New Dredg Interview on Ryan's Rock Show

[Gnomad]

Re: New Dredg Interview on Ryan's Rock Show

My problem with Lady Gaga is that I don't find her genuine. In anything she does, it comes off as a gimmick. Even her support of LGBT issues seems trite to me. But it's all in the eye of the beholder. I have some gay friends that love her and some that find her "support" insulting. Who's to say who's right?

[TheRuleofThree]

Re: New Dredg Interview on Ryan's Rock Show

My problem with Lady Gaga is that I don't find her genuine. In anything she does, it comes off as a gimmick. Even her support of LGBT issues seems trite to me. But it's all in the eye of the beholder. I have some gay friends that love her and some that find her "support" insulting. Who's to say who's right?

I can understand that, but I also think it's difficult to be genuine when you're that successful if you get what I mean. And while I don't think people deserve to be applauded for taking the RIGHT position on an issue (re: LGBT), I do think it's relevant enough to point out that she's at least used her fame to help a certain segment of people, especially when compared to her contemporaries (Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, etc.).

Also, I generally think that we forget that every artist is selling something that can be perceived as a gimmick (which goes back to your point about being in the eye of the beholder). We saw "El Cielo" as a unique and unparalleled concept album that had a lot of notable qualities to it. Pitchfork called it a gimmick. So in the end it just depends on whether or not what an artist is selling resonates with you in particular. I'm happy that legions of young music fans are engaging the music of an artist that is on the right side of an important civil rights issue, rather than the alternative.

[Frank Nit]

Re: New Dredg Interview on Ryan's Rock Show

I seem to remember Miley Cyrus stepping out in support of gay rights. Or at least I remember her catching flak for telling a lesbian fan that it's okay for her to love who she wants, and God will not punish her for it.

[TheRuleofThree]

Re: New Dredg Interview on Ryan's Rock Show

I seem to remember Miley Cyrus stepping out in support of gay rights. Or at least I remember her catching flak for telling a lesbian fan that it's okay for her to love who she wants, and God will not punish her for it.

If that's the case, then good for her, and the same situation applies. Although compared to Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga is much, much more talented as a songwriter and player.

[Gnomad]

Re: New Dredg Interview on Ryan's Rock Show

Well, this is the weird part, and it's probably because the gay friends I have that can't stand her are conservatives, they think she makes gay people look bad. One actually gets really worked up about it, he shouts and everything. He says it takes a lot to get people to recognize that they're normal citizens of this country that work 9-5 like anyone else, they just happen to be attracted to the same gender. Then people like her show up, shout "Yay! Gay rights!" or whatever in her Kermit the Frog get up (and fuck her for doing that, by the way, I love Kermit) and that stigma continues.

And this is where it got a little weird and sort of racist. "It's like those Mexicans on Cinco de Mayo that have no fucking clue what the holiday is about, no idea that it isn't celebrated in Mexico and they run around waving Mexican flags while starting a riot downtown. Way to represent your ethnicity."

Being half Mexican, I was half offended, but it was probably because he was right. Yeah. Civil rights is weird shit.

[Penguin88]

Re: New Dredg Interview on Ryan's Rock Show

A thought that came up from reading the thread some posts back...

The problem with art is that it doesnt have much to do with business. You can be an amazing artist (whether visual, musical, written art) living in a ditch somewhere because nobody was interested in what you were making. Meanwhile, people who have inferior creativity and skill are making a shit ton. A lot of people who are not particularly artistic or creative are making money in the arenas that are generally populated by the creative. Because they have businessmen guiding their marketing and even their sound/whatever based on demographics and statistics and shit. I think that, to make money, you have to give people what they want so they will buy it. Something they will like. Sometimes this happens on accident, im sure, and there is success from art. But in many cases it has to be conveniently packaged and easily accessible.

Most people dont want to listen to music for more than a few seconds before deciding whether or not they like it. This is why radio music tends to be very formulated and on some level similar. Most people want music that is easy to listen to.... pleasing to the ears on first listen and that's all that maters. Very surface. Whether the music they like is energetic, angry, mellow etc.... the effect needs to be accessible and I think this usually means simple.

Many people lack creativity and art themselves, and I think it is harder for those types to develop an appreciation for art... many people have an inability to even recognize good art from poorly done stuff. This goes for all arts I think... a lot of people I know will look at a painting and say "i dont like it" and therefor conclude it is "bad art". I personally can appreciate a lot of work that I see art in. Even though sometimes it is hard to get past the initial dislike for the style. In my opinion, true art and the ability to detect it transcends individual preference.
---
(Phone fucking up)
But yeah. I mean basically. Being an artist and being skilled are not the same thing. At best, many popular music making people have an acceptable level of skill and enough creativity to have a basic idea to pump out the formula of making nice sounds.

[vsd]

Re: New Dredg Interview on Ryan's Rock Show

let it be known that my previous comment about you was before i read that comment. it's one of the best posts i've ever seen from you.

[Lara]

Re: New Dredg Interview on Ryan's Rock Show

You haven't offended be, but I'm just wondering what you think separates someone like Lady Gaga or Kanye West from dredg? dredg has used synthesizers on their last two records. Lady Gaga is a talented and educated piano player and writes a significant portion of her own music. Kanye West is a well-known producer that has written a remarkable amount of music for other people and significantly excels at his own writing, which is essentially just modern poetry. Certainly, dredg's music is slightly more based on natural instrumentation - but what makes that any more authentic than anything else? See: Radiohead's "Kid A."

I tend to get a little peeved when I see people complain about popular music as if its somehow less worthy of recognition than other music. Just because something resonates with you doesn't mean it should sell millions of records; similarly, just because something sells millions of records doesn't mean it can't resonate with you. This "industry" everyone disparages is really just a model that worked from the early 1900's until the introduction of Napster, when the industry controlled the actual means of distribution and treated music like a product.

Being a musician means creating art. As much as I love and need art, art is NOT an essential product, and for all intents and purposes, every song ever written is now available for free. It's closer to paintings; you can download a song or an image you enjoy for free, or choose to pay significantly more for a hard copy (lithograph/LP). We're moving towards a new model for music that is actually just like the model for music that existed before the introduction of the LP: patronage. If you like an artist, you fund their creation (through services like Kickstarter or buying their hard merchandise or seeing their shows) and they do the best they can to maximize the pool of people funding their creation.

Don't blame pop. Blame reality. Music only made money for about a 70 or 80 year period, and even then it only made money for 1% of the people actually writing it.
---
Beethoven, by the way, was financially supported through patronage, and some then could have complained that the guy simply wrote and conducted actual musicians. So you see, the argument just goes on and on.

haha funny these two get mentioned cause i listen to them often. oops.

i like most of Lady GaGa's music just for the fun. i don't take it seriously. she can sing well, write her own music and play the piano. if i wanna listen to fun pop music i'll listen to her. i don't take what she does outside of her music seriously - all of the preaching at shows/outrageous outfits/attention seeking stunts etc. in her first year (2008-2009) or so, she wasn't doing all of that. in the past year however that's all turned around and she's become increasingly attention-seeking and i don't even enjoy the recent music she's been releasing.

with Kanye, I think he's a good rapper and producer and also talented in his own way and he has some good collaborations. In fact people who have seen my Last.FM have seen him in my top 8 and i'm not ashamed at all. again, don't really care what he does outside of music. and from what i've seen, he puts on great live shows. did anyone see that live stream of Coachella recently...? haha

i don't like katy perry, ke$ha, miley cyrus, britney spears or taylor swift though. at all...i liked britney when i was like 7 or something...


idk. just wanted to throw that in there. O_o

[Penguin88]

Re: New Dredg Interview on Ryan's Rock Show

it's one of the best posts i've ever seen from you.

Thankyou...

[halcyon712]

Re: New Dredg Interview on Ryan's Rock Show

Yo Lara, that post was good and all, but....

Sorry, old joke, I know.

Anyway, I don't like Kanye at all. Anybody that uses that much autotune loses tons of respect from me, as I know how hard it can be to record a bunch of takes to get one in a good pitch, but to do one take and just "fix" it like that....that's just taking the lazy way out. Autotune has it's place in the music world if you use it correctly, but I personally don't believe he uses it the right way at all.

Lady Gaga is someone my girlfriend listens to semi-often and I don't have too much of a problem with it because I respect the talent she does have as a musician. I don't particularly enjoy pop music much at all, but if the talent is there, it can't be denied.

[AnewKINDofFEELING]

Re: New Dredg Interview on Ryan's Rock Show

I just think Kanye is a racist cock-sucker with a much better impression of himself than is warranted. I will never listen to him or support anyting he does.

I can't argue any of your stances, I just don't like the arrogant punk.

[Knifeboy]

Re: New Dredg Interview on Ryan's Rock Show

Anyway, I don't like Kanye at all. Anybody that uses that much autotune loses tons of respect from me, as I know how hard it can be to record a bunch of takes to get one in a good pitch, but to do one take and just "fix" it like that....that's just taking the lazy way out. Autotune has it's place in the music world if you use it correctly, but I personally don't believe he uses it the right way at all.

Kanye doesn't use autotune all the time... And when he does it is mostly for effect

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZwMX6T5Jhk

I don't think this track would work nearly as well without the effect on his voice.

And there's several demo versions of that track out there with different vocal tracks... He doesn't use autotune just so he can be lazy

Sure you can be lazy with autotune but then it sounds lazy. Do you disagree with the use of EQ too? I mean if you have to EQ it you're just lazy because you should redo the take untill you get the sound right
---

I just think Kanye is a racist cock-sucker with a much better impression of himself than is warranted. I will never listen to him or support anyting he does.

I can't argue any of your stances, I just don't like the arrogant punk.

Completely respect that point of view, as long as you then don't go making claims about the mans music.


Me, I barely care about the personality of band members.
I listen to Burzum, music created by a nazi, convicted murderer.... complete whackjob.
I don't agree with him on anything yet love his music

[Ars Sycro]

Re: New Dredg Interview on Ryan's Rock Show

I've never heard a Kanye West song I like. And then he released that assholes song, and everybody was all up on his dick about how great it was, and it sounded like complete garbage.

[TheRuleofThree]

Re: New Dredg Interview on Ryan's Rock Show

I think judging a person's music by who they are as a person is a dead-end. You can respect the art and hate the artist just like you can hate the art and love the artist. At the same time, though, my biggest gripe on Kanye is the same gripe I have with most hip-hop; the blatant and never-ending misogyny. It's just something that the culture has been dealing with for decades.

[Sittingsideways]

Re: New Dredg Interview on Ryan's Rock Show

I've never heard a Kanye West song I like. And then he released that assholes song, and everybody was all up on his dick about how great it was, and it sounded like complete garbage.

Yeah... then he performed it at some awards show recently and it was freakin TERRIBLE man. He tried to do this whole epic show with the stage lights and him wearing red or something... i dunno... all i remember is he had a guest rapper come out and he totally out performed kanye.

I put kanye in the same boat as "Diddy Dirty Money" imo.