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User
Reviews 8
Approval 87%
Soundoffs 102
Album Ratings 2745
Objectivity 84%
Last Active 12-28-22 7:12 pm
Joined 11-17-15
Review Comments 2,018
| I was asked in my DE class "What is Music?"
I'm taking online dual enrollment music right now (yeah, that means I'm in high school) and my professor asked our class "What is Music?" Here was my very long answer. Albums are digs. | | 1 |  | Circle Takes the Square
As the Roots Undo
"Music" can be represented by two perspectives: the artist's and the listener's. The artist's perspective asks only one question into their music's existence: Why? Why do I create music? There are many answers to this question: money, fame, expressing personality, expressing life, expressing feelings, and, well, expressing music. None of them are simply "wrong", but there is a difference in the last few answers than the first two, besides the apparent "expression" of an artist. The first two answers asks for a real world gain form the listener in what could be considered a "selfish" form, a trap many world-renowned stars fall into. The "expressions" can question the listener for their opinion of the artist of themselves, their stories, or their work. To me, this is a real connection between a musician and their listeners. | | 2 |  | Cynic
Traced in Air
Now, what do I, the listener, find as the art of music? A lot of works or albums that I tend to find as "classics" can fall under many categories of greatness. These characteristics can be anything from revolutionary, growing (as in "this grows on you over time"), rich, emotional, powerful, meaningful, storytelling, or simply, catchy, and that's just a fraction of the list of defining traits in music. Despite my critical thinking of music, however, the classic albums and songs I often listen to aren't based on a sort of "trait scale" that would take away the point of having an artist create the connection with me, even if the abstract emotions were part of that scale. | | 3 |  | Spastic Ink
Ink Compatible
I listen to music that speaks to me, even if the music speaks about itself. Take, for instance, Brand New's album The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me.The music's theme is centered around death and illness of those close to the band with hints of the ultimate question of religion. This may seem self-centered, but it's displayed with so much accuracy and awareness of the audience that listener can imagine these feelings, even if their life has never experienced such events as the written situations. | | 4 |  | Jimmy Chamberlin Complex
Life Begins Again
Another defining example of great music is just how much of my personal quality there is in the sound. An example of this would be Karnivool's Sound Awake. The lyrics and story are good, but, for the most part, not that outstanding. This is a classic because how well every sound is incorporated into the songs to just make the album as enjoyable as possible for me to listen to. That is what gives an album "replay value" for me, and this does mean that Sound Awake is my most played album of all time having listened to it about 15 times in full. | | 5 |  | Electric Masada
At the Mountains of Madness
you asked the question of what constitutes music from "noise". This is a great question considering how much experimental music exists in the world that can be classified as noise to the general audience, including me. I think the terms "ambition" and "purpose" play the key roles into what makes music escape the dark and hopeless void of "noise". Radiohead's Kid A is a popular example of ambitious songwriting that takes noise and makes it universally acclaimed. An interesting album that uses compelling "noise" to a very high degree is Electric Masada's At the Mountains of Madness. There is a lot of generally irritating sounds and instruments from compositions no one has ever gotten close to achieving on this album, but that's what makes this so great. Yes, the sounds may be unpleasing noise, but it's a noise that I call music simply because it takes a path so little traveled and uncanny that it is recognized much more than many bands that follow the "fads". | | 6 |  | Blood on the Dance Floor
Scissors
The really awful "noise" to me are the bands that are very synthetic, unnatural, and stale with the only intention to garner the same fanbase that other bands like that have already attracted. | |
FullOfSounds
02.05.17 | Great read and I agree with most of this except for the noise part. I think you can consider a noise album as music like anything else, the artist took an unconventional way of expressing that. | 50iL
02.05.17 | [2] | DoctorDoom
02.05.17 | Enjoyable read. I honestly miss doing stuff like this in school that gave me no preparation for financial stability. Good stuff. | VaxXi
02.05.17 | Music is pretty lame i can tell you that much, not really following you on the "noise" argument though. | Sinternet
02.05.17 | would you say your neurons were fired up? | danielito19
02.05.17 | Any sound or series of sounds with a conscious decision that it is music | BlazinBlitzer
02.05.17 | "would you say your neurons were fired up?" Yeah.
"Anyway rec your prof Sachiko M โ Bar ใใกใ and apprise him that there are people who consider it not only music but enjoyable (and have written an essay to justify their case). be interesting to hear his thoughts." He sure would love me.
In response to the flawed noise argument, I also believe that the question was a bit confusing although I probably should've answered with "noise does count as music, no matter what connotation of the term is used". The professor already gave me credit though, so I can't really edit it.
MikeHunt gave a great response btw. | Avagantamos
02.05.17 | what is DE? dual enrollment? | zakalwe
02.05.17 | "Why? Why do I create music? There are many answers to this question: money, fame, expressing personality, expressing life, expressing feelings, and, well, expressing music."
Oh my what a shock. You're a brat who digs brand new. | ShadowRemains
02.05.17 | "what is DE? dual enrollment?"
differential equations i'm guessing | BlazinBlitzer
02.05.17 | I just learned about differential equations because of your comment. Thanks!
| AsleepInTheBack
02.05.17 | neat read. your most played album is only 15 times though? | BlazinBlitzer
02.05.17 | Yeah, I only made album-listening a hobby about 6 months ago :p | zaruyache
02.06.17 | where there multiple questions to answer or just the one? Bc you didn't answer "what is music" but rather talked about why people make/listen to music, what you look for in music, etc. | Ashen
02.06.17 | for fucks sake | elliootsmeuth
02.06.17 | Will read l8r | Calc
02.06.17 | "I think you can consider a noise album as music like anything else, the artist took an unconventional way of expressing that."
you can fart into a mic and call it music too. | zaruyache
02.07.17 | I feel like Devin Townsend's done that before. | porcupinetheater
02.07.17 | The answer can be found at the top of a lonely mountain where resides a wise sage. He is an ornery man, but if you prove your worth, he may deign to teach you of this "mewzichk"
His name is The Reverend Al Green. |
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