Metro Shuffle: Coldplay and Beardfish
Posted: August 31, 2009 Filed under: Deep, Listening | Tags: Beardfish, Coldplay, deep thoughts, Frank Zappa, Guyute, Steve Vai, Trey Anastasio 2 Comments »Couple of bits and pieces this evening.
- I got home from work this evening, and there was a full blown Michael Jackson dance party going on in my living room. I joined right in.
- As I noted here, I paid five bucks for the GarageBand lesson of Sting teaching “Message in Bottle.” The file for the lesson was 699 MB. I shudder to think what kind of file size would be required for Trey teaching a lesson on how to play “Guyute.” I’d probably pay about $10 for that action. Maybe $15!
- On the Metro home this evening, I first hit, quite deliberately, Coldplay’s Viva la Vida. That tune has to be one of the all time great songs for travel on public transport.
After that, I forwarded manically for another good tune and found one in Beardfish’s “The Hunter” off “Sleeping in Traffic.” No link for that one on Grooveshark, alas.
Now, the juxtaposition of Coldplay (mega pop humongous) and Beardfish (relatively obscure Swedish prog) prompted me to recall an overcaffeinated meta reflection I had this morning: the tension between community and individuality in music.
In one sense, the love of music is about communing with others, like the MJ dance party that took place a few hours ago, or this blog, or learning to play “Message in Bottle” – just like Sting! I also think of the community around Phish, one I’m getting more familiar with online these days. Or Metallica – half the fun of going to see those guys live is to commune with the other jonesers who love the band just as much as you do. You all bang your head together.
On the other hand, love of music is the search for originality, a chance to be unique or close to it. For example, I admit I get some satisfaction in knowing that probably less than 1 percent of my friends knows what the heck a Beardfish is. I’d also wager that a very low percentage of my friends would even like to listen to Beardfish, if given the chance. There’s satisfaction there too: being apart from all the others. Artistically, I guess Frank Zappa is a good example of the musician’s quest to be sui generis. Here, along those lines, is a clip of Steve Vai talking about auditioning for Frank:
Great stuff! Just my flavor of meditation. I don’t know if it was Kierkegaard (I don’t even know how to spell Kierkegaard!) or Sartre (gotta check with el Sturj), but there’s this idea that we can make ourselves by an act of will into the people we wish to become. Forget nature and nurture, this is the God project. Personally, I like to be my own man, individual, separate and apart. Probably watched too many old Clint Eastwood Westerns as a lil shaver. And then when I do find people who are as sick and twisted (just different, really) as me, then it makes that communal connection thatuch stronger. Freaks unite!
Nice synthesis, bro.