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ExittheLemming View Drop Down

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Posted: February 20 2010 at 03:50

fuxi wrote:

Vibrationbaby wrote:

Well, being a woman myself I just listen for something that's "out there". I used tp accomplish this by looking at album covers back in the seventies. If it was weird and from Germany I'd go for it.

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Bonnek

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Posted: February 20 2010 at 05:13

sinkadotentree wrote:

My first listen means little to me,i'm just checking out their style and mood but often not even paying close attention to it.I guess first impressions don't often mean a lot to me. Of course there are exceptions where i can be blown away by what i'm hearing and quickly give it my full attention or the opposit can happen too.

Mostly i just slowly unravel it all, and then the final listen before i review it is me giving it my full and undivided attention.

I also basically subscribe to that. My first listen to something is usually as background music while I work.
I will not return to it if I only hear clichés pasted together. So formulaic music puts me off immediately.

I want something that surprises me, some creative sparkle if you wish:
- The first element that attracts me is the mood of a piece (I eat melancholy like it was pastry),
- Next comes the rhythm. I'm hugely attracted to music with a heavy rhythmic emphasis (zeuhl, kraut, progressive electronic, dance, prog-metal).
- I also want to hear some passion, energy and playing pleasure if you like.
- In last position comes the melodic development and what individual instruments are doing. Of course, this aspect becomes more important on repeated listens

For those reasons, symphonic music like RPI takes more time for me then other bands I recently started to listen to such as Guapo, Nebelnest, Univers Zero, Area, Intronaut, ...

Edited by Bonnek - February 20 2010 at 05:14

Gerinski

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Posted: February 20 2010 at 09:09

- I'l try to have the first listen in my car on the way to/from work, a 1 hour drive when nobody will disturb me.

- I'l remind myself that the first spin is not gonna tell me too much about it, I will have to give it 4 spins before having a more or less clear idea.

- I admit that my classic symphonic prog foundations still play a role. If it sounds anything close to them, I will smile more quickly. The same if I detect quickly some virtuoso playing, even if by now it's not my main concern anymore. Bass and drums get quickly my attention, as well as if there is some accoustic piano. It's not that difficult to get spectacular sounds from a modern synth but with a grand piano you quickly see who's good at the keys.

- I appreciate if it has varied dynamics, I like crescendos and diminuendos, I'm not fond of albums with too a constant intensity. I also pay attention to the key changes: time-signature changes are used everywhere in prog, but for subtle and right key changes you need to know some music. Some unusual scales here and there will also awaken my attention, but they must not be excessively awkward to the point of sounding dissonant.

- the vocals are usually too much at the front to try to leave them for later. Surely they will form an important part of the first impression, although I will not judge an album too much on them alone.

moshkito

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Posted: March 01 2010 at 15:45

tszirmay wrote:

I would be curious to know how prog fans listen to some unknown artist they have heard some good of, with or without sample tracks but never dived into the actual album purchase.

Pretty much lived my whole life listening and buying stuff like that ... not totally 100% out of the blue stuff, but sometimes it is really obvious what is what ...

I started out on the "progressive" road with the covers that Hipgnosis was doing, since in a way the covers they were making were always an editorial of some sort ... and the better and more serious music tended to have a much better and more interesting cover than otherwise ... and unlike one famous cover, they did not have to show the panties in order to make you think it was the music, and in that case it was a flash, and a major tease and the music was not as nice, or good as the picture itself! ... the idea of which probably had Storm and folks salivating all over I bet!

I try to not set about comprehending anything ... mostly because I do not want to have pre-conceived notions as to what I hear ... and this way something that is totally new and does not do yet another sonata format with the same instruments but a different effect on the guitar or another envelope on the synthesizer, or yet another rap 4 letter word ... saying the same thing over and over again ... somehow I'm kinda tired of the word "ho" ...

Then I concentrate on each instrument panoramically with the knowledge that future spins may be bass-centric, synth-centric or lead guitar centric (the drums are always there!).

Again, I tend to not worry about what is what ... but if one is only listening for the same type of thing like this great prog example, then you can see why the quality and evaluation degrades quickly ... you can not compare to the original ... moses wins ... buddha wins ... jesus wins ... and clapton wins ... and fripp wins ... and so on ... so whether the music does one thing or another is to me not important ... what is important is WHAT they do with it.

Only later will I entertain the quality of the vocals , which is not always a prog fortress , because for me, it’s the MUSIC that counts above all. The rest is just ornate decoration, albeit occasionally sparkling!

A lot of music out there pretends to be something or other because of the vocals ... and this is a distraction that hurts anyone's evaluation of the music ... but the one thing that few people are capable doing is ... what is the singer/lyricist doing ... and this makes it much harder for anyone to interpret things ... for example ... Bryan Ferry is an actor. Peter Hammill is a poet. Roy Harper is a poet ... and by comparison to other pitch perfect singers, these guys are not singers at all ... and they couldn't give a darn ... what comes out is the expression and sometimes it is what makes the music ... specially someone like Peter Hammill, not quite as much these days as his earlier days when the music was explosive and dynamic and off the charts as a visualization of the lyrics themselves ... which contrasts to a song ... where there is some music ... and someone singing over it with very nice pitch perfect vocals ... that has as much "ethereal" content and 3D feeling inside it as the picture of your kitty kat does!

What frame of mind are you in and what do your sensors look for, sequentially?

Specially for us here ... who are listening to music that is trying hard to break the boundaries of the academic design and studies ... I really feel that your attitude and mine also have to be in tune with that ... there is no "concept" or "idea" in many improvisations and pieces that started with an exercise ... and were not "composed" ... and for some reason we refuse to give that space credibility for their value in music, since, and specially, even jazz was built around it! ... but rock is not allowed? ... see the point? ... yes it is ... and there are many out there that do ... but the only thing we can do is label them out in some left far off field, simply because we can not understand what the whole thing is about ...

It has nothing to do with Keith's hands and instruments. Nothing to do with Jon Anderson's singing. Nothing to do with Robert Fripp's guitar ... it has to do with the totality ... and just because some lyrics are neat and we like them does not make it "progressive" ... and more or less than anything else in the music.

In general ... to me ... the difference is ... progressive music is NOT a song ... it's music. A song is a pre-set and pre-defined format ... and music has a massive history of ... format changes and style changes ... and is NOT about a "song" for the most part.

To me this is the important distinction ... when a group adds a "song" to fill out the album ... and while I can appreciate Rush for their work, it's all about songs now ... no more Hemispheres! ... (or someone could be cynical and say ... that was a bunch of songs strung together too!) ... and that is the difference ... they are no longer progressive per se ... and neither is King Crimson with Adrian Belew ... which is just a bunch of weird songs ... and very little experimentation all told!

Edited by moshkito - March 01 2010 at 15:53

Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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tszirmay

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Posted: March 02 2010 at 11:13

Now that;s what I call an epic answer, very proggy!

I never post anything anywhere without doing more than basic research, often in depth.

Manuel

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Posted: March 07 2010 at 09:18

I personally focus first on the rhythmic section, and then listen to the rest of the instruments, including vocals, and observe how they fit into the frame. Melody is also quite important for me, and the emotion/expression behind the playing is quite important, since it's what makes prog quite unique, IMHO.

micky

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Posted: March 09 2010 at 19:30

tszirmay wrote:

I would be curious to know how prog fans listen to some unknown artist they have heard some good of, with or without sample tracks but never dived into the actual album purchase.

If it’s a new album from a known band or a debut album from some newbie , I always attempt to comprehend the “sound” and within that context, look for a creative soul adhering to a philosophy of artistry and expression. Then I concentrate on each instrument panoramically with the knowledge that future spins may be bass-centric, synth-centric or lead guitar centric (the drums are always there!). Only later will I entertain the quality of the vocals , which is not always a prog fortress , because for me, it’s the MUSIC that counts above all. The rest is just ornate decoration, albeit occasionally sparkling!

What frame of mind are you in and what do your sensors look for, sequentially?

interesting.... I look at a new album like I would a painting at a exhibition.... I soak it all in and really don't seek the details. That comes for me when you begin to digest the work. At first I look/listen for the 'grab-ass' factor.... does the work hit me... do I feel the urge to listen.. or just walk on by and check out the next one.

When it comes time to digest... I do look for the details... the most important to me are vocal (if it has them of course) quality... lyrics rarely if EVER are considered... as I like to say.. if I want to stimulated.. I read a book.. not getting a lesson from someone whose talent is playing music.. not writing books. I am a sucker for a good voice. Of course creative bass playing.. or a great bass sound will hook me quicker than anything. Guitar tone is another thing important to me... not as much in older recordings.. but in newer ones since I am not a particular fan of hyper-effects and clincial sounding production. Like the guitar solo on Balletto di Bronzo's terzo incontro... you just don't hear that today. It IS nasty and dirty... not processed or f/x'd to sound dirty. bah...

anyhow... those are some of things I listen for.. and the way I approach new albums.. which is a tried and true method. Well practiced at least with all the boatloads of stuff Raff gets that I listen to... most of which from groups I have never heard of.. or anything by.

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rogerthat

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Posted: March 09 2010 at 20:47

I concentrate on the way the melody(s) is/are developed because this is a 'constant' regardless of the era. Production and the quality of the members' performances come into the picture much later unless something really spectacular is happening out there...I mean, it's not too hard to figure out Ian Anderson can play, right? When the melodic development doesn't readily suggest a pattern, I get put off though....and this often happens with modern prog for me. Cry