Sounds from Innerspace

innerspaceboy · 03-23-2016, 07:49 PM

I watched the shared video three times. The first from as neutral a position as I could, the second critically, and the third was a painful fast-forward to expose my fiance to as little of the wretched thing as possible through her anguish and cries to make it stop.

She gasped, "dear god it's like country nu-metal!"

I see great value in the original work. It has historical and cultural significance as a generational anthem among its devotees. It addressed the social and political strife shared by the youth of the era, to say nothing of the angelic vocals of the legendary duo.

Also the minimal instrumentation and softly-sung vocals gave the lyrics a meditative and reflective sonic space - highly-conducive to the message of the song.

Disturbed's cover by comparison was adolescent, angsty, angry, and painfully derivative. The 60s covers trope was exhausted 10-15 years ago and peaked with Cash's American series (where he, himself covered S&G). This new recording offers nothing to add to the majesty of the original.

The vocals were far too showmanlike, obstructing the sensitive message of the lyrics. The track suffered from overproduction and was way too "over the top" in every respect.

No sir. I don't like it.

**Frownland** · 03-23-2016, 07:54 PM

State your well constructed opinion just like that and watch them fume while you enjoy some coffee.

innerspaceboy · 03-23-2016, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

State your well constructed opinion just like that and watch them fume while you enjoy some coffee.

Coffee at the ready.

Posting well-constructed opinion to thread.

Awaiting said fumes.

Tristan_Geoff · 03-23-2016, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by innerspaceboy

Dear MB readers - I want to pull on your coat a moment.

Someone I know (with whom I have many shared family friends) tagged me in FB in a post celebrating aggro-rockers, Disturbed for their apparently "outstanding" nu-metal cover of "The Sound of Silence". She and her friends praised it as being "vastly superior" to the original.

I felt that I had a responsibility, both as a critic and as a cultural custodian, to inform them, as unpopular as it will surely make me, that they have really ****ty taste in what is quantifiably and objectively a load of dingo's kidneys.

So I did. As expected they all whined about it, one going so far as to say, "I saw S&G perform this live in the 60s, but this new metal cover is so much angrier and that's what the song SHOULD have been."

I'm not going to apologize for being insensitive of their poor taste. I don't set out to be pretentious but this is a really extreme example of bad taste.

What do you think? Should I curb my high horse to spare people with low artistic standards or am I right to call them out for being the bottom of the cultural barrel?

I want to be a likeable and sensitive individual. This just "grinds my gears" and I'm sure I'll face similar situations in the future.

What do you think?

I think it's just like, their opinion man.

In all seriousness, taste is still objective. I mean sure, I agree with you, but that doesn't make me any more superior. You were fortunate enough to have found yourself in an environment where Disturbed was never really part of your listening reportoire, but these facebook friends you have are probably millennials or gen x'ers, and nu metal was the style embraced by teenagers and young adults of the era. Due to things like nostalgia and fitting in, which are important to all adolescents, they grew up never questioning their taste because they probably don't care. You have to remember, these are casual music fans. We're all full out fanatics. Of course we can't stand Disturbed, we know better. These people could care less if their post-punk listening is up to date or they've dug deep enough into krautrock. That doesn't mean they have bad taste, it means they have no taste. And they don't care.

Of course, correct me if I'm wrong.

innerspaceboy · 03-23-2016, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tristan Geoff

That doesn't mean they have bad taste, it means they have no taste. And they don't care.

You raise an excellent point, Tristan. I do need to bear in mind that they just don't care about music and the arts the way I do. I suppose the bit that makes me don my cape and leap into action is that statements like "Disturbed's cover is how S&G SHOULD have done it" (this uttered by a 60 year old mother), is so painfully askew from reality that I feel an obligation to the arts themselves to make a stand in their defense.

Perhaps it's a wasted battle when the villian doesn't care but it honestly feels like these people are dragging down the cultural standard of our society.

The really frightening reality is... these people are MOST of our society.

Tristan_Geoff · 03-23-2016, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by innerspaceboy

You raise an excellent point, Tristan. I do need to bear in mind that they just don't care about music and the arts the way I do. I suppose the bit that makes me don my cape and leap into action is that statements like "Disturbed's cover is how S&G SHOULD have done it" (this uttered by a 60 year old mother), is so painfully askew from reality that I feel an obligation to the arts themselves to make a stand in their defense.

Perhaps it's a wasted battle when the villian doesn't care but it honestly feels like these people are dragging down the cultural standard of our society.

The really frightening reality is... these people are MOST of our society.

True that.

innerspaceboy · 03-24-2016, 04:58 PM

It's finally arrived! After playing the FLAC on repeat all week, I can now add the LP edition to my batsh*t crazy Underworld collection!

Now playing: Underworld - Barbara, Barbara We Face a Shining Future (2016)

innerspaceboy · 04-02-2016, 02:59 PM

New Audio Project of the Morning!

My fiance has been hard at work sewing, knitting, and crocheting fun trinkets to gift to the guests at our wedding this August. We're having a very DIY wedding - crafting all of the display items, gift boxes, guest books, invitiations, RSVPs, our wedding vBulletin forum website, cake, wardrobe, etc ourselves.

Not to be left out of the creative process, I set myself to the task of constructing a multi-disc box set of our favorite musical selections which will be featured at the event. The album art is a collection of design pieces by John Warwicker of the Tomato Design Collective which have appeared in exhibitions throughout the UK and in Tokyo.

The set thus far comprises a series of volumes each focusing on a particular facet of our shared musical interest:

Acid Jazz / Dub / Lounge / Atmospheric D'n'B
Ambient House DJ sessions from Land of Oz and Heaven
Art Funk
Dream Pop
Finally, the Punk Rockers are Taking Acid
Future Jazz
Neo-Psychedelia, Psychedelic Pop, Dream Pop, Shoegaze, and 80s-90s College ock
Songs from the Street (Sesame favorites)
Jellyheads (Nu-Balearic Stylings of Fred Deakin and Lemon Jelly)
The Obligatory Karl Hyde (Because every wedding needs some Underworld)
Trip Hop & Downtempo Classics
and Ze Germans (Psychedelic space music from Berlin & Munich 1969-1979)

To best accommodate our guests' preferred listening styles, I applied uniform file naming conventions to all 168 tracks, organized the sets into their respective categorical subfolders, and tagged the %album% value for each track as "The Imaginarium: %genre%" to create instant accessibility whether by folder structure or by metadata in the music player of the listener's choice. They need simply key in "IMAGINARIUM" into their player's search window and all volumes of the wedding box set will populate.

To distribute the content I will order a bulk stock of flash drives (perhaps with custom graphics if the price is right), and I'll place the drives at each guest's seat on the day of the event.

It's my wedding... I'm going to have some fun with it!

Pet_Sounds · 04-02-2016, 04:44 PM

Late to the party, but, as a Simon and Garfunkel devotee, I champion you. Well done, sir.

innerspaceboy · 04-02-2016, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pet_Sounds

Late to the party, but, as a Simon and Garfunkel devitee, I champion you. Well done, sir.

Thank you my good man. Much appreciated.

03-23-2016, 07:54 PM	#232 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,548	State your well constructed opinion just like that and watch them fume while you enjoy some coffee. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

04-02-2016, 04:44 PM	#239 (permalink)
Pet_Sounds Remember the underscore Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: The other side Posts: 2,489	Late to the party, but, as a Simon and Garfunkel devotee, I champion you. Well done, sir. __________________ Everybody's dying just to get the disease Last edited by Pet_Sounds; 04-04-2016 at 05:38 PM.