“I could do that”(No actually you couldn’t): Beginnings of the Electronic Music rant, pt. 1

My electronic music rant is forthcoming; I wanted to do a little research first. In the meantime, here’s a related rant.


I believe that every critic should try to compose music once or try his/her hand at learning an instrument. I’m not talking a casual effort. Actually try.

For my part, I sang for most of high school and I made an attempt to learn the flute (Don’t ask me why) as well as the guitar. I’ve also tried my hand at lyrics and very briefly at composing. I have also made a hobby of covering songs and hiding them on my computer where they will never, ever see the light of day.

Because of this, you will never hear me say, “I could write a better song than that/ play better than that.” Whenever I hear someone say that I have the exact same response.
“Bring it.”
And if you do, I’ll shut my mouth and buy you a drink.

I’d like you all to take a moment and get some good headphones or a good speaker, or at least the best you have. Sit down and listen to a song you think is really fantastic. Not just the lyrics, but the sounds that make up that song, weather it's a minimal acoustic number or an ornate piece of electronic music or anything else. I guarantee you’ll hear the song completely differently. Even with a simple pop song.

To prove my point, lets examine a random song from the top 100
Radioactive by Imagine Dragons

Fairly simple song from the sound of it––it has a solid beat and catchy chorus.

Lets break it down:

The first thing we hear is the the drum work
Starts off simple enough, a strong, slightly distorted bass drum line, grows from there incorporating what sounds like an electric drum as well as a traditional drum kit.

While that’s happening we get a short guitar (two guitars, technically) intro, simple, not recurrent, but it launches the vocals

 Next we hear some subtle vocals, no lyrics yet, but the vocals and the electronic components start up right next to each other (for the record we are looking at four layers before the proper lyrics start

Now we actually get the vocals properly (layer 5) witch are meticulously tied back to the drum work and some keyboard work (6) that pins down the melody.
Finally,the harmonies round out the vocals (7)

And I’m not even diving into the subtelties of the song or the balancing of aformeitoned components.

For the record,  this is the first 58 seconds of the song. Less than a minute and there’s that much to a simple radio song. Radio songs have simple formulas and tend to follow age-old patterns. That is not to say they are bad, but they have a familiarity to them. Even with that formula there is complexity.

Arin, you say, I’m not saying I can write a rock song, that takes actual talent.. I’m saying I can do that “wub wub, beep, scree” stuff.
Looping back to last week’s entry, I should add a note. People riff on the ‘lyrics’ to dubstep and other electronic music because there aren’t traditional lyrics and what is there doesn't function the way we think it should.

It is very hard to put the components of electronic music into words because strictly speaking they tend to be the same instruments, but I encourage you to do a little exercise—consider this your homework. (I’ll go easy on you. Listen to, lets use an electronic music classic, Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster,” and just count the number of sounds, loops and so on that are present in that song and the variations thereon.
Take Notes, I’ll wait.
It will sound silly—you’re dealing with components that are alien to someone who listens to traditional instrumentation.

Even as a critic, here’s what my notes looked like:
First you get something that sounds like a car starting. Then two dueling sounds come in–– a lower, slightly more warped that because the backbone for the drum work, and a higher twangier one that becomes the backbone to the lyrics and the melody.
The lyrics are VERY simple. They are the same words over and over, but they become wholly different elements with wholly different feelings over the course of the song because of how they are tuned or warped.

Now pull out your computer and download or open a music composing program (ther are ones online that are free) Just try to duplicate that sound, let alone make your own.

Now go back and listen again. Not so simple is it?

What We Talk About When We Talk About Genre.

When I was growing up, alternative rock and grunge were really hitting their strides. Gravely voices and down-tuned guitars were familiar radio fixtures. From that, music lovers of my generation gained a strong aversion to pop music, but I am hard-pressed to get a really solid reason out of people beyond “it’s dumb.”
I admit I had this same aversion growing up until a few pop songs leaked in to my repertoire during high school.

Let’s look at a few the criteria for the alternative rock in the mid 90s through today:

1. Heavy use of guitars, and bass.
2. Minimal, if any, use of synthesizers and electronic elements. *
3. Often motivational, strong lyrics designed to be provocative
4. More focused vocals—usually only one lead vocalist.

Conversely, let's look at pop in the 90s and forward.

1. Light, if any guitar work, almost no bass work.
2. Heavy use of synthesized sound.
3. Simplistic, accessible lyrics designed to make the listener feel good and/or dance.
4. Use of simple harmonies.

If the the criteria of alternative rock songs are applied to a pop song, then of course the listener is going miss the powerful lyrics, or the deep bass. The manufactured feel will come across trite and shallow.  Conversely, if the listener was raised on pop music, the gravelly voices might great on their ears, or the bass might feel physically uncomfortable.
However, if one takes a moment to hold these genres to their own standards, a lot more music suddenly sounds good. Example, Backstreet Boys don't make good rock songs. The music is too simplistic and the lyrics are two-dimensional. However, they make fantastic pop music, their harmonies, while simple, are very strong and and their beats are incredibly easy to dance to.

Conversely, 90s Alt rock classic The Goo Goo Dolls, would make a terrible pop band. No harmonies to speak of, one of the vocalists sounds a bit like a gremlin (which is part of h is charm from my end) and the heavy guitar work almost drowns out the vocals on some songs. However, they are an amazing alternative rock band. Innovative guitar tunings are combined with killer vocals and passionate, evocative lyrics to make a perfect storm. The lead vocalist also stands out brilliantly.

This is why I take issue with genre biases. I would have missed out on a fabulous show if I’d turned my nose up at pop music this past summer. I don’t even know how many rock shows I went to, that I would have missed if I’d turned my nose up at them.

Pop and alternative rock aren’t the only genres that face this problem. Time and again, I have to rationalize my love of certain less popular genres and explain what makes them innovative and powerful to me. This dialogue is part of what makes music so wonderful; everyone has an opinion, a pet song, or genre, and often takes if very personally if their music is insulted.

However, you can’t listen to the same thing every day and expect to have new music fall in your lap. It is imperative to sniff out the things that make you itchy and maybe listen to some songs that are just plain bad in order to find things that really speak to you as a listener. The more you grow as a fan, the more you sniff, the more unexpectedly wonderful things you'll find. In the era of YouTube and Spotify, there is literally nothing to lose other than time and the odd brain cell and there are literally thousands of songs to gain.

In short, keep your favorites close, but keep your ears sharp, you never know what you’ll run into.

Next topic: Dubstep and Innovation.

*for the purposes of this piece I don’t mean things like electric guitars and basses,  that's a given in non-acoustic music,  here I am referring to  things that are computerized and/or completely digital.

News Update/ Small Rant

Not what I normally post here, But this heavily impacts my industry. And I’m pissed about it.

I’d like to have a moment of silence for Q101 being taken off the air at 1:07am CDT last Friday. RIP Q101, thanks for all of your support and the countless festivals and rock shows. I will be very interested to see what happens in the Chicago music scene without you. Good luck to the lovely gentleman who turned it into a news station. Cause Chicago needed more news stations.

I’m sorry, dear readers, but Q101 was a part of the chicago music soul. It may not have been the biggest music station out there, but it was home. They will be missed and I can’t help but be a little bitter.

Good news is the “internet radio” will still be there-- no DJs though.

I usually don’t get political on this blog, but please don’t support the man who is trying to destroy the chicago music scene. I know he hasn’t out and said it but thats basically what it seems to be trying to do. Taking two of chicago’s major rock stations out, one of which was a key element in the festival and concert arena right as the music industry is finally turning around its slump is nothing short of a slap in the face.

People lost jobs from this. One of the guys had been working at this station for 13 years. and thats gone now.

Boycott 101.1, 97.1. Let them know exactly what we think of this change. It won’t bring back our DJs or put our station back the way it was, but maybe, just maybe it will have an impact. And maybe, just maybe, people will think twice before tangling with chicago radio.

I’m usually a supporter of the radio, call me old fassioned here, but I like the excitement of unexpectedly hearing something good, or better still something good and new. The fun of looking up this new band and figuring out if they are, in fact, good. The local, sometimes really interesting, music.

I sincerely hope that radio doesn’t go the way of the music video. I seriously miss that.

so

I was gonna rant about how Kill Hannah Canceled one of their biggest reoccurring shows because their front man is on Broadway, but that’s old news at this point (and can’t for the life of me find the draft) Due to the recent dearth of good shows/ depression on my part/ general life intervention, things have been numbingly slow around here.

So I figured I’d start on these non-review posts

How about a little “Who are you and why re you doing this?”

I’m Arin. I live just outside of Chicago, which is the best city on earth, particularly when it comes to one of my two big passions: Music (the other being writing, funny how they go together). In my other life, I’m an author of a few fantasy/urban novels, and a bunch of sci-fi short stories. (Not so published yet. Depressing.) When I was a kid, this wasn’t what i wanted, I wanted to be a rock star, still do, but i’ve recognized its not really my calling-- no talent in that arena. What I do have though is an overabundance of passion for music-- all sorts of genres too, though rock/metal are my pet-genres. I’ve ben going to concerts for most of my life at this juncture (from the time i was 3, but more seriously when i hit 14) I do it for the energy and for the people who’ve changed my life. I know a lot of people say that but for me it is really true, the music that I’m passionate about profoundly affects my life. There are literally songs that have saved my life.

Music is my driving force without any exaggeration.

Well yeah, you and a bunch of teenagers, but what makes you so special?

I also write, that's my other big passion. I started that around the same age I started on music-- i ‘wrote’ my first book at 3. It was a 5 page thing the size of a post-it pad that was constructed largely because i saw a think on how to make a book out of cardboard and wrapping paper on “3, 2, 1 Contact." dictated to a baby sitter, but it was there. I’ve been trying to write ever since. First novel was written at 15, you get the gist. I was born doing two things-- writing and listening to music.

I figured out-- after much insistence/ persistence that i did not, in fact, have any talents worthy of the stage and while I pretended to move on it away stung. I wanted to be up there, dammit. Bin back stage was NOT cutting it. Once I got through college and got on my feet, i was set loose on the city of Chicago. It took me a few years to figure out that i should turn my post concert critiques into something constructive, but one i did it became a self feeding habit. I needed the concerts for the blog, I needed the blog to keep me hunting when I got depressed.

And thus, a new outlet for my addiction was born.

So that’s why I’m here, in short-- I have an addiction to feed.