I think I miss Pluto. It's no longer a planet. It was demoted to a dwarf planet. A fate I wouldn't wish on anyone.
Memories are strongest from when we are young. We can form relationships that we remember the rest of our lives even if they don't last that long. Who forgets their first love or first kiss?
I find myself, now and then, dreaming about those people from my past and often I wake up feeling sad. I guess I'm sad about the fact that I no longer keep in touch with them, or maybe sad that those days when I was young and full of naive notions has been and gone. I'm not complaining, it's just an observation.
I think some people hold on to the past a little too long. It can eat you up inside, so that you don't live for today. They're always living in the past. It's especially hard to move on in your life when you feel like you've lost something and you have a deep hunger inside to recapture that moment when everything was right.
Some people are like that about music too. They hang on to what they love and stop listening to new music. It doesn't fit with what they find comfortable and appealing. Quite often the music is tied to what they heard and felt in their younger years. The feeling of the time is really what gives the music meaning to them. Think of an old song you like and see if there is a memory from your personal history that's linked to it.
It's all about feeling something
Songs get played, sung and listened to in places that are sometimes special and sometimes not. They only have meaning in the context that they are presented. You need to feel something, so that you remember.
They don't live in a vacuum. They are presented somewhere. Whether it's in a club, or a wedding or when you're feeling blue about someone you lost.
James
Friday, January 14, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Social Media Has Made Me Fat
The Medium is the message
There's been some famous defections from Twitter lately (John Mayer, Ricky Gervais, Courtney Love etc.) and that got me to thinking. We are being bombarded by information every minute of everyday. I feel out of touch most of the time. There is just so much going on in the world and every bit of it is being reported on by someone, whether through the older traditional media or the new social media. There's just too much to keep track of. I might be getting older, but I'm finding that there are a growing number of so called "celebrities" I've never heard of. There are events I'm completely unaware of, movies I haven't seen, music I should listen to that I don't, people I should talk to that I can't! I don't have the time.
There was a time in the not to distant past that I felt I had a handle on what was going on (for the most part) in popular western culture. I don't have that illusion anymore. I feel lost, adrift on a sea of endless realities shows, streams of facebook updates and a 24 hour news cycle. I just want to make it all stop and get my bearings.
Truth and Consequences
The big record companies have been making the argument for a while that when they were on top, their was a clear choice as to what music was to be listened to and what music was to be avoided. Things were simpler then and there wasn't as much "noise". The chosen few were given the keys to the palace and everyone else was left in the cold. That is to say, they were the gate keepers who determined what was good or bad music and they let us know when they had decided what we should listen to.
Ah the good old days... Now of course there are enough musicians just on Youtube, to fill a small country and we are left to discover which ones are good and not so good ourselves. To be sure, there are still some barriers to entry for new musicians, but it is by far much easier to record, market and distribute music to an audience than it used to be five years ago. The problem now is finding and keeping an audience.
This brings me back to being bombarded with media. I've listened to at least five artists / bands on Youtube this week and they were all good. All of them had an interesting sound and I would have spent more time listening to them ten years ago. Now, I find I don't even finish listening until the end of the track. And I couldn't name any of them now.
I don't like this. I know a great deal of hard work goes into writing, performing and recording an album and there should be time to appreciate it. What I think I have as a culture now, is too much of a good thing.
Too Much of a Good Thing
What we have now is a classic supply / demand scenario with way more supply than demand. When this happens the supply side has less value to people. This is the situation we're in with popular music and popular culture. Good or bad (mostly bad) there's lots of it. I, you and lots of others have been pigging out on the media and now we've gotten fat and lazy about what we watch, listen to and consume. What can be done? Maybe a diet? Better content and no more crap. Goodbye reality tv. Or maybe we do need gate keepers... who would of thunk it?
I've got to go and check my facebook page...
Bye for now
James
The Medium is the message
There's been some famous defections from Twitter lately (John Mayer, Ricky Gervais, Courtney Love etc.) and that got me to thinking. We are being bombarded by information every minute of everyday. I feel out of touch most of the time. There is just so much going on in the world and every bit of it is being reported on by someone, whether through the older traditional media or the new social media. There's just too much to keep track of. I might be getting older, but I'm finding that there are a growing number of so called "celebrities" I've never heard of. There are events I'm completely unaware of, movies I haven't seen, music I should listen to that I don't, people I should talk to that I can't! I don't have the time.
There was a time in the not to distant past that I felt I had a handle on what was going on (for the most part) in popular western culture. I don't have that illusion anymore. I feel lost, adrift on a sea of endless realities shows, streams of facebook updates and a 24 hour news cycle. I just want to make it all stop and get my bearings.
Truth and Consequences
The big record companies have been making the argument for a while that when they were on top, their was a clear choice as to what music was to be listened to and what music was to be avoided. Things were simpler then and there wasn't as much "noise". The chosen few were given the keys to the palace and everyone else was left in the cold. That is to say, they were the gate keepers who determined what was good or bad music and they let us know when they had decided what we should listen to.
Ah the good old days... Now of course there are enough musicians just on Youtube, to fill a small country and we are left to discover which ones are good and not so good ourselves. To be sure, there are still some barriers to entry for new musicians, but it is by far much easier to record, market and distribute music to an audience than it used to be five years ago. The problem now is finding and keeping an audience.
This brings me back to being bombarded with media. I've listened to at least five artists / bands on Youtube this week and they were all good. All of them had an interesting sound and I would have spent more time listening to them ten years ago. Now, I find I don't even finish listening until the end of the track. And I couldn't name any of them now.
I don't like this. I know a great deal of hard work goes into writing, performing and recording an album and there should be time to appreciate it. What I think I have as a culture now, is too much of a good thing.
Too Much of a Good Thing
What we have now is a classic supply / demand scenario with way more supply than demand. When this happens the supply side has less value to people. This is the situation we're in with popular music and popular culture. Good or bad (mostly bad) there's lots of it. I, you and lots of others have been pigging out on the media and now we've gotten fat and lazy about what we watch, listen to and consume. What can be done? Maybe a diet? Better content and no more crap. Goodbye reality tv. Or maybe we do need gate keepers... who would of thunk it?
I've got to go and check my facebook page...
Bye for now
James
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Autotune - Why Did You Lie?
Autotune is not our friend
Autotune is used to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform perfectly tuned vocal tracks without the need of singing in tune. While its main purpose is to slightly bend sung pitches to the nearest true semitone (to the exact pitch of the nearest tone in traditional equal temperament), Auto-Tune can be used as an effect to distort the human voice when pitch is raised/lowered significantly. This has led to it being used in numerous pop songs from Cher to T-Pain.
It's a become a staple with many "Pop Stars" who can't pull off the real thing or are looking to have some robotic sound on a song. I'm not a fan. I don't really like over produced music and use and over use of Autotune falls into that category.
I feel like the artists who use it to correct bad singing are lazy or lying. There's nothing like a live performance with authentic voices, full of feeling and nuance. They sometimes aren't perfect. That's art and that's life. I for one prefer my music to be from real people with something real to say not machines that have no soul.
Autotune is used to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform perfectly tuned vocal tracks without the need of singing in tune. While its main purpose is to slightly bend sung pitches to the nearest true semitone (to the exact pitch of the nearest tone in traditional equal temperament), Auto-Tune can be used as an effect to distort the human voice when pitch is raised/lowered significantly. This has led to it being used in numerous pop songs from Cher to T-Pain.
It's a become a staple with many "Pop Stars" who can't pull off the real thing or are looking to have some robotic sound on a song. I'm not a fan. I don't really like over produced music and use and over use of Autotune falls into that category.
I feel like the artists who use it to correct bad singing are lazy or lying. There's nothing like a live performance with authentic voices, full of feeling and nuance. They sometimes aren't perfect. That's art and that's life. I for one prefer my music to be from real people with something real to say not machines that have no soul.
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