vinyl disk on loudspeaker

Exploring Music

My friend Bill wrote a post a few days ago about the passing of Damo Suzuki, singer for the German rock band Can. I’ve always had a thing for quirky and eclectic music, so I was a bit bummed I hadn’t so much as heard of Can before now. So I commented such, and Bill recommended this album to me to learn more about them.

Tago-Mago by the band Can

I doubt many of you know that my first major in college was music. I listened intensely, absorbing how the instrumentation and chordal structure were communicating emotional energy. Sadly, I got out of practice for that kind of listening ages ago. But, back in the 80s, I studied lots of artists in depth. Not just pop, but Jazz, latin, classical, funk…my list was pretty extensive. I would give anything to have notes back from those days.

Can has a solid funk feel to me. I really enjoy the driving, repetitive bass tracks, and fluid drumming.

What struck me even deeper, though, was how easy it is to discover new music. Bill made a post, shared a YouTube video of a song. I listened, made a comment on his blog, Bill recommended an album to check out, and YouTube served that up to me instantly. All within a few-minute timeframe.

I remember getting together with friends and listening to records/CDs, and tapes. If I really liked the song, I’d see about borrowing a copy until I could buy one. In my little Seattle suburb, getting anything other than Top 40 generally meant a trip to Seattle. There was a cool record show really close to UW, and I believe the iconic Tower Records was serving Seattle’s music community back then. I love how easy it is now to discover new (old?) music.

Onwards!

6 thoughts on “Exploring Music”

  1. I’m with you Carl, there’s so much music on YouTube waiting to be played. I also listened to Can after reading Bill’s post. (Your assessment is spot on too).
    I’ve taken an optical line out of the TV and routed it through a reasonable DAC to an old fashioned stereo. A great way to extract even more pleasure from that music.

  2. That’s so cool you checked it out Carl and it prompted a post, how lovely! Funk is right, you got it…happy to hear you had a listen. Amazing they were making music like that in 1971.

  3. I love how easy it is to discover music now too. I’ve found some great songs thanks to posts by other bloggers. I had no idea your first major was music, that’s so cool.

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