Auto-Tuneism vs Beauty of the Grotesque
rap. The new rock. The music that corrupts the youth and may bring America to its white and red striped knees. (said by the 1950′s voice of propaganda).
I never really was a rap fan by trade. I knew it was there and I recognized it as a branch of music that was interesting but not exactly my ears drink of choice. But, that soon came to change with the aid of the genre unify band, Gorrilaz.
When I first heard Gorrilaz, I was excited about the successful infusion of rock and hip-hop they represented. They also touched on country, punk, techno, and other genre realms that I never dared to tread in. They paved a road for me that broke my musical boundaries and lead me into diverse land of music (aboard a pirate ship of course, but I don’t want to get into that).
But i really want to focus on my interest in rap and hip-hop, particularly one of my favorites, Kanye West. Now I never thought I would be fan of Kanye West because I hate band wagons. But I don’t deny unifying under the umbrella of music and also, this bandwagon had the best sort of music that I just couldn’t deny.
My friend was the first to open my eyes to Kanye West. He bought West’s new cd last year and I was initially attracted by the colorful cartoon scene on the album cover (the kid in me). I told him to pop in the cd so I could listen to it and understand all the hipe that surrounded it that year. And you know what, I came to the conclusion that that cd was just dandy. I then ripped that cd from my friend and continue to listen to it.
Even though that cd brought me hope in the realm of rap and hip-hop, I was recently hope pick pocketed by news of West’s new cd. I read that his new cd was not going to feature much rap, but rather more singing. I’m not one to go against musical exploration, but singing idea made me nervous, not because West decided to explore it, but because he decided to use a device called and auto-tune to correct his pitch and make his voice sound better.
This ticked me off a little. I thought West was an inspiration for creativity and individuality in the world of hip-hop, but he decided that it is ok to make his music unnatural and synthetic. I despise unnaturalness in music for the sake of the status quo.
How can a device decide what sounds good to the public? Apparently the device decides what is hear pleasing and what the public wants to hear based on what the majority believes sounds good. Where’s the creativity, individuality and boundary breaking idea in this. I would find a lot more respect with West if he used his natural voice and mixed an album with out fear of what the public would think. If you have a bad voice, but you still want to flaunt it, make it work. Show that with your talent you can still produce something great sounding without the restrictions of a “bad” voice.
This is called finding beauty of the grotesque. It is when someone finds something not pleasing, but still finds it beautiful or enjoyable for other reasons, possibly because it is unique and interesting. Its a step into breaking the bonds of conformity
For example, Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins does not have the best voice in the world, but that didn’t stop millions from enjoying his music. He made it work. His music was an amazing balance between shoegazy dream pop and ear aching vocals. It mixed well and sounded great. Like teen angst in a sunny meadow or something. (other examples: the strokes and clap your hands and say yeah).
Maybe I’m overreacting and focusing too much on a little thing. But I know that little things like this can grow into bigger, irreversible things in time. What do you think? Am I over reacting or is West headed down the path of conformity for the sake of the masses.
