I'll probably write more formally about some current music I'm digging the in the Sounds section of this site, but I wanted to think out loud about it a bit here.

What I've been listening to the most lately is King Crimson--specifically, three old live recordings from their staggeringly powerful 1973-74 lineup (Heidelberg and Mainz, Germany, and Central Park, NYC). It occurred to me this weekend that I tend to listen to Crimson the most when I'm in a learning or self-discovery mode. Listening to them is a form of education on both emotional and intellectual levels. There's an exhilarating quality to the sheer muscular power of their music, especially in the '73-'74 lineup with the monstrous rhythm section of John Wetton on bass and Bill Bruford on drums. Inseparably combined with that energy, though, is an edginess, a discomfort, an almost chilling quality to the music. It strains and struggles against its limitations, the grinding of its internal tensions coming through loud and clear. The result is exciting and disturbing, and as such is a good, compact emotional laboratory for life. The result is also, for me, very conducive to focus, concentration, and discipline. Also to self-analysis and responsibility. The philosophical approach of bandleader Robert Fripp has also been a growing influence on me, which is a subject for another time.

Along with providing fuel for general introspection, it also makes me think about my own artistic ideals, which I keep so close and under wraps that I even end up hiding them from myself too much of the time. I think about the ongoing struggles these musicians have engaged in against the mediocrity of mainstream culture and the boundaries of the genres they've worked in, and I ponder the current state of such struggling, and whether I have any potential role in it. I've spent far too much of my time not playing music, not participating in that struggle which is far and away the most meaningful and rewarding to me. The reasons are complicated, too tangled for me to sort out in one session or to try and describe here. But my latest round of Crimson-ing has got me thinking about it. What are my motives, what are my ideals, and what are my options? It's exciting and disturbing at the same time. And I doubt Fripp himself would have it any other way.

Labels: Music