feeling the trends

C

cello_pudding

Well-known member
I think its a big thing to take a step back to look at the music history and songwriting. I like to look at what sort of phases we've gone through, what we're in, and where we're headed. What makes something sound baroque? Authentic cadences galore, straight rhythms..etc

What makes something 60's? Blues bassed riffs, singing about strange things.
What makes something 00's? I feel we've gone through a very 70's phase in clothing style, and we may be on and approaching a very 80's style. Clothes and music. I think 80's punk, and some different vocal stylings are being/going to be done.

For me, i listen to a lot of indie. It seems people have caught on to playing simple chord songs and putting a glock in there to be different texturally.

As I see these trends, I want to be ahead of them, and I don't want to be of them. I ask myself, what can make my recording and songwriting timeless. What can I do so people that look back at the trends of the current time, they see my work as something worth separating from others?

Any personal opinions? I guess that's all of our little secrets isn't it. I know its mine.
 
Cello,

I enjoy the stuff of yours I've listened to. My main advice with regards to this is to not think too much about it. As long as you're not conciously trying to be derivative of some other artist/band, play and write what you feel. I think that's where your most original voice will come from.

My 2 cents.
 
I feel the much same way. The stuff that lasts is often trend-blind and simply goes with what works musically and communicates well.

I think that what produces trends is that someone produces something that sounds good and that offers a new, original voice - and then people copy it.

If it's successful it is milked and milked by the industry and by people who want to "succeed" until people are bored of it. Then a new voice comes along.

The music that stands out is the music that ignores what everyone else is doing and just tries to deliver something honestly, musically and well.

Think of the song-writers you like. I would lay odds that each one has their own voice, and that they don't all sound the same, or even follow the trends. For example, I like Paul Simon and I like Tom Waits. I don't think either could successfully copy the other's style.

They may listen to what is going on and adapt it, but they do their own thing. For example, Paul Simon has arguably moved from playing with Melody (primarily) to playing with Rhythm (primarily) - but it's all recognisably him.

What's the next big thing? Who knows. But there will always be room for new voices that bring good quality song-writing imho.
 
I've always felt that any musical trends (punk, grunge, hiphop, etc) are the result of an artist (or artists) following their own musical muse and for what ever reason it catches the attention of people (mainly in the local club scene). The buzz grows and at some point industry people decide to jump on the bandwagon and beat it to death.

Artists (whatever the artistic medium) have to be true to themselves - if that creates a unique or interesting result that many people enjoy and as a result the industry chooses to promote (and eventually destroy) great - if not, at least the artists can feel they were true to their own artistic vision.

Naturally there are artists who simply follow a path that has arleady been blazed (rockabilly, 60's pop, etc.) and if the right amount of time has passed, they are suddenly hip and trendy. If they are following their heart then the music is valid regardless of genre.

After 40 plus years in the music business and about 50 years of listening to every genre of music I can - I have no better idea what the next trend will be than I did in the 60's (given that almost every combination of insturments and genre have already been covered, I can't even imagine what new genre is possible).
 
A see the future but my contacts are foggy

This is an anthropology topic – or at least Media studies – what makes the trend the people producing the music or the huge industry that love to homogenise and market stereotypes and differentiated genres.

At a certain point a set of variables (style or technology) coalesces into something that can be separated into a new form (trend) at the point of identification then everything before (tweens – cool idea) and everything after either falls into that taxonomy or not.

Never forget Elvis, Little Richard and Johnny Cash all toured on the same bill – considered then only slight variation upon the same style that eventually evolved into the individual genres Rock, Blues and Country. It is just like evolution eventually a style evolves into a new species that can never return to its origin. Of course in music as in all art – unrelated styles can be mashed up to give way to completely new styles. (It all very post-modern, der)

The important thing is that the music dose not exists in a vacuum separated from other social phenomena – without Vietnam we would not have had so many protest songs.

I am an avid social observer (reader of Wired Magazine, The World is Flat by Friedman, Freakonomics, Wikinomics, Tipping Point and recently The Wisdom of Crowds) and I have a few predictions – not so much about style, but certainly about distribution and prevailing social shifts.

The hit record and the music industry is dead (or at least very ill), to survive it will have to become a lot more collaborative (Bare Naked Ladies releasing the Pro Tool files of two of the songs on the last album so anyone can remix – very cool idea). The album as a concept is probably dead – more and more songs are being consumed in isolation – like a never-ending running compilation album.

Up side the market is increasing (not just talking China and India here) more people are playing games (on-line & at home), more TV and movies are being made and more phones that need ring tones are being produced every week. Also the means of production are now in the hands of the average consumer - its so Web 2.0 you know!

Imbedding your music with visual imagery will be vital as the average 16 year old’s visual cortex is 15% bigger than it was 10 years ago (can’t site research at moment but will look it up if you do not believe me – it has been proven with fMRI.) – so the humble music video is perhaps more important them the song – though Thriller proved that years ago!

The name of the game is personalisation – maybe you should try to write a put down song and leave the name blank to be filled in by who every down loads it – perhaps we could all start writing to commission for the average customer – hell nothing new in that a third of Shakespeare’s work was commissioned.

Perhaps the individual song will become the new album – there is this new station call SAS Radio (Short Attention Span) that has edited down Stairway to heaven to 2.5 mins – just keeping the essential (their judgement not the listeners) elements. Perhaps writing hook laden songs will be the future – a great intro for some teen soap mood music, great bass line to be sampled on a dance track, a great vocal line to be rewritten in Mandarin or adapted for a soup commercial and what’s left end s up on a dozen phones ringing in harmony on the morning train.

What ever you do make sure your song has got the 10 most popular Goggle word searches imbedded in the lyrics.
 
the music industry really does feel dead to me. myspace has become HUGE. anyone can listen to anything they want and not have to go to a show, see it on MTV, or hear it on the radio. the ease of communication, MASS communication, has become incredibly easy. the whole postmodern, don't be a lemming, i have my own personal taste, can be easily retained because of this. we're seeing that there is a lot of really good music out there, and its not out there because the MUSIC industry now is so transparent in being the music INDUSTRY.

as the new age of people that want personalization of everything grow older, the demographic has now escaped from the 17 and younger crowd that just want to either: have fun, break stuff, be sexually aroused.

this is a great thing for me, though. I was at first afraid of the way songwriter/indie was going. It just seemed too easy to be indie. i see people that have latched onto the clap a rhythm, double your voice, layer a piano with something, use whatever few chords that come to your head, and people will know its different from industry, but familiar so they like it.

i think chordal texture will be the new thing (or at least my thing), and because that's not easy to capture, i guess i'm comfortable in give up my secret.
 
cello_pudding said:
i think chordal texture will be the new thing (or at least my thing), and because that's not easy to capture, i guess i'm comfortable in give up my secret.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by chordal texture? The chords used or the instruments that are used to play the noites? Please let me know your secret.
 
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