Global music

An open discussion and collection of obscure, non-mainstream music from around the globe from the disposition of a music degree student. Culture, content and cool vibes.

[musicnerddd]

Mariza

This week we are travelling to Portugal for our next find, Mariza. The Mozambique-born singer popularised ‘fado’, a traditional Portuguese musical genre that combines a narrative vocal style with acoustic guitar accompaniment. Mariza began singing along with fado performers at her families restaurant before she learned how to read and became interested in ‘modern’ music genres at 15 such as rock, blues, jazz and bossa nova. However, these genres were short lived with Mariza returning to fado in adulthood. She was discovered by musician and producer Jorge Fernando who heard her sing one evening and convinced her to record an entire album.

Mariza had the honour to be part of a special TV programme admiring the extraordinary life of fado legend Amália Rodrigues who died in 1999. Her performance drew a lot of praise in 2000 and was presented with the ‘Voice of Fado’ award by the national radio station Central FM. Her 3rd album Transparente in 2005 angered a lot of purists as she broke with her traditional fado sound but eventually returned back to her fado roots.

Fado translated means ‘destiny, fate’ and can be traced back to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal. Popular belief states fado is characterised by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or life of the poor with sentiments of fate and melancholia. Musicological aspects include use of the Dorian mode or Ionian, sometimes switching between the two during a melody or verse change. Stylistic traits include the use of rubato and double time rhythms and triple time to emulate a waltz vibe.

The video above is the song ‘Primavera’ and is a classic example of traditional fado with melancholic rubato melody lines and guitar accompaniment. The lyrics translate Primavera meaning ‘Spring’ and detail a relationship that has broken down; ‘all love that had tied us, was breaking and crumbling down’. The power and emotion in Mariza’s voice is truly breathtaking and fits exceptionally well into the genre of fado. She is truly remarkable, and I wish I had found her sooner!

To find out more about Mariza click here.

[musicnerddd]

Fela Kuti

This week we are travelling to Nigeria for our next find, Fela Kuti. Fela sadly passed in 1997, his presence however continues to loom over Nigerian music still influencing musicians over 20 years after his death. His ‘Afrobeat’ sound has remained prominent and influential today with countless bands playing their own local variation of Afrobeat all around the world. With over 140 million people and 250 distinct languages, Nigerian music offers diversity from ‘highlife’ sounds in Ghana to the ‘Juju’ sounds of King Sunny Ade and the ‘Fuji’ music associated with Yoruba people.

Fela found himself in the US in the late 1960s and little did he know it would have such a profound impact on the future course of African music. After being influences by the black power movement and the music of James Brown, he returned home fashioning a dynamic new sound that combined jazz, west African highlife, tribal chant, R&B, and funk. This hybrid of sounds is what melded into what Fela named Afrobeat, creating an entire new soundscape of vibrant fusion. He also sang in Pidgin English so that all Africans could enjoy his music.

The video above is ‘No Agreement’ from the album with the same title. The song refers to the corrupt and brutal military regime that was in force during the time of composition. He used the phrase in the same way that Malcom X used ‘no flim flam, no compromise, no sell-out’, expressing that he will never make his peace with the political tyranny in Nigeria. A lot of Fela’s songs are very brutally honest and a form of protest to the politics of Nigeria and the violence he witnessed. Musically, the song presents the elements of Afrobeat, jazz instrumentation with African chanting and R&B like rhythms. It is clear that Fela Kuti was truly a force to be reckoned with and that force is clearly still in full swing today in Afrobeat and African music.

To find out more about Fela Kuti click here.

[musicnerddd]

Mulatu Astatke

This week we are travelling to Ethiopia for our next find, the ‘Father of Ethio-Jazz’, Mulatu Astatke. Mulatu studied classical music at Trinity College London where he worked with Ghanaian, South African and Caribbean musicians, and later studied jazz at Berklee where he played with Cuban and Puerto Rican musicians. This period exposed him to many different traditions and sounds from very diverse soundscapes and cultures. Even though he was inspired by many traditions, the traditions of his own culture were never far behind. Mulatu managed to successfully merge the 5 note pentatonic modes of Ethiopia with the western 12 note chromatic scale in a way where the stitching was practically invisible stating ‘when mixing different cultures, you have to be careful that one doesn’t dominate the other’.

From this he created what is known as Ethio-Jazz, a fusion of western jazz with traditional ‘eerie’ Ethiopian music. Mulatu was compelled to move to New York after his studies at Berklee in Boston to live in the vibrant jazz scene. It was during this time in the 1960s that Ethio-Jazz fully came to life, greatly inspired by stars such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Alice Coltrane. Shortly after Mulatu established an Ethiopian Quartet with successive trips between the States and Ethiopia over the years and produced Afro-Latin Soul 1 & 2 in 1966 and Mulatu of Ethiopia in 1972.

The video above is a track called ‘Yekermo Sew’ which translates to ‘a man of experience and wisdom’. The track was composed following Mulatu’s return to Ethiopia in the late 60s taking its title from a traditional Ethiopian Christian new year’s blessing in Amharic, the national Ethiopian language. The track was featured on an independent film ‘Broken Flowers’ in 2005 which was circulated around the world. The song is a classic Mulatu signature piece detailing the use of the Ethiopian pentatonic scale (tizita) which is closely associated with feelings of nostalgia for the past. The melody however is a tune quoted from the jazz composer Horace Silver’s ‘Song for my Father’, transforming the melody in its phrasing and rhythm as well as expanding the ostinato. This demonstrates the Ethio-jazz vibe with a fusion between the traditional and the contemporary to become truly innovative.

To find out more about Mulatu Astatke click here.

[musicnerddd]

Huun Huur Tu

This week we are travelling to the northwest border of Mongolia – the Republic of Tuva – for our next find, the band Huun-Huur-Tu. Mongolia is actually the world’s least populated country with only 2.8 million people compared to the 26 million horses, camels, cattle, and goats that inhabit there. The 4 piece band were formed in 1992 and are a staple of Mongolian culture and music. The lead singer of the band sings using traditional overtone singing which was performed by hunters and herders originally. This kind of singing produces a deep, growling drone and ethereal harmonics high above it. This technique is incredibly hard to mimic with only few people in the world being able to master it. This specific style if often referred to as ‘Tuvan throat singing’.

This overtone feature is also used in their music through indigenous instruments such as the horse-hair fiddle, flute, zither, and lute, with many instruments being constructed by hand using animal skin. Traditional influences create depth and calm to their music such as the whistling of the wind through the mountains, creating eerie, meditative overtones. Whilst the band emulate traditional Mongolian music, they also draw on 20th century composers through subtle intelligent innovation.

In the song above, ‘Konguroi’ (Sixty Horses in My Herd), many traditional instruments are shown along with the technique to play them. The harmonisation on the strong throaty growl of the singing evokes tradition and community alongside the steady militant beat emulating the strength and march of a herd. However, 20th century techniques are clearly present through the repeated thrum of the strings against wood, turning the motif into an evocative figure aligned with the avant garde. This is also present through the rhythmic variation with funkier rhythms that would usually be associated with electronica. The band manager expresses that over the years the sound of the band has gradually shifted, taking influence on contemporary, popular music. This they state is the result of the band’s style is now both contemporary music that belongs to the whole world and a fresh take on the traditional music of Tuva.

To find out more about Huun Huur Tu click here. 

[musicnerddd]

Gurrumul

The next find I would like to share with you all is the music of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, an Indigenous Australian musician. While Gurrumul could play many instruments, including the digeridoo, it was the clarity of his singing voice that attracted rave reviews. Gurrumul sang the stories of his land in both the Yolnu languages and in English. Whilst Gurrumul was the most commercially successful aboriginal Australian musician at the time of his death, his existence is not as known to the mainstream listener. Gurrumul has been in numerous bands such as Yothu Yindi and Saltwater Band but gained a lot of his success in his solo career.

The song above, ‘Bapa’, is from his successful critically acclaimed album Gurrumul. The song emulates true emotion and a rawness that is rare to find in commercial music. ‘Bapa’ translates to English from Yolnu as ‘father’, expressing sadness after his father passed away and the importance of continuity and acknowledgment of the tribal ancestors. Due to the song being in the Yolnu language, it is hard to understand what he is singing about, but it is clear that it is about deep sadness and mourning.

The song includes Gurrumul playing the guitar in his unique style, a right-handed guitar played in the left hand (upside down). Gurrumul was diagnosed legally blind from birth, being blind and so musically talented without even being able to see the instruments or sheet music makes me feel that this man was destined to be a musician who had something important to say. This is a popular opinion with Rolling Stone hailing Gurrumul as ‘Australia’s Most Important Voice’.

Gurrumul also founded the Gurrumul Yunupingu Foundation, a charity that aims to create greater opportunities for remote Indigenous young people to realise their full potential and contribute to culturally vibrant and sustainable communities. The programs ran by the foundation aim to celebrate, develop, and strengthen young Indigenous people’s natural talents and skills such as visual arts, music, dance, sport, cultural knowledge, and language. Gurrumul is truly inspirational even after death continuing to inspire people all over the world and I just wish I discovered him sooner!

Click accordingly to find out more about Gurrumul and the Gurrumul Foundation.

[musicnerddd]

Jambinai

The first find I would like to present to you all is the South Korean avant-rock Band Jambinai. Their debut album Différance won Best Crossover Album at the 2013 Korean Music Awards. The band has an interesting history with all members previously attending traditional/classical training through music conservatoires/institutions. After deciding traditional music is ‘boring’, they embarked on a creative journey to fuse their home style with other genres to which they felt inspired by. The main inspiration for the band is Americanised rock, and while the band claims that heavy metal is becoming ‘cliché’, the way to break from that is to adapt and refuse extinction.

This band have done exactly that through their fusion of Korean traditional music with not only heavy metal but also European and American music styles. Other influences include tango and Latin musics which they emulate through the traditional Korean fiddle-like instrument called a haegum. The technique used on the haegum mixed with the distinct colouration the band creates resembles classic tango. This varied and creative fusion of style is not heard in the mainstream very often and truly makes Jambinai a one-of-a-kind find.

The band also played the closing ceremony at the 2018 Winter Olympics after gaining popularity, their performance is truly one of a kind for an Olympic ceremony.

Jambinai is a classic example of why stereotypes against certain cultural musics are not only incredibly inaccurate, but they also present how little people are willing to dig deeper than the accepted surface level perceptions. I myself have found myself, guilty as charged, of expecting Korean music to be colourful K-Pop such as BTS or PSY. The band has expressed their thoughts on the issue explaining that they are happy and grateful that K-Pop bands have transcended Korean music into the mainstream music sphere. However, they passionately expressed that they do not want to be aligned into the K-Pop genre as they are diametrically different in every way stating they are ‘darker than other Korean traditional bands’.

To find out more about Jambinai click here and here.

[musicnerddd]

Watch this space

Hello! This blog is dedicated to finding new and obscure music from around the world. You may not have branched out very far in music and that’s why I’m here! Lets broaden our horizons together and find some interesting and different sounds from around the globe :). Spicy content incoming :P.

[musicnerddd]

Voices, music and machines: BIBLIGORAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY

Bibliography 

Browning, Yanto, ‘Auto-Tune, and why we shouldn't be surprised Britney can't sing’, The Conversation (July 2014)

Elliott, Richard, ‘Humans and Machines’, lecture delivered at Newcastle University (9th March 2020).

Filmography

Derek N White, ‘Famous Singers Autotune VS. REAL Singing Voice (Compilation) 2017′ online video clip, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbSnxJomohs, 2nd April 2017 (8th May 2020).

Nicole Paris, ‘Mentor vs Apprentice pt.4′, online video clip, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CFSMN0dkq4, 29th June 2018 (8th May 2020).

[musicnerddd]

Voices, music and machines

In 2020 we are living in the machine age. Most of us carry at least 1 machine around a day; a phone, smart watch, iPod, kindle, laptop, tablet e.t.c. Have you ever stopped to notice that when we sing or play an instrument, we are in a sense, a machine? We are providing a product through a specific method just like an iPod provides music through its hardware and algorithms. We essentially become a machine through the hard-wiring playing an instrument ingrains in us.

This may seem like a stretch. But one very obvious way humans become ‘machine like’ is through beatboxing. Beatboxers can make sounds that most people didn’t think are humanly possible. 

In the video above, beatboxer Nicole Paris and her father have a battle. Within this you can hear the pair imitating sounds of turntables, bass, synths, drums and many more awesome sounds. Through beatboxing they are creating sounds that usually are only possible by machines and their imitation of this is incredibly close to the original sounds made by the machines in the first place.

So in this case we have humans imitating machines but we also have machines in the form of studio editing, correcting human flaws. Through autotune, it makes anyone appear as if they can sing relatively in tune and many famous singers sound completely different live compared to their studio recordings as shown in the video below.

It is scary how different some of them sound compared to their released versions. Through this autotuning and studio editing, it is reinforcing an unreachable expectation. It is creating an impossible standard for singers listening to their favourite artists and not hearing one breath or crack or fault anywhere. When actually, all these natural ‘faults’/human elements are all their in the original and are vigorously slashed by producers who use their machines to create the kind of perfection that most humans will never naturally achieve.

So next time you compare yourself negatively to your favourite singer, just remember this process and that a LOT of famous singers sound terrible in real contexts. 

[musicnerddd]

Functional Music: BIBLIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY

Bibliography

Blecha, Peter, ‘Muzak, Inc. - Originators of “Elevator Music”’, HistoryLink.org, 2012, https://www.historylink.org/File/10072 (29th April 2020).

Jones, Simon & Schumacher, Thomas G., ‘Muzak: On Functional Music and Power’, Critical Studies in Media Communications, 9/2 (Summer 1992), 156-169.

Sterne, Johnathan, ‘Sounds Like The Mall of America: Programmed Music and the Architectonics of Commercial Space’, Ethnomusicology, 41/1 (Winter 1997) 22-50.

Filmography

AlfredDerCreeper, ‘Mario Kart 8 - Main Theme’, online video clip, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl3RcxfefhE, 3rd May 2014 (5th May 2020).

Lucifer Loh, ‘Candy Crush Theme Song’, online video clip, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K-WjFgRuU4, 17th October 2018 (5th May 2020).

MushingoTV, ‘Bubble Witch Saga - Theme song’, online video clip, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8w2VHMp3bo, 22nd February 2013 (5th May 2020).

OmegaChris92, ‘Subway Surfers Soundtrack - Main Theme’, online video clip, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMIWqUPlEtE, 29th June 2015 (5th May 2020).

Rockzilla77, ‘Minecraft-Theme Song {Extended for 30 minutes}’, online video clip, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjQQ9JYGgTM, 2012 (5th May 2020).

The Relax Guys, ‘ The Sound of Muzak - Elevator Music - Smooth Jazz Music Instrumental Background Playlist 2018 Hi-Fi’, online video clip, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=r-Nr75UF_TY&feature=emb_title, 20th July 2018 (5th May 2020).

[musicnerddd]

Functional music

Have you ever been in an elevator and stopped to notice the music? Or casually bop along in the supermarket aisles to a vague tune in the background? Most likely you have been listening to music specifically composed to not be noticed and is there as a function. 

Music was first introduced in elevators shortly after their invention as the contraption caused great anxiety for some people. The music - which was purposefully ambient and soothing - was there to calm the anxieties of the lift passengers so that more people would use the labour saving device. The same concept happened shortly after with music being piped into doctors surgeries, hospitals and most places where silence created an eeriness. 

This led to the development of Muzak, a company who founded piped music and the science/psychology of how music affects people doing certain tasks - like shopping. 

The music is designed to encourage certain tasks. Most shops in shopping centers have this ambient music that is just familiar enough to recognize, but general enough that the music does not distract the customer or become intrusive. Muzak produced smooth jazz versions of popular songs for this exact purpose and studies have shown that shoppers made more purchases with the music compared to without.

So why is this?

This kind of music is similar to music of games and apps where the music is usually only a couple of bars that seamlessly loops together to create an endless feel. This encourages us to carry on with the task at hand and we end up in a warped time (metaphorically). A perfect example of this can be heard below.

This is the ‘theme song’ in a sense, of the popular app Candy Crush Saga and is known for being very addictive. The music is interesting enough that you hear it but is hard to tell where it loops back around and gives this endless time feel. Hundreds of apps and games have this kind of elevator music that pulls you in and ends up with you playing the game for hours without realizing. Some examples of this include:

Minecraft (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjQQ9JYGgTM)

Clicker games

Mario Kart (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl3RcxfefhE), this one creates excitement and pushes you to keep playing - enhances the competitiveness of the game

Subway Surfers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMIWqUPlEtE)

Bubble Witch Saga (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8w2VHMp3bo)

and many many more! Next time you spend hours on a game without realising, now you know why! 

[musicnerddd]

Mash-up and remix culture: BIBLIOGRAPHY, FILMOGRAPHY, DISCOGRAPHY.

Bibliography

Flath, Christoph, M., Friesike, Sascha, Wirth, Marco & Thiesse, Frederic, ‘Copy, transform, combine: exploring the remix as a form of innovation’, Journal of Information Technology, vol. 32, (2017) 306-325.

Hayden, Terry, ‘What is folk music?’ Capital District Folk Music, 2003, http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~haydent/folk/folk.html (1st May 2019).

Navas, Eduardo, ‘Remix Defined’, Remix Theory, date unknown, http://remixtheory.net/?page_id=3 (28th April 2020).

Filmography

MI Mashups, ‘SOMEONE YOU LOVED x APOLOGIZE | Lewis Capaldi / One Republic / Adele / Timbaland | MI Mashups’, online video clip, YouTube, 18th September 2019 (29th April 2020).

Orryy., ‘ Lewis Capaldi - Someone You Loved (Paul Gannon Remix) | GBX Anthems ‘, online video clip, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lim5QLDly4A, 19th January 2019 (29th April 2020).

Discography

Adele, ‘Someone Like You, 21, (XL, 2011).

Lewis Capaldi, ‘Someone You Loved’, (Vertigo & Universal, 2018).

OneRepublic, ‘Apologize’, Dreaming Out Loud, (Mosley & Interscope, 2006).

[musicnerddd]

Mash-up and remix culture: hype or rip off?

Remixing can most easily be described as a reinterpretation of a song that already exists. The remix will bear light to the original and have the same vibe/aura about it but will have many differences. This is slightly different to mash ups, a mash up takes a group of songs that have the same vibe and most likely the same tempo/key and alters them to seamlessly fit together weaving in and out of each other. 

Both remixing and mashing has caused a lot of noise with music listeners with some people disliking the remix of the original as it is essentially ‘ripping off’ the song. In music forums you will often come across the opinion that people who make remixes only do it because they can’t write their own songs, I however disagree. To take someone else’s song (with their permission and credit) and re invent the meaning and feel of the song is just as talented and powerful as the original.

This concept reminds me of the passing down of folk and traditional tunes through generations. The music was never written down it was always taught aurally and each generation tended to put their own swing on it. This means there are countless versions of the same tune, reinterpreted versions of the original. This is a highly encouraged practice in the traditional music community and the original composer of the tune (if known) always gets the credit for writing the original. 

 While this may seem like a stretch I don’t think remixing is too far off from this. Sometimes it is really interesting to see how classic ballads sound with bass and programmed music. It unleashes a whole new version of the song that you could never have imagined. Some people often prefer remixes over the original. 

For example, the video below is the Paul Gannon remix of Lewis Capaldi’s ‘Someone You Loved’. This song was in the charts for months on end and is one of his most known songs. A lot of people (including myself) got sick of hearing it on the radio because it’s an emotional song, it’s not driving music. This remix was interesting because it still has the emotion and integrity of the original, but the beat behind it has created it into an epic dance/club song which is perfect for driving home after a busy day.

The song has also been used in mash ups with other songs about heartache. The video below shows the hit mashed with One Republic’s ‘Apologize’ and Adele’s ‘Someone like you’. Unlike the remix, this makes the song even more sad (which I didn’t think was possible), the mashup of the videos also adds to this. Seeing this kind of mashup really hypes me as a musician because it takes a LOT of hours sat editing and mastering to get this kind of end result. So while to some they will always be a rip off, I love the idea of reinventing something to give it a different meaning. Endless possibilities :).

[musicnerddd]

Rock music is broken music?: BIBLIOGRAPHY, FILMOGRAPHY & DISCOGRAPHY.

Bibliography

Elliott, Richard, ‘Broken Music’, lecture delivered at Newcastle University (24th February 2020).

Hartmann, William. M, ‘Chapter 17 Distortion and Noise’, Principles of Musical Acoustics (New York: Springer New York, 2013). 179-188.

Wyatt, Sally, ‘ Technological Determinism Is Dead; Long Live Technological Determinism’ in Hackett, Edward, J., Amsterdamska, Olga, Lynch, Michael & Wajcman, Judy, (Third Edition) The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, (Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2008.

Filmography

AC/DC, ‘AC/DC - Thunderstruck (official video)’, online video clip, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2AC41dglnM, 7th November 2012 (28th April 2020).

Chili World, ‘Eagles - Hotel California’, online video clip, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqPtz5qN7HM, 18th October 2015 (28th April 2020).

Living Colour, ‘Living Colour - Cult of personality (official video)’, online video clip, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xxgRUyzgs0, 25th October 2009 (28th April 2020).

Ozzy Ozbourne, ‘Crazy Train’, online video clip, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMR5zf1J1Hs, 13th February 2015 (26th April 2020).

Sia, ‘Sia - Alive’, online video clip, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2NgsJrrAyM, 5th November 2015 (28th April 2020).

Discography

AC/DC, ‘Thunderstruck’, The Razors Edge, (ATCO, 1990).

Eagles, ‘Hotel California’, Hotel California, (Asylum, 1977).

Living Colour, ‘Cult of Personality’, Vivid, (Epic Records and CBS/Sony, 1988).

Ozzy Ozbourne, ‘Crazy Train’, Blizzard of Ozz, (Jet Records and Epic Records, 1980).

Sia, ‘Alive’, This is Acting, (Inertia, Monkey Puzzle and RCA, 2015).

[musicnerddd]

Rock music is broken music?

Majority of people will have heard some form of broken music without realizing. I know I have. So lets dive straight in: What is broken music? Music can be broken? How will I know if its broken? Hang tight and it will all become clear.

Broken music is most easily understood as an experimental or aesthetic process of exposing the faults, fragments and imperfections in the music and doesn’t view these as problems but rather, creative possibilities. During music production, producers work their wizardry and remove all unwanted sounds, this could be:

breath noises or vocal pops

feedback and distortion from amplified instruments 

getting rid of background noises that have been picked up by the mic

polishing every audio track so it sounds ‘perfect’ (in terms of industry standard) with no roughage around the outside

So, thinking back to 30 seconds ago when I said most people have heard broken music without realizing, think of how many songs you’ve heard with distorted guitars, background fuzz, unmistakable breath noises or generally the whole song feels like it was recorded underwater. This is broken music. 

This all links in with the theory of technological determinism, this in essence means that technology has influence over the way we behave. In music production there are industry standard ways to do things and that affects some musicians’ creativity. Through ‘breaking’ the music, its almost a protest against the power technology holds over not just music, but we as a society and is a rejection of passive acceptance of technological change. This is used in many genres of music but for this discussion I have decided to focus rock music as I think it is the most recognizable to the untrained ear. Other genres include: 

Mainstream Pop music -  [Example] Artist Sia purposely breaks her voice in her songs exaggerates breaths and pops to expose the flaws that usually get edited out (see ‘Alive’ as a reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2NgsJrrAyM)

Hip Hop - Scratching and sampling other songs, turntablism itself as a discipline 

club music/rave music - remixes and mashups fit into this category of broken music too

A lot of rock music falls into this broken music category. The video below is rock classic ‘Crazy Train’ by Ozzy Ozbourne. In the song the guitars are heavily distorted, this is done through the loudness of the recording (natural clipping/distortion) and also distortion and fuzz pedals. This is an aesthetic choice that has led to distortion being an essential classic rock ingredient.

Some more rock examples include:

‘Thunderstruck’ - AC/DC (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2AC41dglnM)

‘Hotel California’ - Eagles (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqPtz5qN7HM)

‘Cult of Personality’ - Living Colour (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xxgRUyzgs0&list=PLBF4CF958AF80561F&index=22)

Broken music uses what some people see as flaws to unleash music that has no bounds, unlimited creative possibilities, rock is a mirror of this. Rock music pushes the boundaries of creativeness in the realm of noise, scream, fuzz, distortion and essentially, radiates this principle of not changing to fit the mainstream or demographic. Some people may view it as ‘bad’ music or just noise, instead of dwelling on this rock/metal take this and not let it be a restriction but instead a gateway to new ideas and uses this to not fall a puppet to technology.

[musicnerddd]

Music Curation, BIBLIOGRAPHY, DISCOGRAPHY and FILMOGRAPHY

Bibliography

Lindsay, Charles, ‘An Exploration Into How the Rise of Curation Within Streaming Services Has Impacted How Music Fans in the UK Discover New Music’, Journal of Promotional Communications, (2006) 115-141.

Walter Kennedy, ‘Music Streaming Services, Programming Culture and the Politics of Listening’, Bowdoin Digital Commons, 2015, https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1029&context=honorsprojects, 30th March 2020.

Discography

Spotify, ‘Music for Concentration’,   https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX3PFzdbtx1Us

Filmography

Musicto, ‘ What Do We Look For In New Playlist Curators? | Be a music to Curator’, online video clip, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rmvDs1Bn14, 19th September 2019 (28th March 2020).

[musicnerddd]

Music Curation, what is it? Who is it? Could I be a music curator?

If you Google ‘curate’, the results are usually ‘to select, organize and look after the items in a collection or exhibition’. It sounds very similar to the word ‘create’ and is often assumed that they are the same thing. In one sense, by being a curator you are effectively creating an experience for other people through other people’s work, but, if it is not your own work and you are merely selecting and organizing a program for people to enjoy, its not the same thing as creating something yourself and putting it into the world for other people to enjoy. The distinction between is often a grey blurry line that sparks debate amongst musicians.

I want to explore what it means to be a curator and whether its something everyone can do. A famous example of music curation that is often overlooked is the people responsible for creating line ups for festivals. The person/people in charge of that are curators of music as they look at the festival demographic and curate a line up of artists from different age ranges and genres. However, curating music can also be making a playlist for a house party. It isn’t on the same scale but it is definitely the same premice. You observe the target audience and take into account age range likes/dislikes and organize a line up (digital in this case) that will have something to suit everyone so that everyone has an enjoyable time.

If house parties aren’t your thing, think to when you study, clean up, work out, take a bath. Most people have designated playlists for each of these tasks with music tailored for each specific mood you’re in doing the task. One example of this is a playlist curated by Spotify, designed for helping concentration (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX3PFzdbtx1Us). The pieces in the playlist start off very soft and ambient but become more focused and intense towards the end creating a narrative for the listener, aiding them in their task. I think if you do this, then you are a music curator. 

When discussing ‘who’ does curation, people often tend to immediately aim high, straight to the professionals: people who are curating festivals, concerts, high art events. Usually, the majority of music curators are bypassed who are your average person, who I believe actually enjoy music the most and are the most enthusiastic about it. They are curating music to get them through their day for their own enjoyment, enthusiasm, and sanity. Professionals are usually being paid big bucks to curate the perfect experience for other people, going off statistics (or algorithms in the case of Spotify) to select the best pieces. 

Andrew (founder of Musicto.com) explains that successful music curators not only love music but they curate music for other people through the feedback loop that they create through starting off small and doing it for the sheer love of it.

Therefore, you can curate playlists to get you through daily life and make them accessible to other people, like you, and end up getting paid for it. This to me is so much more personal and I value this more than a Spotify curated playlist as most of the time you only ever actually like around 3 songs in the playlist anyway, amirite?