Modern Music

[mac_in_tosh]

I admit to being somewhat of a fossil having grown up with the folk and rock music of the 60's - great melodies, harmonies and meaningful, sometimes even poetic lyrics. Things that just don't seem to exist in today's music. I'm wondering if all the good melodies have already been written. I know there are a large number of combinations of notes, rhythms, chords, etc but not all will sound good.

For example, Paul McCartney is known for beautiful, iconic songs as a Beatle and a bit later, but has he written anything comparable to those in recent years?

Of course, I remember when the Beatles came on the scene, parents considered it noise compared to what they were used to from the 40's and 50's. So I fully admit I could have the same prejudices with regard to today's music but maybe someone could suggest a particular song to listen to that might prove me wrong.

 

[CanyonCarver]

i was impressed with WVH Mammoth. Wolfgang Van Halen is a proven musician; not just Ed's son...

Have you tried Great Van Fleet? Their most recent album is great.

I guess you could also have a listen at Plini or Polyphia or Animals As Leaders, when it comes to modern day fusion guitarists for instance. It's pretty 'out there' in terms of technical prowess and not always an easy listen. But there's plenty of musicianship.
These days, I stick to heavy rock and metal bands from Europe like Magnus Karlsson, Nightwish, Sonata Arctica, or US bands like Dream Theater and Symphony X. There's no shortage of great music made today, no matter what style you're into...

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

For the most part I’ve never been a vocals person and even less of a lyrics person. To my ears the human voice is just another instrument that can elevate a song or make it mediocre just by the melody or tonality. I’ll never understand the elevation of Bruce Springsteen. Aside from some of his hits, to me his music sounds repetitive and bland as shit including his voice. If I want a story I’ll read a book.

Having said that, I think we’re at a great time for instrumental music but the easy and affordable access to music writing and production is a double edged sword. There’s oversaturation and the good stuff can be hard to find. At the same time you have to wonder how much great music from the past was never heard due to cost and the limited availability (and control) of record labels.

 

[mac_in_tosh]

i was impressed with WVH Mammoth. Wolfgang Van Halen is a proven musician; not just Ed's son...

Have you tried Great Van Fleet? Their most recent album is great.

I guess you could also have a listen at Plini or Polyphia or Animals As Leaders, when it comes to modern day fusion guitarists for instance. It's pretty 'out there' in terms of technical prowess and not always an easy listen. But there's plenty of musicianship.
These days, I stick to heavy rock and metal bands from Europe like Magnus Karlsson, Nightwish, Sonata Arctica, or US bands like Dream Theater and Symphony X. There's no shortage of great music made today, no matter what style you're into...

I'm asking about beautiful melodic music and you bring up heavy rock and metal bands? I tried some of your suggestions and it seemed to me to be repetitive, unmelodic music and performers trying to see how loud they can be. That's just me, and I'm not saying other people can't or shouldn't like it. It's just not what I'm looking for.

 

[Citysnaps]

I'm asking about beautiful melodic music

They're not new...Buddha Bar compilations?

 

[Eric]

I'm asking about beautiful melodic music and you bring up heavy rock and metal bands? I tried some of your suggestions and it seemed to me to be repetitive, unmelodic music and performers trying to see how loud they can be. That's just me, and I'm not saying other people can't or shouldn't like it. It's just not what I'm looking for.

I guess it depends on what one considers beautiful and melodic. IMO that can be anything from Paul McCartney to Billy Joel to Van Halen to Queen, etc., all have their merits. As to why that's essentially never heard of anymore I wish I had an answer but it's saddening, in fact in many cases you're not even listening to real instruments being played by those who spent years learning the craft, it's computer generated.

I feel lucky to have grown up in a generation that valued musical instruments and real voices along with the ability to learn and play them.

 

[lizkat]

Heh I strolled in here at first thinking y'all had opened a thread about music written after the late 1800s...

Impressionist: 1890-1925​

Expressionist: 1908-1950​

Modern: 1890-1975​

Postmodern: 1930- present​

So Debussy, Berg, Bartok, Poulenc, Schoenberg, Prokofiev, Britten, Ravel, Carter, Copland, Hovhanness... yada yada.​

See I was buried almost from birth to my mid-40s in what iTunes blithely calls "classical" music but is really 6th-21st century music, plus some jazz from the 1920s-40s and a very select few pop songs of the 1950s when consigned to kitchen duties with a pop-loving sibling. I studied a few instruments for a long time and performed in some chamber groups at school. I totally had blinders on when it came to nonclassical music most of the time though, even if we would sometimes jam on breaks in the music studios. What we came up with was more like riffs on Eliott Carter than say Esperanza Spalding.

One of my bros gave me his CDs up here in the boondocks after I ripped his extensive collection to a hand-me-down MacBook I was giving him, so for me that was like inheriting a jukebox of rock and blues. Of course that piqued my interest in discovering what else I had missed while buried in medieval through post-modern 'serious' composers.

As a result, my overall taste in non-classical music is home brewed, and about as green as new grass in a lot of places, and so still growing over time. But I can tell the difference between Satriani and Coldplay in that notorious brouhaha over who wrote the melody in parts of "If I Could Fly in Space" (or as Coldplay styled it, "Viva la Vida"). Still, I'd have settled with Joe if I were Chris Martin.

Anyway wrong thread and I'll just show myself out now.

 

[podgod]

Don't listen to a lot of new stuff much, but I do really like Dirty Honey.

 

[Buntschwalbe]

I'm not feeling deterministic about "all the beautiful melodies and Poetry has been written" at all. Music (and Lyrics as well) are a way of expression and every new Generation will find its own new ways to create and combine Melodies, Stiles, words. Even if i check out local bands i see a lot of potential, beautiful riffs and texts that represent my generation.
an example perhaps?



In the end personal taste/bias play a big role, in which music we listen to and adore.
I for one hope, that i will always find contemporary music which pleases me; yet as a way of keeping in touch with younger generations. Perhaps a trick to keep an illusion of me staying forever young?

 

[mac_in_tosh]

In the end personal taste/bias play a big role, in which music we listen to and adore.

Yes, so when I say that to me your example sounds very repetitive, that's just the opinion of someone who grew up with the Beatles, Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, etc.