Deep Cuts and Conversations was held Nov. 15 in the Levan Center by Reggie Williams, Josh Ottum and Kris Tiner surrounding the topic of music that we listen to relax.
The audience, which was made up of three attendees, discussed what music they listen to when under stress. One student stated that they listened to beach music and romantic 80s Spanish songs. Another student said that they prefer songs that wrap around at the end.
Williams stated that the music he often listens to when stressed is aggression music. While Tiner states that he prefers to listen to the simplicity of songs, without the melody and lyrics being distracting playing “For the Sake of the Song” by Townes Van Zandt, as an example.
One student played a song that relaxes them and reminds them of their mom, “Mientes” by Camila, a song about the feeling of love after a break-up, due to how often her mother played the song. One student commented that the lyrics are often not apparent until later or when listening with someone else.
Ottum said that smooth jazz works for relaxation as it asks for nothing from the audience, from its imagination, and allows us to go happily about our day. William added that it works as background music for scenes with Tiner commenting that it qualifies for the bad jazz test if it fits with the BC hold phone music.
The next song brought up “I Just Wanna Hang Around You” by George Benson. Ottum said that guilty pleasures do not make sense. Tiner added that some songs could not be played in the open.
One student attempted to find one of the worst songs, “Caroline” from Lower Town. The music is bad but perfectly mixed. Williams said that he found this authentic compared to overly produced music, much rawer with a better energy.
Ottum said that technology’s role in music is to capture the essence of the song. Tiner said there are different emotions for different songs. Williams said that a good producer’s job is to figure out what can be added or removed to make a song achieve. Ottum said it is good to view different tracks of the same song and how it was added per change.
As the panel came to a close, one attendee Carson Peters, said that his experience was very good and cool that it was a low number of attendees to participate however, he would suggest that it be easier to find.