quoted 6 lines -----Original Message-----
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Irene McC [mailto:substar@iafrica.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 1:46 PM
>
> On 18 Jul 2001, at 7:12, Adam Piontek wrote:
> > There's something wonderful about being a teenager
and getting a
quoted 1 line new album for the first time in months, taking it
> > new album for the first time in months, taking it
home and holing
quoted 1 line up in your room with the headphones and falling in
> > up in your room with the headphones and falling in
love with new
quoted 3 lines music.
> > music.
>
> YES YES YES!!! Why doesn't that happen any more?
Are we just
quoted 1 line too damn jaded and locked into the eternal quest for
> too damn jaded and locked into the eternal quest for
bigger, better,
quoted 1 line more?
> more?
That's a big part of it for me. I've been trying to
teach myself lately to tone down my music addiction.
Trying to remodel my listening/buying habits to be
like they were when I was "happier" with music. Like,
back when I was a teenager, I was really into Tori
Amos, but all I could get was what they sold at Best
Buy. So, I eventually got a bunch of singles, but
mostly I would spend months just absorbing the latest
album. When you spend that much time on one thing,
you really *know* it.
I'm focusing a lot more on just albums, and not
worrying so much about all the B-sides, remixes, or
compilation tracks I might find out there in MP3.
When I was a teenager, I didn't know so much about the
existence of B-sides, remixes, compilation tracks,
etc., and even if I did, it wasn't so easy to have
them (MP3s). The thing is, if you really like an
album by artist X, you're not necessarily missing
anything if that's all you ever hear. Sure, there are
probably some killer individual "extra" tracks hiding
out there somewhere, like Four Tet's remix of track 1
from SAWII. But it's not such a big deal if I don't
hear that stuff.
quoted 1 line These days, I get new albums, and they're *nice* but
> These days, I get new albums, and they're *nice* but
somehow
quoted 1 line they never enmesh with every single cell in my body
> they never enmesh with every single cell in my body
like my old
quoted 1 line music used to.
> music used to.
Same here. Sometimes it's just that the music, while
I like it, and it's *nice*, it isn't exactly great for
me. For example, Delarosa & Asora's Agony is a
well-done album, and I can really appreciate it when I
listen to it, but it just doesn't make me want to
listen to it over and over again. Some music just
does not grow on me, no matter how much I listen to
it. Whereas Proem's "Negativ" and Chris Clark's
"Clarence Park" have been hitting me quite hard lately
- I can't stop listening to these and a few other
things.
Still, I really think the large part of it is not the
music itself, but just how much time you spend with
something. When I first got Aphex's RDJ album, I was
still very much a "1 album-per-month at most"
listener, and I just kept listening to that over and
over. After a while, I knew that album inside and
out. I still do when I listen to it now, and it makes
it that much more special to me.
However, in the past couple of years I've become a lot
more "throw-away consumerist" about music. I'll get a
bunch of new music, and as I'm listening to it I make
quick judgements and move on to the next thing because
there's always *more* to try, and for some reason I
feel I need to. "What if I'm missing something
amazing?!" The catch-22 here is that if I find
something amazing, I'm less likely to recognize it,
and if I do recognize it, I'm still going to feel as
if I need to move on either A) because there might be
something *else* amazing out there that I'm missing,
or B) because I have so much stuff, and I should
really try to listen to it all equally.
This is all pretty rediculous, and most people I'm
sure don't have the same difficulties. You're all
probably comfortable with how you listen to music.
I'm just realizing, however, that I'm not comfortable
anymore with how I've come to listen to music. The
simple fact for me being that I really really miss
being as intimate with an album as I am with some of
my older stuff like the RDJ album or my Tori or TMBG
albums. I'm not intimate with my newer stuff; I don't
know Proem's music by heart, even though I absolutely
love it, simply because I don't allow myself the time
to truly absorb it. So that's what I'm working
against now.
quoted 2 lines I have some old vinyl dating back, ooh - 20, 25
>I have some old vinyl dating back, ooh - 20, 25
> years, that is so deeply engrained that I can
imagine every crackle
quoted 1 line and surface scratch before it comes along, and if I
> and surface scratch before it comes along, and if I
hear a CD copy
quoted 1 line of the same album, it somehow lacks the well-worn
> of the same album, it somehow lacks the well-worn
ambience of my
quoted 1 line beloved original.
> beloved original.
Yeah, that can happen, though I've always been a CD
person, so that doesn't quite apply to me. Although I
can say that my sister used to have this "Joseph and
the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" album that was a
stage recording from England or something, and I
listened to it a lot. Later on when I wanted to get a
copy for myself (I went threw an Andrew Lloyd Webber
phase, so shoot me :P), the Osmond production had
opened in America and that's all you could find
anywhere. Sometimes, with musicals or classical
music, stuff that can be done by many different
artists so there's all sorts of different "versions"
or "interpretations," the only one you really like is
the first one you heard, or at least one specific
version. Like, I can only listen to a version of
Carmina Burana that was recorded by one particular
orchestra. All other versions sound "wrong" to me.
This, I have no doubt, comes from being so used to
recorded music. Before recordings, I'm sure this
didn't happen. People were more into the music itself
than a particular manifestation of it. Kind of like,
it was the melody of a hymn or jazz tune itself that
people liked; not a specific version, because the
versions they heard were *always* live and *always*
different. The concept of "live music" wasn't even an
issue.
Whoah, big rantings in this email. Sorry everyone :P
quoted 1 line I think partly this might be due to my obsession
> I think partly this might be due to my obsession
with music having
quoted 1 line become something akin to an addiction, and I'm
> become something akin to an addiction, and I'm
always looking to
quoted 1 line the next fix, rather than fully enjoying the
> the next fix, rather than fully enjoying the
present.
Oh, wait, now I've ranted on and on and gone off on
tangent after tangent, and you just said it in, like,
two sentences! Oh well.
quoted 1 line It's also partially a fault of the media, peddling
> It's also partially a fault of the media, peddling
music as a mass-
quoted 1 line market consumable. Gone is the arcane pleasure of
> market consumable. Gone is the arcane pleasure of
indulgence.
Yeah, that's also part of it. Kind of like the
tangent I got off on about "music before it was
possible to record it" - recording made the music
"industry" possible, and forever altered what was
before the "natural" way to hear music. Now it takes
willpower and a plan to avoid music addiction! Maybe
there should be a 12 step program?
quoted 1 line Cynical? You bet!
> Cynical? You bet!
But healthy, too!
-Adam, being particularly pedantic today...
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