vandala Basic Member Posts:267  
| 6/10/2005 1:47 PM |
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Okay, I’m about to start a thread that I imagine may have certain Cluas posters reaching for their caps-lock button in righteous indignation. For, if the truth be known, I think I’m starting to finally reach ‘saturation point’ with popular music.
What do I mean by this? Well, if you can indulge me a second, I’ll do my best to explain. I’ve been buying records ever since I was about ten years old. I’m in my early thirties now and, at a rough guess, have probably amassed the bulk of two thousand records, cutting right across genres, and have listened to God knows how many more besides. Like a lot of posters on this site, I used to take a lot of pleasure (and pride, I guess) in how stimulating and rewarding the music I’d discovered meant to me personally. I used to go to a hell of a lot of gigs, too.
However, in the last year or so, I’m finding that I just don’t have the enthusiasm for it any more. While I used to find myself buying a couple of albums a week, and loved hounding about second-hand shops for obscure bands I’d heard about on the grapevine, it’s not something I do any more much. It’s not that my circumstances have change particularly, it’s just the activity seems to hold less appeal for me.
I tried to rectify the issue. To paraphrase the LCD Soundsystem, I felt I was “losing my edge” somewhat, so I endeavoured to identify the current crop of bands people seem to be talking about. I downloaded extensive back catalogues of stuff that folk have been talking about in the last couple of years – the Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, Modest Mouse, the Fiery Furnaces, Interpol, etc. There was the occasional track sure which sparked my interest, but nothing excited me really. I guess, however, it’s not the bands – it’s just me.
So, my question is: have any of you ever reached a “saturation point”: you’ve listened to enough bloody music and don’t feel as if you need any more? And if so, what have you done about it?
I’ve discussed this with a couple of friends and they suggest I get into either jazz or world music. But I dunno: that sounds like desperate measures to me.
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klootfan Advanced Member Posts:851
| 6/10/2005 2:16 PM |
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Your not on your own there vandala. Im in my late 20s and im feeling exactly the same.
There was a period where i was buying cd's left right centre. Heading along to a gig every week or second week. Paying a visit to road to check through the new releases. Running around the secondhand shops for a bargin.
In the last year or so, ive found myself going to less and less gigs. My love of sourcing out new bands in dublin has waned. I rarely visit a music shop nor do i make an effort to get into road.
That said i have enjoyed a lot of the bands that you listed out there and would try to catch their gigs if it suited me, but i dont think id be overly annoyed if i missed them. Whereas previously i would have. I spent many a penny heading to see the frames, bell-x1, paddy casey, snow patrol etc...and now a days id find it very hard to work up the interest. That could be down to me reaching saturation point with the irish music scene.
I think that maybe its like a cd you overplay. By giving it a breather, it has more appeal when you go back to listening to it
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ishrinkBasic Member Posts:195
| 6/10/2005 2:18 PM |
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I choose not to run.
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spurtacusBasic Member Posts:229
| 6/10/2005 2:29 PM |
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Good oul Seinfeld! i reckon its readin these bloody messageboards that could have ye at saturation point, but when ye have a seriously borin job like meself there's just nothin better to do i suppose
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aidanAdvanced Member Posts:638
| 6/10/2005 2:37 PM |
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amen!!!!
arcade fire, interpol, modest mouse, and a lot of other guitar bands.... to my mind they're not 'bad' but they're very same-y and unadventurous, definitely unstimulating - and for me a boring band (coldplay, keane, snow patrol) is the worst band of all. for the same reason I'm bored by a lot of the irish singer-songers around at the moment, very conservative and lacking in invention and personality.
.....so don't worry, vandala - it's NOT 'just you'!! I'm sure you've seen that a lot of people on this site listen to lots of other genres of music. rev jules of this parish preaches country music - a broad church indeed, catering for many different tastes. anna murray's op-ed about metal, binokular seems to be into dance and electronic music.... it would be boring just to stick to one sound instead of experimenting and investigating new sounds.... so why NOT experiment and listen to other stuff - for instance, 'world' music doesn't have to mean hippy, yogurt-knitting stuff - there's a band from the sahara called tiniwaren which have guitars that ROCK and SNARL like keith richards. 'world' now just means 'lyrics not in english' - for instance, serge gainsbourg is in the world music section: catchy tunes (sampled by lots of other artists), great attitude, still sounds fresh and original 30 years later.
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vandalaBasic Member Posts:267
| 6/10/2005 2:39 PM |
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I didn't mean for a minute to suggest I'd been listening exclusively to indie rock. Far from it, in fact...
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aidanAdvanced Member Posts:638
| 6/10/2005 2:47 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by vandala
I didn't mean for a minute to suggest I'd been listening exclusively to indie rock. Far from it, in fact...
 ah, fair enough, not suggesting that - just meant that a good cure for 'saturation point' is to look for new stuff, and that for me other people on this board regularly mention a variety of musical genres
(okay, I admit - I was also looking for the slightest excuse to have yet another go at irish singer-songers  ) |
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ishrinkBasic Member Posts:195
| 6/10/2005 3:12 PM |
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Jazz, I wouldn't discount. Some Miles Davis or Coltrane is great when in the right mood.
Anywho, you say you're jaded with samey uninspiring music, and then the bands you looked to for inspiration are all specialise in pretty standard guitar-based rock. Think outside the box, maan.
May I suggest you try these few tracks, if you haven't already, to pique your interest, and perhaps engage you again:
The Russian Futurists - Let's get ready to crumble
Shining - Goretex weather report
M83 - Unrecorded, or Night.
DNTEL - The Dream of Evan and Chan
Dungen - Du E For Fin For Mig
Walkmen - The Rat (ok, standard guitary stuff, but f**king awesome)
If you do not like any of these, then you are probably a robot.
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spurtacusBasic Member Posts:229
| 6/10/2005 3:35 PM |
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M83-A Guitar and a Heart, f**kin great stuff
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Binokular Veteran Member Posts:1665
| 6/10/2005 4:03 PM |
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Vandala, I know eactly what you mean, I felt pretty much the same way a few years ago despite only having a relatively modest CD collection at the time. I don't think theres much you can do really, you can't force it, eventually you stumble across something that makes you love music all over again. The artist that did it for me at the time was Solex (http://solex.net/). Solexs' music is a little quirky (basically its sample based music that uses Jazz textures but pop structure) so is probably never going to get uniformly great critical acclaim, but the track "Solex all Licketysplit" tickled that little part of my own brain that other music didn't at the time. I think it was a perfect antidote to listening to bands like Radiohead at the time, here was music that was great but didn't take itself too seriously and was fun too, and thats kind of like a lot of other bands I like these days.
Since then, discoveries like Adult. , Felix da Houscat, Miss Kittin, Max Tundra, Schneider TM, Eve Massacre, Ladytron, The Go! Team, LCD Soundsystem etc. and entire scenes like scenes like northern soul, bootleg/mashup culture, and electro (if you hadn't guessed already!) have helped reinject a sense of fun in music for me.
Conversly discovering someone like Gillian Welsh was the perfect antidote when I felt I'd kinda overdosed on the above.
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| 6/14/2005 4:42 PM |
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vandala
1) check out www.anticon.com
its a left field hip hop label based in oakland california.
if you like hip hop you might like some artists
if you hate hip hop you'll definitely like some artists.
check out mp3s by
WHY?
subtle
13 + god
odd nosdam
sage francis.
2) Get 'Sung Tongs' (fat cat) by the animal collective best album of 2004
then work backwards with them.
3) Get anthing you can by the microphones / mount eerie
especially the glow pt 2 and it was hot we stayed in the water
4) get in the aeroplane over the sea by neutral milk hotel it is astonishing how good this album is.
5) ireland-wise check out www.outonalimbrecords.com
and www.desertedvillage.com the two best and most exciting labels in ireland imho.
this is asuming you havent done all this already, if you have and cant find anything to get excited by... well yr f**ked basically
hope you find something that reignites something in side you.
r.
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The_Thin_ManBasic Member Posts:137
| 6/15/2005 7:28 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Binokular
Conversly discovering someone like Gillian Welsh was the perfect antidote when I felt I'd kinda overdosed on the above.
Having gone through the same crisis of musical faith, more than once, I've personally found that a return to 'roots' music brings it all back home so to speak.
Welch is definitely responsible for giving me back my Mojo (sorry), but any pre-1960s jazz (Miles is certainly one that springs to mind) would be worth seeking out, if you havn't listened already. |
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mutchBasic Member Posts:392
| 6/16/2005 10:29 AM |
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can relate to many sentiments here
try going onto ipecac.com, check out fantomas and some other fantastic bands. was at the gig last night in the village. most people there seemed to be there to have a phucking chat. two guys seemed to be trying to outdo each other in the "how much do you know about music" competition that we so often see. very annoying people in the back half of the village. (Patton's a legend and he was right about BOno!)
try going to a trad session in the middle of nowhere, always fires up the drunken soul!
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palaceBasic Member Posts:392
| 6/16/2005 11:22 AM |
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tell me a bit about fantomas... noticed they were being distributed by southern records which pricked my ears up.
as for saturation of music, it happened to me in my mid twenties and i effectively stopped buying stuff between about 1995 and 1999 (which was luckily a dire time for good music anyway)... but i'm back with a vengeance...
...fully expect it to happen again sometime though
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DaraghAdvanced Member Posts:666
| 6/16/2005 11:41 AM |
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thankfully never had this and please god i never will. Anytime i find myself growing tired of some music, i usually go back to something i havent listened to in a while and start again. Actually, reading a bit about it usually sparks my interest, like reading Dylan's Chronicles got me back on to his records, same for Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, and the Band.
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