U mean ripping off black artists to sell to white middle-class audiences? Lmaoooo
Well, yeah. I'm not saying music used to be better ethically. We're talking about America in the 60s and 70s after all.
Anyway, what contemporary songs do you think rival Stairway in terms of quality, complexity, sophistication, whatever you want to call it? I don't think it's just the marketing that makes that song incredible. It's genuinely a masterpiece.
Here's a bunch of brilliant albums that came out only last year (I can do only rock music if you'd prefer as well)
Black Midi - Cavalcade
Black Country, New Road - For the First Time
Spellling - The Turning Wheel
Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
Armand Hammer & The Alchemist - Haram
Floating Points and Pharaoh Sanders - Promises
Erika de Casier - Sensational
Lingua Ignota - Sinner Get Ready
There's genuinely brilliant music coming out every year. The problem is of course that music streaming platforms, the same as video ones like Netflix, both push endless amounts of crap down peoples throats and their convenience and algorithms mean people seek out the stuff they're know and comfortable with.
My last reply was rude so I deleted it. I apologise. Also, I couldn't explain myself because I was at work.
I can't answer your question, because I don't know enough about "contemporary" music. For one thing I don't really keep up with the newest releases: I tend to drag behind by a decade or two! At the same time however, how contemporary? 1 year? 2 years? 10? One problem is that what's new today will be old tomorrow.
If you're looking for complex music, I'd argue that a song like 'Flesh and the Power it Holds' by Death is far more complex than Stairway, but it's a Death Metal song, so it'll never get played on mainstrem radio. It's also 24 years old now, so I guess that means it's not contemporary... but Led Zep IV is 52 years old, so we run into the problem again. What was new (some of it, anyway) in '98 was more complex in pretty much every way, but it's not new now so therefore it must be old. Therefore it gets grouped in with the other "oldies". For what it's worth, I've also heard local bands in my city play songs with crazy compound time signatures, which there is none of in 'Stairway'.
I could choose any song with polyphony in- let's say 'Give Me a Reason' by Pink- and compare it to a Gregorian chant from the early medieval period, and it would be more complex purely because it has polyphony in it, and Gregorian chants are by definition monophonic; therefore music produced in the 21st century is more complex than music produced in the 13th century, right? And that means that there has been a clear linear progression in the level of complexity from the 13th century to now, with no peaks or troughs, right? No! The level of harmonic complexity in the music of J.S. Bach dwarfs any pop music made in the 20th or 21st centuries because of his use of counterpoint, so legendary was it that it's still hailed 300 years later as genius. You could say the same of any number of classical composers too, but that is kind of unfair as we're talking about pop music, not classical. But you can't really compare a 70s prog rock song with a club banger from (for example) 2016 either, can you?
Certainly, capitalism has a role to play in the simplification of top 40 pop. Adorno said as much in the 50s. But my point is that you could pick any two points in time and it wouldn't tell you anything about the scene, and moreover, you can't judge the complexity of a scene by a handful of songs, especially today when there is so much on offer.
Here are some cool "contemporary" things I like, anyway.
In the Long Run by the Staves. Love this song. I played it at an open mic recently. I've been meaning to check out the rest of their back catalogue too.
It's all good, thanks for the recs! Regarding the bands you've seen playing in compound time signatures, what genre were they? I love that kind of stuff in metal and some contemporary jazz
Generally, if you hear a compound time sig in a song by a local band, it was put in to make them sound clever and weird, but so many bands do it that it's kind of a meme for me at this point.
Either way, I'm in a sort of Punk/Grunge/Indie band and our current set has songs in 5/8 and 7/8. A lot that I've seen haven't really sounded like you'd expect them to. Most bands locally that use wacky time sigs are kind of indie or "rock"; most of the Jazz and Funky groups I see about prefer 4/4 or 6/8 because it's all about groove with them.
I rarely see "metal" locally, partly because my city is all about punk/ hardcore and jazz (there's an electronic scene too but I don't know much about it), and also because it's tricky to define. Many of the bands I've seen would have been called metal in the 80s, but are referred to as Hard Rock now. I've seen a Doom metal band here who were okay too.
I think another reason I don't see metal as much is to do with technical ability- very few people can shred, or make a double kick sound good (I've never even seen a double kick setup live), or growl and scream well. Either way, all of the Hard Rock and otherwise Heavy bands I've seen mostly stick to simple time.
Well, yeah. I'm not saying music used to be better ethically. We're talking about America in the 60s and 70s after all.
Anyway, what contemporary songs do you think rival Stairway in terms of quality, complexity, sophistication, whatever you want to call it? I don't think it's just the marketing that makes that song incredible. It's genuinely a masterpiece.
Here's a bunch of brilliant albums that came out only last year (I can do only rock music if you'd prefer as well)
Black Midi - Cavalcade
Black Country, New Road - For the First Time
Spellling - The Turning Wheel
Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
Armand Hammer & The Alchemist - Haram
Floating Points and Pharaoh Sanders - Promises
Erika de Casier - Sensational
Lingua Ignota - Sinner Get Ready
There's genuinely brilliant music coming out every year. The problem is of course that music streaming platforms, the same as video ones like Netflix, both push endless amounts of crap down peoples throats and their convenience and algorithms mean people seek out the stuff they're know and comfortable with.
deleted by creator
My last reply was rude so I deleted it. I apologise. Also, I couldn't explain myself because I was at work.
I can't answer your question, because I don't know enough about "contemporary" music. For one thing I don't really keep up with the newest releases: I tend to drag behind by a decade or two! At the same time however, how contemporary? 1 year? 2 years? 10? One problem is that what's new today will be old tomorrow.
If you're looking for complex music, I'd argue that a song like 'Flesh and the Power it Holds' by Death is far more complex than Stairway, but it's a Death Metal song, so it'll never get played on mainstrem radio. It's also 24 years old now, so I guess that means it's not contemporary... but Led Zep IV is 52 years old, so we run into the problem again. What was new (some of it, anyway) in '98 was more complex in pretty much every way, but it's not new now so therefore it must be old. Therefore it gets grouped in with the other "oldies". For what it's worth, I've also heard local bands in my city play songs with crazy compound time signatures, which there is none of in 'Stairway'.
I could choose any song with polyphony in- let's say 'Give Me a Reason' by Pink- and compare it to a Gregorian chant from the early medieval period, and it would be more complex purely because it has polyphony in it, and Gregorian chants are by definition monophonic; therefore music produced in the 21st century is more complex than music produced in the 13th century, right? And that means that there has been a clear linear progression in the level of complexity from the 13th century to now, with no peaks or troughs, right? No! The level of harmonic complexity in the music of J.S. Bach dwarfs any pop music made in the 20th or 21st centuries because of his use of counterpoint, so legendary was it that it's still hailed 300 years later as genius. You could say the same of any number of classical composers too, but that is kind of unfair as we're talking about pop music, not classical. But you can't really compare a 70s prog rock song with a club banger from (for example) 2016 either, can you?
Certainly, capitalism has a role to play in the simplification of top 40 pop. Adorno said as much in the 50s. But my point is that you could pick any two points in time and it wouldn't tell you anything about the scene, and moreover, you can't judge the complexity of a scene by a handful of songs, especially today when there is so much on offer.
Here are some cool "contemporary" things I like, anyway.
Nakamarra by Hiatus Kaiyote (I dare you to tell me this is less complex than Stairway)
Spectres of the Blood Moon Sabbath by Hellripper. I only found these guys because they were in my recommended videos on YT. I guess the algorithm throws up some good stuff occasionally!
In the Long Run by the Staves. Love this song. I played it at an open mic recently. I've been meaning to check out the rest of their back catalogue too.
It's all good, thanks for the recs! Regarding the bands you've seen playing in compound time signatures, what genre were they? I love that kind of stuff in metal and some contemporary jazz
Generally, if you hear a compound time sig in a song by a local band, it was put in to make them sound clever and weird, but so many bands do it that it's kind of a meme for me at this point.
Either way, I'm in a sort of Punk/Grunge/Indie band and our current set has songs in 5/8 and 7/8. A lot that I've seen haven't really sounded like you'd expect them to. Most bands locally that use wacky time sigs are kind of indie or "rock"; most of the Jazz and Funky groups I see about prefer 4/4 or 6/8 because it's all about groove with them.
I rarely see "metal" locally, partly because my city is all about punk/ hardcore and jazz (there's an electronic scene too but I don't know much about it), and also because it's tricky to define. Many of the bands I've seen would have been called metal in the 80s, but are referred to as Hard Rock now. I've seen a Doom metal band here who were okay too.
I think another reason I don't see metal as much is to do with technical ability- very few people can shred, or make a double kick sound good (I've never even seen a double kick setup live), or growl and scream well. Either way, all of the Hard Rock and otherwise Heavy bands I've seen mostly stick to simple time.