Non-Classical Music Listening Thread!

[Renfield]

You can put any music on in the background and then do a bunch of other shit at the same time and not really take in much detail at all, because you're focusing on something else. Fact is, when you do want to get down to business and really give music a real listen, i don't care what music it is or what you want to call it, you would do so in the same manor, there is no different kind of listening involved at all.

He does have a point, here. But this is also a solid point:

Sitting down and focusing solely on a piece and listening to a pop album while driving down the freeway are two completely different kinds of listening. Just because it isn't your experience doesn't preclude it from being someone else's.

You might still argue (probably successfully) that this association is acquired, rather than inherent. But if it exists for someone, you can't "deny" it by virtue of the universal principle, no matter how true the universal principle might be. At the risk of sounding aphoristic: associations are powerful things, and they largely define our conscious experience; how we relate to the world.

Completely understandable. I think it all has to do with your musical development — I grew up listening to pop and only came to classical music later (age 18), whereas you IIRC have always been around it. I can only enjoy CM if I'm listening and doing nothing else. I'm not as discerning with pop — It's just a sort of aural wallpaper useful for when I'm doing something mundane (like folding laundry or browsing the intarwebs) or when silence feels too stifling.

P.S. What did you think of those Yellow Magic Orchestra tracks?

I started listening to classical properly when I was around 16.

Technically, "being around it" would be valid, if it didn't risk associations with people who spent their childhoods listening to their parents LP collections, which was not the case for me beyond the band music I had them put in the car when I was little!

But certainly the first kind of music I started actively listening to was symphonic soundtrack music; and rock/metal, through my friends.


Re Yellow Magic Orchestra, they seem to have a sound closer to what I find "epiphenomenal" in Kraftwerk than the "core" of their sound, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Certainly, though, my "faith" in the powerful rhythmic minimalism of Kraftwerk is unshaken.

[ezodisy]

Ah, the "I'm right, you're wrong" argument.

he does this all the time.

[karlhenning]

he does this all the time.

Oui.

[Kullervo]

You might still argue (probably successfully) that this association is acquired, rather than inherent. But if it exists for someone, you can't "deny" it by virtue of the universal principle, no matter how true the universal principle might be. At the risk of sounding aphoristic: associations are powerful things, and they largely define our conscious experience; how we relate to the world.

Very true.

I started listening to classical properly when I was around 16.

At 16 I thought Radiohead was the height of musical sophistication.

Technically, "being around it" would be valid, if it didn't risk associations with people who spent their childhoods listening to their parents LP collections, which was not the case for me beyond the band music I had them put in the car when I was little!

No one in my family really cares for music. Of course, if you told them so, they would deny it.

But certainly the first kind of music I started actively listening to was symphonic soundtrack music; and rock/metal, through my friends.

I didn't care about music until I got an internet connection faster than 56K and, subsequently, discovered file-sharing.

Re Yellow Magic Orchestra, they seem to have a sound closer to what I find "epiphenomenal" in Kraftwerk than the "core" of their sound, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Certainly, though, my "faith" in the powerful rhythmic minimalism of Kraftwerk is unshaken.

I probably made the mistake of framing them in the wrong way — I don't think they are very similar to Kraftwerk, but I think that if you like the one it's not too much of a stretch that you might like the other. They are mostly timbre and melody-focused whereas Kraftwerk are more rhythm-focused. Also, I think that's the first time I've seen anyone describe anything as "epiphenomenal".

If you're interested, I have pretty much everything YMO has done and can send you an album or two.

Listening:

[karlhenning]

YMMV, but ELP hasn't worn well by my ears over time.

Of course, you may just be listening for fun 

[Kullervo]

YMMV, but ELP hasn't worn well by my ears over time.

Of course, you may just be listening for fun 

I don't know, those bleepy-bloopy old school analog synths are somehow endearing to me.

[Renfield]

No Renfield, the above isn't a valid point at all. It merely states that Corey chooses not to give full attention ...like i said, any music can be playing in the background while you're focusing on something else, this is not a different kind of listening .....but when you do sit down to really listen to music, of any kind, either at home or in concert, you would do so in the very same manor. Period.

I am suspecting you did not read what I wrote right after that quote.

[ezodisy]

Felix Lajko and band

[ezodisy]

That last one wasn't particularly good. One of his earliest attempts, I think.

[Kullervo]

No Renfield, the above isn't a valid point at all. It merely states that Corey chooses not to give full attention ...like i said, any music can be playing in the background while you're focusing on something else, this is not a different kind of listening .....but when you do sit down to really listen to music, of any kind, either at home or in concert, you would do so in the very same manor. Period.

The need to be right is the sign of a vulgar mind.

— Albert Camus

[karlhenning]

Genesis, Seconds Out

Con:

• I've never been enthusiastic for "Robbery, Assault & Battery," in any form.
• My ear tends to favor the 'tone' from the studio album of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, so these live turns at "Carpet Crawlers" and the title track don't quite do it for me.

Pro:

• Lord save me for an heretic, but I largely prefer this live version of "Supper's Ready" to the Foxtrot original
• "Afterglow" and "Dance on a Volcano" have a wonderful sonic 'warmth' here that is absent from the studio recordings (though I do also enjoy the "Volcano" on Trick of the Tail)
• Without at all dismissing the studio 'originals', I find the live versions here of "Firth of Fifth," "Cinema show" and the excerpt from "Musical Box" very tasty.
• Although I have acquired a taste for the studio cut, too, "Los Endos" is a very different beast live.

On balance, I find it worthwhile as an account of 'the songbook';  and a document of an exhilirating performance of a band in fine form.

[karlhenning]

The need to be right is the sign of a vulgar mind.

— Albert Camus

An excellent insight.

[karlhenning]

Genesis, Seconds Out

Don't know if there's any way to redeem lines like "Even though I'm feeling good, something tells me I'd better activate my prayer capsule."

Nobody says "seemed like a good idea at the time" quite with the feeling of prog lyricists . . . .

[karlhenning]

Oh, and: "The order for dancing and rejoicing has come from our warlord."

It is to Gabriel's credit that he eventually got over this sort of thing.

[karlhenning]

Even within "Supper's Ready," lines like "We're happy as fish, and gorgeous as geese, and wonderfully clean in the morning" are a great improvement.

[Kullervo]

Oh, and: "The order for dancing and rejoicing has come from our warlord."

It is to Gabriel's credit that he eventually got over this sort of thing.

"Erogenous zones, I love you"

[Kullervo]

Thankfully, the music is not as bad as the cover.

[SonicMan46]

Continuing my reading of the Gioia book on the Delta Blues (slow going since I'm reading 4-5 books @ a time! Just my way, I guess) - but now on the Muddy Waters chapter (about 2/3 through the excellent review) - the two compilations below are an excellent introduction; the Folk Singer is one disc of two Chess albums; the anthology is a 2-CD set of 50 songs, mainly from the 'classic' Chess era - 

   

[Kullervo]

Charming as ever. I don't think I will respond to any of your posts anymore. Not worth the effort.

[karlhenning]

Thankfully, the music is not as bad as the cover.

That is signally poor cover art, isn't it?

Of course, I'm no great fan of [the cover for] either Nursery Cryme or Foxtrot.  Selling England by the Pound becomes suddenly, yet subtly, tasteful.

It's such a fine line between stupid and clever.