Agreed, amazing conversation...I quoted like 10 messages to reply to since my last post, but that's silly to quote all that so I'll just post without the quotes...but AM VERY INTERESTED in hearing more about those NYC shows. I'm really digging in on these genre's lately and eager to get exposed to more. All the genres and sub-genre names sound made up to me, and I feel lost when talking to people deep into this scene...and I have no idea where to start with educating myself about all the nuances...but not sure I really care to understand the boxes that this kind of music is put into. I'm not sure it really matters.
To add some color, I grew up first into metal (I play the bass cause of Cliff Burton)...eventually discovered jazz through my bass teacher and then was exposed to Phish in high school (and they've been my favorite band since the mid 90's) and being in the phish scene and a musician, I got exposed to a massive variety of music (and still listen to new music all the time). I am a huge improv player/fan, but to someone's point, I'm into improv around predefined music. Don't get me wrong, I've played and gone to shows that were full on improv but my ideal is to play/hear original music that is improv'ed off of - not just extended solos, but jamming where there is listening, reacting, and new music is created (type II jamming for those who know about Type I/Type II) and ultimately you return to familiar ground. Music with some sort of purpose. Maybe that's my hangup? Maybe that's why I'm so transfixed on seeing/putting on "a show."
I love weird and unusual and I love noise. Even in my jam bands I was always trying to leverage loopers and I used to have a theramin in my setup so I approach music from my own angle (like I'm sure all of the active posters and lurkers for this thread can say for themselves). That said, I play my music for me, but sure I'd love to have people who are fans and take joy out of the art that I produce. The Jojo Mayer & Nerve show I saw the other day w the opener twisting knobs was the exact right audience for that kind of music. In fact, I was the only native new yorker that I ran into at the show in the back of a record store in brooklyn (can't get much more hipster brooklyn than that!). I was standing next to a guy who drove from CT and another guy from Germany(!!!). There were more than a few handfuls of conversations happening in non-English - and the space was fairly crowded (not sold out though). This audience would have been perfect for the opener to gain new fans...so why were most people disengaged? I have been trained to reflect on things in life and ask myself what could have gone different...better...worse...and when I witnessed that opener - doing what I'm sort of dreaming about (playing to a crowded room with a tabletop of gizmos that I'm building music with), it really had me asking those questions.
But I feel the same about bar bands and rock n roll. If you don't do something to make me remember you, I won't remember you...but if you do something memorable, I'll be your hype man and talk you up everywhere I can. There are many bands where the music did just this alone, but sometimes you need something to get people to give you a chance or to give that extra nudge so they want to see you more than once. Phish is a great example of this...they do gags and weird things like jump on trampolines and play vacuum cleaners, etc...in addition to music that a lot of people are able to attach to. In their beginnings though, people said, you gotta check out this band, they jump on trampolines.
I think that with experiential entertainment being on the rise - and also the expense to participate is getting ridiculous (ticket prices and everything that goes with going to a "show" or event) - that it's really on the artist to think about the full experience. Our society has expectations on user experience - yet so many artists don't consider anything beyond just the art. I am starting to ramble a bit, but if we didn't care if anyone was listening or not, why do people put links in their sigs and host music and even perform outside of the basement/bedroom? There's so much crap out there to weed through...I guess my point is that if you really do hope that your audience will find you somehow, you have to ask yourself what you are doing to encourage that encounter and when it happens what will the listener be greeted with to encourage them to dig deeper.
