The Future

I've have returned with a renewed vigor to post regularly! I was browsing through Sydney blogs and was quite disappointed to see so many of them dying. What's happening people!? There's nothing worse than returning to a blog, only to find that the newest post is the same as month ago. I hate this, and yet I've been doing it myself! Well not anymore. Uni's as good as over (exams you say?) and the world is ripe with new music. Let's see how long this lasts!

I also found something I wrote a while back and thought I'd share it with you. It's rather amusing. It would also be pretty cool to one day make it happen.......

Music Problems

Here’s a couple of conundrums to contemplate over breakfast

Problem 1) Music Tastes

When someone asks you “what music do you like”, it’s impossible to answer such a question, without doing yourself injustice. With movies or TV shows you might be alright. You could usually rattle off 5 or so and have most bases covered. But with music it’s completely different. Most people have dozens of artists they would consider favourites, so trying to pick just few is too much of an ask. Things get even more complex when you enter social situations and have to consider whether the other person will recognise a certain band, let alone approve of them. If only there was a way to encapsulate your entire musical tastes into a single breath……..if only.

Answer) Music Colour

The most obvious way to solve the above problem, would be to assign some sort of score. But why stop there? Why not make things interesting and assign a colour? The RGB colour scale offers the perfect solution. Every band would shift the balance in some way (e.g. Spice Girls = severe blue shift) and once you add together the influence of all your favourite bands, you would be left with a colour that defines your tastes completely. It’s not perfect but hey, it’s a start. At least you’ll know not to even bother with the small chat when you meet someone from the indigo crowd.

Problem 2) Genres

Currently music is categorised according to genres. This is troublesome because it overlooks the individual differences between bands. You can try inventing finer and finer categories, but you will always be trying to arrange a continuous spectrum of styles into distinct groups. It will never work. But having a continuous spectrum brings you back to square one. You no longer have any way of indicating what a band sounds like. That is, unless you map every band onto a planet! (makes sense right?)

Answer) Music Globe

The concept is quite simple really. Similarity between two bands is represented by geographical closeness. If two bands are really alike, they have houses next to each other. The genres of old become countries. Sub genres become cities. Similar genres like ‘indie’ and ‘pop’ are manifested as neighbouring countries. Heavy metal is on the other side of the globe. Sigur Ros is an island in the middle of nowhere. If only they showed kids this globe at school, we’d all be better off.