Unveiling the Beauty of Challenging Music
While there’s no such thing as “the best music ever made” as plenty claim (even “prestigious” media through their ridiculous rankings), technically speaking and based on music theory, out there is definitely music which is more elaborated in its composition, arrangements, lyrics, and even the artwork escorting the music, which make the average listener harder to swallow, digest, and finally get hooked.
As I always say...
With Understanding Comes Appreciation
While this kind of music requires most of the times an acquired-taste, which at times takes even years to develop, UNDERSTANDING what is behind of this kind of music, is one of the main reasons people do not find it appealing, catching or at least give it a try. So… throughout all my social media corners (follow me to stay tuned), I attempt to unveil the secrets and beauty of elaborated, cerebral and challenging music, through in-depth, detailed yet condensed, engaging and even funny reviews & insights to help newbies, casual, and even some more experienced fans to understand, and eventually APPRECIATE this superb music bit better.
The Shark (your anonymous editor, here) is precisely that —an enthusiast of cerebral, elaborated, complex, uncompromising and challenging music, which still he finds out refined, sophisticated and beautiful.
For those more demanding and technical, based on music theory, I love music which sports dissonance sounds, counterpointing melodic lines, atonal/polytonal harmonies, odd time signatures, complex polyrhythms and weird accent notations through the percussions, and all the bizarre and unearthly technical features in music you can imagine in its composition. As Frank Zappa, John Zorn, Thelonious Monk and other composer geniuses, I'm also a self-taught of music theory, and while way far at their level of knowledge, I have developed a basic acumen of the technical stuff, which has helped me a lot to get into and love this kind of music more and more.
Some of the music styles I’ll review here are Avant-Garde, Prog-Rock/Art Rock, Experimental, Jazz-Rock Fusion, Guitar Virtuoso, Modern Composition, XX Classical Music and most of their branches.
To give you an idea of the kind of music I like, my main beloved artists & bands are Frank Zappa, John Zorn, Miles Davis, Captain Beefheart, Henry Cow, John Coltrane, Tom Waits, Anton Webern, The Legendary Pink Dots, Can, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Genesis, Jane, Béla Bartók, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, Amon Düül, Jeff Beck, Van Der Graaf Generator, Igor Stravinsky, Return to Forever, Eloy, Edgar Varèse, Thelonious Monk, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Hiromi and much more, I’ll survey here.
Most of the times, a lot is going on in this kind of music regarding its soundstage and instrumentation, so in order to appreciate most of the details, I always try to listen to it at the best sound quality available (digital or analog), so I consider myself not only a “melomaniac” of the kind of music presented above, but an audiophile as well. So I also share my two cents in this regard to help you listen to your music at the best possible way, and unveil sounding details you might not have listened or put attention before.
Having said that and quoting my all-time hero Frank Zappa on Watermelon in Easter Hay, "...ultimately, who gives a fuck anyway?" LOL!
... but for those who don't, the least of my purposes here is to inflict nor change your core musical preference, but to unveil the beauty of challenging gems you might never listened before or haven't listened for a while, expecting as well, to expand your range of musical taste in some degree. If somehow I help you meet the latter, I’ll call it a day. Hopefully we can build together a great community at this corner of the web, while adding new adepts to this (most of the times) overlooked but superb music.
You are all welcome!
Sincerely,
your Shark.