Comments on: Cut out the music

By: Janni

Janni — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:04:49 +0000

Spät gelesen: heute ist "No Music Day" http://www.zeit.de/2009/48/No-Music-Day

By: chris

chris — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:17:59 +0000

yeah it were some thoughts, it may seem kind of like arrogance, because people have to give pieces a chance. I have to listen to something to find out if it's good So i'm not totally cutting music out, but there can be something like limiting it.

I like your discussions. Some things are not talked about alot, but we all can recognize something in it.

By: Nicken

Nicken — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:02:07 +0000

thanks, these are some really inspiring thoughts. listening to music on headphones before sleeping, is something i lost some point in time. gonna give it a go. and i will think about my excellent bands as well. good one!

By: [Found in the Cloud] #3 Static – Distant, Vortex | *Nicken.Music.

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:39:22 +0000

[...] In my last post I wrote about how today‘s over-availability of music leads to a switch in music-listening. One of the commenters suggested to try listening to ambient music. Actually i don‘t like the term ,Ambient‘. I don‘t know where these associations come from, but I then have people in my head, who normally don‘t listen to this kind of music and label everything as ,ambient‘, that is slow/has no Beat/is melancholic and/or laid back. Often these people equal Ambient with background music. I more like to call it ,silent music‘, since – yes – it can serve as a background atmoshphere to tasks you do, like working, writing. But good silent music also invites you to come closer and listen carefully. The elements don‘t scream at you, they want to be discovered. Maybe more like paintings. You can look at them from greater distance, just to grasp the atmosphere, but also come closer and discover details, that weren‘t imminent at first. [...]

By: chris

chris — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:37:44 +0000

Avoiding external influences. interesting experiment. ((in theory i think it really difficult to avoid places where music is played, and the music you per accident hear in this period will stick to your mind (hopefully not pa pa pa pokerface)). but anyway.. i think claracharlotte's experience is something that will happen. If you're used to listening and don't hear music for a while you're brain is going to create it for you. Old songs, probably not songs you want to hear; the 90's classics you heard in your youth.

It's about balance i think. I think we should accept the fact that we can't listen to all the good music in the world. It's a hard world when you have a wide music taste. But i summed up a few of my thoughts maybe worth adding to this discussion:

Remember the first time you discovered a really really good band, the intense feeling?... why? because it was something really new and unexpected, it was not average.

Cutting out average stuff. don't bookmark it or move it to the background-music folder.

Be on a constant search for really good stuff and keep repeating the really good stuff you found earlier.

There's a difference between passive and active listening. Do more active and less passive. Passive listening while working satifies your mind too much i think. Listen to music with your headphones before sleeping and try to discover new details: critical listening.

By: Nicken

Nicken — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:11:01 +0000

hehe, yes i'm older than 3 years ago, but with 23 i don't really feel that old
and yes, actually i listened to many minimalistic, classic and ambient music. often as support for my working-hours or just for the atmosphere. many artists found on http://typerecords.com , steve reich, hauschka, etc etc.
so i hope it's just a temporary phenomenon and i find my ways around this in future…

By: Tomislav Simić

Tomislav Simić — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:49:06 +0000

I feel the same, oversaturated. Lately I am living/working witout music most of the days.
Your problem may also be connected to getting old. Have you tried listening to some classical music, of ambiental (enya, vangelis, …)?

By: Nicken

Nicken — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:40:05 +0000

thanks for the interesting replys.
@janni: yes, iPod was a shift as well. like the last step right before the complete “liquidity” of music. had similar feelings back then. but this spotifeeling is even more extreme for me atm.

@clara: hah, funny. yesterday, as you can imagine, i listened to no music at all. and in the evening, when i was into the actionscript-code of my BA suddenly there was this “the elephant went in two by two, hooray…” in my head. really no idea how it got there but it definitely backs up your thoughts. only after one day of abstinence

By: Janni

Janni — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:54:17 +0000

Of course, people have had access to any kinds of music for the past ten years or so with the rise of (illegal) file-sharing and the extreme growth of bandwith all over the world. I don't know exactly because I've never done that, but I got the impression that downloading is, of course, not complicated, but it's quite a deal to search for the rights places to get your stuff from, and so does downloading itself take (a little) time, etc etc. (Please prove me wrong, if I am.)
The difference of spotify is the simplicity and the no no no time you spend on accessing nearly anything you type in, as you describe it. So we've reached a point where it can hardly become easier to get anything.

To me, the increase of availability does not only refer to the variety you have access to through services like Spotify.
It also refers to the technical possibilities to take it with you. So as downloading any album isn't really new, also carrying music around isn't new either.

But to me, carrying around hard-drives full of everything you ever felt like you wanted to listen to equals using Spotify in comparison to torrent-or-however-you-do-it downloading.
Before, there were Walkmen and Discmen, small USB-sticks that could provide few albums. iPods have virtually no capacity limits, I feel. (Of course they have, but the relevant limits have long been exaggerated.)

So my real change of behaviour started when buying and charging my first iPod. Since then, I have barely left my home without earplugs, and it's been quite a while now.
So the thoughts you describe came to my mind by reflecting on my iPod-consumption. After that, i started asking for a quiet surrounding with friends, sometimes. Or leaving the earplugs on the shelve from time to time. It can be a real relief.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I will keep it in mind, and some time soon cut off again. To tune in again.

By: claracharlotte

claracharlotte — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:37:32 +0000

that's going to be interesting! i notice that when i'm cutting out the music i start singing after two days. Old songs pop into my head, childrens songs, songs from old movies, from the scouts … my brain is not a sieve after all.
I enjoy the vast amount of music available very much. My music experience was so limited when i was a teenager. i depended on the radio, people with older siblings or mtv to tell me about new things. When i discovered something new i treasured it. Nowadays i feel more like a hoarder. But i discover so much more and i really like that