I am not a big listener to radio music, thats just not the way I was brought up. My dad would always bring home cassettes and later CD's of artists that he had great appreciation for- but often I would not know who the individual artists were. Often the music itself was on a mix album of many various musicians that characterized a genre. So while I would come to recognize certain artists very distinctly from their style and musicianship, mostly... I would end up becoming much more familiar with the genre of music itself. Its various quirks, ups, downs and emotions. Rather than following a hip new artist's music because that was the "cool" thing. I learned the music first.

There is such a wide world of wonderful music out there and from where I come from far too many artists that contribute to each genre to properly keep track of them all... so unless a particular song jumps out at me and holds me fettered, such that it continually plays in my head, evokes an overwhelming emotion, causes me to think very deeply about the lyrics or awes me with the compositional elements or musicianship I will not usually remember the artist's name... and even then, it is usually the song itself that I remember rather than the artist.

For example if somebody asks me what music I like, my first response is to give a genre. ie I like celtic music... while modern day celtic is often defined by artists like Seven Nation and Capercallie I listen to so much more then those particular artists, and I love this genre of music before the artist so I will name the music first even if I cannot name a particular song or artist off the top of my head (as I often can't when put on the spot).

This wholly applies to other genres as well: 

I like trance, rather than, I like Armin van Buuren

I like classical-metal fusion, rather than, I like Joe Satriani

I like crooning ballads, rather than, I like Frank Sinatra

Granted, if a song has pulled my attention that much I usually do the direct opposite of my normally eclectic and general approach to music... In search of more music like what I've heard I will usually research and obsess over a long period of time listening excusively to that said artist and their songs. Such artist will often define a genre for me.

If anybody uses the website Pandora, this website is heaven for someone like me, its a radio station that plays genres, grouping together music based on common musical elements rather than focusing on the individual artist. In the course of an hour of listening I will have listened to perhaps twenty songs by artists who have extremely intellectual lyrics just like the artist "Cake" and yet though I have enjoyed all of them I have not been keeping track of each artist.

This is how I can go ahead and say things like I like hip hop and not be able to pair a single artist with one of their songs. In some genres such as hip hop where I don't care much about the artist at all nor do I care about the content in their lyrics... what I do enjoy is the atmosphere that the beat creates which makes it perfect to dance to! 

So What's Up with Pop Music?

Too many subgenres... and all artist driven. I'm not a regular listener to the radio, and I'm not rich and my family just doesn't spend copious amounts of cash to keep our library of the latest top 40 updated constantly. In fact we never really did listen to the top 40 except maybe my sister. I get aquainted with the latest in music through either that one song I hear that truly catches me... or through the purposeful introduction of my friends who follow music through following artists. 

Actually it was not until I started leading an all male a cappella group in high school that I really started getting into pop music. You can imagine how bewildered a guy must have been who wanted to lead a contemporary a cappella group whose main musical experience to that point had been primarily instrumental artists such as Kenny G and Yo Yo Ma, crooners like Diana Krall and Nat King Cole, and the kings of Christian Contemporary Music, dcTalk, Newsboys and Audio Adrenaline. Indeed if there were any contemporary artists that I followed for their music rather than following the music of a genre it would have been them. Honestly, the only group which remotely came to mind as a contemporary model for my a cappella group was dcTalk and they have always been phenominal, even now with my much wider musical experience I have not come across a more musically eclectic group in style, (fusing hip hop, rock and ethnic pop styles from places like inda and the middle east) excellence in vocal harmony, depth of lyrics or showmanship. The problem with artists like those... instrumentalists were too difficult for me to arrange for at the time, the soloist singers were a bit too chill for the flavor of the group, classical songs were meant for chorus class and too serious and though dcTalk had ridiculous vocal harmony and I'd have loved to arrange for them... I wasn't good enough yet and no one outside of the mainstream (oh yeah I was very mainstream there) christian community knew about them. So the only thing I could do was to drastically and rapidly expand my horizons. Professional a cappella groups often did covers of very popular songs in various genres, often genres that I had always been interested in but hadn't had time to explore. I started there and rapidly expanded, finding music i liked, less through the artist than by the genre and individual song. I'd often find a song fall in love with it and realize that if I were to associate the song with any particular artist it would have been Rockapella or Four Shadow or some other covering a cappella group rather than the original artist. I have strived to fix that as time has progressed.

I've been called lame and elitist in my musical taste but I can't disagree more... I actually take genuine offense to such sentiments...  sure my taste is definitely not mainstream. However, it fully includes any and all artists in the mainstream as long as you give me a chance to sit down and evaluate the music. I am conatantly seeking expansion of my musical horizons... I'm not a music elitist. Judgemental regection makes an elitist, not the ability to deeply appreciate music. Elitist implies non-inclusion... yet I am the furthest thing from that, I recreationally listen to so many genres of music that are otherwise reserved for movie soundtracks, school, church, "cultural understanding" showcases and ethnic street corner curiosities that my taste can't be described as anything but diverse and eclectic. True, I may not be able to name all the artists and songs in your favorite mainstream radio station but give me a moment to listen with you and I can tell you many more things about his or her background, musical style and influences than you would think possible for a first time listener. Furthermore, I will actually sit down, listen, give my full attention and not pass judgement upon the artist, song or genre, which is certainly more than most people will do. But I go further, rather than just listen and say "oh how nice", if it is a new genre of music I will try to find a defining song or characteristic that I like about the genre and when I find it, I can then legitimately say I have listened to and liked it. Thats the farthest thing from lame that I can imagine and it would in fact be more elitist to say, "oh phaw you are lame because you are less familiar than I in x mainstream pop genres".

More than anything else, music is about the attitude. I will never say I dislike a legitimate artist so long as they are proficient enough at their craft to be regarded as a professional, because in looking at any type of music there is always some aspect of their craft in whatever genre they function in that motivates and defines them. Something that makes what they do beautiful, wonderful or spectacular. That being said I feel it is in my best interest as one who calls himself a musician to continue listening, if not to that particular artist then to the genre they espouse, until I understand what it is makes their dearest fans love them so much.

Sometimes finding something to like in music is all about the context, whether that be mood, activity in conjuction, emotion, friend and or memory associated with it...

I absolutely abhorred hip hop...once. Then I discovered you could dance up a hurricaine to it. I thought techno was pointless too... once. Then I discovered the same thing. I once thought love ballads by Sinatra and Crosby were rather silly... once.  Until I began feeling those very feelings and discovered that there is no greater feeling than to sing those words out (and later swing dance to them). I used to be terrified of the thrashing, screaming, roaring noises of heavy metal... once. Then I discovered the feelings of exhiliration that a perfectly executed guitar riff can give and then went to a concert and found out how much fun moshing was. I used to dislike country... once. Then I discovered gems of songs with wonderful down to earth and beautifully introspective and reflective lyrics that really addressed the emotions of everyday life like nothing else.

So, if I ever tell you that a song or a genre hasn't struck me yet. I'm not rejecting it... honest to God. I'm telling you this with the full expectation that I will discover what it is that has struck you about it, with the hope that you will help me to find the same. Or at least something different that will strike me specially.

But I've digressed. All said, too much music on the radio is driven by the artist name, so much so that music almost ceases to be an artistic entity of its own that transcends the individual artist, and instead becomes a point of squabble for copyright legislation and profiteering. So what if you don't know the artist as long as you have the ability to listen and come to an appreciation of it. Music appreciation is not being able to list off all the mainstream artists that can roll off the top of your head. I can't do that because chances are the last fifteen songs I was listening to on Pandora I was paying little to no attention the artists name but all of it on the musical qualities of their song and the strength of their lyrics. 

What's an even greater shame is that all this emphasis on "who's that artist" and "what song is most popular today" severely detracts from the quality of music in general. Honestly most of the "most popular" songs that I listen to on the radio when I do are largely forgettable, or only notable for the inane number of times the song is repeated. Now I don't have a problem saying this because while I get fed up with songs on the radio its not the genre or even the artist that I am critiquing but rather the fact that I know such artists and genres are capable of producing better than just a repetitive melody filtered through a vocoder and synthbeat. Now there is a time and place for such things... such as a bar or club or party where you are too focused on dancing, getting smashed or chatting someone up to focus on anything other than the atmospheric effect of the beats, ambiance and drive, which do serve to help you to come out of yourself and hit the floor or make a move. At least they play it just once (at least the places that are any good) not like the radio where a song is spammed often up to five times in an hour. Occaisionally I will hear a song that is out of the ordinary and that truly strikes me, and as I have said before... I will search out the song, the artist and other songs by him or her. If I like a song enough I'll download it or buy it myself and then listen to it as many times as I want in the privacy of my home, rather than shoving it down every random person's ears. 

Maybe I have a bias against the supreme mashup on the radio and I don't give it enough of a chance. Maybe if I heard a song in another context rather than smoshed between other songs of unrelated quality then I'd pay more attention. While the radio makes most music a blur, it does do a good thing in that the truly memorable songs tend to stick out above the mush making them even more memorable. But if you want me to get to know an artist by listening to songs on the radio forget it, I won't remember. Their name will get lost. (unless of course the name is matched with a song that meets the above said condition- even then I often have to look up the song again later before finding out the artist). Futhermore, popular culture often seems such a determining factor on when music is supposedly "good" or  "bad", when I find an aspect of music I like... my like for that music stays. On the other hand if I initially find a type of music unremarkable often simply listening to it more will allow me to find the aspect of it that I enjoy and thence forth I will continue to like it.

For example I was never taken in by the whole boyband craze... but i always did love the  impeccable vocal harmony and showmanship that the Backstreet Boys and N'Sync had. This was way long before I even knew what close vocal harmony was... and then when they became overplayed and it became uncool to like them... I still enjoyed it. When dcTalk was the king of Christian Contemporary Music, I adored Kevin Max, the most eccentric of the trio because of the ridiculously wonderful quality and talent he had with his voice. But when dcTalk broke up and Kevin Max became a bit of a black sheep to the CCM community due to his eccentric ways, deeply questioning, metaphorical and often controversial or risque lyrics my appreciation for him as an artist never wavered. The things he does awes me even now. If I find something redeeming in funky supposedly uncool 80's music, then by all means I don't care think if you think thats uncool... bring on the Duran Duran! If what makes a type of music good is dependent upon an artist's pubic eye and approval rating then count me out.

If being cool means being a cookie cutter listener or a slave to the corporations than maybe being lame really is better. Personally, I like my diversity of music and I think that the diverse and eclectic ones are the truly cool ones.

Seriously though, being cool is the ability to be comfortable in what you are and refusing to accept anything else from yourself, or anyone else for that matter.

I think I've ranted enough now...

Ciao Bella

~J.I.

Specks of ash and soot floated into his face as he watched the impossible take place in front of him. The ancient city, no the indestructable city, the seat of all learning, all power, and the legacy of all his ancestors had somehow fallen. Es Eoh'den, his home, was burning.

Forcing himself to watch for a short while longer, Lorn finally tore his gaze away. Realizing the danger he was in, he steeled himself and turned back to the sheer cliff face. He had to keep going. He had to find his way up. There has got to be a way... 

Lorn finally found another handhold and began pressing upwards once more. 

~*~*~

After intermittently climbing and struggling for three hours up the unforgiving cliffs he finally discovered a long mountain goat trail that, if not easy, was at least safer than scrambling blindly up unknown rock faces. Lorn spent that night in a small cave whose previous owner had probably been some sort of dangerous mountain predator. Luckily this den had been long abandonned by the time he stumbled upon it half dead in exhaustion.

When he awoke it was still dark. Lorn pulled his body aching out of the cave.  He was unused to hiking but he figured that dark was the best time to avoid notice, and he had to continue. The wind began blowing violently again, pushing him into the stone wall and filling the air with the smell of burning wood and specks of ash. Looking back once again at the glowing city behind him, it was so easy to imagine that the streams of smoke rising up into the air were simply just the daily excrement of chimmenies, hearths and stoves as people went about their everyday activities, not the ruined, burning wrecks of houses, shops and livelihoods. 

Shaking his head in resignation, Lorn gritted his teeth and moved forward, but not before a single drop escaped, streaking down his sootstained face. Wiping it away furiously, he cursed under his breath.