I have no authority for saying so, but from what I’ve read and listened to, this I believe:
Humans are highly developed pattern recognition engines.
Human brains react positively to a new pattern when it is repeated.
Upon repeated exposure to this new pattern, human brains ignore the original pattern and instead focus on subtle differences among the original pattern and it’s repetitions.
If the signal is of musical form, how is this exploited by composers and music arrangers?
Here’s my simplistic take:
One strategy is to alter the “top” (melody) and repeat the “bottom” (harmonic structure). Not unlike classical composers “Theme and Variation” motif. See Mozart, et al.
Another strategy is: alter the “bottom” (harmonic structure), and repeat the “top” (melody). It’s most prevalent in jazz and to some degree in modern rock and hip-hop.
(insert photo of most representative composer here)
Of course this is a sophomoric generalization and a vast over-simplification. But it’s something to think about when inventing an arrangement.
I must share a couple of items regarding the legacy of Prince Rogers Nelson, an artist who defied expected norms in his musical works and gender expression.
I’m sorry this is a sad post. I wish things were different.
I believe the “golden age” of Internet search is a thing of the past and it’s utility is suspect. Even the most “we’re not evil” search engine is inferring semantics from search terms. I get it – it’s what most people want: figure out what I’m asking.
That’s mostly fine.
Alas, now if I enclose the search terms in quotes, which was once a sacrosanct feature of using Google et al, wherein I would be shown all of the locations that literal text existed on the Internet – all 90 pages of results, instead I’m now led to believe there’s never been anything anywhere on the internet that ever had those two words concatenated.
I can’t fathom the utility of what Google serves up in their results:
How did we get here? This once immensely powerful and valuable utility is incapable of acting as a tool with explicit constraints and instead beholden to masters unnamed.
Cory Doctorow has a fairly informed notion having kept track for a few decades.
The break-out 1988 single by The La’s, There She Goes , has no verses.
It’s all choruses. Four of them.
It was remixed by Steve Lillywhite in 1990 and Noel Gallagher said it was his favorite song from the 1990s. On “All Songs Considered”, Ben Gibbard picked it as a “perfect” song.
Play the splendid cover by the phenomenal Hazel English.
I hadn’t seen much video of Smashing Pumpkins live, but this little unplugged clip impressed me. Great ensemble playing – so much more than just Billy Corgan.
Nobody has in-ear monitors. Recorded live at Tower Records in 1993. The sound is absolutely gorgeous. I wish there was more of Jimmy Chamberlin in the video.
That changed upon hearing Susan Stamberg’s 7 minute eulogy on NPR when Didion passed last month. I was moved to dive into Didion, consuming first her nephew’s summary of her cultural/political acuity.
I’ve come to realize Didion’s “fiction” was only slightly divorced from reality and so many expressions in her work were cultural and political sentries.
She was among a few people acting as a canary in the coal mine throughtout her writing carrier .
Hilton Als noted “She knew that her country was built on exclusion and shame“
There’s a few of music-related documentaries being released as films or streaming series out now reviewing stuff that happened 50 or more years ago both by interviewing the principals and unearthing new media. The time is right because first hand accounts won’t be around for much longer.
Summer of Soul
First and foremost is Questlove’s filmmaking debut. Over six weeks in the summer of 1969, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park. The footage was never seen and largely forgotten until this project. The list of performers is staggering: Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension, and more.
Summer of Soul Trailer
True story: The first bass line I ever learned was If You Want Me to Stay and not the obvious choice for a stoner in the 70s, Sugarloaf’s Green Eyed Lady.
The Sparks Brothers
I confess to knowing little of these artists works nor knowing of their influence. The trailer kinda floored me.
Didn’t know, but not surprised to know of the Brit art/punk rock connections: Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Smiths. Totally would have expected Bowie and Freddie Mercury to also be included.
Was surprised to know Bjork, Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) and Kurt Cobain all referenced Sparks as an influence.
What tipped the scales in mentioning this documentary was a quote from Millennial pop producer Jack Antonoff:
All pop music is rearranged Sparks
I would have liked to have that spelled out further in the film. Also missing is deeper exploration regards what informed Ron’s compositions.
A random walk among both Beatles and Paul’s work, perhaps uncovering some new insights. Rick recites some very specific appreciation from John about Paul. Very much appreciated Paul’s nod to James Jamerson. Rick and Paul fiddle with faders on playback of Beatles masters .. FFS .. even Paul is astonished it happened.
I’d like to know how the guitar lines in “And Your Bird Can Sing” came about. That was an extremely brief studio session. Nobody in the room could write or read any musical notation.
For better or worse, I still relate to art echoing emotions felt in my youth.
Today I learned the Girlpool‘sCut Your Bangs is a cover (hat-tip genius.com community) of a Radiator Hospital twee pop track. For months, I still cannot get that track out of my head, notably the chorus refrain. Girlpool slows it all down and pointedly highlights via dynamics and vocal harmonies this:
When you lie to me it’s in the small stuff
Get’s me in the feels every time … not that there aren’t other barbs present in the original’s (lovely) up-tempo scat. Props to Girlpool for upgrading emotional impact of a 2 minute song.
Once upon a time one could anonymously express your love for Bootsy Collins, Bavarian polkas, Scandinavian metal, and Katy Perry and then discover other souls with a similar disposition on the same platform as the one delivering your music, from which one would discover other artists, which to me seemed to me a worthy product.
Alas, the market has deemed it unworthy, though it did exist for a brief moment.
As an epitaph, I’m sharing some random responses to a feature on Lala called “the blurb” wherein anyone could post on your feed. It was a magical time before anyone seemed to have a political or business agenda, before Facebook mattered, or before anyone had figured out how to exploit this feature with spam-bots and such.
quarked: “hey there, thanks for the heads up on Ruby Suns… I found the s/t album is on emusic and am now happier than I was 10 minutes ago. And thanks for sharing all your great playlists!”
elijah: “massive kudos for the great picks in the “chill pop” playlist :-)”
JUan. BeATs: “sweet disposition is so good”
Crizzle: “great yet simple review of Ciao My Shining Star :)”
sandeep: “Oh, all three of those playlists would be interesting. I especially like the shoe-gazer-ish one, being a big fan of the genre. What kinds of things would you add to the “dusty bits” one? (I’m still getting the hang of this commenting thing, I hope you can see this?)”
unhillbilly 