guy from BBC says RDJ can't play keyboard (re: piano stuff on Druqks). WTF?

[jchgf]

Modern day music is more percussion based and most people simply aren't capable of recognizing melodic complexity. Modern day melodies are very simple, especially in Western culture. Everything follows predictable patterns and modulations.

 

I think composers from any time earlier than 100 years ago would be astounded by the percussive complexity of our music (some of it, at least), but bored to death by its lack of melodic complexity.

 

Well put.

[sinesurfin]

First of all, RDJ can play keys pretty well.

 

why do you say that?

are you assuming that he can't play keys well?

[Aphex_Squarepusher_Twin]

Everybody knows that Richard's family had a piano & that he recorded also not without having moved ropes and hammers 2 make vary sounds... Say that he doesn't know how 2 play the piano while u knew him... It's incredible! He isn't a virtuoso but he knows how 2 play it! Why 2 want proofs? Why 2 break u the head 4 this bullshit? Go 2 sleep & make good dreams!

[mcglockers]

Nearly english.

[Aphex_Squarepusher_Twin]

i'm broken english

[tokn]

Modern day music is more percussion based and most people simply aren't capable of recognizing melodic complexity. Modern day melodies are very simple, especially in Western culture. Everything follows predictable patterns and modulations.

 

I think composers from any time earlier than 100 years ago would be astounded by the percussive complexity of our music (some of it, at least), but bored to death by its lack of melodic complexity.

 

Well put.

 

very well put. though i don't think you can apply these words on the recent academic stuff. there is a lot of tonal complexity, maybe almost too much. what do you think about this field of music? if you want to compare beethoven with someone, i guess it would be more relevant to compare him with a john cage or stockhausen than to compare him with rdj, wouldn't it?

[brian trageskin]

if you want to compare beethoven with someone, i guess it would be more relevant to compare him with a john cage or stockhausen than to compare him with rdj, wouldn't it?

 

definitely.

personnally, these days i'm far more moved and surprised by something as hermetic and uninteresting production-wise as allan holdsworth's music than any current electronic music.

production work is interesting and can lead to many paths but at the end of the day, my personal preference goes to music that's focused on composition, rather than production. aaron funk called it "presentation" in a recent interview, he said he didn't think it should be the main focus in the creative process. well i agree with that

[Guest xclark]

First of all, RDJ can play keys pretty well.

 

why do you say that?

are you assuming that he can't play keys well?

 

well, the original post I made was about having read that he cannot play keys, then everyone jumped in and said that it's apparently well-known and that he enters everything into the sequencer. I had just assumed that he could play decently, but then realized I was fooled by the midi-controlled piano in Avril 14th.

 

it did start a nice discussion about electronic composition in the thread, but I'm still unclear as to whether or not he can play. it doesn't really matter, as the music is definitely all that really matters, and I do love it, but as a musician, I'm curious what the real story is.

[murve33]

I suppose what I mean is that Electronic Music Composition has the potential to be more in depth than Baroque and Romantic, but many producers use electronic tools to take shortcuts, rather than make everything perfect.

Or as Zeff said, people are unable to recognize such complex melodies in this day and age.

 

In a sense, Electronic Composing is far more in depth than Classical.

 

In Classical music you pretty much notate what dynamics and how you are to play certain phrases through sheet music, and the musician translates your notes when they perform. And Romantic Classical music is far more in depth than Baroque because I don't think they even wrote down dynamics and how to play phrases and just left it up to the musicians/conductor.

 

To rephrase: As far as controlling individual aspects of a composition; Baroque < Classical < Electronic

 

In conclusion, electronic musicians are control freaks who have robot ears.

Now when I think of composition, I think of pitches, harmony, rhythm, etc. Not timbre, samples and mixing and all these aspects that most producers spend a lot of time working on. Maybe you could equate volume mixing with dynamics, but as far as I'm concerned, that's more a matter of production than composition.

Samples are a new thing that Baroque musicians didn't have access too, and mixing of course was needed due to that fact that they didn't need to record the music. Timbers were definitely something that was worried about though. Not just in the choice of instrument but how a composer would want a specific instrument to sound.

I believe worrying about timber is a more modern thing though. I don't believe baroque composers ever worried about it.

 

Edit: By modern I mean Post-Romantic and possibly Romantic. Though I'm not sure if it was worried about in Romantic. I'm no expert.

[beerwolf]

Wouldnt it be cool if You Know Who just popped in to tell us.

 

Not everything need be a mystery.

[zlemflolia]

I suppose what I mean is that Electronic Music Composition has the potential to be more in depth than Baroque and Romantic, but many producers use electronic tools to take shortcuts, rather than make everything perfect.

Or as Zeff said, people are unable to recognize such complex melodies in this day and age.

 

Another good point made especially comical by those indie bands who use a drum machine in the background of their pop/guitar vocals and stuff.

 

Electronic music probably has the most potential of any genre, period. It's just that current uses of it primarily include...

a) Trash pop music

b) Repetitive dance music

 

Then there's of course rdj/ae/boc which take it to a whole new level in depth, but not necessarily complexity. I don't know. I think basically because of the attitudes about music hundreds of years ago, they would be able to make far superior compositions given the tools we have now, whereas today electronic musicians don't really push electronic to the max

 

Baroque composers pushed their medium to the max, but electronic producers really don't do that. Even autechre doesn't do that, or rdj. When it comes down to it, their music is really simple in comparison to the max that the medium of electronic will possibly allow.

 

I hope we see some far more complex stuff in the future, with the rhythmic and melodic complexity of classical and the modern day percussive complexity of IDM.

 

Don't really know how to explain this

[xy_politics]

I'm kind of hoping for the opposite myself

[kinski]

i hope we see stuff so complex noone will be able to stand it so all you complexity crowd will finally can it.

[l1fef0rm]

Do people really think that those pieces from Drukqs were "played". It seems obvious how they were composed, being familiar with Aphex's style and all...

[syd syside]

I'm just hoping for more music at this point.

[l1fef0rm]

I'm just hoping for more music at this point.

me too.

[Ivan Ooze]

i don't care how he did it or if he can play a keyboard, he can skateboard on sinewaves!

drukqs is the best album i ever heard, he pushed it to the limit there

thank you afx, crusher of spirits, obliterator of souls, expander of bbc assholes

[Aphex_Squarepusher_Twin]

i don't care how he did it or if he can play a keyboard, he can skateboard on sinewaves!

drukqs is the best album i ever heard, he pushed it to the limit there

thank you afx, crusher of spirits, obliterator of souls, expander of bbc assholes

[beerwolf]

i don't care how he did it or if he can play a keyboard, he can skateboard on sinewaves!

drukqs is the best album i ever heard, he pushed it to the limit there

thank you afx, crusher of spirits, obliterator of souls, expander of bbc assholes

[apriorion]

i don't care how he did it or if he can play a keyboard, he can skateboard on sinewaves!

drukqs is the best album i ever heard, he pushed it to the limit there

thank you afx, crusher of spirits, obliterator of souls, expander of bbc assholes

[ferro4prez]

I completely agree with whoever said that the old composers would be astounded at our rhythmic complexity, but it has only to do with the fact that we required machines/computers to be invented to be able to execute these visions. The composers of the 40s/50s/60s (with the advent of serialism) expected EXTREME new requirements of the performers when executing their works...they were making demands such as "slide from a D4 that is sharp by 10cents down to a Bflat, at exactly mezzo-forte relative to the ensemble" and crazy things like this. Today we think "click the MDI note, draw a pitch envelope, set velocity to 100" and are done with it. It's like how people envisioned fractals in the 1800s, but it took until being able to plot them on computers in the 1970s to have any true appreciation for them.

 

With this said, I suspect if Bach (who was the most mathematical of them all - he would write invertible counterpoint starting at the 17th...look this up if you don't know what it means, it's truly a feat)...if he had access to current-day technology, we would have some bad-ass IDM from that guy. He'd be pushing the melodic/harmonic as much as the rhythmic.

[Bambi]

He can play keyboard pretty well. Listen to the solo he plays live here at 5:00

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPsWHXzC044&t=5m

[th555]

Is that mike or rich playing?

That cover makes me laugh every time...

[kinski]

beside the fact that it may as well be mike playing, it's not that hard of a solo. it's not like he whipped out some komeda madness. just get over it, he's not doing a solo piano recital at carnegie hall anytime soon.

[dr lopez]

He can play keyboard pretty well. Listen to the solo he plays live here at 5:00

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPsWHXzC044&t=5m

hi mike