November 2018 - French Fry Salon

Heavy Metal: A Genre, Or An Aesthetic?

Heavy metal tends to be divisive. Over the past five decades, this category of music has been associated with large-scale transgression in various forms including church burnings, drug abuse, misogyny, ethnic cleansing, sexual deviance, and general rebellion and social dissonance. Outside of metal communities, it is not uncommon for the style to be dismissed as merely noise, a non-musical cultural practice that cultivates social transgression while fetishizing loudness, speed, and

Interactions, not Transactions

One of the most influential facets of our culture on music is neoliberalism. And no, I’m not going to speak about song rights, the labor of the musician, the commercialization of songs, nor the Metallica/Napster fiasco. It’s the ethics that capitalism invites into a musical relationship on which I want to comment. Music isn’t pure. It’s not a clean, unadulterated zone of creativity that we can step into and feel

Consonance Vs. Dissonance

It’s a scary moment most of us have experienced. You’re in the car, and it’s the perfect opportunity to show your friend that new song. You’ve been both listening to a lot of hiphop together for a while, and you’ve found something that’s just on the edge and it feels so good. So you press play, and hold your breath, watching their expression closely for any sign of the same

Month: November 2018