Thursday, 1 December 2005 - 11:31 PM EST

Do you mean our normlessness is becoming the norm?

I am not sure what is shocking to me anymore, musically anyway. Some stuff sounds too dissonant to my ears to be described. Some stuff like audio architecture is kinda weird. It seems people are trying to make music material, and with modern technology it's getting closer. You can check an example here if you have quicktime:

http://www.semiconductorfilms.org/root/soundfilms2.htm

and go to 'inaudible cities'. I guess it's really more like installation sound art on the web.

My guess is the next music shocker might be similar to what you suggest. Deliberately quaint and without irony. Maybe we can see a bit of that in the recent popularity of bluegrass. And most kids in their basements banging out Led Zepplin covers are doing it with a pure love, not because the T-shirts are ironic. On the other hand, 'deliberately quaint' might be an oxymoron.

So to answer your question definitively, I don't know.

Friday, 2 December 2005 - 8:31 AM EST

Thanks Joel,

It is interesting that the music you mentioned has images of "construction" i.e. architecture and cities. This seems to be an increasingly common theme that I have come across. An asethetic response to the virtual? The desire for presence. Does it overcome the limits of our virtual situation? I will certainly check it out.
And, well, bluegrass and Led Zepplin two great loves of mine, no seriously. Unfortunately I 'purged' (I suppose I shouldn't put quotes around that, it was quite literal) my Zep collection in the great revival of '98.

Tuesday, 20 December 2005 - 10:14 AM EST

Hi Guys, I think Dave is right in observing that the history of art in most of its forms has been preoccupied if not obsessed with the violation of norms. This is apparent from the progression from figurative and representationally 'perfect' renaissance art to the completely subjective chaos of post-modern abstract art. I think this tendancy is mirrored in many other aspects of western culture, although I can't comment on weather this is significantly true of non-western cultures. I think once one hits the rock-bottom of nihilism, there tends to be a bit of a rebound on the whole issue, as ultimately, life without meaning is not something that most people want to hold on to, and unfortunately you can't have meaning without structure and consequently norms.