The Great Music Glut

[slim jenkins]

Ignorance is bliss re knowledge of musical history...means you're not always aware that, in many cases, it's been done before (usually better).

 

[viktorvaughn]

Good topic, 'Pimp' - I wrote about the same subject once for a website - so much 'Stuff' generally as we travel dazed by choice down the supermarket aisles, through online pages, on TV (all those stations!) - words, sounds, images - the information overload conundrum of what's 'valid' and what's not - celeb froth, Wiki knowledge, 'realityVision', horrorshow news - enough to trip anyone's switch and cause a shutdown.

My gen remembers buying one album a week and treasuring the thing - now some of us live in iPods and download whilst others (like myself) have resisted following every sign of the times to full 'modernisation' without being total Luddites. A 'youngster' here (VV) mentioned 'knowing' so much by the time he's 40 but is it really knowledge or just experience overload? My music collection isn't fully 'known' and it's small compared to the iPod possibilities. Like sprinting through the National Gallery you take in a lot of paintings and know none of them. Perhaps it's better to stand for 30mins in front of one masterpiece? Which raises the question of the calibre of music you're consuming, of course (one worm wriggles out of the High/Lowbrow culture can before I slam it shut).

Pop overload is possible by sheer number despite the content being easily digestible - whereas the almost infinite subtleties of a great symphony or, I would say, Dave Brubeck quartet recording, can take the average listener a lifetime to appreciate.

Less really is more sometimes...a cliche I know...or a truism...

Less really is more sometimes, you are right. I used to feel almost guilty about hammering the stuff I was really really into when I had swaths of worthy things to listen to, things I knew were part of the accepted canon and that I should like. Loads of those things have come from Dissensus itself, as well as other blogs, forums blabla. Basic Channel, Ninjaman, Underground Resistance, X Clan - the list in endless. Now I think of it as more of a privalage that I still want to listen to, say, the latest grime CD, every single day.

But there has to be some balance. I do think that the younger music fan will have a pretty deep knowledge of a lot of music because of the internet. Say I download 10 'worthy' bits of music I think I might like or are worth a look. I give them all a cursory listen and probably don't enjoy half. One I love and I get more into that DJ/producer/artist. A couple of others I forget and rediscover later... I still end up with a wide knowledge of various musics. I think it's a false dichotomy to suggest it's either all one or the other (I'm not saying you were doing that, but generally there is a bit of an old-timer 'In my day I got the first LL Cool J record and listened to it 12 times a day till the needle wore through the vinyl... now that's true appreciation' school of thought.)

Yes we do have a crazy amount of data at our fingertips and yes it is easy to skim over that data to reassure yourself you are down with the latest blog-house/aquacrunk/obscure silly dance genre but no that does not mean that you can't hear a piece of music and just think 'fuck me' and be profoundly in love with a new sound.

 

[slim jenkins]

but generally there is a bit of an old-timer 'In my day I got the first LL Cool J record and listened to it 12 times a day till the needle wore through the vinyl... now that's true appreciation' school of thought.)

Oh I'm well aware of that (but it was 'Tighten Up Vol 3 not LL Cool J - - yes, I'm older than that, even! ). I still think the overload is negative (ma-a-a-n) more than positive - futile stab at uber-consumerism on the treadmill that never stops! (like money-hunger). I know someone who worked in a chocolate factory once, kids, and the manager said 'eat all you want' - guess what? She soon stopped eating all she wanted...er...that may or may not be a wise parable...

 

[UFO over easy]

someone should write a dystopian novel based around the concept of humanity in 50 years descending into a sea of identical post-wikipedia info-drones from the perspective of a member of an underclass of tech-luddites, as jenkins put it, operating covertly, preferably from within a complex network of sewers and underground tunnels.

and then terry gilliam should turn it into a film with michael palin and bob hoskins as an insane plumber.. wait..

 

[Bang Diddley]

great thread. i really need to get teh internet at home. ill reply with what I can in work time. might be bit of a ramble.

i find myself listening to a lot of music, still do but but i dont bother on the commute now as it would be through ear buds and they didnt cut out enough of the ambient noise for me give it the required attention. i also found the contant detachment from real world sounds a bit off putting. now i like the ambient noise of the city as a soundscape as i walk/bus and find my self listening to that.

a time long ago as slim mentioned you'd get an album a month or so and cane it and get to know it inside out before moving on. i could recognise most of that music within a couple of bars.

but i love the way we have access to music so easily. i treat it as one huge record store with loads of sleeve notes. ill listen, if i like, ill buy, even if i can d/l for free.

......

 

[slim jenkins]

someone should write a dystopian novel based around the concept of humanity in 50 years descending into a sea of identical post-wikipedia info-drones from the perspective of a member of an underclass of tech-luddites, as jenkins put it, operating covertly, preferably from within a complex network of sewers and underground tunnels.

and then terry gilliam should turn it into a film with michael palin and bob hoskins as an insane plumber.. wait..

I thought DeNiro was the plumber/revolutionary? Or is that the wrong film? Never been the tecchy type, but not a Luddite either...for some the medium is the massage though, never mind the content.

I don't know that EASY is always BETTER...same old question: who appreciates and enjoys what they've got more? Those that had to invest a lot of time and work in getting it, or those for whom it came very easily?

People are pretty much consumer drones anyway...and all this information doesn't necessarily lead to wise choices politically/culturally...hello, Boris...:slanted:...and they're no happier or more content...fat depressed kids - huh! Feed 'em more chicken nuggets...and iPod tunes...makes it easier the middle-classes to take all the positions of power....(oops....drifting off topic, sorry)

 

[UFO over easy]

I dunno man, I wouldn't say info overload is class specific.. everyone seems to have a fast internet connection and a huge tv now. Some people just might be more prone to certain kinds of overload than others. Blog/continental philosophy/weird dance music overload vs. chicken nuggets/action movies/that's life magazine overload.

that movie was Brazil by the way michael palin is a state torturer who brings his young daughter to work with him and bob hoskins is a crazy plumber.. I remember finding that funny because he also played Super Mario in that masterpiece of 90s film making.. another plumber

 

[Dunninger]

Before going record shopping/mailordering I write a list of records I want to get, and usually I limit myself to about ten records for that list. I know from experience how much music I'm able to process and still have fun with it - listening for 8 hours a day would drive me nuts. And to be honest it's not that easy to come up with ten records I really really want. I know the feeling that one should know this or that record, but that's just nerd stuff made up in our heads, there really is no obligation. Usually I feel no pain that I could miss some key record.
There's surely more music being produced today, but even 20 years ago there was already much more than anybody could handle, the internet just made the excess more visible.

 

[DJ PIMP]

the internet just made the excess more visible.

yes this is it. i sift through releases at a tremendous rate, discounting 90% of the tracks i preview based on the lead sound or even the kick drum within a couple of seconds - it's enough to place the track within the innovation nuum of a given sub-genre. i have to be compelled within a few bars to get past that point.

swears you're also entirely right. pity me, hard drive awash in music i adore. the misery and suffering

 

[slim jenkins]

I dunno man, I wouldn't say info overload is class specific.. everyone seems to have a fast internet connection and a huge tv now. Some people just might be more prone to certain kinds of overload than others. Blog/continental philosophy/weird dance music overload vs. chicken nuggets/action movies/that's life magazine overload.

that movie was Brazil by the way michael palin is a state torturer who brings his young daughter to work with him and bob hoskins is a crazy plumber.. I remember finding that funny because he also played Super Mario in that masterpiece of 90s film making.. another plumber

I know the film.

Wasn't saying it's class specific, just that some sections of society aren't benefiting from the hi-tech overload in the same way that they're not improving themselves by OD-ing on easily-available junk as I see schoolkids doing locally after school...christ, I sound like Jamie Oliver. Don't really want to take this into a class discussion so I'll shut up about that.

 

[Corpsey]

I know what you mean, thanks to the wonders of internet-enabled-theft I've got hold of about a dozen albums and another dozen mixes within the last week alone, none of which I've given enough attention to.

This is the problem with the internet for me- all the music in the world = I don't devote enough time to anything.

 

[mixed_biscuits]

I think there is a related problem: because you can call up pretty much any track off your ipod/PC at any time, the average quality of music needed to continue an enjoyable listening session decreases.

Nowadays, you can now quickly change the style or track to fit your mood, whereas before the music had to be good enough (for you, that is) to call the tune, or you would be cursing yourself for putting the wrong tape in the walkman when you left for school in the morning.

I propose that a list of those albums that you would be happy (after the fact) to listen to at any time and in any mood would constitute <5% of your entire collection. You might have a 'great music glut,' but it's not a glut of 'great music' - just more or less tolerable music that, given the right context (which, through the wonders of modern technology, is now easier to do), can, albeit fleetingly, work for you.

 

[Leo]

i miss the days of an album growing on me over time. there are plenty of treasures in my collection that i didn't feel at first but then the claws sunk in weeks or months later after repeated. those are the albums i now love most and will always keep, while a great deal of the stuff i liked on first listen doesn't hold up.