A couple friends and I went to a speakeasy type thing on Saturday and on the way back, we got to talking about music. I love music, as cliché as that is, it might be my singular favorite experience on the planet. I’d like to believe that’s universal, I mean if you think about it, artistic expression is naturally occurring in our species, so it would make sense that appreciation for those expressions is also naturally occurring. Y’know? I suppose this is similar to when I was talking about aesthetics a week or so ago.
It’s going to be hard to get my feelings across- I guess I’ll just paint the picture in my head. It’s pretty obvious to use sapience to separate ourselves from the rest of being, that humans themselves are a distinct category above others in the eukaryotic hierarchy. Our consciousness and decision-making and pattern recognition and all that shit, that’s what separates us. And I suppose it does, though I don’t like to make any qualitative claims about that, what makes our specialized skill of thinking more valuable than a spider’s web-weaving or a bird’s nest-making or whatever? Blah blah Dasein, blah blah virtue, blah blah eudaimonia. When I think of music, or of writing, or of any kind of creative endeavor, I like to think of it as the human version of any other natural construction. Like, I don’t know, I can’t see the difference between a robin singing and a human doing it, fundamentally they’re tools of communication, right? Robins do it to signal predators or enforce their territory, humans do it to communicate something, I guess, to evoke an emotion or tell a story or to express the artist’s will. It’s why I have always disliked people who can’t get into music or movies or books. Well, get into is rough, more so people who treat this communication as background noise. Just consuming, digesting, and shitting, no reflection, no attempt to interrogate what exactly this thing was created for. And I know this is pretentious, I really do, but I mean, what else are you supposed to be?
I’m rambling. The point is, there is something inherently beautiful about the sense-creation of art because I think it’s a natural process of our existing. Contained within every person is a creative soul and a contemplative listener and I just think that the whole idea of “creatively gifted” people or “expert critics” has sort of undermined the whole thing for me. Everyone is capable of conveying and that’s all art is. What do you want to tell me? How are you telling me? What made you make this like that?
Not to say everyone can create any and all kinds of art, I mean they can, but just like with language, I think everyone has general defaults that work best for them. Mine is written, some are audible, some are tactile. I couldn’t write a song or play an instrument or come up with something catchy, I just don’t have the hardware I think. Or it’s just not where my passion lies. But I do think everyone contains this spirit of expression, this will-to with art. I love to sing, I love to dance- I’m terrible at both. But something within me is compelled to do these things, even knowing I can’t (I’m a breathy singer who is probably tone-deaf and I’m disturbingly uncoordinated). But it feels good to exercise that muscle, to join in the chorus.
In terms of engaging with the art of others, I think music is the one I have the best chemistry with. Not sure why, probably my upbringing, we were a big music household. But it’s just always resonated with me, it has more of an effect on my mood than gut bacteria ever could. I don’t know, I’m buzzed, I just like it.
I’ve been making a lot of playlists recently, just as something to do. Looking for new songs, trying to curate different moods, it’s been a blast.
I’m making my friend a special playlist. I’ve made a lot of regular ones before, but those are more compilations than anything else- just an assortment of songs that I think someone would like or gets the point across, no sense of organization or mood or movement. For this one, I’m focusing on the transitions between songs, similar themes or sounds grouped together- the whole thing, at least right now, is supposed to be a typical day musically. It opens with a very ethereal and moseying song, it’s supposed to give the mood of those last five minutes of sleep, what I imagine them to be. That transitions into a song that is a mix of really lo-fi vocals but heavy guitar, that’s supposed to simulate the sort of frustration of waking up to an alarm when you were having a very pleasant snooze. That goes into some slower, breakfast and morning routine type songs, which is where I’m at now. I’m at the lunchtime transition which is queued up by an Olivia Tremor Control song, but I don’t know what to follow it with. I’m trying to maintain some semblance of tempo and cohesion, but fuck me, is it hard. Also, I was put on to the six-second fader effect on Spotify, which has been delightful. I’ll post the thing when I’m done, maybe you’ll like it.
I apologize if this was incomprehensible, it’s not my fault, I swear.
Oh, I’ve been liking ironic romantic power ballads recently, this one is my favorite right now.
jeez, louise 