Nomad Radio

Sweeping Genre-lisation Posted by robsteranium

So, I promised to defend the practice of writing about music. I said that music couldn’t be described in words. That was true once. But that was before tagging came along…

The need to classify music into genres used to infuriate me. How do I know you’re hearing what I’m hearing? “We can see other people’s behaviour but not their experience” says Laing. More to the point, is it Rhythmy Blues or Rock & Roll? Does Various Production count as light-Dubstep or heavy-electro-Folk?!

Now where did I put that Enya LP..?

The rigid hierarchy of genres was only a problem with physical records. If you’re in a record shop then you’ve got to choose where to put/ need to know where to get tunes: genres seem as sensible structure as any (unless you’re Rob Fleming in which case you’ll organise your personal CD collection into autobiographical order). Pigeon-holing (the filing metaphor not the blood sport) is inevitable when tunes have to be carved into plastic.

Now that music has a virtual as well as a physical presence, genres can be interpreted far more flexibly. Everything is miscellaneous. Various Production can be dubstep, folk, electro, and whatever else you want, all at the same time.

So, if everything is miscellaneous, and writing about music can now extend over an infinite range of possibility, then how do we read it? In other words, what use are tags to the listener? Enter meta-data…

Dubstep Two Point Oh Posted by robsteranium

I saw this and thought of you…

Discovered at Toothpaste For Dinner
“Bad poetry: oh noetry.”

ps. 2.0 meme, your days are numbered.

Never Meta Man I Didn’t Like Posted by robsteranium

Why should music lovers care about tags? Because they act like thousands of tiny little signposts directing you on a journey to better music!

You can use tags to help you:

• find similar artists – pick an artist then listen to similar music on the mighty Last.fm radio for free. The last.fm player relates tunes to one other though tags. The tags are marked automatically by scrobbling your listening history (iTunes etc) and tracking whether you heart/thumb-down what you’re hearing. You can also manually tag tracks so those marked “UK” & “Hip-Hop” can both be distinguished from and related to tracks marked “US” &”Hip-Hop”.
• pick tunes to suit your mood – Musicovery asks you to define your mood: dark vs positive, energentic vs calm, dancier, faster? There’s 18 genres and a time line too.
• predict my future posts – my StumbleUpon music related favourites! Slightly off-topic but at least it demonstrates my point: tags can help you gather-up tunes that might not otherwise be filed together (e.g. in a record shop). The page linked above, for example, combines an advance warning of the new Burial DJ Kicks Album and rendition of the Imperial March (from Star Wars) done on a Floppy Disk.

Disclaimer for tech-heads/ cyber-pedants: yes, I realise that I’m using the word “tag” where the term “meta-data” might be more appropriate. Shut up and Dance!

Music Journalism Sucks Posted by robsteranium

Okay, so the title is a bit hypocritical for a music blog but I just wanted to get it out in the open:

Writing about music is like dancing about sculpture!

You simply can’t explain one medium in the terms of another.  At least not very well anyway.

I sympathise with Grant Wilson-Claridge who, when promoting Rephlex Records’ mentalist The Tuss to iDJ Magazine, couldn’t get the journo to stop asking whether it’s really Aphex producing under a pseudonym and realise that music is “It’s boring to read. Really great to listen to”.  Respect to Ian Roullier for posting the whole interview transcript, I’m sure he’s only pushing the question for it’s popular appeal.  But, as GWC says, he ought to “be careful [not to] miss something really great that isn’t really famous”.

So, you might ask, why am I writing this rather than producing a piece of music to explain the concept?  That’s a good question that deserves a post of it’s own.  For know why don’t you learn about some good music in the best way possible: check-out our podcasts.