I managed to make myself go through the sketches I've done up and fill in one shade of brown...which used up damn near all the pencil, thanks to the room Adam works in. And his hair, since the first layer is brown. Now it will be built upon. It wasn't easy getting going, but I managed to get myself out of my rut and just do it.
Maybe I should be the next Nike ad.
It helped that instead of getting lost in Twitter and FaceBook I slammed on Metropolis and Brave New Rave on KCRW, two programs that have interesting music that isn't typical, like rap and hip-hop and today's overwrought folk songs can be. Their Morning Becomes Eclectic program can get songs on like that, banal, insipid, overwrought emotion. I prefer instrumental over lyrics because I'm finding too damn many songwriters are lazy with that part of the writing.
Their songs have lovely melodies but then it seems like they spent 10 minutes writing the words to go with them, and figured they were talented enough to slam any phrase into any beat. Not everyone can phrase well enough to overcome a lyric that doesn't match the melody. I started noticing this when I listened to Florence and the Machine's Dog Days Are Over. Parts of that song are so fucking amazing while other parts are inept, at best.
I love the opening line -- Happiness hit her like a train on a track. But then the following line loses the rhythm because the words used are awkward...and it's back and forth like that through the rest of the song, with the phrasing inconsistent -- sometimes brilliant, sometimes amateurish. Same for other songs by that group. And other performers, too...like Muse, who can be just as sloppy, and even Red Hot Chili Peppers, who can be very insipid.
I got to wondering if it was deliberate, but I can't see anything that adds to the music canon by doing that. I don't need perfect rhymes or consistent intent with the lyrics, but I do think when you come up with a lovely melody you should honor it, not try to subvert it.
It's the same way I deal with my writing...once a story and characters as established, if I don't work with them or try to change them just to make someone else happy, it all falls apart. Messes everything up. I learned that the hard way by killing a couple of scripts I was working on...and by being stupid, once, and allowing others tell me what to put in my script...which only wound up making it bland and very Syd Field.
Maybe that's why I don't like much of today's music.
Maybe I should be the next Nike ad.
It helped that instead of getting lost in Twitter and FaceBook I slammed on Metropolis and Brave New Rave on KCRW, two programs that have interesting music that isn't typical, like rap and hip-hop and today's overwrought folk songs can be. Their Morning Becomes Eclectic program can get songs on like that, banal, insipid, overwrought emotion. I prefer instrumental over lyrics because I'm finding too damn many songwriters are lazy with that part of the writing.
Their songs have lovely melodies but then it seems like they spent 10 minutes writing the words to go with them, and figured they were talented enough to slam any phrase into any beat. Not everyone can phrase well enough to overcome a lyric that doesn't match the melody. I started noticing this when I listened to Florence and the Machine's Dog Days Are Over. Parts of that song are so fucking amazing while other parts are inept, at best.
I love the opening line -- Happiness hit her like a train on a track. But then the following line loses the rhythm because the words used are awkward...and it's back and forth like that through the rest of the song, with the phrasing inconsistent -- sometimes brilliant, sometimes amateurish. Same for other songs by that group. And other performers, too...like Muse, who can be just as sloppy, and even Red Hot Chili Peppers, who can be very insipid.
I got to wondering if it was deliberate, but I can't see anything that adds to the music canon by doing that. I don't need perfect rhymes or consistent intent with the lyrics, but I do think when you come up with a lovely melody you should honor it, not try to subvert it.
It's the same way I deal with my writing...once a story and characters as established, if I don't work with them or try to change them just to make someone else happy, it all falls apart. Messes everything up. I learned that the hard way by killing a couple of scripts I was working on...and by being stupid, once, and allowing others tell me what to put in my script...which only wound up making it bland and very Syd Field.
Maybe that's why I don't like much of today's music.
No comments:
Post a Comment