Do You Understand Music?


First I want to describe something that repeats happening with me when I listen to the relatively new music to me.

There are a few examples that I want to describe:

1. I've acquired a rare CD of Cluster "One Hour" which contains one track that lasts exactly 1 hour. No matter how hard I've tried to listen to it as whole i was getting tired or just simply did not understand what's going on and was postponing a listening to the next session. Next session something similar happens and in curiosity I'm just trying to fast-forward to the last minutes of the track to hear how it ends. After few more trials to torture myself i quit and exchange this CD to the different offered by one of my best friend(Wobble-Parker). He digged in(meaning was able to listen the whole hour) from the third listening session and reviewed this music as one of the most magnificient projects created by Cluster for what I envy him to have a patience to understand.

2. Nearly the same thing happend with double CD album "Cobra" which is a project of John Zorn.

Some years ago I couldn't understand Ornette Coleman but now I realize that his music is like surrealistic art and has a divine presence. Same I can tell about Kronos Quartet.

Please share with me if you had a similar situations. Would you listen to the music that you don't understand? Would you try to understand it? Would you honor a "different" music and accept it as an art?

For me I'd rather listen to what I do not understand and try later-on to understand instead of just simply go to the Wiz and buy some Ricky Martin or Marc Anthony...
128x128marakanetz
Twl - I listen to alot of flung paint, and cast a very wide net. Some of the wildest: Magma: Their skin is to machines what machines are to man. Disharmonic Orchestra: Brain smelter. Os Mutantes: Everything is possible. Amon Duul: The priest, he's escaping! Flower Travelin' Band: Japfro. Esquivel: Whatchamacalit? Negativeland: I'm not naked, pal. Nektar: Elephants are very fond of oranges. Nik Turner: I have come forth by day, my name, my name is Decay-eth Not.

It never gets wierd enough for me. Music is one of the few places left where society is powerless to contain you. Go as far as you wish, and stay as long as you like.
Mwilson, if you want to try a real cool record that is very creative and "out there" in the rock/jazz/blues fusion genre, then try David Sancious' album "Transfiguration: The Speed of Love". This is a killer album that has unique stylings and improvisations with a basic fusion theme, with some blistering guitar and keyboard work by Sancious. I saw these guys in concert in 1975, and they were as good live as on record. He also does some Dobro work that has to be heard to be believed. This album has been out of print for a long time, so check the good used record websites. It is worth the trouble to get this one. He was once the keyboard player with Springsteen, and he makes Springsteen seem like a musical toddler with this individual effort. This band is ultra tight and the music and themes are complex, with unlimited expression by the musicians. Very highly recommended. Not available on CD, it is on LP only.
I think that Zorn & O Coleman are extreme examples for some, who like myself, were more accustomed to classical music with a preference for things before 1940. I listen to jazz (D. Cherry, Miles, etc) and Blues -- but the sound of Spy vs. Spy by Zorn was a totally different experience. Although each piece lasts a few moments (let alone an hour), it took me a long time to get used to... Similarly with Webern, for example (I haven't got used to!).
...some day usually on weekend I go to the East Village and check(mandatory to check) a huge number of "underground" downtown musical stores; yes, searching for the bargains and rarities, recognizing them by the record labels, producers, credits, discovering discovering and acquiring. Sometimes my "shopping cart" riches 500 CDs and LPs sometimes doesn't rich 10. I know definitely that even if I won't like it I will be able to punch it through ebay even with the profit.

Discovering a new music is always interesting. There were a thousands even approaching to 10000 CDs and records bought and nearly 90% sold. Some of records and CDs were acquired for information purpouses only and than sold after one listening some of records and CDs are being placed into collection. Some of the collection records or CDs will NEVER be sold.

Thanks you all for understanding and participating in this discussion.

Ultrakaz, To anyone who is too addicted to eat burgers I would strongly suggest to try out fried beef liver or veal liver. I possess a knowlege of a very tasty recipie of how to cook a fried liver so you can e-mail me if you're interested:)

Twl, your statement is too contraversal: I was surfing through the Cluster albums and CDs for a long time already and I do realy consider music of Roedelius, Moebius, Plank is to be on one of the top levels of intellegence. Seing their names together or individually on CD or record means that this record or CD I should listen. Their albums are so different that you should have a certain mood and motivation for each one of them i.e. "tune yourself up".
"One Hour" CD album was something that I've never expected from them and I do not realy know how to interpret my feelings. Very often that could happen if you're listening to Richard Kirk(Cabaret Voltaire) or even Klaus Schulze.
It took me a while to appreciate Ornette Coleman too. I'm glad I didn't give up on him the first time I listened.

I enjoy listening to challenging music that will broaden my tastes. Some of it I've really enjoyed through repeated listenings (AMM, Cecil Taylor, Evan Parker), but some stuff, no matter how much I listen to I just cannot get. This is mostly modern-classical stuff (Xenakis comes to mind) or extreme-electronic music.