[microsound] post-laptop era?

[David Powers]

First of all, the idea of "popular" music is totally misleading,
because it usually refers to forms that are the result of the culture
industry, and the demand for such music cannot be seperated from the
"musical-industrial complex" that manufactures and markets such music.
Now, if you want to talk about a form of music that did not arise out
of the culture industry, such as West African tribal drumming, then we
can really talk about a form of popular music (and I did in fact
mention it).

Second, notice how your argument tries to pin me down to some
black-and-white position, when in fact what I am talking about is far
more nuanced. My original example referenced "My Favorite Things," a
pop tune if there ever was one, straight from the "Sound of Music."
What is amazing about the Coltrane version is precisely his ability
not to simply repeat the tune in some trite form, but to encounter
this simple song and bring out an abstract beauty that no one could
have foreseen, a beauty that seems to come from somewhere beyond this
world. Coltrane engages with pop music in exactly the correct way,
performing the impossible feat of evoking the blues, Jazz, African,
and classical Indian music all at the same time, and with his sublime
interpretation redeeming the songs' utopian potential and through his
engagement creating a true musical Event.

Third, even if my argument is elitist, how does that prove it wrong?
If the exercise of critical reason and aesthetic judgment makes me
elitist, then we need more elitists! Far worse than elitism is the old
bourgeois relativism which now appears as postmodern relativism that
says that everything is personal preference, no one can say anything
about anything really, it's all just a matter of opinion. Not only is
the end result of such a position totally nihilistic, since there can
be no meaning, but the position contradicts itself; since if
everything is relative, than elitism is just as valid as relativism!

And to go further, there is a difference between saying that people
have different tastes, and saying all taste is relative. To say that
two people might disagree about the best food, where one prefers sushi
and the other prefers a choice steak, is not the same as saying that
since everyone has different taste, McDonald's is "just as good" as
sushi and steak. Likewise, I don't deny that some will have different
taste in music than me, but that in no way invalidates the idea that
we can make aesthetic judgments about the quality of works. The fact
that such judgments are finite and human, does means that no judgment
can be "completely true," but that is a condition of being human and
does not mean that we cannot make reasonably judgments as to the
nature of things.

I am extremely skeptical of these anti-elitist, relativist arguments,
because they would seem to be nothing but the pure ideology of global
capitalism; since every commodity is equal to some amount of money,
every commodity is indeed relatively equal, in the fact that it can be
bought and sold on the market place. In the case of music, the
equality is even closer, since the price of music on itunes or a CD
does not vary with the quality of the music. The fact is, arguing
against elitism means arguing for a system where the rich get richer
and the poor get poorer, for it is this very system that produces the
ideology of relativism. Those who say that all choices are relative
precisely justify the suffering of those who have no choice but to
take whatever they can, while the more spiritual and refined pleasures
of civilization are reserved for those on top.

Does it take education and the existence of time outside the realm of
work to appreciate Mahler or Mingus? Then let us destroy work and
increase education, rather than depriving the world Mahler and Mingus
and deluding ourselves that those with little means are getting
exactly what they want and deserve anyway.

~David

On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 10:08 PM, michael trommer <trommer at sympatico.ca> wrote:
> I think that my issue with your argument stems from it appearing as
> blinkered as that which you are arguing against. Although you seem to claim
> not to have any bias against popular/pop/whatever music, the wording you
> use, the examples you put (or don't put) forth strongly suggest that you do.
> It does smack of elitism, I must say...
>
> I do agree that there's a great deal of crap out there - that goes for the
> supposed avant-garde (most of which is, in my opinion, very often boring,
> stuck up its own arse, and hiding its inadequacy behind a overcomplicated
> façade of academic rhetoric), as well as the mainstream.
>
> On 12/15/09 10:43 PM, "David Powers" <cyborgk at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I'm not looking to Beatport for experimental digital music, I'm
>> talking about the mainstream in digital music... I look to live
>> performances and available recordings on the internet for more
>> experimental offerings. But I wonder if the category of "experimental"
>> even means much in the 21st century?
>>
>> ~David
>>
>> On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 9:27 PM, Jared Friend <tjaredfriend at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Maybe the crucial flaw in your argument is that you are looking to beatport
>>> for experimental digital music.
>>>
>>> On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 7:21 PM, David Powers <cyborgk at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> And sorry, for my "stereotyped" idea of digital music, I'm looking at
>>>> the records that are selling on Beatport and that DJ's around here
>>>> play, and listening to some of the things I hear passing for
>>>> exmperimental. I'm not at all saying that there aren't great musicians
>>>> out there. It's just that, I don't know who they are or how to hear
>>>> them, and they certainly aren't that easy to find.
>>>
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