No doubt as your read the brilliant work on the site day after day, week after week, you can’t help but be filled with a sense of shame and self-doubt at your own practically vestigial musical (and, let’s be honest, intellectual) prowess. Obviously, shame and self-doubt are the obvious merited responses, but fear not. There are ways that you can, at least minutely, lift yourself from the muck and mire of Top 40 radio, candy country, and childishly angry rock.
You may even feel, after a time of practicing these truisms, the ability to contribute to the knowledge base of a site such as this. While I applaud your moxy, I feel compelled to point out that you would be wrong.
Oh so tragically wrong.
1. Invest in quality equipment. As I’ve mentioned before, earbuds are not the pinnacle of listening technology. In fact, I think that not listening to something is of higher quality and satisfaction that trying to listen to something rich and complex (i.e. worth listening to) squished through the tiny plastic of those insipid cones. This is one of the cases in which bigger is generally better (I’m told there are several). Higher quality headphones are capable of greater degrees of vibration (hence soun[), allowing for much more dynamic and subtle experiences.
2. Cultivate close listening. The art of close reading is something that literary critics, scholars, and theologians have developed and practiced for a long time. It’s, in effect, the practice of paying attention to what’s written. You consider and research each word, turn of phrase, choice of punctuation, in an effort to fully glean the author’s intentions and style. This technique could also naturally be applied to the art of listening. Rather that being a passive experience, music becomes an interactive effort. Don’t believe me? Try it with your favorite band.
Nickelback doesn’t sound so great anymore, huh?
3. Listen to a lot of music. The more music you listen to, the more likely you are to discover bands that don’t suck, as well as develop your own personal taste. I recommend services like Pandora or Grooveshark to help get the ball rolling–based on your input and feedback, they’ll (at least attempt) to custom tailor music for your approval. You could also research bands you like on Wikipedia or something; often they’ll have similar artists and genres, and occasionally you can get into a pretty good Wiki loop. And obviously continue reading MT, because come on. We know how you like it.
4. Identify and express your tastes. Just not to us. Being able to put your opinions into words is an important life skill in general, whether you’re defending big oil or Big & Rich. It’s a double edged sword, however, and these things can seem to simply fall apart as you’re trying desperately to put your unconscious lurchings into communicative form. On the other hand, successful verbalization can help you to not only discuss your findings and emerging snobbery with others (hopefully in a satisfyingly pretentious way), but also to identify even more songs and genres you want to explore.
Just not to us.
5. Continue reading Mystery Tricycle. Because let’s face it. No matter how big your headphones are, no matter how close you listen, no matter how much you listen, no matter how well you talk, you’ll never be as good as we are. Sorry. But everyone’s got someone better than them at what they do.
Except us.
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Bravo
Induuuuuuuubitably
how to be an irritating hipster that everybody hates.
Hipsters don’t cultivate close listening… they cultivate listening to music that people don’t like on purpose. Just sayin’
Indy music and some random folk artists are just as much crap as nickleback is… I looked on those sites you wrote and the most popular stuff wasn’t debussy or fletcher henderson or robert petway, it was emminem and pop music bullsh1t
bet you’ve never listened to anything i’d call real music, i’ve never saw the appeal of any type of music until i discovered there genuinly was an alternative music scene – comprised mostly of dead guys
Well yes, sir, Grooveshark is filled with Eminem and Rihanna, but it is a full library of music that contains very hard-to-find music if you know what you are looking for. Perhaps you missed the point of this prose, or maybe this site entirely, but since you seem to be as pretentious as the rest of us, you may want to try our Arvo Pärt article… ass.
Your dismal grasp of the English language, as well as your saying “bullsh1t,” both make for an effective argument on your part.
Not all Indie music is horrid, you must realize.
You grew up without listening to decent music? Well, I understand why you’re so unnecessarily bitter.
Claps for you for having (finally) discovered palatable tunes, really, but why must you harp on these people who are only trying to help others find some?
You should consider learning some things about grammar before posting a judgy reply on a website dedicated to being pretentious.
Well, there you have it in a nutshell
Get off the iTunes merry go round, invest in a package with eMusic, buy some s**t off CDBaby and swap your old lady for a proper hi fi
I did, and I couldn’t be happier. I haven’t bought mainstream for years and probably never will – worlds apart. Female blues especially fires me up but so much of what I listen to now is driven by the music, not by the dollar signs. MT man, you got it spot on
Thanks for your comments, and I’d love to have some of your recommendations for music to review (and if you want to be a guest writer, you are more than welcome!) Drop us a note and make some suggestions.
It’s a crying shame that the word ‘hipster’ is so commonly attached to anyone who displays even the smallest amount of interest in anything beyond the surface level…
Also, Big Dave has it right. eMusic is a great service, and when combined with things like Last.FM, Pandora, or whatever else you may use, you’ll be finding far more satisfying albums out there than the newest Weezer record. *shudder*
Love this article, probably even more so that I’ve read through the comments. You successfully pissed a few people off, which is A OK in my book.
Cultivating close listening is a MUST and, in my opinion, must be done with a big crate or vinyl, a broke-down turntable, a circle of friends, and a case of beer. That, my friends, is the epitome of close listening and probably some of the best memories I’ve made.
Keep up the great work, guys.