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Post by gregorythefish on Jan 17, 2018 21:03:10 GMT
i have had concerns along the lines of the author of that article. for about a year, before i have purchased or downloaded anything, i thought about how much i actually really cared or if i just wanted it for some sense of completeness. the results have been striking.
i only have about 10 albums released in 2017, and i haven't purchased any non-jazz for months.
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pjd
New Member
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Post by pjd on Jan 17, 2018 23:51:55 GMT
"Diluvial" is a good word. With this article, I can't help but think this guy needs to put his iPod away and only listen to 2x45RPM LP reissues. That will keep him listening as he changes sides every 7 minutes, and also limit the music available to him for purchase. Apparently, they have a Rega TT in his house as his wife put on a Dolphy record. Yet, after all the thinking and writing he fails to come to the conclusion that the format of the music's presentation (i.e. its being free and available at a click) is really what is causing him to collect instead of listen. As Cormac McCarthy was quoted in the article, people's brains have been changed.
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Post by Martin on Jan 18, 2018 13:08:01 GMT
I found the article an interesting read but ultimately perhaps a little self-indulgent. I felt that the author's self-imposed set of listening rules came across as a slightly contrived device to use as the hook for an article and I was not surprised when he couldn't stick to them. I don't feel under any such pressure to apply rules to my listening - after all, it's something I (we) do for pleasure so why shackle that with picky regulations.
Nevertheless, there is a valid central theme to the article about how art (in this case music) is becoming devalued and under-appreciated due (in part) to it becoming so easily and ubiquitously available via digital means such as streaming services. I see this as a specific example of a more general trend in society towards a desire for instant gratification. The problem with this tendency is that the easier the art is to acquire and consume, the shallower the experience becomes and the greater the ease with which it is forgotten and discarded in favour of the next fad. On that basis, I applaud the author's intention to listen deeply to one specific LP at a time - I just think he set himself unrealistic conditions and expectations around that.
I suppose I'm writing from a different perspective in that I don't feel the temptation to stream digital music continuously or to buy every record or CD that crosses my path. Perhaps these are my own self-imposed rules that I unconsciously follow? I rarely buy brand new records (exceptions happen when the record in question moves me in some unique and special way) and I've been drifting towards "first pressing fundamentalism" over recent years. That in itself in a self-limiting mechanism on purchasing and in turn leads to more listening. The focus of my collecting is on quality rather quantity and that leads me to typically purchase around only ten records per year. Fewer records in the collection means that each one gets more listening time on the rota. Yet I need to be in the right frame of mind for listening - sometimes I'll have a whole evening of listening to the same record over and over again; at other times I'll go for weeks without listening to a single record. I don't let either behaviour concern me - I just follow the mood and enjoy it.
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heavyp
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Post by heavyp on Jan 18, 2018 13:23:18 GMT
we seem to navigate similar currents ;-D maybe i'll appear a little too extreme here but digital music (any digital stuff actually) and its artifacts like Pads, smartphones or similar - seem to be conceived and engineered to create infinite channeling/surfin' etc. it's actually pretty hard to resist to change track or album when you're handling the toy. this flow is similar to the news flow, tv shows flow, advertising flow, etc. anything that keeps the business spreadin'and runnin' and floating around, hitting on the next/new/different thing that comes around and leaves very little space to think out of the frame
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Post by gregorythefish on Jan 18, 2018 19:07:05 GMT
I don't feel under any such pressure to apply rules to my listening - after all, it's something I (we) do for pleasure so why shackle that with picky regulations. YES YES YES YES YES The process of enjoying and consuming music absolutely must be done properly, but 'properly' is vastly different for each person. i have spent absurd amounts of time understanding and deciding how i personally want to consume and enjoy music, and why. For example, heavyp points out that ipods and other digital formats encourage the listener to switch tracks. i don't disagree (i enthusiastically agree, actually) but that is not my own personal experience. i always listen to the entire album, start to finish, every time, just like when i put on a record. the reasons for this are many. some are arguments i think are objectively good, others merely reflect my own bizarre neuroses. the process of listening is also different for me when i listen to a record vs. my ipod/itunes in some ways, though. my ipod listening is very passive, mostly to things i am already very familiar with, and occasionally to things other than jazz. on the turntable, jazz is the exclusive genre and all LPs are listened to at least twice upon acquisition before being filed, so a lot of new things (to me) are heard on the turntable.
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pjd
New Member
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Post by pjd on Jan 18, 2018 20:54:40 GMT
McLuhan said 50 years ago "The medium is the message."
This is more true today than it was then. It is the hardware/software (iPod, streaming service, computer, Facebook, Instagram, et al) that we are most aware of and which is the true "message," not the content (the music, photos, et al) of which there is a limitless amount. Apple admitted to as much with the iPod as they made more from the MP3 technology by selling the iPod than the record labels and musicians who supplied the MP3s. Record labels having learned from the iPod experience demanded equity in streaming services to offer up music (with the artists receiving little).
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Post by sztiv on Jan 22, 2018 11:57:30 GMT
"Largely the problem has less to do with artistic execution of the music and more to do with people’s listening habits. It has become a rare thing for the more casual listener of any type of music to just sit down and actually listen to their music. The myth of multi-tasking is giving the nation the aural attention span of a goldfish."erasingclouds.com/wk0208waldron.html
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Post by clifford on Jan 26, 2018 16:01:28 GMT
as I write, I have my vinyl collection in front of me and I can't make up my mind in choosing a single record to listen. as I think of one, immediately another one jumps to mind, and so on. how many times I was unable to listen 'cause I couldn't decide? are my records too many? or is my mind too full? or time? or will? the last sentence in the article is an anchor of salvation: "Just because we are flooded doesn't mean we have to drown." I can relate to this all too well. Also, as per your introductory post, that Tusques 7" is really beautiful. I'd love to hear more music from the concert that produced it. Never seen an original of course, but Cacophonic did a good job with the reissue.
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Post by dottorjazz on Jan 26, 2018 19:48:19 GMT
never seen an original too, looks like it was printed in 75 copies. for this reason I got the reissue, bought in San Francisco a few years ago.
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