beware the slumpy

I own both of the above mentioned pieces of music: Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music and John Cale’s Sun Blindness Music. (Samples here (Lou) and here (John).)   I like them for a couple of different reasons:

1. They are artifacts, documents, almost, of a particular point in experimentalism in music. I certainly don’t want to get into a debate on anyone’s opinions on these pieces, or if they are crap, or if there are other noise, electronic, or experimental pieces that are more important. They are, for most people, unlistenable, and I certainly don’t think anyone should listen to these because they’re “deep” or anything pretentious like that. I listen to them because:
2. When I listen to these pieces, they seem to make the background noise in my brain go away, and I can concentrate so much better. That said, I don’t think that that is what these compositions were intended to do for anyone, nor do I expect that this would work for anyone else (most people beg me to turn them off if I happen to listen to them without headphones). So, no, I’m not saying that you should rush out and buy these and listen to them or else you won’t be as cool as I am. I’m saying that I love them because they make the background noise in my head go away. That’s my primary reason. (I’m guessing that it is because they are different from many other things, and so the wandering part of my mind is captivated, allowing me to concentrate on the task at hand. I use these sparingly, because I don’t want to get too used to them and not be able to turn to them when I need them. Yes, I’m addicted to music, but I control my dosage.)

But, yes, even I would never play them at the same time. That’d bring on insanity, for certain!

I’ve been going through a lot lately. I’m thankful for all the support that folks have shown me during this rather crazy time.

See you tomorrow, dears,

– Drosh