An Open Letter for Every Fallen Fan: Music into Memory
Where do we draw the line between music and memory? We say we love a song, but how much do we really love it—what do we truly appreciate about it? Sure, we can point to certain melodies, the rhythm, vocals, effects, but does any of this trump the memories we create to this music? We so tightly bind these memories to the tracks to which we experience them that one lonely bass line can trigger a wave of nostalgia.
This is like a flashback, and when we hear these tracks we are brought back to important times in our lives. Auditory memory is a huge evolutionary triumph, and I truly believe this is the reason we are driven to create meaningful sound. Nostalgia is a natural wonder in itself—we experience something so significant to ourselves that our brain encodes those feelings alongside the stimuli that surrounded them. When we encounter stimuli even remotely like those, our brains light up like a crowded dance floor.
So why do we love music? It’s for the experience--it’s for the memories. There’s no perfect balance, no equilibrium of sound to experience, nostalgia to rhythmicity. Finding such a balance would be as untenable as alchemy. Yet, we do this, all the time, because music is INCREDIBLE.
I can’t even explain to you the wave of emotions I feel when I hear Trolley Snatcha’s remix of Blind Faith. That remix is the first major track I discovered on my own before I heard it in a club, and boy did it light up dance floors.
Even a month ago I heard Chase & Status play that remix at a secret show in NYC. I felt like I had an out of body experience right there, at Club Slake, which may as well have been Bourbon Street. Memories of my first massive flashed in my head—my best friend, my first crowd, my first time hearing that much sub bass. I would unsurprisingly rank that show as my favorite of 2014. Thank you Mat Zo for salvaging that Sunday, better known as E-Zoo’s doomed third day. To quote Pete Tong, it’s all about the music [and the memories we make while moving to it!] Okay, maybe not all of that, but I’m sure Pete agrees with me here.
When you’re in the club, at the massive, in the pit, with your buddies, by yourself, or with that person you hope to know, don’t ever forget to take it all in. Don’t ever forget that it’s all about experiencing the music, and letting it take hold. Make some fucking nostalgia—that warm, fuzzy, feely shit. Don’t let those memories become bad ones—BE RESPONSIBLE. If you came to do strange drugs and wreck those memories—not just for yourself, sbut for your family, friends, and fellow ravers—then sit this one out. We don’t need you, and y
baratheonpilled
janainaart
blakekathryn
yousharknotpass
