The importance of novelty in music

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Novelty in the technical sense of the word:: how important is it? Brought about by my new found love of The Streets and my abhorrence at the Be Good Tanyas. Streets::not heard this bad boy before, or anything like it. Be Good Tanyas::have loads of this upstairs, heard it all before, what's the point?

Should music be moving forward, however incrementally, with each step? The answer may be yea for a lot of yus & it porbably (sic) would be w/me but I can't reconcile this reaction with my love for alt.country. Ahh::novelty vs refinement FITE!
― powertonevolume, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

This'll probably all be in italics but I dunno how te stop 'em. Anyway, also brought about Simon Reynolds journalism in Uncut championing New Things or BNFs as he calls them, or Slight BNFs. Such musical bed-hopping, looking for the newest box on the blocks::maaaaaaan, my freakin' mind. (Tried to have this conversation w/g/friend--> Said::"Novelty not hugely important: main thing is that it sounds good". Whereas, with Simon I get the feeling that the Sound and the Novelty are on level pegging. Sub-question (always bugged me): has this anything to do with the subtitle to Bliis Out: "a white brit rave aesthete thinks aloud". Specifically the Mboldened bit.
― powertonevolume, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

re: italics. you had the right idea, just add the i to your closing tag: /i
― Ron, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't think music should always be moving forward, it's great to have a mixture of bands/artists that look back, forward, sideways etc,. Avancement vs. enjoyment. Maybe, my taste has become stuck, as I rarely think anything does sound new, and those sounds which are supposedly new, I just don't enjoy.
― jel --, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

on topic: If there is a style that you're really into, you probably get excited about bands in that style, so originality in that case is not as important. For me, I am most interested in hearing music made by people my own age, in the here and now. So in that sense I can appreciate a new band rehashing something I already love.
If something starts rubbing me the wrong way musically, then the originality factor can become an area in which to insult: 'why does everybody like x, they're a watered-down version of y...'
I also think that most of us have not heard all there is to hear, so novelty can be difficult to accurately judge. Of course what really counts is your perception, so it's all subjective anyway.
I guess what I'm saying is that novelty will make you like the stuff you like more, and will make you hate the stuff you hate more. I'm unlikely to be impressed by someone creating some brand spankin new and improved pile of crap.
― Ron, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

This, you mean?

― Graham, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

that last comment does not make any sense to me after I wrote it. hmmm

― Ron, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Novelty is not the be-all and end-all?

― powertonevolume, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

If all you listen to is white boy indie rock all day, techno, for example, of any quality will have a lot of novelty value and vice versa.

Best to be as eclectic as you can and simply eradicate novelty for good... that is until a real novelty comes along like Alain Debray or my dads singing

― Sonicred, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

To use novelty in your description of some music/band is a cope out from holding a real opinion on whether you like it or not

― Sonicred, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

sonicred - I'm liking your line of thinking on this, that considering novelty as a virtue is a bad idea in general. Except what about the excitement of discovering something 'new' (even if you're just foolin' yoself)

― Ron, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ron

there is np fooling yoself.... if you're open then go for it

― Sonicred, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah buddy!

― Ron, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Novelty is horrible and has no place amongst the music in my collection

― electric sound of jim, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

nov·el·ty

1. The quality of being novel; newness.
2. Something new and unusual; an innovation.

― david h, Sunday, 7 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

novelty is a must for me personally & why i've ended up listening to mostly free improvised up its own arse noise music cos by its very nature it is transient in form & always new in a live format - in a recorded format hopefully unlearnable so it gives the superficial effect of transient form. endlessly exciting. there are so few perfect tunes i can be happy with once i've memorized them in their entirity.

― bob snoom, Sunday, 7 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

To make a new document, press Command N.

N stands for 'new'.

You are free, if you wish, to put your new writing into old files. But you will be missing something. The thrill of the fresh start, the blank white page that jumps into being when you press Command N.

Date created: today, and only today.

'Make it new!' said Ezra Pound! Command N. The Pound key!

― Momus, Sunday, 7 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

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