Been getting more into the myth of the West this year (as opposed to my interest the last coupla years in German Romanticism), falling more and more in love with Los Angeles, Orange County, etc (Lynch has really played a part in opening my eyes to the beauty around me here, what a fucking legacy this place has). Still grappling with resolving the ideas of innovation and Living Tradition. Recognizing the remnants of various past (but very much alive) California traditions jostling around in the scenery. Interested in the legacy of Country, the influence of the dustbowl states on whitetrash culture; and Country Rock (created by ex-psychedelic baby boomers with roots in folk, raised on Westerns as kids; and continued in Slowcore and Alt. Country)...
Also been enjoying 'strings', thinking about their role in music as kind of the ambience of their time (It's a pretty obv connection of course considering their placement alongside pads in synths). Thinking about what feelings and associations they were meant to evoke, how gliding strings lifted the music into a more old fashioned sense of the Ideal by sounding "heavenly" (more religious climate at the time), painting a picture of a kind of pure romantic love, or weaving emotional strands now considered overly sentimental (and what are the more contemporary analogues to these feelings?). There's also the connection between Phil Spector's Wall of Sound and Kevin Shield's Wall of Sound. Soaring Strings and Glide Guitar. The Trancendental Ideal Romantic Moment, and Bodiless Bliss. But the Spector/Dreampop connection has been made before...
Also been enjoying 'strings', thinking about their role in music as kind of the ambience of their time (It's a pretty obv connection of course considering their placement alongside pads in synths). Thinking about what feelings and associations they were meant to evoke, how gliding strings lifted the music into a more old fashioned sense of the Ideal by sounding "heavenly" (more religious climate at the time), painting a picture of a kind of pure romantic love, or weaving emotional strands now considered overly sentimental (and what are the more contemporary analogues to these feelings?). There's also the connection between Phil Spector's Wall of Sound and Kevin Shield's Wall of Sound. Soaring Strings and Glide Guitar. The Trancendental Ideal Romantic Moment, and Bodiless Bliss. But the Spector/Dreampop connection has been made before...
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