunge died in the ass at that point we were beginning to see the emergence of brit pop in a few years time, and shoegazing bands played one chord through a flanger pedal for five minutes and practiced their affectations for tommorow night.)
TOOL- They are a force to be reckoned with, they use space in their solos which counts and the compositions are spaced out evenly, a lot of soul in their and interesting. After this progressive shift in metal, other bands would approach their sound less riff conscious.
Grindcore and speed metal- After years of bands playing at such high speeds, it became unattractive to play like this after a while they got sick of it.
Bryan Adams-Those emotion drenched solos during the middle of his ballads don't exactly give you hairs on you chest.
With these contributing factors we have to bury the insane guitar solo's and let them resurface every now and then.
Who is to blame for this? Well all the baby boomer generation's brains were dulled a little bit by all the excess of the late 60,s early 70's. So that's really too coincidental for my liking...
The origin of musical excess starts here:
1966- Artist: Cream Album: Fresh Cream
Track: TOAD
The debut album of cream unleashed Ginger Baker's beast toad, in this form it is only five minutes of percussionist wankery. But we all get treated to a delightful to a 16 minute rendition on the live side of 1968's Wheels of fire.
Baker is partly to blame for the intiation of the drum solo in rock music, it would continue to plague all of man kind until punks put all the prog rockers out of business.
1967- Artist: Pink Floyd Album: Piper at the Gates of Dawn
One of the biggest selling bands of all time had a lot of potential even in the beginning, however focus on material and the right combination of experimentation and songcraft would take a few years to master. Their psychedelic debut contains almost all mellow filter music which is quirky and definately intriguing for any floyd fan, however the quality of the material was very low.
1968- Artist: The Beatles Album: Self Titled (The White Album)
I am ironic to criticise this one because it's one of my all time desert islamd discs, however by this Beatles could do no wrong having established themselves and moved with the times. They could and would do anything they wanted musically whatever the consequence and most of the time it payed off.
The White Album is 94 minutes of pure lunacy, and that's why I love it. It jumps around from genre to genre and you're not quite sure what's around the corner.
Revolution 9 was the key to it's eccentricity. A sound collage which was avant garde and inspired that asthetic with a lot of the musicians around at the time.
1970- Artist: The Who Album: Tommy
Well Pete Townsend conceived this rock opera about a deaf dumb and blind boy who becomes a rock star.
And it was mostly filler. That is blasphemous considering that it rocks up on a lot of critics lists..sorry
The Canterbury Scene
Miles Goes Electric
Deep Purple: Three Words "Made in Japan"
NO MORE ORGAN SOLOS PLEASE
So we've firmly established a trend here, and it wasn't only guitars that were excessive, but just the music itself. Prog bands deliver track 1 and track 2. Which turn out to be Side 1 and Side 2 of a record. The main culpirits were ELP,YES,MAGMUM,Soft Machine,Focus, Uriah Heep, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Mike Oldfield.
Listening in between the notes can be important sometimes to, we are always trying to catch up with you Vai. You are crazy and toobad ass for everyone else.
All those notes inside your head would be floating around like that. So if you couldn't play guitar and you were restricted to a straight jacket for let's say 2 months. Would you start having singing lessons?
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
I had dreamed of Andre Rieu Last Nite! Phil Collins Style
This dream was a little bit messed up. I was on the superstar virgo, and the night was pleasant and everything I was having dinner i guess. There was a stage and I was eating out of all things salmon patties, (i don't know why) anyway i was eating there was wine and stuff.
Other things like people and that weren't a vivid thing in this dream but i could see the stage. Anyway I pianist got up on stage to rapturous applause and started played the intro to a song. It was Miami 2017 by Billy Joel. Now Billy Joel wasn't playing it but I recognised the song because i own his "turnstiles" album.
Now the drums kick in, and my attention focuses towards the drummer. It is none other than Andre "the rooster" Rieu. Sitting there like a motherfucker, beating those things like they were goin out of fashion, and eating up those beats as if they were lamb shanks. It was surreal , it really was?
So led me to wonder about this guy's appeal, in reality that is. He sells millions of cd's and dvd's to bewildered old pensioners who think he is the second coming. Now he is a showman, so that's what it is. The melodies are fantastic and it gets people enthralled in the spectacle of it all. His stage sets are gigantic and there's horses and shit galloping around it's terrific. I mean what more would you want out of a concert.
I tell you what I'd like, a gold plated medallion. That's what I fucking like. $350 dollars to see this toss play the fiddle a little and wink at the old farts in the front with the pacemakers, it's enough to make you yell "GOLDMINE, he is a TOSS BUT I REALLY WISH IT WAS ME".
Well that's enough about that, but i truly feel that he is about as one dimensional as you can get and he hides behind props and smiles, as to not expose his faults and his hidden agenda for world domination.
I work in a music store, and that's all i hear all day, is about how great this jerk is. If he was anywhere near as great as let's say i don't know um
Beethoven
Mozart
Debussy
Vivaldi
Johan Strauss
Igor Stravinsky
Bartok
John Cage
Hank Williams
Paul Robeson
Pete Seeger
Bob Dylan
Dizzy Gillespie
Art Tatum
Miles Davis
John Coltrane
Cecil Taylor
Bud Powell
Paul Mcartney
Jonh Lennon
Pete Townsend
Paul Rodgers
John Mayall
Eric Clapton
Jeff Beck
Joni Mitchell
Odetta
Phil Ochs
Tim Buckley
Black Sabbath
led zeppelin
magmum
pere ubu
the clash
sex pistols
siouxie and the banshees
bauhaus
the fall
ride
opeth
stone roses
morbid angel
daath
my morning jacket
bloc party
who made who
ac/dc
chemical brothers
funkadelic/parilament
grandfunk railroad
radiohead
sonic youth
and finally, Billy joel..
Then I might.. I might consider entertaining the thought of listening to this rubbish. But seeing as i have given you a long listof reasons why i'm holding off on this, i suggest you do the same and look some of these guys up. Because the majority of these acts haven't become successful by being mediocre, they have become successful because they did one thing and one thing very well.
they played music.
Other things like people and that weren't a vivid thing in this dream but i could see the stage. Anyway I pianist got up on stage to rapturous applause and started played the intro to a song. It was Miami 2017 by Billy Joel. Now Billy Joel wasn't playing it but I recognised the song because i own his "turnstiles" album.
Now the drums kick in, and my attention focuses towards the drummer. It is none other than Andre "the rooster" Rieu. Sitting there like a motherfucker, beating those things like they were goin out of fashion, and eating up those beats as if they were lamb shanks. It was surreal , it really was?
So led me to wonder about this guy's appeal, in reality that is. He sells millions of cd's and dvd's to bewildered old pensioners who think he is the second coming. Now he is a showman, so that's what it is. The melodies are fantastic and it gets people enthralled in the spectacle of it all. His stage sets are gigantic and there's horses and shit galloping around it's terrific. I mean what more would you want out of a concert.
I tell you what I'd like, a gold plated medallion. That's what I fucking like. $350 dollars to see this toss play the fiddle a little and wink at the old farts in the front with the pacemakers, it's enough to make you yell "GOLDMINE, he is a TOSS BUT I REALLY WISH IT WAS ME".
Well that's enough about that, but i truly feel that he is about as one dimensional as you can get and he hides behind props and smiles, as to not expose his faults and his hidden agenda for world domination.
I work in a music store, and that's all i hear all day, is about how great this jerk is. If he was anywhere near as great as let's say i don't know um
Beethoven
Mozart
Debussy
Vivaldi
Johan Strauss
Igor Stravinsky
Bartok
John Cage
Hank Williams
Paul Robeson
Pete Seeger
Bob Dylan
Dizzy Gillespie
Art Tatum
Miles Davis
John Coltrane
Cecil Taylor
Bud Powell
Paul Mcartney
Jonh Lennon
Pete Townsend
Paul Rodgers
John Mayall
Eric Clapton
Jeff Beck
Joni Mitchell
Odetta
Phil Ochs
Tim Buckley
Black Sabbath
led zeppelin
magmum
pere ubu
the clash
sex pistols
siouxie and the banshees
bauhaus
the fall
ride
opeth
stone roses
morbid angel
daath
my morning jacket
bloc party
who made who
ac/dc
chemical brothers
funkadelic/parilament
grandfunk railroad
radiohead
sonic youth
and finally, Billy joel..
Then I might.. I might consider entertaining the thought of listening to this rubbish. But seeing as i have given you a long listof reasons why i'm holding off on this, i suggest you do the same and look some of these guys up. Because the majority of these acts haven't become successful by being mediocre, they have become successful because they did one thing and one thing very well.
they played music.
The Perth Plague, No One Comes Here!
No one comes here, musical artists always miss out perth. I remember looking out for the Radiohead tour dates a few years ago, and even Adelaide got a birth. Come on, is this some kind of joke. I'm sure that Thom Yorke would of loved hangin out in a few churches when he wasn't playing that gig.
Perth is an infrastructure nightmare. And look at the decisions made by these people, did we need a belltower, no. Do we need 80,000 plus seating for high profile concerts and afl matches, yes. So what gets proposed. a 65,000 oval which will not even be full capacity in 6 years time. It is ridiculous.
WA is wait awhile, and culturally we have a lot to be proud of musically. Being so isolated though means we don't have access to resources or venues for muso's to play at, like the eastern states have. if you are a musician you'll probably find yourself living in Melbourne sooner rather than later, and then when your band is big than they'll claim you as theirs. That's what we do to the kiwis that become big.
Look a this city and what it has to offer, Perth is brilliant, and if you are reading this in another country come and visit. Because you'll see how great it really is, but at the moment you may not be able to see it's full potential just yet.
Perth is an infrastructure nightmare. And look at the decisions made by these people, did we need a belltower, no. Do we need 80,000 plus seating for high profile concerts and afl matches, yes. So what gets proposed. a 65,000 oval which will not even be full capacity in 6 years time. It is ridiculous.
WA is wait awhile, and culturally we have a lot to be proud of musically. Being so isolated though means we don't have access to resources or venues for muso's to play at, like the eastern states have. if you are a musician you'll probably find yourself living in Melbourne sooner rather than later, and then when your band is big than they'll claim you as theirs. That's what we do to the kiwis that become big.
Look a this city and what it has to offer, Perth is brilliant, and if you are reading this in another country come and visit. Because you'll see how great it really is, but at the moment you may not be able to see it's full potential just yet.
Avant Jazz
So what does anyone consider jazz these days, because it is a derivative term we use to describe premier acts from the 40's and 50's such as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Stan Getz "Bird" amongst others. But when did jazz enthusiasts decide that introducing contemporary instruments into the music would dilute it of it's authenticity. Because to me expression is the key to what we call J***. It is seen as a dirty word by people who play it or listen to it because it has the connotations of pigeon-holing the genre, therefore catergorizing with everything else.
I'll tell you something, dixieland was king, then bigband, then bebop, free/avant garde, fusion/ jazz rock took their place as time went on. And the only way music could get out of the doldrums was to evolve like anything else, it's the circle of life I'm afraid.
People were shocked when musicians, especially african americans were starting to take hold of their publishing rights in jazz, the black musicians suddenly stopped acting the goat up on stage and just played, they stopped announcing songs, didn't say good evening, and demanded more money for packed clubs.
Primarily Miles Davis set the seen for this kind of revolutionary asthetic. he would continue defying the odds in a world where the fans wanted familiarity, but all he wanted to offer them was uncertainty and exploration which isn't a bad thing i guess. You get spoonfed things for a while and you forget about what things you can learn. Jazz as we know could of stayed in this time vortex, if it hadn't of been for the likes of Ornette Coleman, Miles, Coltrane, Chick Corea, John Zorn, Ahmad Jamal, Bird, Dizzy, John Mclaughlin and so forth.
"Guitars! 4/4 time signature, this is not jazz", so it's very irony is that they don't want to pigeon hole jazz but they didn't want to change it either.
It's fair enough that people have tastes ok, so that's fine. I guess that the fusion thing confused a lot of people at the time, notably Bitches Brew by Miles Davis. It was an alien-like sound palette that consisted of lengthy jams interwoven and wailing horn by the man himself. It was tempo stuff though, and suspense building in the extreme, so the elements of a musical composition were still there, it was random noise. But the killer for the purists was that "the melody" was long gone in the record underneath all the disonance. This record is culturally important more than anyone knows.
This record doesn't get made, and the world would be different from what it is today. And that is no exaggeration on my part. it revolutionised fusion music and Miles became the most successful jazz artist of all time, playing to the biggest crowds ever in his career. He was playing festivals now in front of tens of thousands, instead of hundreds inside cramped clubs like uptown's Minton's. It's certified gold, it sparks debate even today, but bitches brew was important.
To use an analogy, The Beatles. Those first albums aren't made, Please Please Me, the world would be different today. The timeless songs are imbeded in the history of our culture over the last century. So Bitches Brew obviously didn't sell anywhere near the amount as the beatles did, but it opened the floodgates and other artists were able to embrace different cultures and rythms to their music it was sublime.
Return to forever, Mahavishnu, National Health, Magmum, Circle, Keith Jarrett, Focus, Soft Machine,Roy Ayers, all these guys much appreciative of the change that had come. Some of them played with Davis' group during his fusion period, and learnt a lot from that time of exploration.
In hindsight, looking back it was alien, melodic lines were thrown out the door at one stage. Some passages of live at the filmore are so dissonant that one has to wonder, what the fuck is going on?
But it's awesome, i've been a fan of avant noise anyway so i'm inclined to like it, but for the howty towty brubeck and hampton fans,well you've got no hope and if you didn't get back then then you won't get it know. This stuff is lengendary but the new generation are discovering the dixieland sound and bebop through the avenue of fusion music, so in a way it's been good for the genre, reconnecting with like minded individuals who are interested in the musical heritage of america.
So what will it be for you, is it sheets of sound? Or flourishes of melody?
I'll tell you something, dixieland was king, then bigband, then bebop, free/avant garde, fusion/ jazz rock took their place as time went on. And the only way music could get out of the doldrums was to evolve like anything else, it's the circle of life I'm afraid.
People were shocked when musicians, especially african americans were starting to take hold of their publishing rights in jazz, the black musicians suddenly stopped acting the goat up on stage and just played, they stopped announcing songs, didn't say good evening, and demanded more money for packed clubs.
Primarily Miles Davis set the seen for this kind of revolutionary asthetic. he would continue defying the odds in a world where the fans wanted familiarity, but all he wanted to offer them was uncertainty and exploration which isn't a bad thing i guess. You get spoonfed things for a while and you forget about what things you can learn. Jazz as we know could of stayed in this time vortex, if it hadn't of been for the likes of Ornette Coleman, Miles, Coltrane, Chick Corea, John Zorn, Ahmad Jamal, Bird, Dizzy, John Mclaughlin and so forth.
"Guitars! 4/4 time signature, this is not jazz", so it's very irony is that they don't want to pigeon hole jazz but they didn't want to change it either.
It's fair enough that people have tastes ok, so that's fine. I guess that the fusion thing confused a lot of people at the time, notably Bitches Brew by Miles Davis. It was an alien-like sound palette that consisted of lengthy jams interwoven and wailing horn by the man himself. It was tempo stuff though, and suspense building in the extreme, so the elements of a musical composition were still there, it was random noise. But the killer for the purists was that "the melody" was long gone in the record underneath all the disonance. This record is culturally important more than anyone knows.
This record doesn't get made, and the world would be different from what it is today. And that is no exaggeration on my part. it revolutionised fusion music and Miles became the most successful jazz artist of all time, playing to the biggest crowds ever in his career. He was playing festivals now in front of tens of thousands, instead of hundreds inside cramped clubs like uptown's Minton's. It's certified gold, it sparks debate even today, but bitches brew was important.
To use an analogy, The Beatles. Those first albums aren't made, Please Please Me, the world would be different today. The timeless songs are imbeded in the history of our culture over the last century. So Bitches Brew obviously didn't sell anywhere near the amount as the beatles did, but it opened the floodgates and other artists were able to embrace different cultures and rythms to their music it was sublime.
Return to forever, Mahavishnu, National Health, Magmum, Circle, Keith Jarrett, Focus, Soft Machine,Roy Ayers, all these guys much appreciative of the change that had come. Some of them played with Davis' group during his fusion period, and learnt a lot from that time of exploration.
In hindsight, looking back it was alien, melodic lines were thrown out the door at one stage. Some passages of live at the filmore are so dissonant that one has to wonder, what the fuck is going on?
But it's awesome, i've been a fan of avant noise anyway so i'm inclined to like it, but for the howty towty brubeck and hampton fans,well you've got no hope and if you didn't get back then then you won't get it know. This stuff is lengendary but the new generation are discovering the dixieland sound and bebop through the avenue of fusion music, so in a way it's been good for the genre, reconnecting with like minded individuals who are interested in the musical heritage of america.
So what will it be for you, is it sheets of sound? Or flourishes of melody?
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Just a word on Music leaks
It seems that anyone has unlimited access to new music even before it has been released to the public using products such as limewire, winmx etc. (i know those applications are old by now but just for example). People wishing to leak new albums should be more than welcome to but in a way it has been killing our once avid record buying culture.
This is nothing new, and im not the first person to bring this up im sure, however there are always two sides, and depending on which way you lean. Whether you approve or disapprove, the digital revolution well entrenched in our multimedia world is ever prominent today.
Metallica will release death magnetic on September 13. Material from this has well been kept under wraps but some of the material has leaked onto the internet prior to the worldwide exposure it will receive on official release day.
Albums for me are an event, I am a record buyer. And there's nothing I find more exciting than waiting for the day I can obtain a copy of the latest album i've been waiting for and anticipating for so long.
Some people couldn't really give a fuck about that. And if it's worth purchasing at full retail, then they'll buy it after they have heard all the mp3 tracks off limewire.
Rightly so, i mean the era of artists producing consistently great material all the way through an album is gone right? Well again that's subjective.
The ipod generation will forever be ensconced in a $1.69 bang for your buck counter culture which diminshes any integrity the art form once had.
But you are always going to have people who are going to buy albums, and respect great singer songwriters and musicians, and people who when asked what their favourite cd is will reply
"VB Slab of Rock Vol 1" or "Now Summer 08". It's crass it really is, those people make me sick to my stomach. I cannot defend these guys watsoever.
Wat are you going to do in 10 years time, you will go into a download store, there will be no covers, no artwork there will lcd displays of album artwork, and the cost of the mp3 format files to download to your thumb drive or mp3 player. You'll pay using an account card with a tab on it, and no money will change hands.
similar to purchasing photos now, no dark rooms anymore, you sit at a kiosk for a half hour select what you want and get them processed automatically. The search for the perfect image and/or shot is lost because jpgs are seen as disposable. Just as mp3's will become, disposable.
Artists will become disposable, youtube five minutes of fame, record deal denying them of any artistic contribution, alcohol abuse and methodone clinics will follow, career over, start again let's find another victim to exploit.
I was pacing up and down the morning Hail To the Thief by Radiohead came out. I couldn't wait, when i bought it i
held that puppy up and claimed it as mine. It's something i can hold, i can't hold mp3's, i can hold my ipod and know the contents in it are music, but that's the difference for me the visual aspect of it.
the certain moments in pop history have been accentuated in our minds by the fact that albums that these artists produced (e.g Beatles, Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell etc.) had terrific artwork, and was responsible for their longievity and success.
That is in the past, and in the future, say 2036, we will have thumb drives implanted in our brains and we'll be able to access mp3 music whenever we like, as far fetched as you can get.
Digital music samples the nature of the sound, tape and records you can hear the sound as it was captured, with wax it sounds raw and gives the sound an edge that digital otherwise lacks. Some people can appreciate this, but in the contemporary world of the medium, it is all made with protools.
Soulja Boy may not even have to utter an audible word to make a full length album now. And whatever shit he is saying will be autotuned and slated for release the next week. dumb fuck.
"WW na ya boiy an cd an there one good song o it, res r sheeat" sound familiar then you've come across a dumb bastard who knows nothing about music and in that case itunes is ideal because they can just buy the single, and not worry about embarassing themselves at the music store when they ask for the new Kid Rock single, I mean come on!
Tread carefully when it comes to music, I am fairly appreciative and respect anyone's taste whatever it may be, it will not condemn you much if you like something that not everyone agrees with. I can't help but wonder though will people start to believe in the album as art form again?
I think about it all the time, there are a lot of good albums coming out, but i hope that digital music isn't shredding these musical ideas up and providing them for you in an easy-to-consume, readers digest edition so that you can enjoy your musical experience without hearing what the artist really has to say..
This is nothing new, and im not the first person to bring this up im sure, however there are always two sides, and depending on which way you lean. Whether you approve or disapprove, the digital revolution well entrenched in our multimedia world is ever prominent today.
Metallica will release death magnetic on September 13. Material from this has well been kept under wraps but some of the material has leaked onto the internet prior to the worldwide exposure it will receive on official release day.
Albums for me are an event, I am a record buyer. And there's nothing I find more exciting than waiting for the day I can obtain a copy of the latest album i've been waiting for and anticipating for so long.
Some people couldn't really give a fuck about that. And if it's worth purchasing at full retail, then they'll buy it after they have heard all the mp3 tracks off limewire.
Rightly so, i mean the era of artists producing consistently great material all the way through an album is gone right? Well again that's subjective.
The ipod generation will forever be ensconced in a $1.69 bang for your buck counter culture which diminshes any integrity the art form once had.
But you are always going to have people who are going to buy albums, and respect great singer songwriters and musicians, and people who when asked what their favourite cd is will reply
"VB Slab of Rock Vol 1" or "Now Summer 08". It's crass it really is, those people make me sick to my stomach. I cannot defend these guys watsoever.
Wat are you going to do in 10 years time, you will go into a download store, there will be no covers, no artwork there will lcd displays of album artwork, and the cost of the mp3 format files to download to your thumb drive or mp3 player. You'll pay using an account card with a tab on it, and no money will change hands.
similar to purchasing photos now, no dark rooms anymore, you sit at a kiosk for a half hour select what you want and get them processed automatically. The search for the perfect image and/or shot is lost because jpgs are seen as disposable. Just as mp3's will become, disposable.
Artists will become disposable, youtube five minutes of fame, record deal denying them of any artistic contribution, alcohol abuse and methodone clinics will follow, career over, start again let's find another victim to exploit.
I was pacing up and down the morning Hail To the Thief by Radiohead came out. I couldn't wait, when i bought it i
held that puppy up and claimed it as mine. It's something i can hold, i can't hold mp3's, i can hold my ipod and know the contents in it are music, but that's the difference for me the visual aspect of it.
the certain moments in pop history have been accentuated in our minds by the fact that albums that these artists produced (e.g Beatles, Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell etc.) had terrific artwork, and was responsible for their longievity and success.
That is in the past, and in the future, say 2036, we will have thumb drives implanted in our brains and we'll be able to access mp3 music whenever we like, as far fetched as you can get.
Digital music samples the nature of the sound, tape and records you can hear the sound as it was captured, with wax it sounds raw and gives the sound an edge that digital otherwise lacks. Some people can appreciate this, but in the contemporary world of the medium, it is all made with protools.
Soulja Boy may not even have to utter an audible word to make a full length album now. And whatever shit he is saying will be autotuned and slated for release the next week. dumb fuck.
"WW na ya boiy an cd an there one good song o it, res r sheeat" sound familiar then you've come across a dumb bastard who knows nothing about music and in that case itunes is ideal because they can just buy the single, and not worry about embarassing themselves at the music store when they ask for the new Kid Rock single, I mean come on!
Tread carefully when it comes to music, I am fairly appreciative and respect anyone's taste whatever it may be, it will not condemn you much if you like something that not everyone agrees with. I can't help but wonder though will people start to believe in the album as art form again?
I think about it all the time, there are a lot of good albums coming out, but i hope that digital music isn't shredding these musical ideas up and providing them for you in an easy-to-consume, readers digest edition so that you can enjoy your musical experience without hearing what the artist really has to say..
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