| by Bob Levine | 3/06/07 | 174 views |
The human genome is composed of twenty-four entirely unique chromosomes comprised of three billion DNA base pairs that harbor an estimated 20,000-25,000 genes. The Human Genome Project, completed in 1993, was a ground-breaking endeavor to map and sequence the three billion nucleotides contained in the human genome and further characterize all the genes there. Despite our obvious differences (some people actually enjoy listening to Phil Collins?), we are technically 99.9% the same on a purely genetic level. Our human dissimilarities such as hair color, height and musical taste (or in Collins’ case, lack thereof) stem from the exorbitant number of combinations that these genes can arrange themselves and not in the genes themselves. Perhaps it was some anomaly of genetic combinations that accounted for the populous of esteemed Academy voters who found it necessary to award Collins an Oscar for Best Original Song, as his timeless “You’ll Be in My Heart,” from Tarzan, beat out the seminal favorite “Blame Canada,” from South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. And “Uncle Fucker” wasn’t even nominated?! Next thing I know you’ll be trying to tell me that Three-Six Mafia won an Oscar. Ridiculous.
As it turns out, some people legitimately enjoy the harmonious, comatose slumber that is a Phil Collins song. Others steadfastly affirm Three-Six’s “It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp,” the group’s latest out-pouring of raw human emotion that characteristically dramatize the lives of pimps, ho’s and other members of the unlawful proletariat, was worthy of Academy recognition. At least Martin Scorsese finally won one, be it thirty some odd years too late.
Collins and the grilled-toothed members of the Three-Six Mafia have more in common than simply a shiny award that sits on their mantle and shares its name with the most famous grouch this side of Sesame Street; the artists are both human. We all arise from the same genetic material, but this material arranges itself in varying orders, pairings, waist sizes and socio-economic backgrounds to yield an entirely unique human product each and every time. The creation of a song occurs in a very similar fashion.
The Music Genome Project was commenced on January 6th, 2000 by a group of ambitious, aurally inclined technicians and musicians lead by Stanford grad Tim Westergreen. The genesis of the project (last Phil Collins pun, I swear) was founded on the very same goals, passions, loves and inquisitory natures that those brainy scientists had when they undertook the Human Genome Project. “We set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level,” Westergreen reminisces. His culture savvy team identified over 400 different musical dimensions, or “genes”, that comprise songs.
The list of attributes includes everything from the basic elements of a song (Acoustic Guitar Accompaniment, Heavy Drums) to possible song influences (Country Roots, East Coast Rap Influence) to innovative, provocative evaluations (Bumpin’ Kick Sound, Ambient Soundscapes) and far-reaching implications of the work (Cash Obsessed Lyrics, Avant-Garde Learnings). The mission statement Westergreen wrote for the project explains that the musical genes they categorized “capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony.” His unadulterated passion for the project, and music in its most fundamental form, was a refreshing and critical prospective at a time when the dawn of a new millennia coincided with the peak of corporate sponsorship and overproduction. For Westergreen music is not just a pastime or an interest but an ideal - a genetic composition that produces an existence.
In 2004, armed with a growing library of meticulously catalogued songs and a new influx of capital from private investors, Westergreen started Pandora. Pandora is a free streaming internet radio service that uses algorithms to play music YOU LIKE. You create ‘stations’ on Pandora based on a song or artist (i.e. a “Beatles” station). The algorithms then take the sample of music you have inputted and choose songs to play that are composed of similar genes, or musical dimensions, as your input. For example, I just created a channel for the band Neutral Milk Hotel. After inputting the artist name, I received the following message:
"To start things off, we’ll play a song that exemplifies the musical style of the Neutral Milk Hotel which features folk influences, acoustic sonority, major key tonality, melodic songwriting and acoustic guitar rhythms."
After delivering the friendly message, the station played Neutral Milk Hotel’s ironically emotive anthem “Communist Daughter.” This was followed by “500 League Reunion March” by the Baptist Generals, “The Unguarded Moment” by the Church, and Smog’s “I Feel Like the Mother of the World.” And then I stopped keeping track.
Pandora is not a downloading service. You can’t take digital songs off their website to listen at your leisure, you can’t rewind to listen to a song you like (but you can skip a song you don’t like) and you can’t play a song on demand. Pandora has very specific licensing agreements in regards to the level of access it can provide users with to its library. It’s a “music discovery service designed to help you enjoy music you already know, and to help you discover new music you'll love.”
Pandora offers an array of customization features to help its algorithms better pinpoint your musical taste. Don’t like a song? You can give it a “thumbs down” and skip the song, signaling Pandora to never play it or similar songs again. Conversely, if you particularly enjoy a song you can give it a “thumbs up”, which tells Pandora to play more songs like it. Pandora provides users with a free account that saves the stations you make (you can have up to 100 at a time) and the songs you have approved and disapproved. Additionally, you can bookmark songs and artists you liked so you don’t forget them, and can look into their work further at a later date. The service provides a good amount of information regarding most of the artists they have catalogued, including biographies and tour dates. Apparently the Baptist Generals are a Texas outfit that originally formed in the late 90’s under the name Poor Bastard Sons. Unfortunately no tour information was provided.
Like everything in this world, the music industry was forever changed by the internet. Services such as Pandora, My Space and Pitchfork are giving exposure to unknown, talented musicians that, ten years ago, never would have found a path from their amps to your Ipod…. er, cassette player. The availability and access to music is at unprecedented levels. Just look at Ruckus. You may not be aware of this, but as a college student you are provided with a FREE subscription to Ruckus’ downloading service- a service that features over two and a half million songs available to you legally and at no cost. Listening to Pandora and hear a band you like? Hit the Ruckus tab on your Mozilla browser and download the band’s album in less than 5 minutes. You can find new music on Pandora and then obtain digital copies of the music on Ruckus, all without worrying about receiving a nasty e-mail from some record company you never heard of threatening an absurdly exorbitant lawsuit. These music providers are legal and artist-friendly ways to discover new music; Pandora explicitly states that they compensate artists for using their songs. They even have links set up to itunes and amazon.com so that you can immediately purchase songs being played on Pandora.
I understand that not everyone loves or needs music; that people have other passions like sports, food or the opposite sex (most musical connoisseurs are actually asexual- they think songs remind them of people or things they’ve loved, but the songs really just remind them of how much they love themselves). I realize that finding new music just isn’t as important to everyone as it is to me, and that when people say they listen to “everything” it usually really means they listen to “nothing,” and that’s OK. I’ve come to terms with the fact that there are probably a good percentage of students that legitimately don’t mind being spoon fed the next round of vapid hip-hop dribble as long as girls are willing to shake their ass to it at Klondike Kate’s. But maybe there are people out there who just think music doesn’t move them because they haven’t found the music that will.
I was once told that humans create and observe art to train them to survive- that the sharing of common experiences and emotions achieved through art makes the act of living that much more bearable. I need a constant in-flux of new music. It’s therapeutic and frankly a hell of a lot cheaper than seeing a shrink. Every new song I hear is another opportunity to find out more about myself and the world around me. Ever heard of The Mountain Goats? Go read the lyrics to “No Children” and tell me you haven’t been there. Know the Beta Band? If “Dry the Rain” doesn’t move you than you might not have a soul. Art trains us to survive, and music is one of the most easily accessible and intellectually transferable forms of art.
We’re all comprised of the same genetic material, but somewhere between jihads, partisan politics and the designated hitter, that fact often gets overlooked. I’m not saying that Pandora’s going end the war in Iraq, but maybe you’re having a shitty day and turn on Pandora to hear a song that puts everything into perspective. It reminds you that things aren’t so bad and some people out there probably do understand you. The song’s genes and musical dimensions aligned just right with your genes and physical dimensions, producing a unique emotional response; a natural high (they DO exist). People often question Westergreen as to why he chose to name his service after the Greek Goddess infamous for opening a box that contained all of the miseries of mankind – greed, vanity, slander, envy and pinning. Westergreen is quick to respond by pointing out that the service is for made those who share Pandora’s insatiable curiosity for life and that at the bottom of Pandora’s Box, once all the evils of man had escaped, all that was left was hope. Our bodies can do amazing things if given the right stimulus, but sometimes you just have to put in a little effort to find the appropriate impetus: A personal genome project. Find out more about yourself AND discover tremendous musical accomplishments with a couple clicks of the mouse and a few strokes of the keyboard. Remember: if you think art can’t move you, consider the possibility that you simply haven’t found the art that will.
EXTERNAL LINKS
Pandora Musical Service: www.pandora.com
"No Children" by The Mountain Goats: http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=3530822107858496239
The Beta Band: http://www.betaband.com/gotflash.html
Musical Dimensions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Music_Genome_Project_attributes
Pitchfork: www.pitchforkmedia.com
Ruckus: www.ruckus.com
     
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University of Delaware
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