I’d like to think that my taste in music is the equivalent of an Adrian Tomine strip: a series of emotional purges void of the usual high mindedness and technical facility that preoccupies a lot of artists. That doesn’t really explain why I like Battles and Stereolab, but it does explain why most of the things I like are about as depressing as the current state of Filipino mass culture.
Last night Baki asked me why all the short stories I’ve been making him read are depressing. That’s not the first time someone’s asked me that question, but it never really hit me until now that I’m not sad but my taste revolves around things that are. When I told my sister about it, she just snorted and said, “I could have told you that myself, I mean the music we listen to is sad.” to which I got all defensive and started wanting to quote Polyphonic Spree songs.
Quality time with my dad was spent watching war movies with “Nowhere Man” playing in the background, so at this point it’s like being knee deep in crap long enough to no longer notice the stench. What happens there is the early fascination with things that are totally grounded in this reality, not to say that the only real thing in this world is war, but it shows how there’s enough in this world that will forever be beyond your comprehension, leaving very little of an excuse to escape to another one. And a guy with a guitar doesn’t always provide the best soundtrack for this reality, but he could deliver a pretty good one.
A few hours ago, I was reading about this guy who wrote a paper on the economy of the world of Ever Quest and how it translates to real world terms–mainly the equivalent of a platinum piece when sold on eBay to other gamers. Basically Ever Quest comes in with a GNP higher than that of India, it has the 77th strongest economy and it doesn’t even exist. I got that far before realizing that I don’t care. Sure, Ever Quest is ust a hop, skip, and an internet connection away and I may die without ever seeing India, but I will still always find trouble caring about things that do not really exist. Like hobbits and zombies.
So…yeah, maybe I’m the least imaginative person I know.
I do love a good remix, though. From time to time I like a gang chorus, a string section, and an unnecessarily long drum solo thrown in; but the constant is a person with a melody and a lovely, superhumanly articulate way of telling you exactly how something happened, if you find it depressing then dig out some Spice Girls and go fuck yourself.
Alice Sarmiento 