My Lighthouse

For a long time I’ve been flipping back and forth between two things I absolutely love, trying to produce something in one medium or the other.  The first is my love of music, which I’ve had as long as I can remember.  Songwriting is a passion, understanding different types of music and what makes them enjoyable or beautiful is something I’ve spent a huge chunk of my life thinking about while listening to my latest favroite record spin.  The other is storywriting, which I have pursued through Never Ending Stories, short story competitions, and a number fictional worlds.

For the longest time I’ve been pulled back and forth like one of Dr. Doolittle’s Pushmepullyous. I’ll start writing a book, and then stumble upon a new band and get lost in the music, after which I’ll decide to compose music or play some guitar. Halfway through either, I’ll think about the connections between all of us as people or a compelling story, which will prompt me to write a short story or blog. The cycle goes round and round without me really putting enough effort into any of my projects to make it worthwhile or produce decent results. It doesn’t always change as fast as I’ve made it sound, but it’s there. I’ve got what some might call A.D.D., but it’s really just a love of too many things. Remember that kid in grade school who never knew what he wanted to be or always wanted to be something different the next time the teacher asked? Yeah, that’s me.

Fortunately, I’ve had another “eureka” moment. The conclusion is quite obvious, but in all honesty, most “a-ha!” moments are.  So often we can “get” something without really “getting” it until we look at it a different way.  The different paradigm is not explainable in any tongue, it’s not really all that different.  Yet somehow it makes all the difference in the world.  That’s how it was for me.  Stupid?  Perhaps.  Obvious?  Definitely.  Strange?  No, not at all.  Like I mentioned earlier, it’s something we all experience, we all feel at some point.

For Isaac Newton, it was an apple.  For Timone, it was a big rock.  For me, it was a song by Sonata Arctica.

Why not combine the things that I love?  After all, it’s only Common sense, Genius.

Daft Punk Being…Daft Punk

Love the Pyramid

Last night, Daft Punk did it again. The French duo that revolutionized the late ’90s and broke down musical barriers, continues to press forward. If you’ve been living in a hole for the past year, you won’t have heard about their mind blowing live show. For that I apologize. It’s reportedly head and shoulders above most any other concert experience in a long time.

When I say they “did it again”, I mean they broke down barriers and made us rethink the way music and the music industry works. Kanye West performed his song “Stronger” last night, which of course samples a good bit of Daft Punk. While Kanye may not have done much to it and is essentially riding on DP’s coattails, I must give him kudos for having great taste. He was performing at the Grammy Awards with a nice electro stage setup, complete with lots of neon and the silhouette of the Daft Punk pyramid. It looked to be a mildly entertaining set for about half the second.

Then Daft Punk showed up.

It’s not that common for an artist to make a “surprise performance” in the middle of the Grammy Awards, much less in the middle of someone else’s song. Keep in mind…this is a song sampling their stuff. How often is it that artists perform with those that sample their music? Not often. Not to mention this is their first televised show…ever. It was a great experience.

What really makes this interesting is that I realize just how smart Thomas and Guy-Manuel really are. “Stronger” has been a bigger success for Daft Punk than Kanye, and it’s on his album! Coupled with the mind-blowing performances and a live album laden with more artistry than most billboard artists have in entire careers, it’s launching these robots into the American limelight. Kanye may want to be the world’s “No. 1 Artist”, but all he’s done is catapult into the limelight the very same artists he planned to use as a springboard of his own.

Where will music go from here? Will Daft Punk’s influence be limited to hip-hop? Or will rock artists take an equal interest in the style? Daft Punk changed the way people looked at electronic music, and in fact music in general. They focused on the experience. They broke down every genre barrier there is. Their creativity knows no bounds, and they can improvise like John Coltrane on steroids. Will American music feel the impact of this French invasion? Or will DP just be a fad here, like so many other good forms of music that fail to be “poppy” enough?

Well, Daft Punk can “pop” with the best. I think it’s only a matter of time before America puts it’s own spin on their ideas. After all, we can’t let Justice, Digitalism, and Simian Mobile Disco have all the fun.

I don’t think Nine Inch Nails is going to have a stranglehold on creative, electronic-based music in this hemisphere for very much longer. Sorry Trent.

Watch the performance here

Rock of Ages

Music has taken an interesting turn this last century, if you really think about it.  It has gone from a codified, organized, highly refined art to a street-wise, anybody-can-do-it part of pop culture. The question I pose to you is this: Has it done music any good?

The Pros

These days, music is for everyone. It takes no ear training to appreciate, most anyone can add to it in some way, and there is a sound for everyone. Don’t like punk? Try some Rage Against The Machine. Sick of all the over-political maniacs? Perhaps the Beatles are more your style. Too mainstream? I suppose there’s always rap.

What I’m getting at is that music is far more diverse than ever before, and everyone can listen to it and/or play it.  I’ve lost count of how many garage bands/singer-songwriters/rappers/techno producers I know personally.  I’m part of that crowd, as a matter of fact.

There are no more rules, and so creativity is free to roam.  New, wonderful ideas have sprung up out of nowhere, doing things nobody ever thought possible before. These guys are a perfect example. They’ve fused elements from a number of different styles to make something new and exciting. What sort of crazy ideas will we see in the future? Nobody really knows.

The Cons

Of course, the flip side of this coin is that there’s a lot of really, REALLY bad music floating around.  Half the stuff on the radio seems to be over-produced white noise, providing no true musicality and nothing but a marketable hook.  Some of it sells just because of the dance and holds no real musical value. So much of today’s music is about the money, or appealing to the widest audience, that it seems to have lost it’s soul. It’s no longer music, but just a few catchy hooks intertwined with teeny bopper ads and a lot of hot air.

Not to mention, all sorts of new “rules” have cropped up to replace the old ones, ranging from reasonable to just plain ridiculous. The ridiculously shattered and over-genrefied (is that even a word?) dance music scene is evidence of that, with very strict guidelines as to what is “okay” and what is “not”, right down to the specific beats per minute.  Personally, I’m sick of it all.  Perhaps the old addage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” applies here.  If anyone got the rules right, it would have to be this guy. Precise, meticulous…and brilliant. Ain’t no way fiddy can compare wit dat yo.

Conclusion?

So is music better off now? Or would it be better if pop had never risen to power? What do you think?

Personally, while I find the marketing, the lack of artistry, the tasteless white noise, and the pointless genre wars sickening beyond comprehension, there’s very little in this world that can re-create the energy of a live performance.

But don’t ask me. Leave some comments, share some opinions, and let’s settle this age old question once and for all.