____twoism

Sounds like a stupid question, but I am intrigued. With new music, or music you love, how many of you actually just sit down and purely listen to the music. No other distractions, not listening whilst doing another task, not listening whilst surfing the internet etc.. simply concentrating on the music.

I ask because personally, in the past few years of so, it has become the predominant way I listen to music and I feel there is a huge amount of detail lost when the end user is pre-occupied. When you focus solely on the music I feel you are more responsive to the small details and subliminal intricacies in production. It may sound really pretentious and bordering on audiophile stupidity, or it may be quite common; I am just interested to see if people are with me on this one.

For example two albums I have 'felt' or 'experienced' more profoundly when concentrating more are Loveless and The Ballasted Orchestra - granted two of my favourite albums so maybe I am likely to search for those missing pieces when listening more intently.. but I swear this is true of most music, especially pensive and more abstract detailed music.

I'd like to hear your thoughts..

i do this a lot. sometimes if i catch my mind wandering too far while i'm listening to music i have to replay it and actually listen. haha

An excellent question. I try to do this as often as possible. I don't always get the opportunity these days, at least not as often as I used to. But there's no question, for the likes of BOC and SOTL is headphone music and that lends itself to giving it your full attention.

Of course, sometimes it's equally 'nice' to have background music or something less cerebral to blast away the cobwebs. Much as I love them, I don't need my quiet place of contemplation to enjoy Slayer for example

Same here- I try to do this as much as possible because I always hear so much more detail and become way more enveloped in the experience but it's really hard to do this on account of so many distractions. It also doesn't help that the source of both is my computer, so I'm often listening to music on the internet and therefore getting distracted by the internet at the same time.

Also sometimes listening to music by itself relaxes me so much I fall asleep :/

All the time. It has always been my favourite pastime. I can't listen to music when I'm trying to sleep or when I'm reading. Concentrating on one thing is something I'm good at, two things not so much.

naicob wrote:All the time. It has always been my favourite pastime. I can't listen to music when I'm trying to sleep or when I'm reading. Concentrating on one thing is something I'm good at, two things not so much.

yeah if i'm trying to sleep with music it won't happen. i just stay awake to hear more. also i never understood how people could read while listening to music

uf0party wrote:

naicob wrote:All the time. It has always been my favourite pastime. I can't listen to music when I'm trying to sleep or when I'm reading. Concentrating on one thing is something I'm good at, two things not so much.

yeah if i'm trying to sleep with music it won't happen. i just stay awake to hear more. also i never understood how people could read while listening to music

For me, reading is a silence or very low volume noise requirement. Sleeping though, I can listen to a lot of music to help me nod off.

I think since having a good turntable and amplifier, relatively high end gear.. I've learnt to settle into the music more and listen closer, that's the best thing about vinyl, no skipping..

I spend a lot of time travelling to work on the bus so this is my listening time. When in work designing tho I have loads of different Spotify lists (depending on the mood) but yeah this is more just background music and it's not getting my full attention.

Intense undistracted listening is the guilty pleasure I know I shouldn't feel guilty about. It's so rare that I get to do it these days but it used to be the way I listened to almost everything. I was round a friend's house at the weekend and he put on Selected Ambient Works 2 and I kept wanting to just listen to it properly rather than join in the conversation! Some music is simply too special to be just background.

Funny you should mention Loveless - I remember reading that the band would get themselves into sleep-deprived states when recording Isn't Anything, so I would try to listen to their records (and several other bands) in a similar state. No drugs or alcohol but those were some of the most incredible times I've had listening to music. The sound felt three-dimensional, as if I was floating inside it.

In my dream home I would have a room with nothing but the turntable, amp and speakers (and a comfy chair) in it.

IanRedpoint wrote:Intense undistracted listening is the guilty pleasure I know I shouldn't feel guilty about. It's so rare that I get to do it these days but it used to be the way I listened to almost everything. I was round a friend's house at the weekend and he put on Selected Ambient Works 2 and I kept wanting to just listen to it properly rather than join in the conversation! Some music is simply too special to be just background.

Funny you should mention Loveless - I remember reading that the band would get themselves into sleep-deprived states when recording Isn't Anything, so I would try to listen to their records (and several other bands) in a similar state. No drugs or alcohol but those were some of the most incredible times I've had listening to music. The sound felt three-dimensional, as if I was floating inside it.

In my dream home I would have a room with nothing but the turntable, amp and speakers (and a comfy chair) in it.

Oh that is my dream too.. alas I have to put up with everything in one bedroom at the moment. Still headphones give you that space to dwell in.

I guess when I know the album is going to be special, from either a band I know and love/have anticipated it/have been recommended by a good friend, I find the time to "experience" it. The last album I did it with was Swans - The Seer and it was absolutely incredible. I think there is a tapestry to music which can only be threaded when you let the album envelop you, all these images and ideas play out in my mind when I just let the music play.

Its really difficult not to sound like a bloody hippie when you talk about things like this, but I think when you solely concentrate on the sound, it almost runs through you. Kevin Shields said that music does have a physical quality which can only be experienced when you almost meditate on the sound. It really is super relaxing to just listen to music, which is obviously quite a common experience cos a few of you have said its soothing to point of sleep. Music definitely is meditative, though I guess concentration on any one sensory experience would be classed as meditation in some sense I suppose.. Interesting stuff!

I make time to do this. I'll put on some nice tunes through my headphones, close my eyes and put my forehead on my desk and just listen. I do this with all sorts of music, but the best by far is music that has a lot going on, or a lot of depth, like BoC. It's one of the many reasons I love their music. I've been doing this for well over a decade with BoC. All the time spent doing this has really placed the band in a special place for me. What's funny is you'd think I'd get sick of listening to them so much, but it's just the opposite. There isn't a single song of theirs I'm sick of hearing and wouldn't be game for a listen right now. The same goes for a lot of Biosphere's stuff perhaps to a lesser extent. For the record, I often fall asleep while listening to Biosphere's Substrata or Shenzhou. Effect = incredible dreams.

Depends, really. Most of the time I just listen to music while doing something like reading, drawing, etc. but when I'm really into an album I like to just lie on my bed, move my speakers close to the bed and just lie there with my eyes closed so I can fully enjoy it.

"Not enough" is the honest answer from me, but it's interesting that you ask now as this is something that I have recently started to get back into. The other day, after spending the weekend doing some much-needed DIY at a local social center, totally knackered, I collapsed into my chair, not yet ready to sleep but too achey to do much else, and just sat and listened to a whole bunch of Dr John records w/ headphones. Bliss!

I think we're quite heavily culturally wired to locate ourselves within the dynamic flux of multi-media, so it's almost unusual to break away from this and find the space and time to dedicate our focus on one area. The benefits, though, are huge. I even find this with reading. Often I read with some jazz in the background, but I find that with silence the reading is a much more interesting experience where its own audacity is able to flourish.


-Snuf

Snufkin wrote: I think we're quite heavily culturally wired to locate ourselves within the dynamic flux of multi-media, so it's almost unusual to break away from this and find the space and time to dedicate our focus on one area. The benefits, though, are huge. I even find this with reading. Often I read with some jazz in the background, but I find that with silence the reading is a much more interesting experience where its own audacity is able to flourish.

Totally agree with this. I think it's the nature of our society that has enabled total creative saturation. A blessing and a curse. You have some of the most incredible fusions of media coming together, but then you are confronted and practically forced to interact with this stimuli that you almost glaze over the experience of it all, which is why I feel when you focus, you break through into something more profound. Small physical and emotional ties are bound with whatever you're focusing on and the experience is all the more enjoyable/inspiring.

With this saturation there seems to be a gulf between the intentions of the creative and their end users. The creatives spend all those hours on something, refining it all, focusing on the details which most casual users would not pick up on. Its only when the user focuses on the work that I think you pick up on these details which the artist has endeavoured to perfect and augment the experience.

I definitely do this. I remember sitting lakeside on a bench and listening to Tomorrows Harvest when it streamed from the boc website. It was a great experience. Just looking out into the late afternoon sky and hearing this great album for the first time. Chills.

While walking, cycling (I'm not a lycra clad racer), traveling or sitting in a nice spot in the countryside I can listen intently and concentrate (sitting by the Thames is a favorite and watching the world go by). I'd be honest and say I do find it difficult to sit indoors at home and just stare at the wall or ceiling. Unless stoned...Or in winter when there's no choice.

every now and again I'll have a night where I'll listen to a new record and a classic/loved record, just to make sure I'm a music fan.

I often put albums on my iPod and listen to them in full on long (read; 1-2+ hours) walks

this much...




+ T Harvest

re-phaelam-ed wrote:this much...

Very nice, well played

re-phaelam-ed wrote:this much...