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The decline and fall of the hit instrumental song

tedgioia.substack.com

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Re: The decline and fall of the hit instrumental song

#31

Post by lancesells »

beezlebroxxxxxx wrote: post #5
lancesells wrote: post #2

This is really interesting question. Outside of hip-hop I listen to the instruments far more than the vocals. Even with hip-hop though I'm very much listening to the production but the vocals are clearly the star most of the time. My favorite instrumentalist right now is Mary Halvorson.

It's very genre dependent. Mary Halvorson, for instance, is a great pick, but jazz is, and likely always will be, about individual musicians. Especially be-bop and bop oriented jazz where virtuosity is highly prized. Even when they form groups, the focus is on the interplay of the individual players. Halvorson is rather interesting as she is considered a great guitarist and a great composer. The same is often true in…

Well said. I'm a big metal fan and agree that vocals are fairly textural (especially death metal) and more of a sound. And always good to see Gorguts being mentioned in a comment. Ha.

Re: The decline and fall of the hit instrumental song

#32

Post by ben7799 »

apercu wrote: post #27

"No one" is a a pretty broad statement. Julian Lage is my favourite guitar player to come along in a decade or two. And he releases instrumental albums.

I love Lage too, but I play guitar. I think people who play an instrument are vastly more aware of star instrumentalists than the general public, especially the star instrumentalists who play the same instrument you do.

Re: The decline and fall of the hit instrumental song

#33

Post by rjsw »

_2uwr wrote: post #7

If I had to name one it would be the violinist Vanessa Mae, but I think DJ's have replaced bands and musicians in many ways and have certainly added value to the original work, which ironically is a copyright nightmare. I wouldnt listen to this original soundtrack/song, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N_ucgihNzk&ab_channel=fdsvf... But I'd listen to these upgrades. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vmbSXKNJ14&ab_chan…

> If I had to name one it would be the violinist Vanessa Mae

Haven't heard any of her work, have skied with her though.

Re: The decline and fall of the hit instrumental song

#34

Post by lancesells »

Minor49er wrote: post #28
throwaway743 wrote: post #6

Oneohtrix

He's overdue for a new album. I didn't think he'd be able to top GoD, but Magic OPN is fantastic. Apparently he's working for Disney right now Related: Squarepusher. His album Ultravisitor will melt your brain

Not only is he(Tom Jenkinson / Squarepusher) an amazing composer he's up there for being an incredible and innovative bassist. Not sure if he's "underrated" but I feel as a bass player alone he's special.

Re: The decline and fall of the hit instrumental song

#35

Post by okwubodu »

> That doesn’t negate the fact that hip-hop is a lyrical artform, with the emcee being the star since the 1980s.

I don’t think this is true. Instrumentals in hip-hop are largely first class citizens. Lyrics are at the forefront, yes, but consider that rappers are judged more on their technical ability to navigate the beats they choose.

It’s the only genre where artists are regularly deemed unworthy of their own instrumentals.

The author’s example is ironically the best example of this. It’s N.Y State of Mind by Nas (regarded as one of the best beat selectors of all time), on Illmatic (one of the best hip-hop albums of all time), and produced by DJ Premier (one of the best producers of all time).

Re: The decline and fall of the hit instrumental song

#36

Post by rzzzt »

lapcat wrote: post #9

I don't know if these anecdotes prove anything, but two of my favorites, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, had popular instrumentals in the late 80s/early 90s. And one of my non-favorites, Kenny G, is one of the best-selling artists of all time, more than 75 million records.

I see your Kenny G (in fact I was Ctrl-F searching for his name) and raise you Zamfir, Master of the Pan Flute.

Re: The decline and fall of the hit instrumental song

#37

Post by jasonladuke0311 »

H1Supreme wrote: post #12

If the author continued their lineage beyond hip-hop, into electronic music (house, drum n' bass, downtempo), I think they would see that "favorite instrumentalist" has transformed into "favorite producer".

I do have favorite instrumentalists, but yeah this is pretty accurate. I will listen to whatever people like George Lever, Mike Dean, Nolly, etc. are involved with.

Re: The decline and fall of the hit instrumental song

#38

Post by jasonladuke0311 »

svachalek wrote: post #10
wolframhempel wrote: post #3

To be fair, Polyphia is a great band and Tim Henson still a star instrumentalist...

Yes, I was surprised to find no mention of Polyphia, even to dismiss it. Are they not as popular as I thought?

Someone said they are the first Instagram band and I kind of giggled. Had I not started playing guitar there is no way I would have heard of them.

Re: The decline and fall of the hit instrumental song

#39

Post by anyfoo »

okwubodu wrote: post #35

> That doesn’t negate the fact that hip-hop is a lyrical artform, with the emcee being the star since the 1980s. I don’t think this is true. Instrumentals in hip-hop are largely first class citizens. Lyrics are at the forefront, yes, but consider that rappers are judged more on their technical ability to navigate the beats they choose. It’s the only genre where artists are regularly deemed unworthy of their own instr…

Fully agreed.

Given my background, I was (and am) mostly listening to German Hip-Hop (but of course it’s born out of US Hip-Hop, which I appreciate as well, including Illmatic and pretty much anything with “primo beats”), but the same thing applies.

I do value good lyrics of course, but for a track to be really good, it primarily has to have a really good beat, and really good flow in how the lyrics are presented. Then, even next-to-nonsensical lyrics can still make a good track on that.

But conversely it’s rather hard for a track with even fantastic lyrics to be really “good” (in my mind of course), if it has bad beats and sub-par flow.

It is still music after all, and not just poetry.

Re: The decline and fall of the hit instrumental song

#40

Post by 3pt14159 »

> But if you asked a random person on the street to name a clarinet player, I suspect most people couldn’t come up with one, let alone one known for their good looks.

The space of potential sources for inspiration has exploded. How many people had a favourite typographer or open source software contributor or racecar driver or whatever else a hundred years ago? Music is different, sure, as others have commented, but there are so many different things or people to consider now that it's getting a little tiring with the nags to know every last thing that people used to know. Don't get the relationship backwards. Knowing your favourite candle maker used to be about the candle maker achieving things that impressed you not you feeling guilty about not knowing any candle makers.

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