tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post8448900844352600382..comments2023-10-21T07:14:37.880-07:00Comments on Jazz: The Music of Unemployment: Size doesn't matterAndrew Durkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11471871547839907538noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post-82081268774180478632010-08-13T11:47:02.181-07:002010-08-13T11:47:02.181-07:00Okay, and now I found Vikram's comment, and ha...Okay, and now I found Vikram's comment, and have published it accordingly. Seems it went to the spam folder. Bad, blogger, bad!Andrew Durkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11471871547839907538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post-64983494121639444962010-08-10T12:55:09.198-07:002010-08-10T12:55:09.198-07:00I purposely listen to bad music just to make sure ...I purposely listen to bad music just to make sure I "know" whether I like it or not. What I find is a NEW reason to like the music I once hated--I hate it to the point where I'm fascinated by it. Now the music sounds completely different to me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post-30461476420841405392010-08-10T06:42:58.772-07:002010-08-10T06:42:58.772-07:00And my own response:
One thing I like to do a lot...And my own response:<br /><br />One thing I like to do a lot these days is purposely try and divorce music from its context, just to see what happens. This is only really possible when something is brand-new to me, but of course digital technology makes it easy to defamiliarize stuff in this way. I love to download or import a slew of new recordings, then mix them up or randomize them and see what my reactions are based on a blind fly-through of the resulting playlist. Sometimes the stuff that I had been anticipating the most (because of all the work that was done to sell me the music) turns out to be the most lame.<br /><br />I find that kind of comical, but at the same time, as you suggest, it's a learning experience, and you can have an engaging experience with music that you don't necessarily care for. So I can appreciate your point when you write, "whether the conversation is dull or ecstatic, I can't tear myself away." I admire that commitment.<br /><br />At the same time, I'll be curious to check back in with you in ten years or so, to see whether your thinking on this has shifted. In my own case, I have found, as I have gotten older, that I want to consciously control my music intake in a way that ensures that there is less of the dull stuff. As David Ocker says, "Life is too short to listen to bad music."Andrew Durkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11471871547839907538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post-21043173933723734452010-08-09T12:36:42.079-07:002010-08-09T12:36:42.079-07:00For some reason, blogger is not allowing me to pub...For some reason, blogger is not allowing me to publish Vikram's response, so here it is, cut and pasted:<br /><br /><i>Merely glancing at my shelf, I see many such examples. Hold Time by M. Ward, Bitte Orca by Dirty Projectors, baby darling doll face honey by Band Of Skulls, and Black River Killer by Blitzen Trapper rank among my favorite albums. I knew nothing about any of them when I bought them, but I allowed myself to be seduced by the beauty of their covers, and I'm glad I did.<br /><br />And yes, there are a great many albums that I took on a date, only to find that their contents didn't measure up to their facades. But as disappointed as I've ever been with an album, I've always felt like I got my money's worth. Fifteen bucks seems to me like a small price to pay for admission to the whole world of enjoyment that exists between the time I buy an album and the time I finish listening to it.<br /><br />There's unwrapping the packaging, imagining what the music might sound like, the sheer surprise of the first note, the bittersweetness of the last one, and every mundane and profound moment in between. Every album is an opportunity to communicate with musicians and producers and engineers and visual artists I'll never meet, and whether the conversation is dull or ecstatic, I can't tear myself away.<br /><br />As for self-reflection, I agree that there's a limit to how much of it is productive. I suppose the difference between us is that I don't care whether it's productive or not. It might be culturally pathological, but there are worse pathologies a society can be afflicted by. </i>Andrew Durkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11471871547839907538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post-84940535251887656672010-08-09T12:16:32.188-07:002010-08-09T12:16:32.188-07:00Merely glancing at my shelf, I see many such examp...Merely glancing at my shelf, I see many such examples. <i>Hold Time</i> by M. Ward, <i>Bitte Orca</i> by Dirty Projectors, <i>baby darling doll face honey</i> by Band Of Skulls, and <i>Black River Killer</i> by Blitzen Trapper rank among my favorite albums. I knew nothing about any of them when I bought them, but I allowed myself to be seduced by the beauty of their covers, and I'm glad I did.<br /><br />And yes, there are a great many albums that I took on a date, only to find that their contents didn't measure up to their facades. But as disappointed as I've ever been with an album, I've always felt like I got my money's worth. Fifteen bucks seems to me like a small price to pay for admission to the whole world of enjoyment that exists between the time I buy an album and the time I finish listening to it.<br /><br />There's unwrapping the packaging, imagining what the music might sound like, the sheer surprise of the first note, the bittersweetness of the last one, and every mundane and profound moment in between. Every album is an opportunity to communicate with musicians and producers and engineers and visual artists I'll never meet, and whether the conversation is dull or ecstatic, I can't tear myself away.<br /><br />As for self-reflection, I agree that there's a limit to how much of it is productive. I suppose the difference between us is that I don't care whether it's productive or not. It might be culturally pathological, but there are worse pathologies a society can be afflicted by.Vikram Devasthalihttp://twentydollars.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post-65907210728638047372010-08-09T10:23:46.525-07:002010-08-09T10:23:46.525-07:00Thanks for reading, thinking, commenting, all!
I...Thanks for reading, thinking, commenting, all!<br /><br /><i> I'm always looking for a reason to like music, and sometimes cool album covers and clever sales pitches give me that.</i><br /><br />Can you think of an example? In my experience, sometimes what feels like "a reason to like music" is actually a reason to like a cool album cover or a clever sales pitch (or a video, etc.). It's not that the music itself is something I would actively dislike -- it's more like the music is a soundtrack to the other thing, instead of being able to stand up on its own.<br /><br /><i>But I'm as much a slut for rhetoric as I am for music; I enjoy hearing people make arguments, or just shout at each other. It's fun for me.</i><br /><br />Me too. That's why I referred to the problem as "self-reflection run amok." It's not that self-reflection itself is bad. But there's a limit to how much of it is productive, no? At some point surely it becomes culturally pathological?Andrew Durkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11471871547839907538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post-1272982355345338702010-08-06T11:15:58.275-07:002010-08-06T11:15:58.275-07:00Maybe I'm being devastatingly practical here, ...Maybe I'm being devastatingly practical here, but are unconditional love and sleazy hookups our only options? I suppose I'm less turned off by the idea of selling oneself well because I'm a bit of a music slut; I'm always looking for a reason to like music, and sometimes cool album covers and clever sales pitches give me that. If I get duped, I figure, is that really so bad?<br /><br />As for knowing oneself well, I think a person reveals this attribute more by his actions than by his words. But I'm as much a slut for rhetoric as I am for music; I enjoy hearing people make arguments, or just shout at each other. It's fun for me. Pity, I agree, not so much.Vikram Devasthalihttp://twentydollars.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post-57791592721768838562010-08-04T22:53:58.330-07:002010-08-04T22:53:58.330-07:00ba-da BOOM!
Actually, Braxton said that in the Q&...<i>ba-da BOOM!</i><br /><br />Actually, Braxton said that in the Q&A following his keynote address at the Guelph Jazz Festival a few years back, and you'll be amused to learn that he <i>was</i> referring to his own output circa 1969-1979, which delighted me because that was pretty much the same era when I drifted away from his work. I mean, I respected his work, it was demanding and technical, but ... well ... I just thought it was me. I was also delighted to learn that after he came to that realization, Braxton signed up for a lot of classes in world music and especially North American First-Nations music.mrGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00582052332934960204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post-4558794833612548992010-08-04T22:34:50.876-07:002010-08-04T22:34:50.876-07:00Interesting that Braxton says that, considering hi...Interesting that Braxton says that, considering his output from 1969 on...<br /><br />Andrew and MrG, I wholeheartedly agree with you both. I yearn for musicians to say something...usually, I'm not all that dissapointed.<br /><br />Its difficult for me to determine what is authentic and what isn't. Is there a criteria? I haven't found a consistent one to lean on...<br /><br />And don't get me started on mediocrity. <br /><br />I think I'm most attracted to a story, of sorts. Sometimes, all it takes is a fucking punchline, yknow?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post-32732420572051083712010-08-04T06:53:02.134-07:002010-08-04T06:53:02.134-07:00I had a conversation with an advertising writer at...I had a conversation with an advertising writer at a party once upon a time, we'd both imbibed somewhat liberally, and I said, "<i>Advertising is a Skinner Box, but it is not the public that is being conditioned, it is the people working IN advertising who push the bar and wait for food pellets.</i>" My conversant said he found that to be the most depressing idea he had ever encountered and wandered off to find the bar.<br /><br />A few days later I was in their agency office and this same writer came bounding out of the back offices. "<i>I can disprove your theory!</i>" he shrieked, "<i>Advertising can make a BAD product fail even FASTER!</i>"<br /><br />In "<i>The Jazz Ear</i>" (http://amzn.to/bT7ZU1) Brantford Marsalis proposes that the drop in attention to jazz is due to nothing more than the drop in the <i>charisma</i> of the performers. Players are smart, technically skilled and knowledgeable, and people just <i>sit</i> there -- as Anthony Braxton put it, "<i>'Intellectually' interesting is just not interesting enough.</i>" <br /><br />IMHO, audiences are waiting for the musicians to <i>say</i> something.mrGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00582052332934960204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8326339.post-45010099974496049922010-08-04T00:25:55.387-07:002010-08-04T00:25:55.387-07:00I want to frame that last sentence and nail it to ...I want to frame that last sentence and nail it to my wall.Kris Tinerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01605676500619480309noreply@blogger.com