I like to complain about art snobs on occasion. And I like to think that I’m not one. But I’ve been having a minor problem lately with regard to two things: electronica and modern country. Here’s why:
I listened to a bunch of older country this weekend while digitizing some vinyl (and wrote a FWF post about one song), and I think I’m learning to enjoy it, just a little. I’m concerned though – the songs I like best are the most ‘rock’ like and the most ‘folk’ like. I still can’t stand the stereotypes. And I still think that modern country is unbearably whiny! Perhaps it’s just not my aesthetic. But that’s the whole point, isn’t it… Then again, I have noticed that the ‘bored’ aspect of country heightens the impact of some songs (think calm and soothing), so maybe I just need to listen until I get understand the ‘whiny’ aspect too.
On to electronica – I actually like electronic music as a whole, I really do. It’s just one particular aspect that’s driving me nuts: the highly altered voices. It’s those effects that sound rather like a voice is being used to set the pitch for another instrument, together with just enough of the original voice to still form words. I assume it’s done with some kind of complex comb filter, etc., but it sounds to me like somebody’s being tortured! Which is not a nice musical sound. At all.
Gah. I’m getting the shivers just thinking about it. Maybe I’ll never learn to like it. Maybe that’s okay…