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Deterioration
Haunting. Perhaps the single most pain-inducing and existentially intimate thing I’ve ever listened to. The work in question? The Caretaker’s “Everywhere at the End of Time.” This six and half hour long musical project portrays dementia, a debilitating neurological disease that gradually strips one’s ability to think and remember. The…
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Practical Barrier to Creativity
Sometimes it is not the artist’s fault they can’t finish a project. Time and physical constraints can restrict and artists ability to be creative. Musicians need an instrument to play, if they want to get a particular sound, they need to get that instrument, or find a workaround; but often…
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Quality vs Streams
Streaming services often make the sure that the listener knows how many other people have streamed the songs they listen to. At the very top of the artist’s profile are their most streamed songs. But truly streams are not a good indicator of quality. Often times people choose to listen…
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Sampling
Audio sampling has been around since the 70s, where DJs would use turntables to mix audio from different records. Modern sampling uses digital audio workplaces to incorporation samples in a song. A sample is often thought to be an piece of a different song incorporated in a different way. It…
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Should you equalize music when listening?
I claim not to have an answer, but to present this question that has been troubling me the last couple days. Is it a distortion of the artist’s intended art if you run it through your own EQ settings? Of course the composition remains the same, and the timbre generally…
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Classical Music
A brief commentary on classical music—its history, perception, and decline in relevance… The term classical music itself is misleading. While it technically refers to music composed during the Classical period (approximately 1750–1820), it has become an umbrella term encompassing works from the Baroque, Romantic, and 20th-century periods, all the way…
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Limits of Sheet Music
When composing with microtones, it can be very difficult to find a way to notate one’s music since there is no unified notation system for non 12tet music. Software like Musescore has some degree of notating beyond the chromatic notes, but those are often limited or not easily available. Even…
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Sentimentality vs Sincerity
Sincere adj Containing no element of dissimulation or deception; not feigned or pretended; real, true. Sentimental adj Of literary compositions (occasionally of music or other art): Appealing to sentiment; expressive of the tender emotions, esp. those of love. Oxford English Dictionary Sincerity and sentimentality may not seem like opposites to…
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Holiday Music
25 days ago I wrote about Christmas music, and focused more around the significance that music has on the holiday itself. Now, I want to focus on the music itself. Christmas has long been connected with music and has produced some of the most iconic music. Back in the 40s,…
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Christmas Music
It’s December 1st, which is the beginning of my threshold for playing/listening to Christmas music. I do this not due to a dislike for the music, but in order to not come to any distain for the Christmas classics. There are only so many Christmas songs, and they are relatively…
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Minimalism in Music
Minimalism noun : a style or technique (as in music, literature, or design) that is characterized by extreme spareness and simplicity -Merriam Webster I disagree with this definition. Minimalism may be spare but it is not simple. A thing’s existence is as complex as it’s non existence. I define minimalism as
