Cat Power Analogies
The new Cat Power album is not so great. lots of in-your-face synth beats and over-produced songs that seem to have really been written in Pro-tools, long after the instruments were recorded, the musical equivalent of a bag of potato chips. I suspect potato chip music like this is why people burn out on music.
we are bombarded by songs that are immediately satisfying: simple beats, obvious lyrics, familiar hooks, melodies, etc, shit that's competing for airtime. It's like pop music is made by advertising executives; songs are jingles or nursery rhymes. too bad this is bleeding into indie rock, and that people don't recognize it happening. Pitchfork gave "Sun" a good review. to differentiate between what's shit and what's worthwhile, it's helpful to categorize music into into one of two camps.
The painter David Hockney described the difference between painting and photography saying paintings are studied; The viewer examines a piece, reading it like text which can reveal multiple levels of meaning each time it's looked at. Photographs on the other hand tell you everything you need to know in the first five seconds. I think of it as push versus pull. Photography pushes its meaning onto the viewer; painting pulls at you, requiring your active participation in interpreting and projecting your own meaning. Music is similar in this way.
Even two bands that on their surface seem very similar can be divided between these two camps. Aphex Twin pulls while Squarepusher pushes. Boards of Canada pulls while Plaid pushes. There are also varying degrees of this as well.
A lot of freeform jazz and structureless drone music can be extremely evocative in this way. If you're willing to get beyond trying to experience the kind of immediacy usually found in pop-music you'll find that this stuff offers a far more rewarding experience, one that won't leave a pile of crumbs on you when you're finished.