Music Is Dead - Long Live Music!

for the last years, i've becoming more and more interested in a certain kind of music. sometimes, it's the only thing that interests me in music. i am not alone in my preference; i guess a million people discovered this special form of music, and enjoy it and crave to hear more. the problem is, this form of music has no name.
and, even its most dedicated listeners, might not even know that this kind of music does exist at all.
what am i talking about?
well, in western music, especially in the 20th century, there has always been the attempt to break out of the framework of music. especially in academic and avantgarde music. it has reached a point where it's not easy to go on from; we have had music of pure noise, random sounds, or silence - how more extreme can you get? how more rules can you bend? how can you progress from that, and create something wholly new?
it is easy. just abandon music altogether. but still make music. for music is dead - but long live music!
what do i mean with that? let me tell you the history of how i discovered this "kind of music". it arose out of chat sessions i had with some of my friends; it was, for us, the days of hardcore techno; but we had grown intensively bored with this genre. so we send ourselves suggestions for other kinds of music, bands, songs, that one should listen to. this was from all other the map; rock, ballads, 60s, 90s, classic, all mixed up. what i noticed after a while, was, that style was not so important at all. in each genre, there were songs that were special and stood out. but it was not easy to say what was special or different. take 60s music for example; some songs of it shine bright, and are different from the efforts of their contemporary bands. yet, the use the same set up of instruments, singing style etc. where is the difference?
it took me a while to realise what was going on.
they simply had a quality, that was not just in the set up of instruments, in the melodic key they used, i.e. in none of the musical and sonic categories. their brilliance was above the music, and its framework.
there was just something that stood out, was different, which could not be explained in musical or sonic terms or qualities.
this doesn't mean, of course, that there was something else, that was not music, to their songs; the instruments, singing, melody, transported this brilliance; but it also transcended it.
there is a quality of music that can not be explained by rhythms, chords, lyrics, pace, keys, harmonies, song structure and so on. it transcends music. it is something different to the very structure of a song or piece of music.
it expresses something, but it does so in its own way, in a special way.
say, you have the traditional setup: guitar, bass, drums etc. you could use them to create songs that are similiar to other music in that style; or you could create special songs, which transcend this setting; which are unique, and can not be attributed to the use, or the way, structure, form it is used, of these instruments. it is something of its own, which is outside the structure, outside the form, outside the instruments.
there can be something else to music, which can not be easily explained. some songs, some artists, just 'have' it, and others don't. in musical terms, it could not be written down what this is - but it is there, and people recognize it, as many agree on certain songs, which have this specialness, this quality.
let us look at it another way to show this:
a musician has a certain idea for a song. now, with this theory on mind, the musical framework or sound is not important. he wants to write a deep, philosophical song. he could use rock for this. or techno. or folk. or a classical setting. he could write a bassline, drum and percussion only 'dance' song or an acoustic guiter folk song. yet, his message would still be the same. the point of his music would be the same, regardless of the method. because the method, the structure of music have been overcome. it is not in the music and the structure anymore. it is outside of it.
this is a break from the past, where certain attributes, qualites, intentions were attributed to genres such as rock, pop, dance. etc
for music is dead - and long live music!

this, then, brings us back to the beginning. what is the next step? the next avantgarde? how more radical can you get? it is easy - deny music altogether. deny anything that is associated with music - yet still do music. just completely ignore the framework. make a folk song, make a dance song, an experimental or 'avantgarde' song - but use it to express something that is not in the music itself. that is not in dance or avantgarde. leave music behind, use it as a tool for a message - and still use music to transport it.

again, it should be said that, in the end, there is not something else in the songs than its structure and elements - there is bass and guitar and synth and percussion, and anything else, but not something without it. yet, how they are used, in these special songs, they transcend this. they create something which cannot be explained in the forms of their use.

lately, i've come back to the idea, that the musical framework should not be totally discarded, after all. maybe there are qualites in certain rhythms, sounds, that are important too, and have an important quality, and content of their own too. yet, the i think the general idea of this still holds true.

music is dead - long live music!