music-aesthetic-salon-research

Research for my salon on Aesthetics in Music

Alessandro Cortini
Hindustani - the aesthetics of rhythmic resolution vs harmonic
“cacophony of callings”
“Jam session” -> pair programming
Artist / label rabbit holes are a getaway into another universe
David Bowie - synthesizing everything around him
- Authenticity is more important than truth?
Hip hop - display of heritage as a sign of modernism
Black clothes - Mumbai metalhead archetype
Rasa - intangible “vibe” in music
- How do others perceive the same moods differently?
Pop music is bold/sad/exciting but too black n white
Jazz/blues works well with the rasa analogy
“How do artists create a mood?”
Technical changes affecting vibe
- Epistemology of rasa
- A sense of realism in ragas - trying to acheive a state that already exists
Chelsea Wolfe - trance, repetition
Aesthetics of demos, sketchy conceptual ideas
The joy of working with efficient producers that minimize creative friction
Jack White “limitations are good”
Collaboration - Nick Cave + Warren Ellis
Forming an archetype
- It is a cognitive shortcut
No one talks about a “cheerful trip hop album”
Verying sensitivity to blues singers
Listeners history of listening habits

Subverting artistifc authenticity
- Bowie
- Not being attached to your own aesthetic
- Committing to a bit but without attachments
Foucault - “don’t ask me to remain the same” / Post modernism
There is truth in pretentiousness
Authenticity - becoming who you are
- “Pretending is important” - Brian eno
- Pretending is a thought experiment; a tool of authenticity
Kora music
- A very synthesized & carefully constructed aesthetic
Aesthetic exists at the service of entertainment
Limitations
Kumar Gandharva
- Sang with one lung
- Melodies in short bursts; unique style
Hiding imperfections in reverb
gen X & grunge
- Angsty, inheritance of a collapsed world, art as lamentation
- sarcasm as a coping mechanism
British music is influenced by class?
- Artists are frequently working class
- playing with genre stereotype
- detachment from the “americanness” of it
India - extreme protection of musical traditions
- Gharana - houses of music
- recent democratization has blurred lines between traditions
Next gen aesthetic?
- A more academic approach to music that’s historically of the people
- Intellectualization of semi-classical forms
More uplifting themes
Increase in hobbyist musicians
Sales of production software going up in countries as the virus spread and lockdown measures were introduced
Ben Jordan - environmental impact of vinyl
What’s going to happen when aesthetics in the world bleed into one another?

Foot stomping wordless choruses - Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend
Algorithms on different platforms lead you through different journeys - Are they the new “houses” of music
Charlie Parker / Dizie Gillespie
Beck - how do you know you aren’t fooling yourself trying to glean more context?
MF Doom - discography assembled to form a narrative arc, samples from out-of-left-field media, superhero cartoons
Tik tok
- musical drama
- memes will result in a niche music that makes sense in very specific contexts
Jazz –> japanese video game –> american jazz musicians picking up cues from games
Megan Thee Stallion - viral dance moves uniting people during a pandemic
Dance culture as an important ingredient
Music too fragmented for social change?
- Abundance causes fragmentation
Music as therapy
- Moshpit as a space of healing
- Bodily response to music - resulting in a palliative experience
Communal value of music - singing together
A spirititual safe space that isn’t necessarily physically safe
Wagner opera - fanatics - people going nuts
Engaging vs disruptive audience