I'm often on the lookout for new kinds of music. It seems to me that (apart from particularly esoteric and often unlistenable music) there is no new direction obvious at the moment. In the past 100 years Western popular music has taken on many new forms from (not in any particular order) Jazz, Blues, Rock and Roll, 60's pop, Rock, Prog Rock, Punk, New Romantic, New Wave, Heavy Metal, Thrash, Death Metal, Electronic and Dance, to miss out many others. Each new scene has something unique to it, but more recently the advances in technology have opened a new world of innovation.
In my view most of the newest forms of electronic music are still very rhythm-based. I'm very fond of electronic music, however I wonder what the new direction will be.
It could be said that Aphex Twin resides at the extremes of modern music (e.g. see this), however it's really only pushing the boundaries of rhythm. I love Aphex Twin's work and rate him very highly, however I wonder whether the next phase in popular musical development will be to move away from rhythm all together.
Take Imogen Heap's song Hide And Seek (hopefully still here). Whilst having some semblance of rhythm (it's very difficult to be completely arrhythmic) it is constructed solely of electronically-altered voice noises.
I can foresee a new movement based on sounds capes (I know that other artists like Sigur Ros and before them Slowdive and many, many other artists before them, have meddled with this, but always with traditional instruments, chord progressions, and time signatures).
I'm sure that I am genuinely ignorant of some artists who are already producing this kind of electronic sound scape, however it's not reached the popular consciousness yet (Enya notwithstanding!!) and certainly can't be said to be a movement as such.
Perhaps a combination of styles not yet combined might be a way forward, e.g. Prog Rock and Punk, or 60's pop and electronic ambient sound scape.
Either way I wish someone would hurry up and do it instead of churning out the dross that habituates the popular music scene at the moment!
(I would do it myself, but I probably don't have the talent and anyway, I'm too busy making databases)
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Why is this funny? / I love the Internet / Slow-motion violence / Imogen Heap
Saturday Night Live's Dear Sister sketch (here) makes me laugh every time. It's obviously supposed to be very silly (and is based on the Season 2 finale of The O.C. ridicu-soap: here). Why is it funny? Apart from being incongruous (see this link for ideas on ingongruity and comedy) each time the music plays there's a sort of fictional link created between the music and the shooting as if it's the music itself that is either directly linked with the event or, in effect, is actually causing the shooter to act. This is obviously ridiculous and I reckon it's some part of this idea that is an inconsistent and unsuitable action that causes us to laugh. Monty Python, "More Cowbell" and so many more comedy artists do this too.
This has obviously struck a chord with many people if the "Dear Sister" phenomenon is anything to go by. It's a circumstance of our modern age (a good one I think) that the Internet occassionally throws up jokes, pastiches and homages to particular events (usually at someone else's expense, e.g. the Star Wars Kid).
I love the inventiveness and collective spirit that these skits pervade. In fact I just love the Internet. Full. Stop.
I'm in a position to remember what the world was like before the Internet and, whilst I have no complaints and the outcome of the exposure to so much information is not yet known, I envy younger people today. I only hope that the Information middle-Age brings yet more pleasure to people in its creativity.
Having said that, I can't help worry about the subject matter of the "Dear Sister" SNL sketch. Is it really OK to portray mindless shooting? I think not. Personally the funniness of that idea could have been shown with a fraction of the violence.
I sometimes feel that I'm a bit of a prude when it comes to what people should and shouldn't be allowed to watch. I prefer to think of it as being more intelligent and aware than most, however. It seems obvious to me (and many psychologists too) that the content of TV and movies has a direct influence on those people who watch it and a diet of mindless and gruesome violence can have a deep effect on people.
This history of violence on the screen is fairly recent and follows a general pattern of society's gradual waning of standards. I applaud the move to show more accurate and realistic events, but draw the line when it becomes stylised to be more appealing. See this for more detail.
Since having a son I find violence on screen more offputting and I simply can't watch violence against children or innocents. I think I'm quite unusual in this, but I don't have any regrets about feeling this way. This disturbed me due to the father's complete selfishness with regards to his daughter's wellbeing. There's no way I would show Max something inappropriate just to feed my ego.
Again, having said this I think there's a balance to be struck and it's important to educate youngsters about the world in all it's gory glory. Let's just wait until they're over 7 shall we?!
(Christina had some very good arguments about this from an "innocence" perspective and threw in some Blake for good measure, but I think I should come back to that in a later post).
The reason I came across the Dear Sister thing in the first place is due to researching the work of Imogen Heap who I found out about a couple of days ago (thanks Marco). She's an artist who I have not heard before (amazingly!) and I have not stopped listening to her music for the last two days (especially this and this). Her music is extremely melodic, intelligently worded and technologically inventive. This is a perfect recipe for my tastes and I will certainly be obtaining her back catalogue. One to watch out for as Dave Lee Travis might say.
On a musical tip Jeff Healey died a couple of days ago. I was genuinely saddened by this as I have loved his music for years and his first album (See The Light) wasn't off my stereo when I was a teenager. I saw him play in Sheffield in about 1989 and was blown away. RIP. x
It's a bit of a rambling post, this, and I feel that I'm probably starting to repeat myself. Anyway, I guess I should go and review some internet phenomena.... or something.
This has obviously struck a chord with many people if the "Dear Sister" phenomenon is anything to go by. It's a circumstance of our modern age (a good one I think) that the Internet occassionally throws up jokes, pastiches and homages to particular events (usually at someone else's expense, e.g. the Star Wars Kid).
I love the inventiveness and collective spirit that these skits pervade. In fact I just love the Internet. Full. Stop.
I'm in a position to remember what the world was like before the Internet and, whilst I have no complaints and the outcome of the exposure to so much information is not yet known, I envy younger people today. I only hope that the Information middle-Age brings yet more pleasure to people in its creativity.
Having said that, I can't help worry about the subject matter of the "Dear Sister" SNL sketch. Is it really OK to portray mindless shooting? I think not. Personally the funniness of that idea could have been shown with a fraction of the violence.
I sometimes feel that I'm a bit of a prude when it comes to what people should and shouldn't be allowed to watch. I prefer to think of it as being more intelligent and aware than most, however. It seems obvious to me (and many psychologists too) that the content of TV and movies has a direct influence on those people who watch it and a diet of mindless and gruesome violence can have a deep effect on people.
This history of violence on the screen is fairly recent and follows a general pattern of society's gradual waning of standards. I applaud the move to show more accurate and realistic events, but draw the line when it becomes stylised to be more appealing. See this for more detail.
Since having a son I find violence on screen more offputting and I simply can't watch violence against children or innocents. I think I'm quite unusual in this, but I don't have any regrets about feeling this way. This disturbed me due to the father's complete selfishness with regards to his daughter's wellbeing. There's no way I would show Max something inappropriate just to feed my ego.
Again, having said this I think there's a balance to be struck and it's important to educate youngsters about the world in all it's gory glory. Let's just wait until they're over 7 shall we?!
(Christina had some very good arguments about this from an "innocence" perspective and threw in some Blake for good measure, but I think I should come back to that in a later post).
The reason I came across the Dear Sister thing in the first place is due to researching the work of Imogen Heap who I found out about a couple of days ago (thanks Marco). She's an artist who I have not heard before (amazingly!) and I have not stopped listening to her music for the last two days (especially this and this). Her music is extremely melodic, intelligently worded and technologically inventive. This is a perfect recipe for my tastes and I will certainly be obtaining her back catalogue. One to watch out for as Dave Lee Travis might say.
On a musical tip Jeff Healey died a couple of days ago. I was genuinely saddened by this as I have loved his music for years and his first album (See The Light) wasn't off my stereo when I was a teenager. I saw him play in Sheffield in about 1989 and was blown away. RIP. x
It's a bit of a rambling post, this, and I feel that I'm probably starting to repeat myself. Anyway, I guess I should go and review some internet phenomena.... or something.
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