"new age" rhymes with "sewage"

[aroraborealis]

Why is so much "new age" music crappy? Isn't it possible to have drifty, floaty music that's also interesting and pleasing to listen to?

Comments

[redjo.livejournal.com]

Which reminds me, I've got the mp3s from the "Kama Sutra" soundtrack, some of which might suit the blind dance. What's the best way to get them to you in time?

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

If it would be possible to either zip them up and email them to me or post them to a web page where I can d/l them, that would be awesome! If not, maybe burn a CD that I can get from you in the day or two after I get back?

[redjo.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to send a zip file, it's a hair over 10MB. Hopefully it doesn't crash anything. *crosses fingers* If this doesn't work I'll burn a CD.

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

(Whoops)

If you sent this, it didn't arrive. Pesky! Another thought would be to try sendspace.com? Or a CD -- either way! I can pick up a CD from you tomorrow or Friday.

[redjo.livejournal.com]

I just tried sending the files individually, and they seem to have gone. Let me know if you get them and if they're what you're looking for. If so, I'll try sendspace. (If you don't get the files I'll try it anyway.)

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

Got 'em! Thank you!!

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Um... 90% of anything is crap... Sturgeon was right.
I think the better question is: Why is it so much harder than you'd think it should be to make good newage...

[piemancer]

Except crap. 100% of crap is crap.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Some crap, the really CRAPPY crap, isn't even crap at ALL.

well, sure

[sarahshevett.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there's that..

Old school new age

[sarahshevett.livejournal.com]

Oregon (http://www.amazon.com/Oregon/artist/B000APVI6K/102-5407454-9300169)
Modern Jazz Quartet (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/102-5407454-9300169?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=music&field-artist=Modern%20Jazz%20Quartet)

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

They totally do not rhyme.

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

Use your imagination!

The "father" of new age

[sarahshevett.livejournal.com]

Paul Horn (http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Horn/artist/B000APTE0C)

[zzbottom.livejournal.com]

Check out a group called Zero 7

[totient]

Immediately reminds me of Utah Phillips, who favored that pronunciation.

"No matter how new age you get, old age gonna kick your ass"

Excuse me, Miss. I believe I may be able to help.

[spike.livejournal.com]

I am the keeper of a hoard of wordless music: some upbeat, some midtempo, some mellow, mostly at least a little bit interesting. Whatcha looking for, for what occasion, how much of it, in what format, and when?

What's are a couple of examples of artists or albums that you like? And if you haven't found any, what's come closest, and how did it fail?

I really am all about (mostly) wordless music.

Re: Excuse me, Miss. I believe I may be able to help.

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

Dang. I thought I'd responded to this from PR, but I see no comment from me, now. Pesky internet!

Let me recreate it if I can:

The immediate call I have for this sort of thing is my blind dance this Sunday, for which I'm looking for kind of floaty dreamy (but still interesting) stuff. At the one I attended in the fall, we had some generic "native american" flute over a drifty background, but, broadly speaking, generic native american flute music annoys me. I'm currently looking at using music from the soundtrack for The Whale Rider and Cex's Sketchi, but I'm happy to have other suggestions.

Also, more broadly, I like wordless music, but I don't know how to find stuff that's pleasing to listen to -- most of what I have, I've discovered by chance. I'm be happy to hear faster stuff, or thumpier, or what have you (and, in fact, assuming I do another blind dance at some point, I will be looking for thumpy stuff specifically for that.)

Thanks!

Re: Excuse me, Miss. I believe I may be able to help.

[spike.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't have much if any music that's quite as languid as the Whale Rider soundtrack!

However, I did take the liberty of putting together a sampler of sorts, some 30-odd wordless songs from different artists and albums and genres, arranged from ethereal to pulse-pounding. Thus I give you the 307MB zip file of Rosette - Some Wordless Music.

Some of songs may be good for Sunday, or not, but either way, I'd love to hear your reactions and thoughts!

Cheers!
-Spike

Re: Excuse me, Miss. I believe I may be able to help.

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

Oh, awesome, thank you!!

Though that link gives me a 404...

Re: Excuse me, Miss. I believe I may be able to help.

[spike.livejournal.com]

Doh!

Re: Excuse me, Miss. I believe I may be able to help.

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

Thanks!!

Look forward to a full(ish) report in the next week or so :)

[drwex]

I find that it is. Have you listened to music in the genre called "ambient?" Do you generally like music by Brian Eno?

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

No, and I've never heard of Brian Eno, respectively.

[drwex]

Well if it's all new to you I wouldn't recommend sinking cash into it, but you might be able to borrow some relevant CDs from friends or a library. If you want background reading the relevant Wikipedia articles are pretty useful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Eno
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_music

The article on Eno is a bit wordy but that's in part because he's done a lot. I think you'll recognize the names of some of the musicians/bands he has been associated with. Also, I found this note amusing (and new to me):

Another literary semi-personification of Brian is the keyboardist character Eno Barber, in Salman Rushdie's The Ground Beneath Her Feet.

[bhakti.livejournal.com]

I don't know that the proportion of crappy music is really higher in new age than in any other genre -- there's plenty of stuff in most genres that I won't touch. But I'm more familiar with different musicians in other genres, so I'm less likely to pick up a CD off the rack that I know nothing about, just to see if it's any good. Therefore, I hear less of the bad stuff. If that makes any sense.

That said, I can also offer examples of good new age, if that would help. (I tend to gravitate toward new age piano, personally. I particularly like Wayne Gratz, Michael Jones, and David Lanz. But I can offer other suggestions if you're looking for a different style...)

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'll check those out!

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll check that out!

[crayolathief.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of the quip (by source unremembered) - "why is easy listening music so hard to listen to?"

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

Yes! So boring!!

[heinleinfan.livejournal.com]

Heh...ever since Jim Brickman came to a Borders store I was working at for a mini-concert and book signing, I have vehemently avoided new age music.
He's not really new age, but his earlier piano-only albums were kinda lumped in with other drifty floaty stuff and he used to call himself new age. I guess he calls himself 'adult contemporary' now.

The guy is shorter than I am, his nose is roughly the size of my fist and in general he looks like a troll in person.

And he uses Ronco Hair In a Can. No, really. He left it in our breakroom with his makeup bag. Full of CoverGirl makeup. And then his publicist sent us a letter threatening to sue Borders if any employees leaked to the news that he used Ronco Hair In A Can or Covergirl makeup...claiming that would be breaking his "other" marketing contracts.

Right...that news would ruin "marketing" contracts...

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

Heehee!

[dilletante.livejournal.com]

well, cirque de soleil manages to do it, but they write their own. i think clannad also has some good stuff? (all the ones i can think of off the top of my head have words, hm...)

then again, i like enya, so take what i say with a grain of salt... the only stuff i have firm opinions on is juggling music, and that's more up-tempo. :)

oh! but, ask chuck for some opinions. i bet he'll have some.

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

I like Enya, too! And, in fact, what I've heard/remember of Clannad. And I really do need to borrow your Cirque CD!

Thanks!