quoted 10 lines In a message dated 09/01/97 03:35:13, you write:>In a message dated 09/01/97 03:35:13, you write:
>
>> Commercial or Popular is not synonymous with bad. If the general public
>> can enjoy a composition, that only adds to the strength of the composition.
>
>Whoa there, you've got your head in the clouds. You obviously don't have to
>spend hour after hour at work having to listen to horrible pop radio trash
>because that is what everyone else likes. I'm sorry, but the general public
>is a huge mass of moronic people, and the world couldn't function if it were
>any other way.
Christ, does this elitist bullshit never end?
If an artist makes a brilliant, innovative work of art, full of truth and
insights into the human condition, and deliberately makes it so obscure
that nobody understands it, what fucking good is it? "The Purpose of
Communication is Understanding."* I know I've heard that someplace, and
here's a news flash: Art is Communication. As far as I'm concerned, if
and artist makes a brilliant, innovative work of art, full of truth and
insights into the human condition, and makes it intelligible enough that
it can make lots of people laugh, or cry, or think, or feel *something*
they haven't felt before, that's about the most beautiful thing in the
world.
[* ObIDM]
Go to your local record store, and buy a Beach Boys greatest-hits compilation.
Capitol has put enough of them out that you should have no trouble finding
one. Make sure it has "Good Vibrations" on it. Listen to "Good Vibrations."
Forget any soda advertisements you may have seen that use it, forget any Muzak
versions of it you may have heard. Listen to it. The lyrics are very simple.
It's about that feeling of being transported to a place of beauty and
perfection you feel when you're falling in love with someone, about wanting
that feeling to last forever. Anyone can understand it. Even children can tell
you it's about a pretty girl. The vocal performances complement the lyrics,
and carry the feeling even more than the lyrics themselves. Listen to the
voices cascade over each other. I can't listen to this record without smiling.
Finally, listen to the MUSIC. Listen to the details, the percussion, the
tempo changes, the way the music builds up into the chorus and then lets
you back down for the verses, almost like being separated from that person
you love. Listen to the harmonica in the bridge. Listen to the organ in
the intro. Finally, listen to the guitar right before the final fade. That
guitar, with the theremin under it, lasts for only a few seconds, but if
you ask me, it's got as much futuristic power as a thousand Aphex records.
"Good Vibrations" was a number-one single in 1967. It made a lot of people
very happy that year, and it continues to make a lot of people happy. That's
why general appeal adds to a composition's strength. If you can't understand
this, I might as well killfile you, because as far as I'm concerned, you're
fucking hopeless.
-----
For those of you who are having a hard time getting your heads around
'In Sides,' try giving a good close listen to the second part of "Out
There Somewhere?" I think it's the lynchpin of the whole album, the
catharsis of all the emotion that builds up to the point it begins.
In a track full of purgative, purifying riffs and sounds, the riff
that comes in at 9:21 stands out for me. It's the moment when all the
melancholy and pain that preceded that track are finally washed away
completely and the track really turns into the party on the mothership
it wanted to be (but couldn't, yet) all along. Bring on your Derrick
Mays, your Kraftwerks, your Black Dogs and Aphex Twins. Find their best
moments, their best riffs, their best anything. I'll take that riff from
"Out There," any day.
IDM needs more artists like Orbital, artists who aren't afraid to make
personal, emotional records. Artists who take responsibility for their
records and don't hedge their bets with a lot of sarcastic bullshit.
Artists who make records that an audience outside the little IDM he-man
woman-hater's club can enjoy, without compromising their work's quality
at all. Artists who believe in humanity, who believe that long, slow
journey out of the sea, out of the trees wasn't a waste of time. IDM
needs more artists like Orbital. The world needs more artists like
Orbital. As far as I'm concerned, 'In Sides' is a gift to the human race.
C.
--
C.Hilker (cspot@hyperreal.com) "He was mesmerized by the light-pictures,
and the music sent him right into dreamland"