> I have no idea what is involved in your music world, but nice to
> hear it is leading you into your life.
I think a safe assumption is that I've taken sufficient interest and
effort to try to become "expert level" as I sought to do with my
photography and audio engineering. There is a point of diminishing
returns, as well as a point where I've "been there done that" and it's
time to add another adventure or interest. With the exception of
salt-water aquariums, I've successfully maintained to some degree
every interest I've had. Oh, except bicycle racing. That did fall away
a bit because of my injuries. Although, there is a part of me that
would love to do a major bike trip here in Alaska. (hint hint hint).
After I do this round of events, I'll have a better idea of what of my
original music is getting anywhere, and if it gains any traction, I'll
release an EP or some remixes.
I'm really struggling with the usual techno performances and am
extremely sensitive to what I see in the crowd. It's kinda like the
band U2. Nobody actually liked U2, they only said they did because
everybody else said they did. It was the ultimate "peer pressure"
band. Only now do we find out that we all hated U2. Standard
EDM/Techno/House and variants all have the same general characteristic
in that it's all about repetition. It runs on the principle of jazz
music in that if you play a wrong note enough times it becomes the
right note. Another analogy is making a peanut-butter sandwich:
Normal music:
Take two slices of bread,
Butter each slice,
Spread peanut butter on one,
Flip one slice over onto the other,
Eat sandwich.
EDM music:
Take, take, take, take, take, take, take, take,
Take, take, take, take, take, take, take, take,
Take two, take two, take two, take two, take two, take two, take two, take two,
Take two, take two, take two, take two, take two, take two, take two, take two,
Take, take, take, take, take, take, take, take,
Take, take, take, take, take, take, take, take,
Two, two, two, two, two, two, two, two,
Two, two, two, two, two, two, two, two,
(add bassline, and repeat)...
I'm so ADHD that I'm about to go nuts. Give me SOMETHING to do.
However, in reality, this is the music equivalent to sitting on the
beach and watching the waves roll in. Some people really need that
sameness that allows them to escape into whatever world they need to
escape into. The rest of us are checking the clock on our cellphone
and wondering if the other nightclub is still open. As you all know,
my brain is wired a bit differently in that I'm some disturbed
combination of
inventor-artist-engineer-technician-dreamer-teacher-geek-historian...
I love to combine things together in ways that have never been done
before. It's all a big game of Legos (tm) to me.
I find connections and relationships that are foreign to each other
but in the end somehow make sense. Kinda like comedy in that regard. I
find it intriguing that the standard loop length for EDM is built on
8-bar and 16-bar loops. Mostly 16 bars (4 beats to a bar or measure).
So, that's 30 seconds. How long are commercials on radio and
television? All are multiples of exactly 30 seconds. In the western
culture, we are conditioned to measure everything in our life in
relationship to 30 second and 1 minute intervals. So the logical brain
inside my head says that the moment we go past this standard
time-based interval, we will start to lose interest. More of the same
does not make it better. It just makes it more of the same. If I'm
bored, I know somebody else is. I am a people watcher and the moment I
see somebody check their phone on the dance floor, I know it's time to
change songs.
Historically, this has been this way because of the influence of the
early rave scene which was all about drugs. (Acid House anyone?) These
days, the rave scene is polar opposite. (The substance abuse and other
debauchery might still be found, but at no higher level than any other
club scene or concert. In fact, half the events are under-age friendly
and end around midnight. This is because the EDM scene is very
sensitive to needing to bring in the next generation of young people,
and it's impossible to do so if every event is 21+. So there is a
concerted effort to provide "clean" raves targeted at young people.
This is not by accident, it is deliberate.
Regardless, this repetition is the format, but I personally feel that
the format is a holdover and is running its course. We're actually
starting to see another genre shift with the music as there are a few
people like me who are tired of taking 30 second loops and repeating
them for 8-10 minutes. With the lower level of substance abuse in the
crowd, the draw of having repetition that goes on for a zillion hours
is no longer relevant.
So, anyway, that's me. I'm here trying to change an entire format of
music because of my own extreme levels of ADHD and the fact that I
know WHY commercials are 30 and 60 seconds long.
But that has never stopped me from writing too much.
AK Schnozz
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