Re: Monkey Music

[Brad Knox <B.Knox@latrobe.edu.au>]

Andre LaFosse wrote:
> 
> future perfect wrote:
> >
> > For me, it is easier to listen to free music if I know the 'noise' 
>being
> > made isn't just a limitation of of the performers involved. In other 
>words,
> > I can enjoy Thrakattak because I respect what the muscians involved are
> > capable of.
> 
> See, this is an extremely problematic issue for me.  It smacks of what
> I'd call the emperor's new clothes syndrome -- the music in quesiton is
> judged more on the pedigree of the players than on the actual sound
> that's produced.
> 
> At this point in time, I've got very little patience for music that
> needs some sort of extra-musical justification in order to have it hold
> up -- be it the intellecual conceptualism behind an experimental project
> that doesn't hold up on its own, or the straight-ahead pedigree that
> gives a jazz player the licence to then play "out" and not be chastized
> by his peers, or the talk of "breakbeat science" and "progression"
> that's used to pass of the profoundly stiff and boring sounds of a lot
> of modern drum & bass.
> 
> Not meant as a flame to anyone; maybe I'll see the light later on.  But
> I find it awfully frustrating when people find themselves obligated to
> give music a certain amount of automatic regard simply by virtue of
> associations of any kind.  It's *sound*, for crying out loud!  What does
> it *sound* like?!
> 
> --Andre

i would agree here up to a point... not long ago i was listening to fripp's
"that which passes" when a (non-musician) friend walked in.. she asked 
"whats
that, keyboard?" and i said "no, its just one guitar"... she said "wow,
hmmmm... if it was keyboard would you be listening to this?"... 

hmmm.. if someone made music *exactly* like fripp's soundscape series (and
there was no fripp) using multitracked keyboards... would you buy it? i 
dont
think i would (well, at least i wouldnt actively seek it out)... but while 
it
may seem a bit more logical making this sort of music using *all* the
technology available, i think the limits imposed by just having one guitar
*does* give it some sort of extra-musical justification (just dont ask me 
to
pin it down). sometimes knowing the setup/process/players can turn the 
sound
into a more satisfying thing or kill it completely for me, other times it 
just
doesnt matter (i once heard this amazing piece that turned out to be a few
contact mikes on some telephone lines in the desert -- i was kind of bummed
that no-one was actually *playing* but still very much enjoyed it)

brad