Some music I just discovered this week · 9:47pm Oct 18th, 2013
Oh well look at that, it looks like I finally found myself some free time. So I think I'll use up a bit of it by posting some great music I've just found.
John Cage is probably most well-known for 4 minutes 33 seconds, the piece in which the performers don't play anything for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. If you think that sort of thing is pretentious (and I wouldn't entirely blame you for thinking that), then rest assured that this piece has much more going for it. For a start, it's arguably one of the first ever pieces of ambient music. It doesn't go anywhere or progress in any way, it just floats around the same group of notes and range of dynamics for 8 minutes. Thankfully, Cage chose his notes wisely, as this piece has a wonderful-yet-eerie calm to it; much like an actual dream. The best way to listen to it is almost to not listen to it. Just do something else with this on in the background and you'll appreciate its presence all the more.
Bjork seems like a rather interesting character, an Icelandic singer who does strange and spacy pop music in English. I'd never checked out her music too much before, but I'm certainly interested now that I've heard this. Not only is the instrumentation and production very off the wall for what's technically a pop song, but the lyrics are also somewhat abstract: sometimes rather creepy and other times rather sexy. (I can't say for sure, but I'm willing to bet that the titular "hidden place" is Bjork's vagina.) If anyone has ever been looking for imaginative modern pop music, as I have, then here you go!
Exactly why I didn't start listening to Portishead earlier, I don't quite know. I've known about them for years, but I never really gave them much attention. Clearly this was a mistake, because I think this track is fantastic; I just wish that the guitar part from the beginning was used more than once. There's plenty of interesting things to talk about in this song. The "bass" is actually in the lower midrange, known as the "ooh" frequency (because it most people go "ooh" when it's played loudly, as it tends to resonate in your chest), which creates a naturally uncomfortable feeling in most people. There's also no stereo in the mix whatsoever, it's all panned to the dead center. And last of all, the alarm-esque synth is actually made from two notes that are a semitone apart, to create yet another uncomfortable sound. So the end result of all this, alongside the melancholy vocals, adds up to a pretty gloomy track indeed. Awesome.
Dummy might be one of my favorite albums ever! I think you mentioned not liking Massive Attack all that much to me once (if not than I apologize for the mix up) but if you liked Portishead then I'd give Massive Attack another listen because Mezzanine is up there as one of my favorite albums as well.
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Well, that's good to hear, I just now went out and bought Dummy from a record store! I'm gonna listen to it tonight.
You were right about me saying I didn't like Massive Attack, but I think I might be more open to the trip hop aesthetic now. After all, I listened to that song you posted and I quite liked it, and the same's happened when I've listened to a few more tunes from Mezzanine. So maybe that album will be on the cards for me later.
What did you think of the other music I posted, by the way?
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A few other good trip-hop artists are Zero 7, Thievery Corporation, and Sneaker Pimps
The John Cage song was right up my alley. Minimal Piano Ambient are all things that I love. I think I remember seeing a YouTube video of a symphony playing that 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence song and remember hearing people clap after it was over and I was like, really? I mean I guess no one thought to do that before so its interesting from that point but...eeeeehhh? Anyway, this was really good.
That Bjork song was actually really good. I'm sure I've told you that I'm no fan of pop music but both the singing and instrumental in that song were really good (the singing reminded me a bit of Portishead actually...maybe with a bit of an accent though). But hey, I'm pretty much in love with Icelandic music. But while we're on the subject of pop music, have you noticed that its getting better and a lot less generic. I haven't listened to the new Lorde album completely yet but I really so like the track "Royals". Also, Kimbra is just really amazing.
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Apparently the idea behind 4'33 is that "there is no such thing as silence", so whenever the audience goes to see a "performance" then they're not truly hearing silence (because there'll always be some quiet sounds in the concert hall, or someone coughing). To me, it's only good as an idea, but it's just silly in practicality. I don't know how any performer could take the piece seriously. Anyway, if you liked Dream then you'd probably like another piano piece Cage did called In a Landscape.
I guess Bjork is a bit trip hop-ish, too. I can't say I know much Icelandic music, though, and I haven't been paying much attention to pop music right now either. Most of what I've heard recently has been like generic dance-pop, albeit with a few good tunes in between, but it could just be a transatlantic difference. Is there anything you'd suggest in particular?
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Oh well I guess that idea is pretty interesting but yeah...kind of silly. I'm at work now but I'll give that a listen when I get home.
For pop music the two I mentioned are good.
Gotye is also pretty good
And Toro y Moi
And I used to not like them much but I'm warming up to Lady Gaga and Ke$ha a little bit. Unfortunately I don't really know very many songs by them yet.
I guess I kind of like artsy pop music as opposed to candy pop music. I think they call it indie pop.
As for Icelandic stuff. I only know of two artists but I really want to listen to more. The two I know are múm and Sigur Rós (and the lead singer of Sigur Rós' solo project Jónsi).