Sound Science Corner Pub

[castleofargh]

I've heard her butcher a few famous songs. she's not the angry type, I give her that. ^_^

 

[71 dB]

You should listen to Shotgun Willie by Willie Nelson (the album) and see what you think. I wasn't much of a country fan until I got into some of the older stuff. The country they play on TV / radio (not that you'd be much exposed to it) is just pop with a different accent.

As far as Kesha, she's good, but I also don't really care much for pop in general. There are stand-outs but it's not a major focus for me.

I'll keep that album in my mind in case someday I feel desire to listen to quality country. Could be tomorrow. Could be never. Thanks for the recommendation.

I agree with you whole heartedly. I listen to everything that sound good to me and try to appreciate new genres if possible. [1] Classical is boring to me, but I listen to ones that sounds good. Country is not my music either, but I went through the Alison Krauss phase like all audiophiles, but I'll listen to it to hear something different at times. I think my moods changes and look for something different at times, and get bored with repetition. I listen to 80's pop sometimes, David Guetta, I like Katy Perry's video and she seems like she has a great character and enjoy her music as well. I have no shame, I listen to many different types of music. [2] When I was younger, I was limiting what I listened to, and it was more of an image thing, but as an adult, it's all about what sounds good and enjoy, and new discoveries, whether it's pop or whatever. I don't have a high nose or call myself sophisticated, but I know I have a taste and preferences, and love me music! We all have various backgrounds and exposures, and this has effects on our tastes. I don't want to be convinced into liking a genre because of image of sophistication, but because I like it, like the recording quality and the melody.

I'm a 90's child so [3] alternative rock was mainstream at the time, and enjoy some of that due to being highly exposed to it. I also listened to Eurodance as it was a 90's thing. Gangster rap, R&B. Love me smooth R&B, very soulful music. I got into various genres(that I wasn't exposed to much) due to quality of the recordings, like jazz, and audiophile recordings(I don't find them all that exciting or all that different, but repetitive with similar use of percussions and crap).

[4] Country and Metal are genres I can't get myself into. Metal just sounds too congested, peaky, and shreaky, stresses me out. I like more isolated sounds, airy, not too much going on. I love vocals as I find that I will never get bored of new vocals as there are so many different types of voices. I do enjoy quality guitar riffs like from Yngwie Malmsteen or Eric Johnson(this maybe due to watching many episodes of Top Gear and the intro music stuck to my head. LOL.).

[1] A lot of classical music bores me too. I dislike some composers. I'm not into operetta. However, the amount of classical music is VERY large. How many metal bands have produced 100 hours worth of music? You can also collect multiple recording of the same works.

[2] That's natural I suppose. I didn't really listen to music myself until high-school. My music exposure was hearing my father play his jazz records. Jazz was all he listened to. Much later I was able to make him appreciate classical music. So, I had zero exposure to 70's rock for example. My father considers rock music "utterly stupid." At high-school age I got interested of music and started to listen to radio. In 1988 there was the British acid house explosion and that's when I really became a music lover. For almost a decade I listened mainly modern dance music following the quick evolution of the subgenres from acid house to drum 'n' bass. Around 1996-7 I started to listen to classic radio as background music. I had an attitude against "old" music (old music must be incompatible to modern ears), but my ears got used to the acoustic instruments fast and I started to get into classical music with passion I never anticipated. It teached me to never judge music before exploring it and that often preconceptions are wrong.

[3] I really hated myself that kind of music. I hated american music and loved British stuff. Never been into rap or R&B either. Around 2010 some producers such as David Guetta took European modern dance music ideas to US and it finally exploded there 20-25 years later than in Europe. As an result American pop music was superb 2011-2012 and still demonstrates the benefits of European style despite of going a bit downhill.

[4] Same here, but there is no need to get into music genres by force. You can try these genres avery 5 years. Preferences change. In the 90's I didn't care much about ambient music, but nowadays I like it more. When I explore new music, I always take steps in a direction that feels right at the moment, no matter what the direction is. If you feel like exploring Kuduro instead of metal then explore Kuduro.

 

[Whazzzup]

It’s important by describing genres the depth or width within each genre, as has already been inferred. While I listen to jazz, jazz vocals, blues, electronic, ambient, classical, r&b soul. There are tons of stuff I don’t like within each genre, however for posting I rarely mention specifics of what I don’t like out of appreciation that others may feel different.

 

[SilverEars]

It’s important by describing genres the depth or width within each genre, as has already been inferred. While I listen to jazz, jazz vocals, blues, electronic, ambient, classical, r&b soul. There are tons of stuff I don’t like within each genre, however for posting I rarely mention specifics of what I don’t like out of appreciation that others may feel different.

Yeah, you can't generalize the whole genre, as there are sometimes sub-genres that one of them could come closer to your taste. Or there are artists that you may like within the sea of music within a particular genre. But, this is a matter of running into them.

It's interesting to read what people's backgrounds were with music to arrive at their preference. There's a story in everybody's background.

Like always psychology applies, getting force fed music to build bad associations, or just being exposed to certain type of music around the house a lot that at some point in one's adult life, that has melded into you that you naturally become appreciative. There are music from my youth I wan't into as I had a narrow taste in music, but I've been expose to it so much that, at some point in an adult life it catches up as nostalgia. I guess this is a common behavior when one gets older?

 

[SilverEars]

I can understand country being a genre that one would have grown accustomed to growing up, and people of countries that the genre is never heard, probably not what they would appreciate. I think it's that type of genre that is more culturally centered than appeal to a wider audience.

But, I will say as a foreigner to music from many different parts of the world, I like to hear them out see if it sounds fun. Like European alps folk music is so different to me and got me to listen to them. I think it's fun to discover foreign music to hear what other cultures have done to music.

 

[Zapp_Fan]

[3] I really hated myself that kind of music. I hated american music and loved British stuff. Never been into rap or R&B either. Around 2010 some producers such as David Guetta took European modern dance music ideas to US and it finally exploded there 20-25 years later than in Europe. As an result American pop music was superb 2011-2012 and still demonstrates the benefits of European style despite of going a bit downhill.

This is really funny to me. I remember that between maybe 2000-2010 I really liked some of the same music you're talking about - Bassment Jaxx, Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers, (a lot of Aphex Twin) and I thought how great it would be if American Top 40 / Pop music would take some cues from european electronic music. Then when it finally happened I thought it was OK. Some Black Eyed Peas or maybe Justin Timberlake songs were pretty cool and creative. But over the next 5 years or so, it really stopped appealing to me. I don't know what to think of pop music now. It has plenty of big synthesizers and drum machines, but no spirit of fun, no epic vision, no structure, no clever twists... we've moved on to the Trap-type sounds now, but it's just mimicking certain sounds with a lot of low-effort composition behind it.

Case in point - there was a commercial for canned tomatoes on TV the other night. The music they used in the commercial was unmistakably of the Trap genre. Basically some watered-down Dillon Francis. To me this proves the genre has jumped the shark, all cool has left the room, it's over. There is nothing less edgy and exciting than canned vegetables.

like the true electronic artists still, but I can't stomach what Pop has done with its appropriation of those styles.

A matter of taste I guess.

 

[SilverEars]

It's interesting you mention commercials as those and television/movie media using certain tracks creeps up on the subconcious that they create a bit of a familarity when you run into them again to boost a more appreciation.

 

[SilverEars]

I'll keep that album in my mind in case someday I feel desire to listen to quality country. Could be tomorrow. Could be never. Thanks for the recommendation.



[1] A lot of classical music bores me too. I dislike some composers. I'm not into operetta. However, the amount of classical music is VERY large. How many metal bands have produced 100 hours worth of music? You can also collect multiple recording of the same works.

[2] That's natural I suppose. I didn't really listen to music myself until high-school. My music exposure was hearing my father play his jazz records. Jazz was all he listened to. Much later I was able to make him appreciate classical music. So, I had zero exposure to 70's rock for example. My father considers rock music "utterly stupid." At high-school age I got interested of music and started to listen to radio. In 1988 there was the British acid house explosion and that's when I really became a music lover. For almost a decade I listened mainly modern dance music following the quick evolution of the subgenres from acid house to drum 'n' bass. Around 1996-7 I started to listen to classic radio as background music. I had an attitude against "old" music (old music must be incompatible to modern ears), but my ears got used to the acoustic instruments fast and I started to get into classical music with passion I never anticipated. It teached me to never judge music before exploring it and that often preconceptions are wrong.

[3] I really hated myself that kind of music. I hated american music and loved British stuff. Never been into rap or R&B either. Around 2010 some producers such as David Guetta took European modern dance music ideas to US and it finally exploded there 20-25 years later than in Europe. As an result American pop music was superb 2011-2012 and still demonstrates the benefits of European style despite of going a bit downhill.

[4] Same here, but there is no need to get into music genres by force. You can try these genres avery 5 years. Preferences change. In the 90's I didn't care much about ambient music, but nowadays I like it more. When I explore new music, I always take steps in a direction that feels right at the moment, no matter what the direction is. If you feel like exploring Kuduro instead of metal then explore Kuduro.

What type of genre did you hate of American stuff? Also what British music? I have a lot of British favorites including the newwave synthesizer movement. They arrose from other electronic musice before it, like italian or German electronic music. Industrial has some roots to Kraftwerk from Germany I discovered, which had some influences on early British electro music.

I also realized the popular dance music from the 90's were from Europe, and I had thought from US since English language which wasn't really the case. Eurodance popularized in the 90's for example. Interestingly, German groups of the time.

Daft Punk is French, but rehashes beats from American funk I think, and also pays homage to the italian pioneer of electronic music. They had their influences.

 

[bigshot]

Any kind of music requires understanding to appreciate. Country is no different. But old time country music has a directness and purity that drags you in. If you listen to enough of it, you get past the fun on the surface and start realizing that just under the surface, there is a whole range of emotions and a complete world view.



One thing about "boring" music... a lot of the time it's boring because it's speaking on a level you don't understand. Music is a language. You have to be fluent in it to appreciate it. You could go to a really good lecture, but if the speaker is speaking in Chinese, you aren't going to understand it and it's going to be boring.

I find that different kinds of music inform each other. I learn things in jazz that help me understand country, and things in rock n roll might teach me something about classical.

I don't hate genres. That is a good way to shove yourself in a box. I have criteria for judging quality. I hate bad music of all genres equally.

 

[b0ck3n]

Omg that was excellent!

 

[71 dB]

This is really funny to me. I remember that between maybe 2000-2010 I really liked some of the same music you're talking about - Bassment Jaxx, Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers, (a lot of Aphex Twin) and I thought how great it would be if American Top 40 / Pop music would take some cues from european electronic music. Then when it finally happened I thought it was OK. Some Black Eyed Peas or maybe Justin Timberlake songs were pretty cool and creative. But over the next 5 years or so, it really stopped appealing to me.

As I said, American pop has gone a bit downhill after 2012/13. The European influences are been replaced by American music (hip hop, R&B etc.) only this time American music has been influenced by European dance music so that the influence is still there, just not as openly and directly as in 2010-2013 "the Yolo years." Hits like
Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines* caused the downhill chain reaction. That song REALLY sucks and it was a huge hit. When I saw the song on MTV the first time I knew it will cause a lot of damage for pop music and it did. "We Can't Stop" and "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus helped kill yolo pop. The music preferences of masses are so easily controlled. Popular music genres blossom briefly and suck long. That's the rule I learned 20 years ago.

* For Robin Thicke: This is how it's done:

I don't know what to think of pop music now. It has plenty of big synthesizers and drum machines, but no spirit of fun, no epic vision, no structure, no clever twists... we've moved on to the Trap-type sounds now, but it's just mimicking certain sounds with a lot of low-effort composition behind it.

Your analyse is on point. Spirit of fun is mostly gone. Every now and then there's a track that I like, but most of it is boring and meaningless "mush." That's life. I collect the best pop CDs of 2010-13 and "move on" to other genres that might blossom at the moment (is there any?) or I explore older music I haven't explored before. 10 years from now pop music might have "epic vision" again. At the moment I am exploring Steve Roach's ambient music.

Case in point - there was a commercial for canned tomatoes on TV the other night. The music they used in the commercial was unmistakably of the Trap genre. Basically some watered-down Dillon Francis. To me this proves the genre has jumped the shark, all cool has left the room, it's over. There is nothing less edgy and exciting than canned vegetables.

Yes, that's what happens. That's why popular music blossoms only briefly when someone has injected it with fresh ideas.

 

[bigshot]

The way I find music is to hang around people who know more than me about certain kinds of music. Then I ask them for recommendations and write it all down and do my research. When I've absorbed it, I go back to them and tell them what I heard in it and listen to what they have to say about it. That inevitably leads to more branches of the tree to chase down. Rinse and repeat! For the past half century.

 

[bigshot]

* For Robin Thicke: This is how it's done:

That is actually a retro thing there. It's referring to the Philadelphia Sound from the 60s and early 70s. Also the British Northern Soul movement... basically non-Motown soul music. A lot of times trends that look like they're original and coming from a particular area are actually repackaging of earlier varieties of music that came from somewhere else. England was big on that. The Beatles were doing that in their early days.

 

[71 dB]

What type of genre did you hate of American stuff? Also what British music? I have a lot of British favorites including the newwave synthesizer movement. They arrose from other electronic musice before it, like italian or German electronic music. Industrial has some roots to Kraftwerk from Germany I discovered, which had some influences on early British electro music.

American: dislike grunge, rap, R&B comes to mind.
British: love acid house/hip house, rave, breakbeat, hardcore ragga, darkside, some jungle, drum 'n' bass, speed garage, neurofunk,…

I also realized the popular dance music from the 90's were from Europe, and I had thought from US since English language which wasn't really the case. Eurodance popularized in the 90's for example. Interestingly, German groups of the time.

USA had underground movements in late 80's (Detroit techno scene and Chicago house scene) which influenced Europe, but in the US these movements never became that commercial and the influence to American pop was weak. In Europe these influences together with hip hop influence was combined with European influences to create interesting new underground genres which influenced commercial pop quickly. Most of eurodance is actually pretty bad, the stuff living in between the underground scene and pop scene tends to be most interesting.

 

[Glmoneydawg]

That is actually a retro thing there. It's referring to the Philadelphia Sound from the 60s and early 70s. Also the British Northern Soul movement... basically non-Motown soul music. A lot of times trends that look like they're original and coming from a particular area are actually repackaging of earlier varieties of music that came from somewhere else. England was big on that. The Beatles were doing that in their early days.

Robin Thick went so far as pretty much copy a Marvin Gaye song for blurred lines.Gayes estate successfully sued him and Pharrell for 7 million$ i believe.