Body Analogy

I've been thinking these last few days of an analogy to categorise music without resorting to limited genre boxes. The idea is to characterize music not by what it is but by what is does to you. One of the things that's pretty hard when writing reviews is expressing the effects that listening to music has on you. I'm not saying this is a revolutionary tool that will make my subjective opinions cristal-clear, but I'm willing to give it a try and, more importantly I'm interested in your opinions on the matter.

Here's the idea : I have so far identified four basic "effects" that music does on you. Graphically, having a fifth would be nice, but I'm not willing to invent one just for the sake of nice graphics. The four "effects" and their body analogies are :

• the head: the music stimulates your intellect. It requires a level of analysis and the appreciation is in the analysis more than in the other aspects of the music.
• the heart: the music generates a "romantic" emotion, an evocation of beauty, peace, calm and voluptuousness
• the guts: the music generates a raw empathy that is not pretty or esthetic but gut-churning and intense
• the legs: the music makes you want to tap your feet, shake your legs, wiggle your bum, etc.

Each of these would be mapped on a one to five scale. I've tried to map a few albums I enjoy in various genres to see how well the model works. Of course, you're more than welcome to comment, keeping in mind there's a part of subjective anyway. So here goes :

Muddy Waters - Hard Again: It's high-powered, its heavy, it's gritty. Muddy's voice is as powerful as ever, and the backing is generally as thick and loud as can be. It's a music that moves your guts, so the Guts rating is maximised at 5. Yet there are touches of subtelty and more emotion, so the Heart rating is 2. Many of the songs make you want to move, mark the beat, dance, so the Legs rating is 4. It's not intellectual and doesn't appeal to an analytical listening, so the Head rating is minimized to 1. The mapping would look kike the little vignette here on the right.

Oscar Peterson - Nigerian Marketplace: One of my favourite jazz records, it's a good experiment because, as many live recordings, it goes many places and is not just in one style or approach. It's jazz and while not as complex as jazz goes, it's still something that pleases the mind, so the Head rating would be 4. It's not as gutsy as the example above, obviously, but Peterson never forgets his blues roots, so there's a little  bit of Guts there, rated at 2. Many of the tunes are melodic and beautiful, so the Heart rating goes at 4. finally, NHOP's funky bass playing on tunes like the title track or Cakewalk is really driving and stimulating physically, so the Legs rating would be 3.

King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King: The seminal (and perhaps earliest genuine) prog rock album. Not easy to rate since the various tracks all evoke very different feels. Head has got to rate pretty high, this is quite complex music, but it probably doesn't warrant a 5, so let's rate it at 4. Overall, the album is pretty raucous, as showcased on 21st Century Schizoid Man, for example, but it's something that happens at times rather than all the way through, so let's say Guts is 4. The Heart rating is, overall, lower, but one song, I Talk to the Wind, is quite melancholy and touching. Let's put Heart at 3 just because of that song. Finally, it's not really an album that you groove to, so I'd put the Legs rating at 1.

One thing I should clarify : this is not meant to be a substitue to the review but rather a visual aid to it. A way of expressing what a record does to me based on my own subjective listening.

So there you have it. Useful or not ? I suspect it breaks down when it tries to encompass albums that are just collections of tunes rather that organic wholes, so it would obviously be more adapted to rating concept albums or involved jazz super sessions rather than underproduced live albums. I'm curious to know what you think, and feel free to use the comment section to debate on the topic. This is, after all, a blog !

Comments

[Loïc]

No comments yet ? That's because music and science don't mix, Ben !!! :-D

Interesting analysis though. I would suggest working on the graphical representation, rather using a little bonhomme with 4 sections (head/heart/guts/legs) and color ranging from cold-blue to red-hot... I'll try to draw one...

I think the approach is valid, and I could see it applied to other music styles. It's just got nothing to do with your overall appreciation of the music, but rather the effect this music could have on you if you appreciate it. I'm not sure it's really useful, but it's funny ! :)

[Benoît F.]

Same here. I had an (offline, unfortunately) discussion about it with another reader, to the effect that there could be a fifth axis which was "cultural resonance", ie. is this a music that is from your own culture or not, but in the end, I decided that strayed away from the concept of what effect the music has on you.

The graphical representation is due to improve (a friend of mine has promised little heads, legs, hearts and bowels). The colours I'd have to think about, but they tend to carry a symbolism that may not be understood similarly by everyone...

Anyway, thanks for your comments, and go enjoy the Ray Brown and Victor Wooten on the latest podcast !!!