Rupture

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With the history of a well-respected pop icon like Beyonce, it comes to no surprise that dabbling in the world of spectacle is accepted and natural since she has been easing audiences into the idea of Sasha Fierce for years. I find this interesting in comparison to Lady GaGa, a figure who is only known as being overtly spectacle. While it is clear that Beyonce is fully embracing her alter ego in this colorful, slightly Tarantinoesque display, I couldn't help but think about if the roles were reversed. In other words, what challenges would Lady GaGa face if she wished to transition her role from spectacle to a respectable woman who for the most part is taken seriously. More importantly, how do we as listeners use music to negotiate and explore our own identities as we have so often seen GaGa do?

While most see popular culture and particularly pop music as being throw-away commodities, it seems as though artists and consumers are adjusting to this new world by using disposable goods (or in GaGa case, disposable characters) to their advantage. Many take a negative stance, lamenting the changes that are happening in the music world to the extent that they no longer see change as being possible. Even worse, they view political action as being paralyzed in the new marketplace. With that said, social and political problems are rendered perpetual since the tools to gain a voice are a thing of the past.

Being part of this generation of technological advancement and "disposable commodities," I'd like to believe that there is an ounce of hope somewhere waiting to be unveiled.

I find this hope in the following two areas:
Now as much as I'd like to believe that my tastes are too superior to ever be moved by pop music, I've been noticing something lately. I recently went to pick up dinner for my sister during prime dinner hour and I found myself in a sea of people all waiting for the same food my sister desired. I've never been good with crowds so as you can assume, I wanted out. However, I remained waiting growing ever more frustrated by the minute. When I got back to my car, I turned on my radio since my iPod was dead. That is when I heard myself utter the words, "Thank goodness for Beyonce," almost involuntary. Her song "Sweet Dreams" was playing on the radio and it helped rescue my from the stress I feel in a continually shrinking world. Instantly, I returned to a mentally healthier state that would have not been possible otherwise.

Contrary to the common discourse, maybe they are not all throw-away commodities seeing as how I doubt I will ever forget that unexpected experience. In other words, if we concentrated on something other than the surface, these things might be able to take us to a deeper place (one that we can't get to in the physical world).

This bring me back to this video. There are unwritten laws that dominant how popular artists are portrayed. As a result, it makes more economic sense to depict Lady GaGa taking the back seat to Beyonce in this collaboration than the alternative. Once again, this is because Beyonce has established herself as a respectable woman outside of her onstage persona. Maybe Lady GaGa is using the spectacle for a means to an end that we have yet to see. She is highly acclaimed and highly visible and I doubt people will stop paying attention to her anytime soon. Isn't that power? It may be hard to recognize in this new culture, but using spectacle seems pretty strategic since this new reign of throw-away commodities is never turning back. Power lies in the way we utilize technology and goods. In order to realize this, we need to change the way we listen so we can maintain our sanity in a seemingly hopeless and ever-shrinking world. Otherwise, we are likely to suffocate.

Sainthood

"Inspired by emotional longing and the quiet actions we hope may be noticed by the objects of our affection, Sainthood is about obsession with romantic ideals. We practice our sainthood in the hope that we will be rewarded with adoration."

In discussing their new album Sainthood, Tegan and Sara both noted that their songs are largely about love, adding that "music is love... the soul-wrenching, heart-ripping-out parts of love...[it's] the way you talk about the person you like."

Over the years, Tegan and Sara have retained a simplicity that is pleasant and refreshing. Despite of this simplicity, I always feel a sense of depth when listening to their music which is particularly notable on one of their first gems "Walking With A Ghost" when those drums kick in.

In Sainthood, they manage to retain their simplicity while pushing what we have come to expect from them musically. The changes are subtle presenting themselves as infusions from various genres we have not seen T&S dabble in prior to this. With that said, Sainthood has the capacity to be everything the girls set out for it to be. Being inspired by love gone awry and Lonard Cohen's "Came so far for Beauty," the musical elements of this album take us back by building up a sort of nostalgia. At the same time, they advance T&S's talent through the "quiet actions" they hope might be noticed. They build by engaging in genre blending. Here, we see musical elements of the past being utilized in new ways to win our hearts over.

This comes forth most noticeably in T&S's "Red Belt" and "Northshore."

In "Northshore," we are given a punk rock throwback in the form of fast-paced guitar riff accompanied by vocals that, uncharacteristically for T&S, are as quick as the guitar introduction.

In "Redbelt" we are given classic T&S. It's a familiar beat made famous by Rod Stewart in "Some Guys Have All The Luck." Of course, the girls speed this beat up and make this song theirs by adding a few touches. Among these touches is the most brilliant element of this song. The girls infuse a raw, acoustic-feeling guitar beat primarily in the chorus of the song giving the impression of authenticity. During the chorus, they take this even further when they state, "kneel to condition all the feelings that you feel." They expertly do exactly this in a way that is, for the most part, undetectable.

You can hear "Some Guys Have All The Luck" and "Red Belt" here.Utter Brilliance playlist by Weeiner

What I like most about this album is that it needs to grow on the listener. With that facet in mind, Tegan and Sara's brilliance becomes increasingly clear since they were able to musically represent all of the artistic ambitions they had for this project. I think this stands out best when T&S say, "we practice our sainthood in the hope that we will be rewarded with adoration." They stick to what we known in their lyrics and tone that tend to embody a desperate honest plea for love. However, because they stick so closely to this to the point of sainthood, they are able to push forward and create new by using the old elements we have come to love. And like love, especially the obsessive kind that T&S often sing about, this album grows on us even though we may not notice much of it on first listen.

Explorations in Sound

SOUL: The animating and vital principle in humans, credited with the faculties of thought, action, and emotion and often conceived as an immaterial entity.

Prior to seeing the Scratch documentary and visiting Dublab.com, I had no idea that a large portion of what I consume musically is the result of bricolage. Or at least, I never really thought about it as a reconstruction of the past to create new. What these two music projects brought to mind is how unconscious people are of what they are hearing when they play music. On a surface level, there is no history. There is the desired world we create by infusing our lives with the sounds of our pleasure. Yet, what we build by infusing our lives with music is precisely what musicians aimed to do through the exploration of sound. It's as if the music itself was imbued with this goal via the artist's hands when it was being created. For this reason, the music, regardless of whether it is reconstructed or not, can never be separated from it's original maker. It carries messages and meanings to people across distant lands. It spreads ideas, thoughts, calm and joy. It can bring us to tears. It can motivate. It does all these things through sound. Thus, we would be in denial to shrug music off as surface entertainment. Music is endowed with a soul. It carries the spirit of the artist. With the introduction of bricolage, it carries not only one soul, but the souls and histories of many. At the same time it spreads, it also connects us.

In The Singing Neanderthals, Mithen proposes that music is a sort of auditory grooming that advanced from the actual grooming we now see today in primates. He says its function is to share, through co-production, a complex set of signals that say, "you and I are the same types of people." He even goes as far as to say that language formed as a form of vocal grooming because it enabled a single being to connect and show appreciation for others simultaneously. Taken in consideration with the idea of bricolage as audio piracy, it seems absurd to even suggest that the artists of plunderphonics are engaging in acts of theft. If music is a spirit and its sole means is to connect, it doesn't belong to any of us. It is free. If anything, the selling of music is degrading its true value.



And for those of you wondering how the soul of music sounds when it comes to compositions check out Part 1 of "10 Years of Future Roots Radio" at Dublab.com. I recommend beginning the track at 01:14:00 to hear Bradford Cox of Atlas Sound. The way the notes drift in and out is a great example of the music's attempt to connect. Of course when this sound is recorded and made immaterial, it is the embodiment of the soul of its composer.

Nature Sounds

Waiting at a stoplight on the way back to my house, my ear became transfixed on the sound of a flock of parrots. Yes, that's right, parrots. It turns out that someone in my neighborhood trains parrots and every so often, if you get the timing right, you'll find yourself mesmerized by the bird song. Oblivious to this at the time, my mind filled with wonderment at the sound. It was uncharacteristic of the soundscape I've grown accustomed to in the past six years of residing in my town, yet, it was not threatening or overwhelming. I can attribute this to the fact that I was aware that the sound was coming from birds since it was familiar. However, I was perplexed by my dire impulse to see the sound's source. I immediately began to search for the source of the sound. Being that the parrot's color camouflaged perfectly with the green leaves of the trees lining the street, I was unable to access the origins of my curiosity. To my surprise, I was ailed by my failure to identify what was responsible for the sound. Ironically, the sound was beautiful, yet, my mind was consumed by the overwhelming urge to see the sound to the extent that the my sight took precedence over my hearing.
Of course, I could relate this to the hierarchy of the senses in Western culture, but I couldn't help but wonder, why did I have feelings of uneasiness even when the sound was pleasing to my ear and I knew it was coming from parrots?
This made me think about the realm of the record. Since recordings offer us a work of art and a history, maybe we have become nostalgic for something natural, something that brings us back to life. The only way to know a sound is authentic in the realm of the record, is to see the source. The source is proof of something real, unplanned and unintended for recording.

The XX

Sexy time music, baby making music... everyone has their name for it, but what is it about this type of music that makes us associate it with the act of sex? Why is it that when we hear it we immediately imagine it as background to our bedroom escapades?

I didn't wonder about this until I happened to read Sound and Thought the same week I was introduced to The XX. One of the most notable things about this band is that the vocals take precedence over the instruments. Yet, the vocals are soft, often fading in an out unexpectedly.

This reminded me of a quote from Sound and Thought when Barenboim said, "Sound is a physical reality. Sound does not remain in this world; it evaporates into silence." Barenboim used this idea to support why we strove to create sound by saying it was a kind of defiance. However, in the case of sensual music, I propose that unexpected fading that The XX has mastered could also be interpreted as reassurance.

For the purposes of clarity I wouldn't necessarily relate this type of music to the sole physical act of sex, but rather I would associate it with steady sex or sex in a relationship. My reason for this is because the music is emotional in that there is an aspect of closeness established by the vocals. There is a sense of trust that is built into the overall sound of the song just like the act of sex. It is sensitive to the slightest disruption, but those disruptions are also exhilarating at the same time because you know you will be brought back to safety and comfort.

Amplifying Humanity

There are two scenes from the first Invisible Children documentary, one at the introduction and one at the closing, where the displaced children of Uganda are filmed dancing and singing. The dancing in the first scene is spurred by Nelly's "Ride Wit Me" while the second display is brought about through the ritual of prayer and song; both are equally resilient, but, distinct in their own rights.

Yet, there is one factor of this film that ignores the power of the two acts. The recurring theme of sight, or rather "being seen," "being made visible" has dominated this documentary. However, it would be negligent to not acknowledge what the voice and sound of this documentary did in terms of generating success.
We've all seen the countless infomercials coming out of war-torn, impoverished towns. Yet, none have managed to attain the success that is Invisible Children.
The single act of giving voice made the difference. It revealed a humanity that could not be ignored. Through the voice of the children of Uganda, a story we have known about for years was transformed into a plea for justice. With this voice, we we able to detect resilience, fear, hope, suffering and desperation (qualities that resonate with all of us).

This is what the world is for, making electricity

It wasn't too long ago that people from Manhattan began transforming abandoned industrial buildings into studios and venues in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Just as the Williamsburg Bridge spawned a migration from the lower east Manhattan slums back in early 1900s, the lower rents and abundance of space left by the deserted industrial factories provided sound artists and musicians with allure and somewhat of a blank slate to create new possibilities of space and time.
Today, the Williamsburg scene is thriving and has become know for its worldbeat. I assume this has happened because the music is impossible to classify in terms of genre. Regardless of what the music is or is not, it is achieving something that most have not seen since the early days of rap. It is not meant for anyone. It is done to preserve the essence of music. The melodies, tones, notes, etc. that the musicians construct urge us to think in hopes that we can alter our realities for the better.