Vocals or instruments?

[crow]

Throughout my life, I've been - just like any of you - into music, and I started off with the mainstream stuff i.e. the kind of music that gets aired on the local radio station, which is mostly rock, r&b, hiphop...etc. However, as years passed by, I shifted my taste from mainstream music, to metal (black, death, and melodic), and later on to trance music. And I've come to realise that all the music I listened to in the past, appealed to me because of the melodies used in the songs and the way people sounded while they sang and NOT the words. It's due to this that I'm in undefinable love with instrumental music such as trance, jazz, chillout, classical, and rock that involves mostly solos.

So what's your preference when it comes to music? Vocals or instruments?

Here's my explanation:

I'm more of an instrument lover. Vocals and lyrics don't do it for me as much as instruments do.
Instruments are a perfect way for people to express themselves in any way! It can be anger, happiness, hate, love, sadness...etc.
In my opinion, a musical instrument (may it be anything) can connect directly to my soul and fills me up instantly. Vocals/lyrics on the other hand may sound like complete blabbering and rubbish to me sometimes unless we are talking about QUALITY songs. No Amr Diab and 50 Cent are not included!!! Songs nowadays are overrated! Arabic and Hiphop/R&B are 2 mere examples of the kind of music nowadays that I consider to be rubbish sometimes. "Ya 7abebety" and "Bitches 'n hoes" should be more than enough to explain why I think it's shit! All Arabic songs are about love and all hiphop/r&b songs are about clubs,girls,bling bling,the ghetto...etc.

That being said, even if the lyrics and vocals have great meaning to them, instruments still do a much better job for me.
It takes a verse to express emotion, when it takes a sweep on a string to change your mood. It takes a song to tell a story, when it takes a couple of good strikes on an instrument's chords to take you into a mental journey. I can indulge myself into the beautiful humming of a person's voice and hate a 3 minute story telling of a vocalist in a song.

To me, instruments are everything! And nothing can change that.

So what's your preference? I hope people respond by explaining why too! It would be great to get to know everyone's style. I'm sure there's a damn good reason behind everyone's preference

[TranceFusion]

[crow]

[Raneem]

I prefer instruments, since they also talk, but in a very different language.
Vocals are good, but i see them explaining the vocabulary of the instruments, not more!

[Tala]

[align=justify]Nice idea you came up with Khaled!

I do your point in what you already mentioned. I highly respect the underlying passion behind the description you just gave. A good music does go straight to the heart and does touch that sensitive part in every one of us.

Music in general has become more of a marketing thing; profit if I may say. Let me talk briefly about some type of music first:
I do agree with you Khaled about the Hip Hop/RnB issue, most of them are becoming repetitive and silly. I personally am open to any type of music, and yes I do listen to radio a lot! For me, every type of music has its own uniqueness, its own beauty. There are lot of RnB and Hip Hop music that I do listen to.. some of them have nice and sweet lyrics. The meaning behind each song means a lot to me along with the music itself of course. I don’t over generalize, meaning I give each song what it truly deserves; some hip hop/RnB songs are good, some others are not!

Now to talk a bit about the Arabic music! Yes, lot of “cheese” in here LATELY (and I stress on the word LATELY)! Again, we don’t have to generalize, some Arabic songs are really good; lyrics and music wise! To give an example, even if you guys don’t like him but it is about Georges Wassouf, the one who, I believe made a revolution! His songs (old and new) are deep. The music IS emotional and sensational. And when I talk about emotions here, I do not only refer to positive ones, they could be negative too. Khaled, you said most of Arabic music talks about love. Well that’s true, but again not all of them! For example, Asi Al Hellenneh has many songs talking about how he listens to people and no actually listens to him! There is lot of Arabic music that carries so much factual experiences. Do not underestimate this music; just know WHAT to listen to and what NOT to.

Back to the initial question now: instruments or vocals?? Well it depends.. I don’t stress much on this. If only vocals or lyrics added, it is the same for me as long as it does deliver the message the music or the track is supposed to deliver. it all depends on the theme of the song supported by the vocals or lyrics if there were any. The most important thing here for me is that harmonious quality blend between the instruments, vocals and lyrics to form a “perfect” track that can get into a person’s heart from the very first time![/align]

Excuse me for making it long

[TranceFusion]

[Fawzi]

Vocals are just the icing on the cake for great instruments!

[Qulture]

[crow]

Well, I would say that "what" people sing doesn't really fill my ears, instead it's "how" they say it. I'm currently listening to Cerf & Mitiska's "Light The Skies" and the vocals by Jaren are nice! But I almost don't get a simple word she says. My ears by default "filter" those lyrics out but keep the mellow atmosphere that she gives to the track through her melodic voice bends in the track. And to top all this off, I'm more concerned about the instruments used in the track itself. Let me explain to you how the use of instruments and the way they sound can change the mood of track completely. Light the skies has a remix featured on the CD by Retrobyte. If you listened to the way the track was produced, you'll notice that this version has a sweet yet sad mood to it because of the instruments used and the way they sound accordingly with the vocals. The vocals are the same in terms of tone and lyrics but the track's mood has completely changed. The original mix on the other hand was produced in order to give in a happy and summery feel. Listen to both of them carefully and you will know what I mean (I hope).

But hey, if you prefer the vocals and lyrics then that's your taste buddy! Thanks for giving in a response.

On the other hand, I like what Roonaldo87 said. Simple and clean. What's your reason behind this quote though? Raneem seems to agree too!

And Dolphina I'm open to any genre of music but the majority of Arabic and R&B/Hiphop is shit to be honest. I looooove instrumental R&B though! The words and the so called "story" that most artists try to tell are all the same. It's either this guy wants this girl, or that other dude wants some ass in the club, or someone shot his mom, or someone killed a cow instead of his girlfriend, or that girl thinks that this guy isn't good for her, or that other girl has issues cuz she tells that dude to wish his girlfriend was hot like her. There's no true art in the making of R&B/Hiphop.
Arabic music seems to sound all the sound right now since like I said earlier, it's all about love. Although I'll admit that I totally forgot about George Wassouf! I recall some of his songs talked about stuff other than love. That is true. You know what I hate about Arabic music though? The continuous repetition of a single verse when it's not even the chorus!!! And the words are sometimes predictable too.

So... Any more replies to this thread? lol

[Fawzi]

[crow]

[Proof]

[crow]

[DIONYSOS]

Outstanding topic as usual from the one and only Crowy!

I was introduced to music as a whole by the strictly instrumental music of Jean-Michel Jarre who remains to this very date my all-time favorite musician, so my preference for instrumentality over vocalism (?) may be rooted there.

But the entire concept is really relative, or situational. It's hard to affirm a definite answer here, as some tracks have vocals that are indispensable (random example: Above & Beyond - No One On Earth) , while others have bitches that just need to shut the fuck up (random example: System F - Cry).
Some other tracks have vocals that sound great musically (the vocals' "melody" sounds good) but have no lyrical significance (random example: Cara Dillon vs 2Devine - Black Is The Color); I settle for those when the lyrics are not quite comprehendible, but when you can clearly hear what the vocalist is saying and the lyrics are cheap, they just kill the entire track for me, even if the vocals' "melody" is good (random example: AvB & Racoon - Love You More).
Some tracks have sensational vocals with no lyrics, either sounding like a "solo choir" (random example: Art Of Trance - Turkish Bizarre) or "chopped" a la Andy Moor (random example: Maor Levi - Reflect); those I love, love, LOVE!

But I'd say that overall, more than half of releases that pass my personal filter (my DJing one aside for now) are instrumental, not vocal. Rarely do vocals impress me in today's Trance; there are a lot of good vocalists, but apparently not enough good songwriters. In terms of lyrics, Luminary - My World and AvB & Rank1 feat Kush - This World Is Watching Me rank way up there on my scale, and these are the sort of lyrics we need in today's Trance, no "everyday I love you more" and "how did it end this way don't leave me love me just a little bit longer".

[TranceFusion]