music and hearing new things

[Nev]

very odd, i was playing with the fractal music generator i got for like half an hour or so, listening to all sorts of random music patterns, then i went to listen to dave matthews' "Gravedigger"

i heard shit i've never heard before, voices in the background and stuff. i know that means they've always been there and i just haven't heard them before, but it was pretty interesting anyway. kind of cool.

[SineSwiper]

Some people have a more developed sound pattern translation system than others. (That part of the brain has a name, but I forgot.) Other people can only hear music as a single stream of music. I've been listening to music ever since I was two and I'm the son of a musician, so I seem able to sift through the layers of music pretty well.

I imagine the fractal music generator got your brain to worked up to process stuff it's never heard before. When you listened to the DM song, it was still in that mode and your brain started to find other parts in the song. Dave Matthews' songs can be pretty in-depth sometimes. I suggest you try to find some other music that is a bit more complex/detailed with its layers of sound.

I think the differences between the two types of people have an effect on what types of music they listen to. I seriously think music like electronica, to which part of its goal is to explore new types of sounds and patterns, is more for the pattern-developed group. I've heard some really fucking out there shit, especially when you get to the likes of Aphex Twin and Squarepusher. (Anybody else listen to AT's [long formula] song and think that this guy is 30 years ahead of his time?)

[Torgo]

I don't know if this is what you're talking about, but I often find myself disassembling songs and listening for background instruments or sound effects. Then I try to play those individual sounds in my head. I'm no expert, so I don't know what the fuck I'm doing, but it's one way to breathe new life into a song.

[Nev]

hum

music is wacky

it's the one thing i really just don't understand about humans from an evolutionary standpoint. i mean, what good does it do us to hear music from a pure biological standpoint? birdsong is pretty and stuff, but it's just so strange.

don't get me wrong, i absolutely love music and life would be pretty cold without it, i would love to compose SOMETHING someday if i could (got a new, more powerful electronic music generator but i have no fucking clue how to work it), i just think knowing why things happen helps put some power in them. my physics background again.

oh, and sine: i have AT's ...i care because you do, and while some of his work feels a little bit too lonely for my tastes, i think he's a great artist. i love Mookid and Alberto Balsam off that album.

[Tortolia]

That's what I do a lot, Torgo. Listen for the background rhythms or harmonies that tend to get muffled by the main stuff.

[SineSwiper]

oh, and sine: i have AT's ...i care because you do, and while some of his work feels a little bit too lonely for my tastes, i think he's a great artist. i love Mookid and Alberto Balsam off that album.

That's one of my favorites, especially Girl-Boy Song. Richard D James album is nice, too. Druqz jumps around from hyper-experimental to some good shit.

But serious, go to AllofMP3 and grab that (long formula) song from the Windowlicker single. For God's sake, the guy put his fucking FACE on the end of the song! (Heh, listen to the song in WinAMP with a spectrum visual turned on.)