re: The Hyper-critical" Genre-Hater" versus the open-minded Quality-Seeker

I do have an aesthetic, I like dirty, raw music. To use the old Neil Young adage, I prefer passion over precision. That said, I can find this aesthetic in almost any genre. Now, I'm always going to prefer DIY punk because of this particular preference, but I love the Stones, and outlaw country, and the Chess blues, and "dirty South" hip hop, and 1950s rock no roll.

But I'm also not a slave to this aesthetic. It's what I'm likely to prefer, but I love the shimmering pop of old school doo wop, the millions of samples in early De La Soul and 90s Beastie Boys, the middle period of Yes' classic lineup, and the clean pop sound of the New Pornographers.

I'm more likely to want to hear a nearly out of control punk song recorded on a 4-track in one take, but that doesn't mean I'll reject Phil Spector's Wall of Sound out of hand. I think it's silly to pretend we don't have preferences because of course we do, it's whether we allow those preferences to prevent us from hearing real cool stuff outside of our favorites. My love of lo fi does not preclude me from loving Prince, who is awesome, but most certainly not lo fi.

Is this one of those threads where we are supposed to come out and say how open minded and accepting we are of all different kinds of music, or is this one big subtle brag? That belongs on facebook bro.

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I prefer passion over precision

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I prefer the combination of the two

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I do have an aesthetic, I like dirty, raw music

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I know that about you. An old school punk connoisseur. I get it. I appreciate it. I don't feel compelled to tell you it sucks. We have had this exact conversation before, about the nature of "small-penis" posting, whether it be about Les Miles, professional soccer or hockey. People just get REALLY concerned if you enjoy something they don't. And they need to lecture you on why it sucks and why you suck.

I saw Jack White and The Saenger a few months back. I'm not a Jack White "guy" but it so thoroughly kicked my arse, once I understood the aesthetic. I got it. I understood what he was going for and it was fricking genius. Not normally my thing, I would rather see Warren Haynes with my boy T on drums at Red Rocks, but it was pretty damn bad-arse, and I didn't feel the need to deconstruct it negatively and bore the shite out of everybody.

Pretty much everything you said. I think if you have a good ear you can go in a lot of strange different directions. And there is not a man alive who will not defend some shitty song from their youth to the death. Especially me.

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I have never understood how anyone that likes music can like rap, at all.

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Because some of it is great? I mean, I don't know how someone who likes music can't at least appreciate A Tribe Called Quest or the Beastie Boys, but to each their own. I'm disappointing in a lot of current rap because no one has any flow, and lyricism has been devalued (which is why a Wu Tang reunion is gonna be so f'n sweet). But also early hip hop required the DJ to be a real curator of music. You had to have the beats on a record, and ou had to be able to pull it. That's why a guy like ?uestlove is able to now helm the Late night Band... the guy probably has a record collection numbering in the tens of thousands. You had to know all kinds of music to be a good DJ back in the day.

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You had to know all kinds of music to be a good DJ

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but you don't have to be a musician

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you don't have to be a musician

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I would say that all of the producers in that era were musicians. It actually took knowledge and talent to create the instrumentals that they did.

DOOM, Q-Tip, Madlib, Pete Rock, Premier, etc.

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What makes a musician?

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you tell me Mr. Cage

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you tell me Mr. Cage

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No, you first.