Has quarantine changed your ears?

[luka]

don't you go mental when you don't speak with anyone all day long?

No. Seems to be having the opposite effect. I have a little chat on here every day anyway.

 

[luka]

how else would you listen to music? sit in a chair and stare at the wall? i've never done it any other way? not that i'm painting my ceilings constantly but i'm never doing nothing, at the very minimum i'm browsing the internet.

I used to often listen to music the way you might watch a movie.

 

[yyaldrin]

I used to often listen to music the way you might watch a movie.

hm i can only imagine doing that when i'm high on drugs. otherwise i couldn't find the concentration or peace to do that. maybe that's why i also can't listen to jazz or autechre, seems to be music that you have to sit down for.

 

[luka]

You haven't found peace and concentration levels rising during this period of incarceration? Do you live alone or with others?

 

[yyaldrin]

not really no. but it's mainly due to the weather i think. i just want to be outside all day long and drink beers. i never had any problems with "fomo" as corpsey was describing though. i'd just think well there's a great theatre play tonight, but so is there tomorrow and the day after.

 

[woops]

Having nothing whatsoever to do. This is why I definitely recommend switching the Internet off every day too, for however long. I've had my phone switched off the whole time also so no one can talk to me.

i'm at a loss to what you do for 6 hours though

 

[luka]

Usually go for a two hour walk. Read a bit. Maybe write a bit. Stare into space a bit. Think a bit. Tidy a bit. Do a few pathetic attempts at 'exercise' you know, what everyone used to do as a teenager when the bedroom was a whole world.

 

[blissblogger]

I find the key is to listen while you're occupied with something else that doesn't use your brain, like cooking or eating or in the bath or whatever. Just sitting and listening is difficult to maintain.

my favorite place to listen to music in in the kitchen, or in a car (ideally in the passenger seat, but at the wheel works). it's the combination of doing something that occupies you physically or in terms of some other part of the brain (eg chopping an onion) other than the aesthetic faculties, OR that provides a continual flow of 'soft fascinations' in terms of outside world stimuli - it leaves the part of the mind that responds to music open to it

travelling on trains / buses / planes is also good except a lot of music isn't meant to be heard on headphones, it's meant to spill out into space, and it's not designed for full stereo separation. and you're also in a social space so it's a little inhibiting in terms of ability to react physically or vocally to the music. plus background noise.

trying to read and listen to music is not a great combo - you end up doing neither very well. not that it's stopped me trying to this day. it tends to push the music towards being inconspicuous. or the opposite - but then your page-rate goes down dramatically.

listening while on the computer is the worst

would love to try listening to an album and doing nothing else for 40 minutes. i think i would jump out of my skin within about ten minutes. but i know that's how i used to listen when i was a youth - as a student and when on the dole for a couple of years. i guess we had more practice at boredom and non-distraction back then.

listening full-focus while reviewing is not the same thing as the immersive meditate listening - because you are trying to generate words out of yourself, already part focused on shaping them into an argument

 

[luka]

How many times do you have to listen to something before reviewing it? What's the rule your conscience has written for you? Twice? Three times?

 

[Leo]

how else would you listen to music? sit in a chair and stare at the wall? i've never done it any other way? not that i'm painting my ceilings constantly but i'm never doing nothing, at the very minimum i'm browsing the internet.

Simon nailed it. the best listening experience for me is when I'm doing something that's at least semi-mindless: busy work that still allows you to pay attention to the music. cooking, cleaning, long walks, exercise. agree reading doesn't work very well, takes too much concentration away from the music.

 

[version]

trying to read and listen to music is not a great combo - you end up doing neither very well. not that it's stopped me trying to this day. it tends to push the music towards being inconspicuous. or the opposite - but then your page-rate goes down dramatically.

Yeah, I dunno how people do it. Although my attention span and ability to concentrate are shot. If I'm reading outside then I have to really make myself pay attention as every single sound demands my attention - people talking, bird calls, insects buzzing around. It's almost deafening at times. The world's too noisy to read.

 

[Corpsey]

Makes me think they could do sort of anti-silent retreats where everyone's just listening to music the whole time without doing anything else.

 

[luka]

Makes me think they could do sort of anti-silent retreats where everyone's just listening to music the whole time without doing anything else.

They have those high end audio places which are not quite clubs. Eg spiritland and brilliant corners
Not quite what you describe but edging towards it

 

[blissblogger]

i don't really have a rule with the 'how many times' before reviewing

usually i find that the basic take is there on the first listen - some parts of a record might grow or unfold with subsequent plays (but very soon after doing this i got really quick in being able to appraise whether there's something there at all - i guess deejays have the same ability)

probably a couple of times and then keep on playing it while writing, small things emerge with the cumulative exposure but yeah the basic reaction / appraisal is there really early

but i have been caught out, things i've heard later on the radio or some other context that i dismissed initially, i've realised 'ah it is actually good / interesting'

 

[shiels]

They have those high end audio places which are not quite clubs. Eg spiritland and brilliant corners
Not quite what you describe but edging towards it

I imagine those places to be very serious. For the heads, the audiophiles. Silent sanctity, pressure to seem immersed and relaxed and you’re just thinking about when you can leave

 

[woops]

this thread has gone drastically right

 

[shiels]

Who wants to hear music as the artist intended anyway what the fuck do they know about what’s good about their music or how it should be experienced

 

[pattycakes_]

Sing it, sister!

 

[kumar]

I imagine those places to be very serious. For the heads, the audiophiles. Silent sanctity, pressure to seem immersed and relaxed and you’re just thinking about when you can leave

i'm not opposed to those sorts of things in principle its just the gentlemanly accoutrements , fine whiskies, salamis and exquisite sofas that are not viable for wild and dangerous people like me.

ive been to some good things at the brunel museum, its a huge underground victorian silo by the river they do a lot of nerd gigs in. there was a 8 hour farmers manual performance a few years ago which was a bit saintly, but then right at the end one of the guys did a weird laugh snapped his laptop closed and said something like "ok dickheads its finished" which was great.

i have been getting a lot more ringing in my ears for a few seconds at a time apropos of nothing wonder if its like when the children of mice who born near those high frequency repellents go mad.

 

[shiels]

I’m thinking about a certain intentional, conscious and discerning approach to listening. Vinyl. Analogue synths. The important stuff! Format obsessed, sound quality obsessed. Music that’s not about anything. But good taste, refined. Studied reference points. Quality music for the heads who know. So much knowledge! Solemn appreciation, little dancing. Real music. Music. Music.