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Re: OT: Programmed/Hand made music (was: Random word generators)

From:Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...>
Date:Thursday, June 16, 2005, 12:33
----- Original Message -----
From: John Vertical <johnvertical@...>

> --- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Paul Bennett wrote: > >I get the oddest looks when I describe Jungle or D&B as smooth and > >relaxing, to say nothing of how I like to chill out to a decent > bit of > >Gabber. I think there's a fundamental difference in brain wiring > >between people who find interesting rhythms interesting and those who > >are repulsed by them. > > As someone who goes ga-ga at a catchy sequence or arpeggio, but > cannot stand > the music you usually hear on dancefloors, I disagree. I think the > completely repulsed people are just experiencing culture shock. > What drives *me* away from the more dancey EM categories are > usually either > 1) the over-aggressive BPM and instrumentation, 2) the incessant > unimaginative THUMP THUMP THUMP which goes on at the way bottom of > ca. 98% > of the songs, and 3) the overabundance of drum sounds. Oh, and > it's a > _definition_ that percussion's not smooth. But yeah, maybe there > is a > category of people whose brains are wired to hear othervise... > elseway "D&B > is smooth" makes zero sense to me. > > John Vertical
Good points and well made. Excessively formulaic, regular, stuff can just be boring. I find the (IMO) best stuff is like being surrounded by a balance (or at least mixture) of order and chaos. I feel the same way about Frank Zappa, too, especially his orchestral works (for example, most of _The Yellow Shark_). The mixture of the predictable and unexpected does the trick. I think that's the case with a lot of music, though, it's just expressed through rhythmic rather than melodic denouement. I've never taken any kind of music appreciation classes, so I'm afraid I'm a little at a loss as to how to explain it in any kind of adequate way. I think there'd be something in a fuller explanation about the conlang Dilingo and the folklore of the pineal gland. Paul *** Using my ISPs webmail so watch the Reply-To ***