[systemvoltage]

I can't remember the last time I sat down and spent dedicated time just listening to music. It is the same restlessness that I have when I try to medidate. Songs are just boring and I need to have an excuse to listen to music - like driving so I can optimize the time. "I am driving, might as well take advantage of some music". The internet has ruined peace, fun, and everything that I remember growing up. :-(

[runarberg]

My advice, go for a walk. Download VLC on your phone (or any alternative that is ad-free), upload a CD or two you like to it, find some headphones (any headphones will do), start your CD and walk out the door. Walk as long as you feel like, stop for a soda pop if you feel like it and pause your CD while you are disturbed. If you arrive back before the CD finishes, that’s fine, try again for a longer walk (or a shorter CD) next time. If the CD finishes before your walk is over, great! You successfully listened to music. Start your second CD and walk home.

[errantspark]

I second this. I've got an old iPod and I go on walks daily listening to albums, playlists, sometimes just queuing stuff up on the fly as the mood strikes me. Never skipping a song that starts playing.

Tetris and Quake 3 vs bots also work very well to calm my mind so that I can zone into the music itself. YMMV

P.S. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jScy-kdCY4M <- this song is beautiful and I hope it makes some of y'all feels some emotions like it does for me : )

[BLKNSLVR]

Since you mentioned Quake 3, I like listening to track 5 of the original Quake soundtrack. As a song.

Welcome to your claustrophobic terror: https://youtu.be/UMcFgMbhU1w

And something for the feels, this is the soundtrack to ones ascent to heaven: https://youtu.be/LO7x_T7JP9k

[ehnto]

It is something you can get better at. You can treat attention like a skill that needs training. Sit there and listen even if you are feeling restless and eventually you will gain back some control over your focus. You will eventually start truly noticing the music again, which is yourself getting better at the ability to be more mindful and engaged.

I did this with books but it wildly helped my ability to enjoy music too.

[jasonv]

I listen to almost every new album each week in the broad areas of music I like.

I just can’t find time for albums, and it makes me a bit sad. The latest “album” that I listen to regularly would be Thousand Suns by Linkin Park and the instrumental version of the Dalai Lama’s last album.

I have music on all the time, mostly Radio Paradise and genre playlists.

[bigphishy]

It sounds like you need a vacation out in the woods, and technology-sabbath for a few days or weeks

[bitexploder]

I read a study that it only takes like 6-9 days in nature and disconnected to really reset a bit. Wish I could find it, but there really sound advice.

[mym1990]

The internet has ruined none of those things, you've just let yourself believe that it has. Just because you are unable to sit down and focus for 5 minutes does not mean something other than yourself is at fault.

[systemvoltage]

Upon further introspection, you are right. It’s natural to blame it on the internet / social media. Ultimately, it’s my fault to consume it and get addicted to it. These things are notoriously designed for addiction and constantly attention seeking behavior, even if I am self aware of it.

I’ve turned off all notifications on my phone. Made a habit of leaving the phone docked on the charger and not checking it every now and then.

Still suffer from HN addiction :-) though!

[Spivak]

That's a bit reductionist. Like in a sense it's literally true but the constant availability of limitless entertainment for every level of "attention energy" has changed reward expectation for our brains. Like how modern candy flavor puts Necco's to shame.

I realize that my having ADHD kinda throws the whole "relatable personal anecdote thing" off but still. There are plenty of things I can focus on even to the point of not sleeping or eating. But I can't focus on music at all. Even in the absence of other stimulus or distractions I will drift into my own thoughts. Music is relegated to a background activity because it has to be layered with something else for me to be able to listen and not get bored.

[dragonwriter]

> Songs are just boring and I need to have an excuse to listen to music - like driving so I can optimize the time. "I am driving, might as well take advantage of some music". The internet has ruined peace, fun, and everything that I remember growing up. :-(

Why do you think the problem you are experiencing is the internet's fault?

[sooheon]

That the internet has affected human attention span is not an uncommon idea[1]. The submission literally has the internet-age phrase "attention economy," and we all understand exactly what it's saying.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shallows_(book)

[andygcook]

If you can, I’d recommend getting a good pair of Hi Fi speakers and a subscription to a FLAC streaming service (like Deezer) or a record player. It’s an investment of course, but it really does change just having music on in the background to making it more of an experience, like going to a concert. I got a pair of Snell J II’s recently and sitting down to listen to the depth of my favorite songs is one of my new favorite Covid hobbies.

[Edit - grammar]

[wolco2]

Try listening to older music. It's less boring and tries to bring out an emotion. A lot of the newer music has proshopped out any real emotion.

[ashtonkem]

I'd be a bit careful in ascribing too much meaning to the differences in music over the years. Remember that your parents probably said the same thing about your music, and their parents before them. We tend to lock in our favorite music in our late teens and early 20s, and while it's okay to have a preference it's kind of silly to ascribe immutable qualities of the music when it's probably just what you like.

Or, to paraphrase something pithy a former boss of mine said: they made the best music back when I was most emotionally vulnerable, and now it seems to have gone downhill since then.

[smichel17]

Ah-ha -- but I happen to listen to largely the same music as my parents, so I can safely conclude that music has indeed gone to shit with my generation!

...actually, this isn't true. The reason older music is often seen as better is that time has filtered out the generic crap with no staying power. And so I second the recommendation to check out older music; it's easier to find quality stuff. And, like watching a TV series after it finishes airing, when you find something you like, you don't have to wait to check out the rest of it.

[dvlsg]

I can't say I agree with that. There is a lot of really good new music, just like there is a lot of bad old music. The difference is the bad old music has already been forgotten, but the bad new music is recent enough to still be somewhat memorable. For now.

[matt-attack]

So you’re saying the world is going to forget “Who let the dogs out?”

[tayo42]

Good music depends on what you like. Rock is a dead genre now, if you don't like edm or trap/hip hop then what new music are you listening to?

[magicalhippo]

Lots of great music out there, here's some of what I enjoy but Bandcamp has so much more...

https://delvonlamarrorgantrio.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-kex...

https://smallstone.bandcamp.com/album/the-heat

https://firebreatherdoom.bandcamp.com/

https://thesoftmoon.bandcamp.com/album/criminal

https://dakhabrakha.bandcamp.com/album/the-road

https://wizardrifle.bandcamp.com/

https://smallstone.bandcamp.com/album/our-birth-is-but-a-sle...

https://estastonne.bandcamp.com/album/internal-flight-remast...

https://mayflowermadame.bandcamp.com/

https://moonduo.bandcamp.com/album/occult-architecture-vol-2

https://hashiya.bandcamp.com/album/disfigurement

https://secondstill.bandcamp.com/

https://theosirisclub.bandcamp.com/album/the-wine-dark-sea

[tayo42]

The fact you are giving me band camp links only strengthens the point im saying. Rock is on life support at best, if all you have are bandcamp links to indie bands. People arent going to go through everything on bandcamp to possibly find a gem.

I clicked a few of those links they sound like any band from the last 20 years. New rock sounds for 60 years were mainstream music and accessible and progressive. That is no longer the case. Rock is not a major genre any more. Less people are getting into it. Guitar sales have been dropping, its not popular. For a genre to be healthy it needs innovation and new ideas.

[magicalhippo]

I guess I took your "new" a bit too literally. My point was simply that I think there's a lot of great music out there being made as we speak.

Does it sound similar to what was made 20 years ago? Certainly not everything, but that's where I am with my tastes at the moment.

> The fact you are giving me band camp links only strengthens the point im saying.

I gave Bandcamp links because that's where I get all my music from, and because I think it's better for the artists to share Bandcamp links than to say Spotify.

> People arent going to go through everything on bandcamp to possibly find a gem.

That's why they have Bandcamp Weekly[1] and such, but of course there's lots of other ways.

> Rock is not a major genre any more.

Major as in there's not a lot of really big acts, ala say Kiss or Van Halen, then sure. Is that so surprising?

The affordability of audio recording and the internet means its much easier for smaller acts to find an audience. This leads to more variety, as people can make and find various niches.

Is that a bad thing?

[1]: https://bandcamp.com/?show=412

[Bayart]

Depends what you call « rock ». Radio-friendly indie rock had its 15 minutes of fame in the 2000s and now it's out of the mainstream. So what ? Metal's sub-genres are on a seemingly never-ending expansion, psychedelic rock is doing great, new occult/hard-rock/doom/acid bands are seemingly popping up every day, you've got stuff like Saharian blues-rock giving us awesome music [1] etc. Plus the tropes of rock music feeding into new forms of instrumentation (ie. electronic music).

And music isn't restricted to bland rock, hip-hop or EDM archetypes. The spectrum of possibilities is infinite, and the spectrum of what comes out reflects it pretty well. Especially if you dare looking out of your little cultural fishbowl.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZvPoE0EH1o

[AngryData]

A lot of new genres, that aren't what most people would consider EDM, are hidden under both real and imagined EDM labels in some crazy subgenre. If you are avoiding all EDM because you don't like some shit trance or techno, you could be missing out on a lot of other music just because mainstream music giants don't like it. There are hundreds of electronic music streams going on right now that all have different genres and styles, but if you looked on like XM radio, there is only two streams and both are mostly trash house dance music.

I think a lot of people just don't get exposed to a lot of great new music just because they avoid the electronic label over assumptions of what it will be. But that label means it could be anything and isn't much better than calling it post 2000s music.

[runarberg]

Rock is by no means dead. There are dozens of new releases on bandcamp and its still quite popular as far as I know. Sure I believe the genre has suffered during the pandemic, as many artists rely on live performance, but that would only mean that rock would be hyphenating. But its not. Artists still find ways to release new rock music as evident on their preferred platform.

[tayo42]

I don't think indie artists trying to release music on bandcamp is a status of health. There isn't anything new or interesting happening in the genre. Rock in its current form, is nothing like it was for the 50s up to 2010s.

Tbis isn't some random thing Im saying https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/gene-simmons-r...

(though I dont agree with the reason he gives)

[devilcius]

https://bandcamp.com/tag/rock

[tayo42]

What point are you trying to make? I could do the same thing for disco. People might release it that doesn't mean the genre is thriving or healthy

[Bayart]

Music has always been extremely formulaic. That's its very nature : using tropes we're accustomed to to provoke an emotional reaction. But it certainly is less formulaic now than it was a few centuries ago.

[friendlybus]

Less formulaic now? Pop music is becoming more repetitive. [0] People like Max Martin producing an amazing amount of hit pop songs leads me to think it's more formulaic.

[0]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_tjFwcmHy5M

[runarberg]

I guess it would depend on how you sample the music (i.e. from the top 50 hits playlists, randomly, by streaming number, by sold copies, etc.) and where you establish the baseline, and again how you compute forumlaic.

So if you are comparing top hits today with experimental rock of the 70s, and measure it in variance of chords, timbre and vocabulary. Yes it would be easy to show how music is becoming less varied. However if you establish the baseline during the late classical era (and limit your self to western music; as is often done) I’m sure you will find music today to be more varied.

If you sample randomly and make sure to include all of the experimental genres I’m sure you will find music today more varied then ever, and even if you go by top sales (and make sure you include music from around the word) I sure you might find that music is just as varied as it was back in the 70s.

Then there the question of how you measure musical variance. It is easy enough to do it by measuring (among other) the chord progression, or timbre, or proportion of the chorus, etc. but when people do this they often undermine many genres of music (e.g. minimalist music of the 80s and 90s) or hip hop, etc.

[EVdotIO]

Max Martin is also a fantastic musician, originally a singer (this is arguably the most important part of pop), and has a deep understanding of music. From a harmony standpoint, his stuff tends to be a bit more interesting than most pop tunes. The dude is beast.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Martin_production_discogra...

[Bayart]

Yes, less formulaic. Classical music is far more formal than any sort of pop music and can quite literally be algorithmically generated.

[canofbars]

I find a lot of older music sounds very muffled and poorly mastered where as some modern stuff like Tipper are incredible experiences especially on high end headphones. Some of this modern stuff is completely unreal. But if all you listen to is old music and the top 10 pop songs I'm not surprise you would miss this.

Have a listen to this, its one of the most amazing things I have listened to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCIXH6sb1ss

Nothing from the past is able to match this level of incredible stereo effect.

[BLKNSLVR]

Thanks for the link to Tipper, as a fan of Shpongle,I think I'll like a trip (possibly literally) through some of Tipper's catalogue.

But, incredible stereo effects does not equal great music. Great music may or may not have great stereo effects. Music may be muffled and grainy, but that's a reflection of the available technology, it says nothing of the quality of the music itself.

1966, great music, Zappa was ahead of his time with production: https://youtu.be/girnJH7tvpM

[lamp_book]

This is the sort of comment that I don't think belongs on HN. You can't trash something you don't understand and claim it a curious and contrarian view.

[Lammy]

I’d be willing to believe there’s a kernel of truth in there despite the harsh wording. Maybe the songs that become hits today do sound different than songs that became hits in past eras due to the different ways people tend to listen to music in those eras, like what sounds catchy through an iPhone versus what sounded nice on FM on an old Hi-Fi?

[lamp_book]

I don't doubt that but I think it's in the non-hits is where you'll find the difference. Streaming services incentives short ear worms but also allows any John or Jane to put it's music in front of an audience it otherwise never would have. The music people listen to most won't change but the variety people listen to collectively is truly massive.