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

----- 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
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