Philosophy Discussion Forums

I'm temporarily distracted from the music at the moment, as I have just taken delivery of a new DAC. I already had a Chord Mojo, and now, after 8 years or so, Chord have updated it. It is sufficiently improved that I have taken the plunge and bought the new one. It's improved across the board. Each and every individual and detailed characteristic has been boosted; the collective result is … impressive. I'm plundering my collection to see what it sounds like now...

I always worried less about sound quality than most. I suppose that I get more of a kick out of music's relativities than its absolutes. Certainly I will always gain more enjoyment from a great arrangement at low fidelity over repetitive music with immaculate sound. Of course, a great arrangement that sounds like the band is in your living room is ideal :)

Sy Borg wrote: ↑March 14th, 2022, 12:59 am I always worried less about sound quality than most. I suppose that I get more of a kick out of music's relativities than its absolutes. Certainly I will always gain more enjoyment from a great arrangement at low fidelity over repetitive music with immaculate sound. Of course, a great arrangement that sounds like the band is in your living room is ideal

Hi-fi is only for those who enjoy their music enough to pay out quite a lot extra for very little benefit: the law of diminishing returns. But even the cheapest music system these days is surprisingly good. And as you say, it's the music that matters; the equipment is just the icing on the cake.

But, with my new DAC, the drums and bass play a note, not just a sort of deep thud. And so on...

The band in your living room is fine, unless you invited Jim Morrison (for example) into your house. That would be a Big Mistake, I think. He wrote great songs, but there are limits. He would leave your house in uproar, and your granny pregnant!

But now I'm rambling, and there's music to be enjoyed.

Pattern-chaser wrote: ↑March 15th, 2022, 8:31 am

Sy Borg wrote: ↑March 14th, 2022, 12:59 am I always worried less about sound quality than most. I suppose that I get more of a kick out of music's relativities than its absolutes. Certainly I will always gain more enjoyment from a great arrangement at low fidelity over repetitive music with immaculate sound. Of course, a great arrangement that sounds like the band is in your living room is ideal :)

Hi-fi is only for those who enjoy their music enough to pay out quite a lot extra for very little benefit: the law of diminishing returns. But even the cheapest music system these days is surprisingly good. And as you say, it's the music that matters; the equipment is just the icing on the cake.

But, with my new DAC, the drums and bass play a note, not just a sort of deep thud. And so on... 😍

The band in your living room is fine, unless you invited Jim Morrison (for example) into your house. That would be a Big Mistake, I think. He wrote great songs, but there are limits. He would leave your house in uproar, and your granny pregnant! 🤯

But now I'm rambling, and there's music to be enjoyed. 🏃‍♂️

Having said that, I'm fussier in old age than I used to be. I find the sound quality of phone recordings of concerts on YouTube pretty well unlistenable.

I too enjoy beautiful rich bass sounds. The most beautiful musical sounds I've heard would probably be cello.

Here Jim Morrison did not make it all the way into the lounge room, only the rehearsal studio :) (he comes in at around half a min)

A splendid song by Gustav Holst:


Betelgeuse
On Betelgeuse the gold leaves hang in golden aisles
For twice a hundred million miles,
And twice a hundred million years
They golden hang and nothing stirs,
On Betelgeuse.
Space is a wind that does not blow
On Betelgeuse and time is a bird,
Whose wings have never stirred
The golden avenues of leaves
On Betelgeuse.
On Betelgeuse there is nothing that joys or grieves
The unstirred multitude of leaves,
Nor ghost of evil or good
Haunts the gold multitude
On Betelgeuse.
And birth they do not use
Nor death on Betelgeuse,
And the God, of whom we are infinite dust,
Is there a single leaf of those gold leaves
On Betelgeuse.

Consul wrote: ↑March 19th, 2022, 4:36 pm Betelgeuse
…

By the way, Betelgeuse is a star: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse

From the sublime to the ridiculous - Monty Python's Philosophers Song

Sy Borg wrote: ↑March 12th, 2022, 5:40 am

Papus79 wrote: ↑February 10th, 2022, 11:55 pm

Pattern-chaser wrote: ↑February 3rd, 2022, 12:57 pm I haven't listened to that since around 1974, when it was released.

The more time goes on and I keep listening to music from other times, with the appreciation as to what goes into making it all work, I see where it's been less about musical progress than picking different orchards. I don't know if I'd go quite as far as saying it all peaked in the 70's and went downhill from there, it at least seems to have peaked in some ways albeit some of that's returning now as well. I really get the feeling that it's more like a certain way of doing things gets strip-mined, tapped out, and things change because the trees in the orchard are stripped to the bark.

I remember the times, back in 1997 and 1998 when I was still a teen, alternative rock was really turning to crap, and then dark drum n bass hit my radar and it's like a whole new world opened up, ie. other orchards, where the Headbanger's Ball of the early 90's was falling off, as was the skater thrash, the grittier alternative, etc.. To me it almost felt like they were tapping into a mystical/supernatural reservoir but doing it in a way that was urban, gritty, multiracial, etc.. It seems like each orchard has it's five or ten years where the time to be there was in that space. You'll have some faint echoes maybe twenty or twenty-five years later but for the most part if those echoes can't completely rebuild the old concept enough to find whole new orchards to explore then they're mostly just raking in nostalgia points. In that sense I think prog rock's best decade was perhaps the 70's even if it's gotten quite prolific today.

Sorry if that was a bit of a long winding spiel, I've just been feeling a bit of Mark Fisher's warning in 'Slow Cancellation of the Future', and it seems by and large to be about that conceptual depletion, which makes me wonder what will even be left to excavate in another twenty or thirty years - probably not a lot.

In the 70s, music was one of the primary forms of entertainment. Music has always acted as background for social events, movies and rituals but it also had a strong presence in itself. People would put on a song and just listen. Now there usually needs to be associated multimedia content, be it video or games. Music is now not often taken on its own terms - art for art's sake - but it must earn its keep as a helper as people become ever more visually oriented.

I loved the old prog rock of the 70s. I was into music for the magical moments, and I found prog was good at delivering them. Later prog, as with other forms of rock, did not really extend the form, rather just refine aspects.

I have a feeling that games will similarly subsume movies.

Of the new bands, I really enjoy Dirty Loops, who meld infectious pop ideas and production with insane skills, all played with a sense of fun.

GODDAMN!!! The bass and wind instrument on point!!!

thegoldbering wrote: ↑March 21st, 2022, 6:42 pm

Sy Borg wrote: ↑March 12th, 2022, 5:40 am

Papus79 wrote: ↑February 10th, 2022, 11:55 pm

Pattern-chaser wrote: ↑February 3rd, 2022, 12:57 pm I haven't listened to that since around 1974, when it was released. 😉

The more time goes on and I keep listening to music from other times, with the appreciation as to what goes into making it all work, I see where it's been less about musical progress than picking different orchards. I don't know if I'd go quite as far as saying it all peaked in the 70's and went downhill from there, it at least seems to have peaked in some ways albeit some of that's returning now as well. I really get the feeling that it's more like a certain way of doing things gets strip-mined, tapped out, and things change because the trees in the orchard are stripped to the bark.

I remember the times, back in 1997 and 1998 when I was still a teen, alternative rock was really turning to crap, and then dark drum n bass hit my radar and it's like a whole new world opened up, ie. other orchards, where the Headbanger's Ball of the early 90's was falling off, as was the skater thrash, the grittier alternative, etc.. To me it almost felt like they were tapping into a mystical/supernatural reservoir but doing it in a way that was urban, gritty, multiracial, etc.. It seems like each orchard has it's five or ten years where the time to be there was in that space. You'll have some faint echoes maybe twenty or twenty-five years later but for the most part if those echoes can't completely rebuild the old concept enough to find whole new orchards to explore then they're mostly just raking in nostalgia points. In that sense I think prog rock's best decade was perhaps the 70's even if it's gotten quite prolific today.

Sorry if that was a bit of a long winding spiel, I've just been feeling a bit of Mark Fisher's warning in 'Slow Cancellation of the Future', and it seems by and large to be about that conceptual depletion, which makes me wonder what will even be left to excavate in another twenty or thirty years - probably not a lot.

In the 70s, music was one of the primary forms of entertainment. Music has always acted as background for social events, movies and rituals but it also had a strong presence in itself. People would put on a song and just listen. Now there usually needs to be associated multimedia content, be it video or games. Music is now not often taken on its own terms - art for art's sake - but it must earn its keep as a helper as people become ever more visually oriented.

I loved the old prog rock of the 70s. I was into music for the magical moments, and I found prog was good at delivering them. Later prog, as with other forms of rock, did not really extend the form, rather just refine aspects.

I have a feeling that games will similarly subsume movies.

Of the new bands, I really enjoy Dirty Loops, who meld infectious pop ideas and production with insane skills, all played with a sense of fun.

GODDAMN!!! The bass and wind instrument on point!!!

True! I could watch the bassist and drummer all day.