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Re: [microsound] death of monoculture



Marinos Koutsomichalis wrote:

the point i'm trying to make is - by living in that enivornment, it *became* my thing, because that's what everyone else was listening to. i didn't like dub before those two summers, now i love it.

That happens because either you didn' t have a strong "culture" of your own, or you care too much about what others do, or you try to understand and give a try to everything different you may encounter.

no, it happened because my main inlet of music was this radio station. there was no broadband internet, and i could only afford to buy a few CDs a year.

But I fail to understand your point, you like the idea of a lot of people listening to the same piece or genre, ok, that's fine, the problem is how many of those really "listen" to that piece,

i don't think this matters within pop culture. it's a sense of comfort and familiarity, like i know i can meet my friends on the street and talk to them about music and they'll have heard the same stuff i've heard, even though i'm a musician and they're not, or i'm into techno and they're into rock.

as to the idea of who 'really' listens to music and who just uses it as ear-candy or background noise: i think the distinction is valid in some cases, but this (popular culture) isn't one of them.

> I think that
in most occasions they are just used to it (and that is not "culture" by no means..) if not, then they should be aware and interested in a whole other pieces, composers or genres (being critical listeners), if so, then I would expect them normally not to restrain or limit themselves to one track or genre...

i think, perhaps, you're talking here about cultural practitioners - people who really do music -- rather than just ordinary folk who hang out and live their lives, with music as just one angle on their lives (which is the kind of cultural experience i'm interested in discussing here).

I don;t imply that one may not coexist with the other, no, of course they could, I just want to understand what the criteria should be, so we could tune the conversation to the right direction, because we can' t judge "cultures" or "monocultures" with what "everybody else is listening" when he hangs out for drinks, or dinner..

this is Christgau's point, though - within a monoculture, you can judge musical (popular) culture as 'what everybody is listening to'. my parents talk about when they were young, and how when certain new albums came out, it was true that everyone actually was listening to it. i'm jealous of them for this, because this is something that my generation has never really experienced in music.

--
damian stewart | +31 6 5902 5782 |  damian@xxxxxxxxxx
frey | live art with machines | http://www.frey.co.nz

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