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Re: [microsound] worship the decibel...
volume is intrinsic to musical aesthetics.
see: rise of industrialization, electricity, urbanization, machine
power, automation, highways and helicopters, Italian Futurism. see:
the impact of microphone amplification on the aesthetics of pop
singing, crooning and the construction of intimacy and aura. see:
nothing less than the entire history of rock n' roll music and the
relationship between authenticity and rebellion. also see: entire
history of jamaican sound system music, dub and the politics of
bass. and while we are at it: disco and house - genres named after
the venues in which the music is played. also: the impact of the
walkman, Reaganism, and the sequestering and isolating of consumers
into private sound spaces. conversely: the rise of a ghetto blasters
as fashion/political statement (public enemy, rap music, spike lee's
'do the right thing,' that bus scene in 'star trek IV,' colourful
metaphors, vulcan nerve pinches and middle fingers to the man). also
see: everything that is good and great about technological music,
brilliant sound systems, the human imagination, dancing, aural
immersion and epiphanic sensory experiences. and let's not forget the
dark side: the power of anger, hate, pain, self-loathing, disdain and
all the other kinds of emotions artists both feel and willingly
inflict on their audience, transformed into sound; safety pins, pogo
dancing and punk music, sadomasochism, goth culture, nine inch nails,
tattoos and body modification, cyberpunk, sound weapons, sonar, and
fucked up dolphins, and other forms of aquatic casualties due to the
american military industrial complex. see also: being generally
speaking pissed off at yourself and the entire world and the pleasure
derived from the involuntary invasion of private space.
these genres do not operate at low volume. their meaning is tied
into the the physical power of amplification and bass.
wear earplugs. and if you still don't like it then the music and the
musicians are probably achieving what they set out to do.
go home and complain on microsound and try and find solace in the
other squares here who don't 'get it' either.
g.
So again: I ask why? If you play your music at physically damaging
volumes, why? What do you hope to get out of it? And what are you
expecting of your audience?
I'll also say that I'm 26, I hate being this curmudgeonly, but I
want to be able to hear in the future.
nick
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