culture as insecurity-vehicle

[jules]

meryl said:

and today i realised (through hypemachine) Casiotone FTPA is acer than i ever thought he was.

I discovered Casiotone FTPA as a direct result of SexyOwen making a comment about him. I downloaded a few samples from various places and now have the entire hardback set in my collection. You can get them from www.tomlab.com

I don't have the time or the inclination to seek anymore, so I have to trust others to do the research on my behalf.

It's actually frightening the amount of new music I have acquired since I first discovered FF supporting Arcade Fire May last year. It's opened my mind as a receptacle for artistry after many years of sterile MOR.

[cassiacat]

MOR?

[cal]

My sister is intellectually disabled and vision impared. She can't read. Listening to good quality audio books makes her smile like few other things do. I buy her one every christmas. Make some sense now?

MOR is Middle Of the Road.

[rue]

cal said:

My sister is intellectually disabled and vision impared. She can't read. Listening to good quality audio books makes her smile like few other things do. I buy her one every christmas. Make some sense now?

MOR is Middle Of the Road.

That's certainly why I'm glad that they exist, but what I was referring to is that I feel like people who listen to them while working, or something, aren't enjoying the whole story, and certainly won't revisit it because they've 'read' it.

I am, however, glad that Audiobooks can bring that kind of light

[cal]

Wow! Rereading what I wrote, I sound really snobby; all like "none of you would undersand!!" I didn't mean it to read like that at all.
And I completely agree, if you are listening to an audiobook while you are working, you can't immerse yourself in the story so much as when you pick up your favourite coffee-stained dustcover-discarded book and shut yourself away somewhere comfortable for a couple hours.

[spiltmilk]

I think about this one all the time. Partly because I'm forced becuase I go round insulting people who listen to James Blunt because I'm an old grump.

I know I will often approach pop culture (I'm talking music, films and books) as something of a self improvement process. That's not to say I don't carve my own musical listening choices and have tastes that are distinct to me but I will listen/read/watch things because I know they're supposed to be good for my brain sack.

I hold the music of Final Fantasy as a very dear thing. It reaches me on some level that I can't readily put in to words. No one told me to listen to FF - he just so happened to play a support slot for the Arcade Fire at the London Astoria that blew me away and things snow-balled from there. Where as the Sunday Papers seems to have a feature once a year about the importance of Tom Waits so I went and got some albums. Now I've listened to a few of his albums over and over and I can say he's an amazing lyricist and the music itself is very exciting - arrangements are cool and there is some original instrumentation in there. But I don't really like it that much. I recognise it as important and having a place but it's not really my bag.

In part I think part of it comes from the the background you have. So if you're some hipster kid who spends all his time on the 'new school afro Japanese noise illusion punk static bith puppet blue pant boys funk' scene and that's all your into then you're probably gonna be a bit narrow when espousing the virtues of bands because your constrained by that scene.

And that's thats to do with the vocabularly you have in relation to an art form. For example, I'm keen on my singer-songwriter types and I would have to say Bob Dylan is very high up on the list of greatest song-writers out there. That's because I've listened to a lot of stuff in that vain and I understand the history and legacy of what he did for popular music. But if I bump in to some guy who spent his whole life listening to house music and then heard a James Blunt record and holds that to be the best singer songwriter in the world I would have to argue differently. But what I can't do is belittle him for liking that - that's his deal and if he get something special out of James Blunt I can respect that. It'd be a bit like me telling my old English teacher that Dan Brown(Da Vinci Code) is a more important writer than Shakespeare. He's got the literary vocabularly to explain and argue why that's not the case. But again if I get nothing from Shakespeareand everything from Dan Brown he'll have to live with it.

Blimey! I'm not sure where this is all going . Ultimatley I think I'm personally happy to accept that there are people out there who I consider perhaps more knowledgable and well versed in certain culture than me and I'll take their reccomendations but equally in the same breath I know that I have my own loves that I hold dear and carry with me - without telling other people about it.

[meryl]

spiltmilk, i love that that was practically an article. and very true too, i think. re. James Blunt and Dan Brown i have to say i've been slightly overtaken by the Hate Everything Popular virus, which is, i know, horrible terrible awful closed-minded etcetera. but i think your perspective makes perfect sense: love of an artist is all right, but brash overgeneralisations about how outstanding they are in the genre is a bit off.

i s'pose it's "whatever gets you through the night".

this has been quite a good week for me, musically. after ranting about this briefly i seem to've been able to accept music that i like (look, no inverted commas) far more naturally than usual. to quote Kermit the Frog, "yaaaaaaaay."

[cal]

Music of any kind is such a wonderful thing and if you are lucky enough to find an artist who can make you smile or cry or whatever you like to do that is a Proper blessing. That's why I try not to had out hate on other people's favourite music because even though a lot of people are strong with their stuff, there is a chance you can fuck that music up for them even just a little bit and consequently fuck up something that makes them happy. You're taking something special away from them even if it is James Blunt who I don't listen to, but I leave it at that.

Apparently I lost a "lot of points" for not owning Grace by Jeff Buckley, for listening to Test Icicles and for driving 100km to see Kelly Clarkson last year but I don't friggin' care because I surround myself with my favourite music when i can and it makes me dance and has made me a lot of knew friends and is just part of my life that I couldn't be without. One of the best parts of it is that I have been inspired to write my own music which I am actually enjoying listening back to and the fact that I made it enriches it for me even more. And who do I thank for that? Final Fantasy, Test Icicles, Kelly Clarkson and numerous other bands who I will preach if there is a "music that makes me happy" thread at any stage.

[rue]

cal said:

Music of any kind is such a wonderful thing and if you are lucky enough to find an artist who can make you smile or cry or whatever you like to do that is a Proper blessing. That's why I try not to had out hate on other people's favourite music because even though a lot of people are strong with their stuff, there is a chance you can fuck that music up for them even just a little bit and consequently fuck up something that makes them happy. You're taking something special away from them even if it is James Blunt who I don't listen to, but I leave it at that.

Apparently I lost a "lot of points" for not owning Grace by Jeff Buckley, for listening to Test Icicles and for driving 100km to see Kelly Clarkson last year but I don't friggin' care because I surround myself with my favourite music when i can and it makes me dance and has made me a lot of knew friends and is just part of my life that I couldn't be without. One of the best parts of it is that I have been inspired to write my own music which I am actually enjoying listening back to and the fact that I made it enriches it for me even more. And who do I thank for that? Final Fantasy, Test Icicles, Kelly Clarkson and numerous other bands who I will preach if there is a "music that makes me happy" thread at any stage.

Cheers to that.

I don't understand the audacity of anyone asserting who is or isn't worth a listen. It's all about your ear.

Well, ears. Since you most likely have two.

[Ren]

I know exactly what you're talking about! The bands you actually like, and the ones you "like" because...well...apparently they're good. And sure, you can see the musical value and where other people might like them, but maybe they're not your cup of tea. For sure!

I always feel a kind of obligation to listen to music everyone says is good--mostly so I know what they're talking about and can say, "Oh, yeah, the latest *enter name here* album. Yeah, it was great." When really, I didn't like it all that much. On another take, it's kind of an education thing, isn't it? Bob Dylan and, say, the Beatles are cultural icons, and if you don't listen to them at all you miss out on all these references...I always feel so stupid when my friends are playing tunes and I have no idea what they are--sure, they sound familiar, but I'll be damned if I know the title or artist. Generally gets me laughed at.

On the other hand, "music that makes me happy," the bands I really like, never leave my stereo. Whereas this 'educational' (being a relative term, in this case) music may indeed be in for only a listen or two.

And whoever said downloading music won't kill record sales is right on. There's something much too satisfying about FINALLY getting the stupid shrinkwrap off the CD.