Comments | megatherium: more half baked music speculation

megatherium

more half baked music speculation

Oct 30, 2006 20:19

this whole business of the new squarepusher album playing better in alphabetical order has been making me think about the evolution of art from passive to active. like, they say videogames aren't art because they require user input, whereas movies or stories are completely passive on the user's part. but what about music? how important is the ( Read more... )

Comments 10

i like listening to the album in order happiesachi October 30 2006, 22:06:41 UTC

i think the artisit thinks of a certain flow when putting it together. especially the albums with no real breaks between songs. at least once or twice before i start skipping through the tracks i don't like as much. but you should be able to listen to it in any order you want. if it sounds better to you one way, then listen to it in that order. i don't think there's anything wrong with that.
i don't think there are specific lines reallie, i mean i wouldn't go around the de young drawing over other people's paintings...but i could go home and copy something from a painting or photograph that i reallie liked and modify it without messing with the original.
who messes with tracks with a track editor? that's just wierd.

Re: i like listening to the album in order megatherium October 31 2006, 01:10:57 UTC

yeah, i'm sure that most artistically inclined musicians take tracklisting pretty seriously, and it sort of matters less and less as you move towards the pop end of the spectrum. but i guess the thing i'm considering here actually permanently changing the track order of an album, and potentially deleting several tracks. i mean i guess at that point i can't really call it by its original name.... plus, its difficult to compare music with physical art because there is one real copy of a painting whereas music can be replicated infinitely and each copy is more or less as valid as the last. but what if i'm sharing music online? should i go out of my way to tag albums that have been modified, or should i share what i consider to be a better tracklisting (with a misleading name?) also, i used a track editor once to cut down a 17 minute song into a four minute song. it sounded like two distinct songs to me (there was silence separating the two), and i liked the first song better, but the artist stuck them together on one track.

is it wrong for a comment to be longer than the entry..? hunglikeahorse October 31 2006, 00:37:56 UTC

depends on the intention of the artist ( ... )

Re: is it wrong for a comment to be longer than the entry..? hunglikeahorse October 31 2006, 00:45:45 UTC

hail to the thief is a perfect example of why singles-oriented albums suck. doesn't matter how many ways you rearrange those tracks, they're still totally weak and the album has no flow.

beck's new album, the information: what's the point of rearranging tracks that aren't even that great to begin with? focus on the MUSIC people! THE MUUSSIICC! (using grandpa simpsons voice)

you know what, i don't even care if you make an album of all singles, at least make the singles good. like squarepusher, good singles that if you rearrange in the right way make a better album. at least he accidentally got the formula right.

Re: is it wrong for a comment to be longer than the entry..? megatherium October 31 2006, 01:24:37 UTC

geez, theres a lot to respond to, so i guess i'll try and do this in order of what you wrote ( ... )

allbadendsall October 31 2006, 02:02:53 UTC

personally having put together an ep and a solo album i have to say this. when the band made the ep we definately had a certain order we wanted the songs to go in, does it necessarily need to be that way? no, but when you start deleting songs i think you no longer have the complete album, because you literally dont have the complete album the artist released as that piece. if it wasnt intended that way then the artists wouldnt have put certain tracks on the album ( ... )

megatherium October 31 2006, 02:37:11 UTC

what if the concept of an album isn't a story, but rather it is intended to create a specific progression of feelings or reactions? i mean couldn't you say that most albums have that as a concept of sorts, and that by rearranging them, you've in some way significantly changed the intended album? if you say "i really love this album" but you skip one of the tracks everytime you listen to it, does that make that statement untrue? is a director's cut the only true cut of a movie, because it has been untainted by outsiders (this analogy is somewhat false because it takes so many people to make a movie...but...)? then again if artists didn't want people changing the track listing i guess they would just make one long track (except that the industry doesn't allow them to). this is making my head hurt.

hunglikeahorse October 31 2006, 03:03:42 UTC

yeah seriously this is making my head hurt too ( ... )

hunglikeahorse October 31 2006, 03:04:17 UTC

the artist actually might be offended but nobody cares.

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