Music of the 00s

I've sort of parted ways (as of now) with my film adoration -- it's still "there" but I've sort of reverted back to my original passion for music...as well as had the urge to further educate myself in other various fields: journalism, astronomy, neuroscience, and reading (ethnography and non-fiction). I guess my recent apathy for film continuance is the same logic that many students arrive on in order to fulfill their passion for the medium: film is about experiences, many of which need absorption through hunger for various academia. What advantage does a film-centric individual have over an economically-inclined individual when viewing a film like Thief? Or against a sociology major when talking about Cache? I'm not attempting to suggest any sort of slippery slope warrants notice here, but I feel that my continual education and enthusiasm can only and should only be further groomed with my desire to fulfill (and admit to) other curiosities.

And there's music.

If there is an argument for the "perfectionized medium" -- and film is it -- then where does music rank? Well, firstly, I'm not going to really answer that question (yet) or concede that it is inevitably inferior to film -- or books -- simply because I'm still attempting to rid myself of dogmas that have risen from not keeping up with music for the last 1-2 years. It seems harmless, sure, but I've been sort of conditioned by the recent output to be a cliched naysayer despite the distinct fact that when I was in a "music phase"...I really liked modern music. Part of it was the fact that the intricate syncopations, Neptunesque hyper-production, and synthesized^78 vocals actually are being readily appreciated by the mainstream. There's always a quick write-off about contemporary music by simply saying, "Well, I just miss the great music of the 60s...heck, the 90s" without actually perceiving that a lot of that really great stuff was properly retrospected over time instead of actually being appreciated--for its inherent worth. In other words, the numerous deconstructions of Beatles song structures or Morrison lyrical composites weren't as quickly congested, dialed up, and matter-of-factly recognized by the general public of its time. They understood that something great was going on, but they didn't know what. Flash forward to 2007, and you've got a sense of incapability from scrutiny, an exponentially observed sense of not only "now" but "what's next". Listening to something like "Sexy Back" amidst all the hoopla, you've got to really give it to Timberlake's collaboration team for actually pushing the envelope on how dense everything is -- even if you really hate "Sexy Back" (like me). And its not only the internal properties of music, but how it is externally distributed. Living in a city like Austin has allowed me to observe a few tragic/impressive principles/concepts about the state of modern music:

1. The past is both unfairly worshiped and misguidedly underrepresented.
2. Modern indie rock is not objectively better than popular music. In fact, I bet more individuals can make a case for its inferiority. We're in a state of post-scene, which makes us actually "behind the times" instead of in front of it like we want to be. (Rehashed Gang of Four melodies (see Britian's post-punk scene catching up to the U.S.) and New Wave grooves/ philosophies only prove this)
3. The massive access of music through the internet tragically has led two music scenes (independent/pop) in two directions instead of working as one. But ultimately (and paradoxically) they ultimately will coincide.

These are fairly vague and will be further explored through further posts on this blog as time permits. I'm going to start out my next entry by listing my favorite songs/artists of this decade and all time.