Archive for the 'Music' Category

Putting It Out There

Published
by
Paul Aitken
on March 8, 2008
in Academia, General and Music
. 0 Comments

MA Thesis

For a while I was thinking that I wouldn’t bother posting my MA online. Really, after the defense, and what with the evolution of my thought since I started the PhD, I figured it old news.  But, I’ve decided to let it out of the dusty confines of my hard drive and give it some air.  After all, what’s this whole academic thing about if it isn’t about sharing ideas, even if doing so risks criticism?  It’s in the criticism that we can alter and adjust our thinking.  So, while I stand by what I’ve written in this document, I’m not promoting it as my final position on these matters and I’m eagerly anticipating changes in my thought, even to the point of disagreeing with myself (which happens more often that not anyway, so what the hell)! Enjoy!

Online Music Communities:
Challenging Sexism, Capitalism, and Authority in Popular Music (PDF, 650kb)

Abstract
With its almost exclusive focus on the economics of the music industry, the early-21st century debate over digital music piracy has obscured other vital areas of study in the relationship between popular music and the Internet. This thesis addresses some of these neglected areas, specifically issues of agency, representation, discipline, and authority; it examines each of these in relationship to the formation and maintenance different online music communities. I argue that contemporary online trends related to music promotion, consumption, and criticism are, in fact, part of a much larger socio-cultural re-envisioning of the relationships between artists and audiences, artists and the music industry, and among audience members themselves. The relationship between music and the Internet is not only subversive on the level of economics.

I examine these issues in three key areas. Independent women’s music communities challenge patriarchal authority in the music industry as they use online discussion forums and websites to advance their own careers. The tension that exists between the traditional for-profit music industry and the developing ethic of sharing in the filesharing community creates the conditions whereby we can imagine alternative ways that music can circulate in culture. “Citizen media,” such as blogs and “open source” encyclopædias, allows for those who otherwise had no avenue for presenting their thoughts and ideas to engage in public discourse. Traditional understandings of authority and expertise are subject to revision as new ways of assessing authority develop for online sources. This is also evident in the struggles of “old-media” groups in reconciling their established publishing and editorial practices with emergent online practices.

This thesis foregrounds the work of individuals by drawing extensively from interviews, personal blogs, and online discussion forums. In this way, the monolithic “grand narratives” of the Internet, such as the filesharing “battle” or the democratic potential of online discourse, are shown to be the product of many individual subjectivities, each of whom contribute to authoring the online environment.

EDIT: Holy Crap! For those of you wondering what “Captialism” is, I have no answer. I only just noticed the misspelling on the cover today as I posted the picture! My parents sent me these pictures the day the bound copy arrived in the mail back in Novvember! I guess I never really looked close enough at them!

Reba

Published
by
Paul Aitken
on May 15, 2007
in General and Music
. 3 Comments

One of the great things about my involvement in music, both as a practitioner and as an academic, is that every year I am fortunate enough to be introduced to new music. Recently, when this happens I also find myself readdressing my musical history, in particular, favourite artists from my past that I had for one reason or another stopped listening to as much as I once did. Last year, the new band was Coheed & Cambria, courtesy of my 15 year old cousin, which led me to turn back to Rush and some of the heavier music of my high school years (Metallica, Van Halen). This year, I became acquainted (obsessed is perhaps a better word) with Umphrey’s McGee, courtesy of my friend Alex. Umphrey’s, with their incredible blend of jamband and prog rock aesthetics, inspired me to go back and listen with fresh ears to one of my favourite bands, Phish.

In doing so, I find that I come back, time and time again, to Trey Anastasio’s incredible guitar work on Phish’s quirky but epic “Reba” from 1990’s Lawnboy. I have always held the guitar solo from the studio version as an example of a “perfect” guitar solo, if there can be such a thing. I saw Phish a few times live (Concert Hall-Masonic Temple, Toronto 04/06/1994, The Great Went, Limestone, ME 08/16/1997, 08/17/1997 and Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI 11/11/1998) but I never once saw a live “Reba”. I have been on a bit of a Phish binge recently, and have been focussing on a lot of the Live Phish series, a great many of which come with “Reba’s”, to my delight. After hearing a few, I went on a search for “the best ‘Reba’ ever” and have since been compiling, when time permits, as many as I can get my hands on. I have also spent some time paring them down so I can listen to endless “Reba” “jam sections” (the guitar solo has evolved in the live setting to be oh so much more!) over and over, in a row, without being interrupted by the rest of the tune. These days I find myself returning over and over again to the classic New Year’s eve performance at Madison Square Garden (12/31/1995), this “Reba” solo has all but displaced the studio version as my new idea of what “perfect” might sound like.

Take a listen to both for yourself (or right-click on the titles to download)!

Reba (Lawnboy, 1990) (MP3, 7mb)

Reba (Madison Square Garden, NYC, NY 1995) (MP3, 15.5mb)

You can also see this being performed here (solo begins around 5′50″).

Some highlights from the Madison Square Garden solo (time indicators are for the above edited MP3):

  • It begins ever so quietly with Trey’s simple phrase, based on an alternation between two notes, which bassist Mike Gordon picks up on (0’34”) and is given some space to play around with as Trey eases back a bit.
  • A trademark staccato high note to begin Trey’s next phrase (0’43”) which picks up on the descending line established by Mike moments earlier.
  • Trey just milks the arpeggio at 1’12”, using it, in the same way as Coltrane would often do, almost as a pedal point, returning to it several times while embellishing it as the solo progresses.
  • The tone at 1’32” just “pops” out at you, as my friend Alex would say!
  • There is a rapturous pedal-point section at 2’11” and at this point I’m just in awe of the way that these four men could communicate onstage. This precedes a return to a two note pattern that echoes the opening phrase (2’30”).
  • 3’03”-3’09” Trey picks up on keyboardist Paige McConnell’s descending line, and Paige responds in kind.
  • The phrase that just gets me every time is the little golden nugget we get 3’38”-3’41” where you can here that Trey has switched to the bridge pick-up and has (likely) engaged the first of two Ibanez Tube Screamer overdrive pedals. We’re preparing for lift off here babies!
  • 3’49”-4’06” another arpeggio to milk, singing high note “poppin’” out atcha!
  • 5’06”, that’s the second Tube Screamer, and anticipates the beautiful legato line from 5’10”-5’15”.
  • Classic Trey 05’25”-5’40” (not that the rest of the solo isn’t, mind).
  • Triumphant is the only word I’ve ever been able to think of that describes the kind of phrasing he uses between 6’04-6’12”.
  • 6’23”-6’27”: How in the hell do you make that crazy bend on a guitar with no whammy bar? It’s so…seamless.
  • The phrase that begins at 7’22” is superb, listen to the way he plays the line several times and then speeds up the rhythm, playing the same notes, towards the end (7’26”).
  • The upper register face-melting that brings us home from 7’53” onwards is just gold.

I mean really, the whole damn thing is fantastic. The sensitivity of Paige’s piano playing is great to listen to after you’ve got past a few listens to Trey’s solo. Mike and drummer Jon Fishman aren’t slouches either. This performance is a great example of how what in another band would be “just a guitar solo” can turn into a serious bit of group improvisation where the guitar is really just another voice, albeit a prominent one.

Now, if you play, go play.

Oooh yeah, Prince rules!

Published
by
Paul Aitken
on February 5, 2007
in General, Media and Music
. 4 Comments

In 2003, Mark Morford commented on Shania Twain’s Superbowl XXXVII performance in “Is Shania Twain Human?” in the SF Gate Morning Fix. Here he compared the sex appeal of Twain’s performance to that of Gwen Stefani who performed with Sting afterwards. He suggests that in her lip-synced, “plastic” performance, “despite all the bare midriffs and push-up bras and coy lyrics, Shania Twain is not a sexual person.” Stefani, on the other hand, “swivelled her hips so gorgeously and so deeply that the TV cameras were forced to shoot her only from the waist up…”

I agree mostly with these statements, preferring Stefani’s music to Twain’s. But damn if this past Sunday’s performance by Prince wasn’t the most refreshing halftime show I’ve ever seen!

[EDIT] I had links to the videos on youtube here for a couple of weeks, with the warning to “get ‘em soon”, suspecting that they would be pulled for whatever idiotic copyright reason.  Well, it turns out they were!  I’m sure you can find them if you go here.  

It was almost disconcerting watch Prince rock out, doing something so loose, when in recent years Superbowl halftimes have been as boring as the games they were interrupting.  CCR, a Foo Fighters cover, All Along the Watchtower, and some killer guitar playing…Now that’s sexy!