MetaChat - Entropy, the Heat Death of the Universe, and Music

MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.

11 June 2008

Entropy, the Heat Death of the Universe, and Music →[More:] I’ve been thinking (and dreaming, as it turns out) about entropy and the possible Heat Death of the Universe a lot lately. Not that I’m a physicist or cosmologist or anything; my brain just has a few weird kinks in it.

I think that this train of thought is perhaps due to the way I feel about music these days. I’m finding it harder and harder to find new music that excites me in any way. Hip hop has never really done it for me – I’m just old enough to have missed that particular boat. Indie rock used to get it for me, but now… well, I sorta laid it out here. I can’t listen to metal with a straight face anymore, what with all the cookie-monster vocals and preposterous facial hair. Current R&B just seems like an exercise in pointless extended melismata. I can’t tell the difference anymore between country and pop rock, and most jazz is either too sweet or so abstract as to seem totally atonal.

And so I find myself listening to a lot of older R&B and blues and early rock, that sort of thing. Which is fine, as I’ve always subscribed to the “if it’s new to me, it’s new” philosophy, but I can’t help thinking that most of the artists I’m enjoying are either really aged or, more likely, dead. Either way, they’re not playing live anymore.

The last couple of newer bands I’ve really liked were Comets On Fire (who seem to have split up, but they’re playing the Sub Pop 20th anniversary show, so yay!), Kinski, and Radio Massacre International - none of which are especially new. What am I missing?

post by: bmarkey at: 16:26 | 9 comments

I think this is a really common complaint. I think it's just that there's so much stuff out there that gets a moderate amount of exposure, and we really can't rely on studios to filter out and label music by genre. It used to be - you want Motown, you buy a Motown record; you want rock'n'roll, then buy a rock'n'roll record; and so on. But now I can't just buy any indie rock album, cause 50% of the time it's not my sort of music.

I don't really like "gentler rock" stuff either. What I need is a category that describes music like New Pornographers, Fiery Furnaces, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Flaming Lips' newer stuff, etc. Then I could say, "oh, I like indie bands, but more _____ pop and less The Decemberists."

posted by muddgirl 11 June | 17:29

This might sound insane, bmarkey, but it might be worthwhile to give hip-hop another chance. Now, admittedly (and to quote Jeru the Damaja), I love hip-hop like Madonna loves dick, but hear me out. I think that if you revisit hip-hop with an eye toward a sort of alternate history focused on DJs rather than MCs, you might dig it.

The pretty-good documentary Scratch covers this better than I ever could, but, basically, there's a line that can be drawn from DXT (who scratched on Herbie Hancock's 'Rockit') to the Invisibl Skratch Picklz to Klever and Ricci Rucker. At this point, turntablist music has become so far removed from party-rocking and battle-DJing (let alone 50 Cent or Soulja Boy or whoever) that it's closer to art music. But unlike most art music, it still has rhythm and groove and stuff.

Shrug--it might not be up your alley, but I can say, at least, that many of the things that I like about jazz are things that I also appreciate in DJ music.

posted by box 11 June | 17:34

Alternately, how about retro-sounding R&B? I don't blame you for not liking T-Pain, but do Nicole Willis or Sharon Jones do anything for you?

posted by box 11 June | 17:36

Yeah, I do like the neo-retro R&B thing. At the same time, I often find myself thinking "I remember this from the first time around".

And maybe that's the problem. I have a friend who's spent even more time thinking about (and writing about) music, and who is approximately my age. She's mentioned hitting the same wall I am; when I asked her about it, she said that she thought it was due to the fact that we've heard too much music for our own good. We can't hear anything with fresh ears anymore.

While I certainly hope that that's not the case, I have to admit that it's a possibility.

posted by bmarkey 11 June | 18:15

I feel that same way sometimes, b. I think that's one of the big reasons that I'm listening to a lot of international music these days. It's also a reason, I think, that I respond really well to blending and beat-juggling and crate-digging and that kind of thing--it's a way of recontextualizing, making new connections, seeing the old in a new way, like that.

posted by box 11 June | 18:32

I usually just listen to non-commercial radio over the internet. Some college stations and definitely WFMU. I don't buy much music any more, unless I'm on a nostalgia trip or am really amazed by something I hear on said radio. For me, I've just assumed it's part of getting older. Once you have your mind blown by something really great, a lot of other stuff starts to pale in comparison.

That said, I did enjoy my emusic subscription quite a lot. I found some really quirky stuff (not pop, more experimental/noise/jazz/electronica/soundscape/etc) that piqued my interest. But I find I don't listen to it that much anymore -- I prefer the new-ness/non-committal/window-shopping aspect of radio.

posted by treepour 11 June | 22:43

This piece speaks to some of my concerns about music in 2008, although I find myself somewhat nonplussed at agreeing with an article which praises both Sasha Frere-Jones and Kelefa Sanneh. It truly is a strange and beautiful world.

posted by bmarkey 12 June | 03:50

Bmarkey - for more on the hip-hop thing, check out anything DJ Spooky has ever done. He came out with a fantastic re-working of classic reggae songs last year(Marley, Dawn Penn, etc.) that is fantastic.

And Box? There's a phenomenal new DJ out of San Francisco called Heyoka that has a sick, sick, sick! new EP out called Space Case, that sounds like an entire catalog of electronic music wrapped into 5 tunes. Definitely worth owning. You can preview it on Itunes and it's going for like 5 bucks.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 12 June | 09:44

Oh, one more thing - Love love love Radio Massacre International, Bmarkey. Great find!

posted by Lipstick Thespian 12 June | 09:45

← Cross-post AskMe thingy || Ask MeCha: A straw-pollish type question. →

HOME || REGISTER || LOGIN