Open Your Mind

My mom used to call Rock & Roll the devil’s music. Before that people called the Blues the devil’s music. I’m sure other forms of music were demonized before that. We tend to curse what we don’t understand.

I’ll admit that I’m not a big fan of certain genres of rap music due to some of the lyrics. But I still try to keep an open mind. I mean, I don’t have a lot of room to complain. Listen to some of my discordant noise recordings and you can see why.

If my mom were to listen to my work as “A Cult of Lies,” she would likely think the music comes straight from the depths of hell. To the contrary, I believe the music comes from a place of spiritual insight. I’m not claiming to be some kind of Godly entity. But it takes a higher level of thought to accept and create discordant and noisy music.

One of my goals as a composer is to create music that might at first seem ugly and turn it into something beautiful. That takes an open mind. But it’s possible to mix the oddest of combinations to good results.

There is no right or wrong in music. Why on Earth would one combination of music be more “good or evil” than another? It makes no sense. Why would one limit themselves to strict rules when there are seemingly endless combinations?

Ambient, drone, and noise music may not be your thing. But you could at least give them a try. You have to be willing to open your mind. I’ll admit, it can take a lot of patience to listen to these genres of music. However, in time, you might discover the meditative qualities. There is a sense of deep calm and peace in ambient music.

You might just begin to hear the beauty in the discordance and the peace within the clashing rhythms. Hint: low volume works wonders. Or use headphones and take it all in.

I invite you to open your mind. Listen. – dse

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Author: Dan Steven Erickson

Dan Steven Erickson is a great undiscovered American songwriter.