Re: Likeness of music

J. (jkulesza@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca)
Mon, 19 Feb 1996 14:33:08 -0500 (EST)

On Mon, 19 Feb 1996, Carlos Sanz Ramirez wrote:
> When I got back home I reviewed my CD's and began thinking seriuosly
> about it. I'm not talking about the similarities that define a "style" or a
> "sub-group" in music, but perhaps a lack of imagination and creativity or a
> tendency to only follow the stream and not adding nothing new and
> interesting. In most of the AJ-ish CD's I have, at the end, you can't tell
> apart one group from another ( exagerating a little bit...). But it's not
> only AJ: music stlyes are neatly distinguished, but inside those styles,
> groups are so much similar they seem to have been created from the same
> matrix ( as the new pop wave from the UK or the punk revival groups from the
> west coast of the US).
>
> Is it that the companies are putting pressure on the groups to
> release their work according to the latest fashion on the street? Or it's
> the artist the ones that are guilty of "overconcepting" their works but, at
> the same time, lacking to give them a fresher, more stimulating turn?
> Perhaps I'm re-opening the old "major labels vs. indies" debate, which I
> don't intend because, in their own way, they all too sound similar.
>
> I'm not trying to begin a flame contest here, I was just asking this
> to myself, and now to you: Is this realy "likeness" of sound, or do I suffer
> from neurosis and a rare hearing disease?

I think there will always be a likeness of sound in any genre that
becomes popular, as newcomers try to capitalize on the success of the
genre's pioneers. But I think in any musical genre there will always be
people whom you can listen to and identify as being distinct. For me in
the aj genre, Greyboy, UFO, and Portishead come to mind as bands that
definitely have a distinctive sound within the genre.

I do think however, that your comment about bands being pushed into a
certain musical style is also valid, whether that push comes from a
record company or from the bands own desire to capitalize on the 'new
sound.' I think the most obvious example of this would be in the lat 70's
when countless hitherto unsuccessful bands refashined themselves as
punk-bands and caught the frenzy, despite their lack of musical skill and
fresh ideas.

Thus, with a genre such as AJ, it is inevitable that there will be
bandwagon jumpers unschooled in the roots of the music, and thus
following what they see as an AJ-formula. But I don't think that there is
a general trend towards a likeness of sound, just a certain amount of
inevtiable overlapping and copying. I'm hoping it'll be a long time
before this genre stops being innovative and forward looking.

jakub.

% jkulesza@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca
% a member of an ape-like race at the asshole end of the 20th century
% http://www.undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca/~jkulesza