Decided to figure out why me I feel distrust towards rock 'n' roll, indie rock and jazz. I'll start from afar.
I remembered that once, after repeatedly listening to the output of the Sonig label, that is, the compilations "comp.", ".ilation" and some other minor stuff, all the rest of music started seeming incredibly simple and primitive to me. In principle, it makes sense - Jan Werner, former member of Oval and current - Microstoria, creator of the Lithops project, claimed this: "there is nothing more complex than the music of the Sonig label right now". As I understand it, he meant, more complex in its internal structure, and partly - in the difficulty of listening and understanding. That is, this music is a classic example of what an unprepared person would call "disgusting noise that has nothing to do with music", while a music lover - rock fan would say "this is some kind of noise".
So, the sounds in it are so densely packed, tightly connected and intertwined that making anything out becomes incredibly hard. But then if you switch to some instrumental easy listening, it immediately gets exceptionally unpleasant - you can hear all the instruments, recorded cleanly and separately. That is, it sounds like people turned on a drum machine, a few synthesizers, and are playing along to themselves on a guitar or some banjo. At the same time, they occasionally reprogram the synthesizer, changing the tempo and instruments, adding and removing effects. This, for example, is often how Vangelis or Enigma sound. A question arises for me: do they really think that this is how music is made?
Once artem_r dropped a phrase that most people don't even hear the music, but only hear the rhythm and melody (or rhythm and sound?).
I immediately wondered if I belong to those who hear it and what it even means - to hear music? I wondered precisely because ancient 70s rock doesn't do it for me.
In modern rock, or rather, "alternative", I get "hooked" not least by a cool, competently produced sound, harsh and gloomy sounding guitars with stylish effect-processors, dissonances and a jagged rhythm, plus electronic gadget-effects. And the melody, of course. So what, is all this just external attributes, pop "hooks" ?
As for electronic music, if it's simple - there I like the groove, sound and mood, that is, the atmosphere created by the track. But if the music is intricate, like my favorite alternative hip-hop, there also appears an amazement at the variety of samples, their unimaginably organic combination and the completely otherworldly manipulations with rhythm.
The main question remains - is there something else in music? Something more significant than everything listed above?
Or did I list the most important stuff after all, but my ears, ruined by overcompressed and filtered sound, simply don't perceive the comparatively soft and natural recordings of the 60s?
P.S. I wrote this text a long time ago, wanted to make it bigger, but forgot to finish it. So I'm posting it as is.
Sorting Things Out
2005-11-13