how do YOU go about appreciating difficult music?

RoxyRollah · 05-26-2015, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reckless Eric

I have been listening to a lot of experimental German music from the 70s. I won't use the term "Krautrock", as 1. The groups/artists don't like that term and 2. Because the groups that are usually banded together under that label are so diverse and I really don't like most of them.

But stuff like Cluster, Neu, Harmonia, Conrad Schnitzler, I love. Often, there isn't a beat or anything to hold onto right through a track.
So what I tend to do, is just enjoy it in the moment.
I just focus on the sounds as they happen and just listen.
I then find that I return to certain tracks and they become my favourites.

Those guys wanted to work so outside what Anglo or American music was doing, that the norms were rejected.
So, it can be challenging trying to listen to this experimental stuff having grown up on guitar riffs that circle around a steady beat and bassline.
I find it thrilling.

Why not use the term Krautrock tho? I am confused, I mean like it's actually a genre of music, and who gives a rip if the bands don't like the term. It's how people easily identify the music, for others, or themselves. It's not saying that their music is bad, or what have you.

As for me, I love off the wall stuff, and or obscure stuff, and if something is an assault on my ears at first, I'll usually skip the track and find one that is more accessible to my ear. Once that happens and I have determined if the band is worth their salt, I usually come back to the track and hope there is something there that can catch my ear, be it a single note, vocals or whatever and the just listen to it over and over until I can find it's redeeming qualities. I have only run across one album that I can't get into after this method.