Let me be Frank for a moment

As I sit and listen to the sublime Channel Orange by hotly tipped R&B newcomer Frank Ocean I begin to pick my brain, picking my brain about the subject of music is something that regularly happens in my spare moments of life, today however seemed to focus on the subject of consumer engagement and music value. Music seems to have little matter amongst the problems of most peoples everyday lives. Whilst you sit at the computer and read this article you are most likely to have a dozen applications open and a workload of tasks to be getting along with, maybe you have appointments to keep and some of you are thinking about how mind numbing dinner with the in laws is going to be later tonight. You may have some music on in the background, Spotify, iTunes or a YouTube video that proceeds to pause to buffer every 4 seconds because you decided to choose TalkTalk as your internet service provider. This is the problem for most, music has become a noise in the background that you tune in and out of at points throughout the day to keep you going. Music is not a tool, it is a form of art, a creative process that is sometimes very difficult to achieve for the artist.

When was the last time you sat down in a room alone and listened to an entire album that you purchased from a shop with no distractions, I think that we as busy individuals who require the need to be fast fed our content seem to forget the importance of something as beautiful and engaging as music. By all means I do not mean to preach, I am just attempting to extract my thoughts on the matter, we are living in a fast moving digital age yet this does not mean that we have to throw out all our physical records that require the effort to listen to.

I came across an article last week that tried to explain how full LP records are ‘dead’, this is very much a matter of opinion as proven wrong right now as I listen to the brilliant new Ocean LP. Music seems to have transformed into an art form that many of us take for granted and I feel that if we all took the time to slowly appreciate those who have the gift to create something from nothing we can all widen our own sense of the subject at hand a little more. Frank Ocean may be rubbish to you but I see a very talented young man who is creating some brilliant music. Very rare in a world where one chart single requires 8 producers and 5 songwriters to create a hit, yet something as brilliant as Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen had 1 writer & 1 producer, I guess they just don’t make them like they used to ay!

Maybe this is the real problem at hand, chart music (which Joe Bloggs fills his iPod with) is very dumbed down and easy to take in, it’s very consumer friendly and catchy, I mean it’s very easy to sing along to the words “WHO RUNS THE WORLD…GIRLS”, I guess the simple nature of todays chart is also what gives morons like Paris Hilton the thought that becoming a DJ is an easy thing to do. It’s a pretty tragic thing to witness for someone who has worked hard on their craft.

Maybe LP’s are dead, maybe Paris will be a superstar DJ and earn a bucket load of cash, maybe every member of the TOWIE cast will release a top ten single with a 25 producer strong dance infused backing track, who knows, but I’m certainly not buying into it.

Anyway, I leave you with this superb piece from the above mentioned, try to listen without skipping to the middle