THE COMMENT “What? You haven’t heard of or listened to so-and-so? They’re huge! How could you have not listened to so-and-so? They’re a cultural phenomenon, they’re a fundamental part of modern music! If you haven’t listened to so-and-so, if you don’t know x song, how can you say you know music at all?” This isContinue reading “On the Reduction of Infinite Music (into Musical Canons)”
Category Archives: essay
On Ever-Changing Tastes and Preferences
I try to understand the biases I may have in my rankings. I don’t care about trying to avoid them. Ultimately my rankings are more about my preference than about what I suspect is quote-unquote “good”. Of course I’ll take note of those biases as part of my rationale, but they’ll still be a partContinue reading “On Ever-Changing Tastes and Preferences”
On Charisma
When I use the word charisma, it’s with a fairly particular definition. Charisma is the quality of magnetism, of attractive force. When something draws others into itself, it is charismatic. I believe that charisma is a huge element of media, of music. It’s the hook, the bait, it’s what keeps an audience engaged and attentiveContinue reading “On Charisma”
On Lyrics
Lyrics are interesting because I don’t really listen to them, and that’s always mildly surprising to me. I care about words, I think they’re important. I think poetry has great potential for beauty and I derive immense satisfaction from its potent combinations of words and phrases, its truths and its lies. I love words. AndContinue reading “On Lyrics”
On Pleasant and Interesting
When I listen to music, when I consume any kind of media, really, there are two primary components from which I derive value. Those are, you guessed it, pleasure and interest. If something- a movie, a painting, a novel, a song, is “good”, it means that that thing is pleasant and/or interesting. If something isContinue reading “On Pleasant and Interesting”
On Trust
This is probably self explanatory and unnecessary, but I think it bears mentioning. I enjoy judging artists off of a fairly comprehensive understanding of everything they’ve published. The hitch is that nobody is perfectly consistent, and so you’ll get people who suck but get better, you’ll get people who are better and then suck, and,Continue reading “On Trust”
On Covers
First, definitions. A “cover” is a work that is largely derivative of a different, largely original work. Of course, nothing is original and everything is derivative, but I think this definition is functional when taken in good faith. Also a work that is largely derivative of a different, largely original work is what I’m callingContinue reading “On Covers”
On Performance and Composition
This is brief, but I use these words specifically enough that I think it’s worth making a space to clearly define them. The most concise simplification is to say that performance is execution and composition is design. The two ideas are easy to see as counterparts to each other. What’s supposed to happen and whatContinue reading “On Performance and Composition”
On Craft and Art
I’ll start with my definitions. Craftsmanship is technique, the ability to make vision into substance. The ability to make effective craft. Artistry is a quality of vision, a frame, a set of priorities, one geared toward producing art. There are two primary qualities of vision: that of the craftsman and that of the artist. TheContinue reading “On Craft and Art”
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