Luca said in a comment on yesterday's post that to him house music is Brutalist architecture, a connection I totally get. Some music- Underworld's for example and a lot of techno- isn't abstract expressionism in the Jackson Pollock vein, it's linear, straight lines, horizontal lines, parallel lines, railway lines, street lights on motorways shooting off in the distance in the dark, it goes from here to there. Those unchanging beats, sequenced basslines (they're called lines for a reason), pulsing synths with minimal changes off the always heading forward route- forward momentum rather than the splashes of colour and drizzles of Pollock. Underworld's Dark And Long (this version is off the e.p. and is nine minutes plus long) is just what I mean.
Dark And Long
7 comments:
I love the thing of connecting music with art forms, I find it interesting how we can translate sounds into visuals. I'll be thinking about this all day now while I paint some hip hop!
Totally see this. Underworld are my ideal train journey soundtrack, especially when we start to go through urban railway areas,surrounded by old factories, car parks, housing estates.
But also, I'm a 'sufferer' of synesthesia, in my case I hear music I see colours. It's mild, to be sure, but can be trippy with certain soundtracks. Especially if they're associated in my mind with other forms of stimulation shall we say. Underworld are shimmering pink and gold railway tracks to me, and also black and gold doorways, a bit like walking drunk through a city centre at night, with the neon glow and everything a bit hazy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
Simon, I was really interested to read your comment. I have the synaesthesia thing too in a different form - for me it's letters of the alphabet which are always visual and attributed their own colour (e.g. A is always red, S is always yellow), also translates to days of the week and months according to their leading letter. For years I just thought it was normal until I realised not everyone does it, then read up a lot about it. Fascinating stuff, especially the version you experience and the musical connection.
C, I love the fact that our senses do things like this. It's musical for me, it doesn't trigger from anything else. My best mate from school has it too, but he gets taste as well as colour when he hears certain notes. Another friend of mine also has the same, he then paints what he hears. His paintings are incredible. His perception of it and mine must overlap somewhere because I can look at his pictures and know what sort of music he was listening to, and what instruments were being played roughly.
This is a fascinating string of comments. I'll fight the urge to say, "please, go on."
Simon and C- thanks both of you, massively interesting. Synaesthesia crossed my mind when I was writing this.
This is totes interesting. Love it. Wonder if people with synaethesia see the same colours for the same music?
Post a Comment