Earworms and Muzak madness
Because we have it at work, I listen to Muzak 5 or 6 nights a week. Now, before you make the squinchy eyes and launch into a vituperative attack on the evils and lameness of said 'piped music', allow me to say that it's good. Really good.
It stands to reason that they still have the programs of the watered down versions of 'elevator music' that were unintentionally comical in their innocuously synthesized interpretations of current and familiar pop and rock music. It's a staple of sorts. This, however, is not what we get. We get Groove Armada, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Herbert, Daft Punk and Dzihan & Kamien. We get Thievery Corporation, Moloko, Bjork, Kevin Yost, Air, Blue States and Badly Drawn Boy. We also get St. Germain, Count Basic, Jazzanova, Truby Trio and Llorca. We even get Mo' Horizons, Cure, Amp Fiddler, Dusty Springfield, Ivy and Alexkid. And sometimes, when we feel so inclined, we get a little Fischerspooner, Grace Jones, David Bowie, The Real Tuesday Weld, Massive Attack, Serge Gainsbourg, The Smiths and The Andrews Sisters. It's solidly good stuff.
If I haven't made it clear in previous posts, music trails just slightly behind food and water in my world. I do not mean that in cavalier jest or breezy exaggeration. It is pure and simple fact. I absolutely love exposure to new music and will go to considerable lengths to hunt down and find a particular song or artist. So, getting to hear excellent new music at work is fantastic. But (and this is very important, here) we do NOT get playlists. Should you wonder, trying to identify a song, whose lyrics may be in Spanish, Portuguese or Indian, for that matter, may have loops from an entirely different song or sound like an entirely different group altogether, depending on who mixed or produced it on a loud and busy dinner shift, is damned near impossible. And trying to forget about it later is an exercise in futility.
Cruel, cruel, cold-hearted world.
It stands to reason that they still have the programs of the watered down versions of 'elevator music' that were unintentionally comical in their innocuously synthesized interpretations of current and familiar pop and rock music. It's a staple of sorts. This, however, is not what we get. We get Groove Armada, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Herbert, Daft Punk and Dzihan & Kamien. We get Thievery Corporation, Moloko, Bjork, Kevin Yost, Air, Blue States and Badly Drawn Boy. We also get St. Germain, Count Basic, Jazzanova, Truby Trio and Llorca. We even get Mo' Horizons, Cure, Amp Fiddler, Dusty Springfield, Ivy and Alexkid. And sometimes, when we feel so inclined, we get a little Fischerspooner, Grace Jones, David Bowie, The Real Tuesday Weld, Massive Attack, Serge Gainsbourg, The Smiths and The Andrews Sisters. It's solidly good stuff.
If I haven't made it clear in previous posts, music trails just slightly behind food and water in my world. I do not mean that in cavalier jest or breezy exaggeration. It is pure and simple fact. I absolutely love exposure to new music and will go to considerable lengths to hunt down and find a particular song or artist. So, getting to hear excellent new music at work is fantastic. But (and this is very important, here) we do NOT get playlists. Should you wonder, trying to identify a song, whose lyrics may be in Spanish, Portuguese or Indian, for that matter, may have loops from an entirely different song or sound like an entirely different group altogether, depending on who mixed or produced it on a loud and busy dinner shift, is damned near impossible. And trying to forget about it later is an exercise in futility.
Cruel, cruel, cold-hearted world.
posted by Frisbee Girl at 10:21 AM
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