From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V3 #255 Reply-To: loud-fans@smoe.org Sender: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk loud-fans-digest Sunday, August 31 2003 Volume 03 : Number 255 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [loud-fans] the psychology of music taste [glenn mcdonald ] Re: [loud-fans] another one of them damned lists to start arguments over [Dave Walker Subject: Re: [loud-fans] the psychology of music taste I finally got around to reading this paper Aaron mentioned, which had been sitting on my desk for weeks. On the whole I'd say that the simplified news article makes the study sound more interesting than it actually is, but it's an intriguing case study, if nothing else, of how hard it is to study music-preference in any systematic way. I bet many of us believe that music tastes reflect personality types, but I also bet we mean "music tastes" much more specifically than "rock" and "pop". I.e., what does it mean if somebody likes TMBG but not Ween, or Ween but not Ben Folds? The study in the paper takes so much time just trying to establish groundwork that it doesn't end up concluding very deeply about very much. But it's cool that anybody is even trying. glenn Begin forwarded message: > From: Aaron Mandel > Date: Thu Jul 10, 2003 5:27:45 pm US/Eastern > To: "Where They've Got Such A Stem" , Fegmaniax > List > Subject: [loud-fans] the psychology of music taste > > An Australian article about research on the correlation between > personality and musical taste: > > http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/10/1057783259813.html > > And the (dense, technical) paper it's based on: > > http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/faculty/Gosling/reprints/ > jpsp03musicdimensions.pdf > > I find this kind of stuff fascinating. It's easy to start to pick nits > with the study (and while I haven't read all the text yet, if you look > at > the chart on page 15 it appears that the correlations they came up with > are by and large not significant) and yet on the other hand, they don't > seem to have a particular axe to grind. > > a ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 08:14:45 -0400 From: glenn mcdonald Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Maria McKee: Life Is Sweet Aaron Milenski said, a while ago: > OK, I'm about nine years behind on this one, but I just discovered > this amazing masterpiece and wonder if it's ever been discussed > here? I'm with you, this album sounds even more impressive to me now than it did at the time, a scary/noisy/brash record from someone I wouldn't have ever expected this much cacophony out of. The contrasts with her earlier solo stuff and her recent new album (High Dive) are radical, especially on "Life Is Sweet" itself, which was remade for the new album. Particularly highly recommended if you always wished PJ Harvey was less afraid to really rock... glenn ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 08:20:44 -0400 From: glenn mcdonald Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Specimen I liked "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" enough to buy that EP at the time, and I agree that it's much more interesting than peripheral factors might indicate. The other 7" stuff on the compilation CD isn't all up to the standards of the six EP songs, to me, but "Tell Tail", "Beauty of Poison" and "Returning from a Journey" all still seem like excellent 80s standouts to me, with much more melodic flair than goth gloom. I think of them somewhere in between Sisters of Mercy and Sigue Sigue Sputnik... glenn ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 11:09:29 -0400 From: Dave Walker Subject: Re: [loud-fans] another one of them damned lists to start arguments over On Thursday, August 28, 2003, at 11:11 PM, Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey wrote: > 21. Moby - Play* (and this is the *only* title on the list I have zero > interest in owning) This being on Magnet's list strikes as electronica tokenism to me -- "well, we've gotta put at least one electronic record here" Feel free to mentally substitute Boards of Canada's "Music Has The Right To Children", or Mouse On Mars' "Iaoara Tahiti", or Autechre's "Tri Repetae", or Jeff Mills' "The Other Day", or Squarepusher's "Feed Me Weird Things", or Oval's "Systemisch", or The Black Dog's "Spanners", or the Aphex Twin's "Selected Ambient Works 2", or... anyway, pretty much anything else, and the list makes more sense. Phil Fleming > IS THIS IT? It may be just me, but I just don't > understand how a band can record what sounds like a > very expensive demo-tape and then get hyped as one of > the saviors of rock n roll. I want to see what happens > when the hype dies down on them. I heard a leaked track from the new one (due out in October, I think) that sounded like a pretty effective Cars pastiche (complete with flutey lead synth-line and handclaps.) Really. It's not really that much of a stretch -- a track like "Barely Legal" was halfway there already. -d.w. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 10:34:27 -0500 From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: Re: [loud-fans] another one of them damned lists to start arguments over Quoting Dave Walker : > On Thursday, August 28, 2003, at 11:11 PM, Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey > wrote: > > > 21. Moby - Play* (and this is the *only* title on the list I have zero > > interest in owning) > > This being on Magnet's list strikes as electronica tokenism to me -- > "well, we've gotta put at least one electronic record here" > Feel free to mentally substitute Boards of Canada's "Music > Has The Right To Children", or Mouse On Mars' "Iaoara Tahiti", > or Autechre's "Tri Repetae", or Jeff Mills' "The Other Day", > or Squarepusher's "Feed Me Weird Things", or Oval's > "Systemisch", or The Black Dog's "Spanners", or the > Aphex Twin's "Selected Ambient Works 2", or... anyway, > pretty much anything else, and the list makes more sense. You're probably right... I'm hardly a full-on "electronica" fan (enough to be dubious about the term though), yet of the records you mention, I have (holds up left hand, counts on fingers) four of them, or maybe five, because I can never remember Autechre titles. (I have the various-shades-of-layered-beige-with-text one, the dark gray-green one, and the newest one whose cover I haven't memorized yet. And maybe one other. I think I have too many CDs period.) I have one Squarepusher album (Music Is Rotted One Note - that must be an anagram for something but I haven't figured it out), which strikes me as a bit too jazz-fusion-y to be listened to very often. Actually, the only artist above I'm not at all familiar with is the Black Dog - in fact, I know one or two Jeff Mills tracks because, way back, you included them on a mixtape (yes, *tape*...ah, those premillennial formats...). ..Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html :: "In two thousand years, they'll still be looking for Elvis - :: this is nothing new," said the priest. np: printer, shower (not in the same place) ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V3 #255 *******************************