http://waitinthewater.com/post/175130648/furthering-the-chiaroscuro-theme-with-one-of-many

I cannot see a “reply” button on the other thread, but I am not familiar with Landini. I’m listening to some of the songs that are available on YT right now, and they are marvellous. I adore the early music revival of the 20th Century.

This serves to highlight a point I made in the previous post: classical music is so vast that one individual simply cannot internalise *everything*. There is always something “new” waiting to be discovered, be it an undiscovered composer, an undiscovered composition by an established favourite, or even an unheard recording of a familiar piece. Truly, there is no greater treasure trove than the Western canon!

I scorn the mad idea that we “need a more basic entree to lighten our daily burden”. If I only have three minutes to cram in one piece of music, why resort to pap? I have the songs of Gibbons, Monteverdi, Dowland, and now Landini! The Philistines can keep the rot to themselves.

The singing is much better, the instruments have more clarity, and there is no distortion or loudness. There are no power-chords (i.e. fifths), either. The whole thing is more harmonious and melodic (thank God for Alte Musik!). I know what Forefather are trying to do, but there is no essential difference between the outward form of their music and that of “NWOBHM” bands. The differences are superficial, even if Forefather have good intentions. Just listen to the drum rhythm — it is the same as the one you will find in Iron Maiden or Saxon: dun-DUN-dun-DUN. The emphasis is always on the second and fourth beats, rather than the first and the third. This is a disordered type of syncopation, and it is one of the core characteristics of rock music in general (including most of the other links you have posted). It gives me a headache.

These people would be better off ditching the electric guitars and drum kit altogether, and perhaps getting some singing lessons. Period instruments have a much sweeter effect on the ear. If you want a buzzy instrument, learn the shawm! It is better than the electric guitar and it does not require special tricks for its sound to be amplified.

The song I posted is taken from an album called “Melodious Melancholye: the sweet sounds of medieval England”, by the way, if anyone wants to hear more. It is one of my favourites, and the performers are all involved with other excellent period groups.

For a direct example, consider the English jazz guitarist, John McLaughlin. When he tried to fuse his jazz-rock styling with Indian classical music, it sounded trite and contrived. You can hear this on a composition like “Peace One” (a dreadful hippy name), which seems unable to decide whether it wants to be jazz or Indian. It has a cluttered sound which one will never hear in traditional Indian music. Later on, however, McLaughlin wielded a more successful result by doing away with the jazz elements altogether. He formed a group called Shakti and reverted to the acoustic guitar, which he modified in several ways to acclimatise it to the microtonality of Indian music. This included scalloping the neck and adding drone-strings to imitate the sitar. WIth this group, he performed wholly acoustic music alongside traditional Indian musicians — there was a logic behind it despite the non-traditional instrumentation (and remember: his modifications would have made his guitar alien to Western musicians, too!). By this point, it was no longer rock music at all. He must have understood that it can only be one or the other.

Nietzsche can think what he wants, but I am a reactionary, not a revolutionary. That means a return to the principles of better times. They were valid then and they will always remain so. If the natural order is restored, the culture will follow.

When Our England Died

Miri it Is

I’ll give five examples from metal bands I listen to to prove the point:

And then there was silence: a 14 minute song about the trojan war

The Wheel of Time

Undiscovered Dreams: Light Metal + Operatic Vocals

Third immortal (about Radaghast the Brown from LOTR)

The Dead End Verse: Kind of have to love the lyrics in this song.”You tried to cloud my eyes with shame I know, until I understood that guilt is control. We don’t feel, now I am facing your truth. Faith of Hell!

There is metal stuff that is degenerate of course. Lots of satanist stuff, drunken culture, fornication culture etc. However, there is also some stuff that is descent as far as message and the instruments suit it to a large extent. I also really like classical music too. It used to be the only stuff that I listened to, but I found that Folk Metal and some other metal is quite appealing for me too.