My opinion of what's wrong/needs to be improved on with SG music scene.
- Thread starter noojoo
- Start date
daryl
New member
lol i'm not the one who takes 3hrs to walk from the esplanade to city hall mrt station
snuffleupagus
New member
To the critics- Just because the music sounds bad to you and is too "formulaic" doesn't mean that everyone feels the same way. Music is more than that, a little kid watching from the side can be inspired to make good music when he gets older.
People like Hendrix and SRV were all inspired by acts that in general sound technically sub par and simplified to the extent that even I cannot relate to.(all blues songs sound the same to the uninitiated). Everyone was trying to rip off all the Blues greats at that time even to the extent of wearing the same kinda outfits. But these so called sub par musicians inspired these greats to change the face of Rock and Blues history.It didn't matter that White folks dressed like Blacks or played black music in the 50's after hearing little richard or chuck berry. ,<Think Pat Boone>(remember that this was the racist 50's-60's)Music is supposed to transcend the boundaries on any/all thinkable fronts.
Bob Dylan has a crow's voice and is extremely pitchy sometimes, but look at the generation he inspired. All his songs at that time are about oppression, which can sound whiny to critics like you and too repetitive, but hey, the world is bigger than you.
Understanding an act on superficial terms will only bring you superficial results. I'm not saying that you are wrong to criticise, but please, give these boys a chance. These are the people who will inspire you'll-never-know who in future.
I say, let them live their dreams and their passion, let them work harder on their own terms and gain the experience needed as they progress.
But kudos to the critics and the bands, historically they have to coexist.
People like Hendrix and SRV were all inspired by acts that in general sound technically sub par and simplified to the extent that even I cannot relate to.(all blues songs sound the same to the uninitiated). Everyone was trying to rip off all the Blues greats at that time even to the extent of wearing the same kinda outfits. But these so called sub par musicians inspired these greats to change the face of Rock and Blues history.It didn't matter that White folks dressed like Blacks or played black music in the 50's after hearing little richard or chuck berry. ,<Think Pat Boone>(remember that this was the racist 50's-60's)Music is supposed to transcend the boundaries on any/all thinkable fronts.
Bob Dylan has a crow's voice and is extremely pitchy sometimes, but look at the generation he inspired. All his songs at that time are about oppression, which can sound whiny to critics like you and too repetitive, but hey, the world is bigger than you.
Understanding an act on superficial terms will only bring you superficial results. I'm not saying that you are wrong to criticise, but please, give these boys a chance. These are the people who will inspire you'll-never-know who in future.
I say, let them live their dreams and their passion, let them work harder on their own terms and gain the experience needed as they progress.
But kudos to the critics and the bands, historically they have to coexist.
Last edited:
I think that's where you are wrong.
You do not need to have a "Singaporean" sound, I think that mentality fails itself. You don't need to sing in singlish, use hokkien swears or talk about the merlion.
The most important thing is something fresh.
I detest people who claim that everything has been done before, and use this to justify their unoriginal boring songs. Has anyone here studied permutations or combinations or that math crap?
Firstly, there are ALOT more sounds than all the typical sounds you hear in rock.
Using samplers and creating a sound that you want, coming up with a beat on a drum machine and adding distortion to it, adding delay to that beat, adding delay onto your voice, phasing your voice in and out on a vocoder and controlling it by using a sample pad. Using an accordian, using traditional asian instruments, adding effects to these instruments, singing with different techniques(your voice can be manipulated alot), sing in more than one language, sing in jibberish, coming up with a tribal beat and singing pop melodies over it, pitch shifting your voice. Also, controlling how to use various effects, to what degree blahb lah balbhab labha. Obviously it'd be impossible for me to list or know every single thing, but you get the idea.
And of course the ENDLESS amount of structures one can come up with, and the dynamics one can apply, and the variations of everything.
All of this can be done in ANY context.
The point is, there are no limits at all, other than maybe the amount of cash you'll spend on various gadgets. But it's not like a good guitar is cheap either. And your head is probably the most important gadget anyway. A song doesn't have to have guitar, a song doesn't have to have drums, a song doesn't have to have bass. A song doesn't have to have a verse, a chorus, a bridge. The possibilities are almost never ending, and they surely will not end in our lifetime.
And hell, you can still write fresh music with just guitar, bass and drums. You can write fresh music with typical sounds.You can rip off so many little different things and write something fresh out of it, but of course I think it's probably harder to do this consciously than to do it subconsciously, by LISTENING TO MORE TYPES OF MUSIC. More people should do this.
Anyone who claims all music sounds the same and is unoriginal is just a lazy bastard, and they should just stop playing music, because if it's a chore then what's the point. Play with a group of people you enjoy playing and hanging out with, experiment with them, grow with them, that's the whole point of a band. Don't lump yourself into some genre and damn yourself to it, write GOOD songs, that's all that matters.
Make yourself matter, don't be just some other crappy mediocre band who plays 4/4 versechorusversechorusbridgechorus rock.
Last edited:
Guessing this is a subtle stab at me, correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm not suggesting that anything can ever be truly original, obviously if you want to get into the technicality of it all we're all just ripping stuff off.
But I'm sure you've heard bands or songs that you think to yourself, "This is interesting." I'll give you an example, go check out Mike Pattons later work.
Any band that resigns themselves to being a rip-off is pretty sad.
vickomaniac
New member
just remembering what billy sheehan said (and demonstrated).
so many popular songs are rip-offs of other popular songs.
sometimes subtle, but sometimes really blindingly obvious.
the way i see it, you can rip off your fave band as much as you want i'll still listen to you if you sound good (to my ears)
so many popular songs are rip-offs of other popular songs.
sometimes subtle, but sometimes really blindingly obvious.
the way i see it, you can rip off your fave band as much as you want i'll still listen to you if you sound good (to my ears)
no mate it isn't, if i wanted to stab you i'd let you know! always more fun that way
just remembering something rather entertaining involving many dissonant notes and weird screeches
Aha okay
To vicko, I totally agree with you. Music should first and foremost sound good.
But I was catering that more towards musicians and their mentality. There should be a progressive mentality, wanting to move on. Look at the Beatles, compare She Loves You to their stuff on Revolver.
Too many musicians, not just in Singapore obviously, have this backward mentality, that we should just stick to the old stuff. I'm speaking specifically about musicians who want to do more than just entertain, obviously I don't expect other people to adopt that same mentality.
But again, through all of it, sounding good is what matters the most yes.
Last edited:
daryl
New member
HAHA goddam you wtf is SHE SAID YEAH.
well, i think a band who constantly reinvents itself deserves credit. think The Beatles, Radiohead
Last edited:
vickomaniac
New member
glad we agree, blank 
rottenramone
Active member
hahah
blank: u remind me of madmonkeykungfu, but in a good way.
blank: u remind me of madmonkeykungfu, but in a good way.
AgingYouth
New member
Gotch lah. They are under the Kitty Wu(tang Clan) Records. Drop it like it's hawt ya'll!!! Were there such restrictions?
Only to be mocked by Aphex Twin to be a mediocre version of him. After OK Computer, Radiohead went through a crisis of faith and identity, trying to absorb as much avant garde influences as possible.
But what the hell??!? Thomas Edward Yorke, wo ai ni!!!
rottenramone
Active member
hip hop ya don't stop!
i'm gonna party in rio carnival!
i'm gonna party in rio carnival!
tim098
New member
I mentioned just now its not about Singlish, i expect nothing less than perfect grammar
. I'm talking about the groove. We do not have a specific groove. How old is SG? years upon years of music playing and no distinctive sound? Other than "rasa sayang hey! rasa sayang sayang hey"Thinking in permutations?? Come on man. If ur gonna make music totally mathematical it risks killing the feel. Of course I do get what u mean, but what im saying is that Singapore fails and will continue to fail in producing a uniquely singaporean sound due to a very fundamental fact, that we have no unique culture. In mathematical terms this would be like a whole equation with a near equivalent of a "(whole bloody equation) X 0" at the end. This reflects VERY much through our entertainment industries, both television and music.
The title of the thread is "My opinion on what's wrong/needs to be improved with SG music scene". I think im trying to give my personal answer to the 'whats wrong' part.
Last edited:
AgingYouth
New member
Eh, bro RR bro, when can i pop over your place to transfer the goot stuff over to my portable HD ar, bro?
rottenramone
Active member
tim098: i think he meant that we don't give ourselves a chance to challenge ourselves.
rottenramone
Active member
lemme know when u free la... after work is good.
Similar threads
