Prog Digest – February 2025 – An Xperience Column

Prog Digest – February 2025 – An Xperience Column – by Klyde Kadiddlehumper.

Welcome to the month of two made-up holidays.

One, where if your wife/lover/significant other/partner says “Oh, don’t get me anything,” they really mean, “I don’t want any of that nasty ol’ cheap chocolate in a heart-shaped box. It better be expensive Belgian chocolates.” You know, all hearts and sweets and stuff … phooey.

The other is actually a holiday in the household of Klyde and Constant Companion – Groundhog Day.  Our anniversary (for reals).  If I forget that one, I will be knocking on your door ‘cause I won’t have a place to live.

Anyway – for most, they are not a huge deal.

The big deal these days is Artificial Intelligence.

This one is in the same vein as Autotune in my book. Then again, even the authors of Autotune do have limits. There is actually a set number of times beyond which you can no longer apply Autotune to a track before it tells you to get a new singer.  Well, at least that is what it said on Facebook, and they do all that fact-checking … huh, what?  What do you mean they don’t fact-check in the US? Ah well, you can believe everything you read in this article …

Now – AI – that is a different thing altogether. It can retrieve facts and the like pretty easily. It can also (if it has a large enough set of data) write songs – or at least the lyrics and give you style notes for different bands.

Klyde made a couple of requests.

“Write me a Gentle Giant song.”

I got five verses, two breaks, and style notes, including:

(Heavy, driving bass line with a jagged, angular guitar riff enters. Drums pound a complex, shifting rhythm.)

(Derek Shulman, soaring vocals)

Cogs in the machine, turning slow and cold

Gears grinding, a story yet untold

Logic unbound, reason overthrown

A fractured mind, a lonely, hollow throne

Or –

“Write me a ZZ Top song.”

(Heavy blues guitar riff in E)

(Billy Gibbons, vocals)

Well, I woke up this mornin’, sun shinin’ in my face

But somethin’ felt outta place, a feelin’ I couldn’t erase

Went down to the kitchen, fridge was lookin’ mighty bare

No cold beer, no juicy steak, nothin’ fit for a rock and roll millionaire

For some, this is considered “progress.”

I call BS.  Whatever happened to actually having talent and writing your own? Sure, if you want to emulate a style – cool.  But if you are a lazy no-talent, without an original thought in your head … a cut-and-paste world is just your speed.

Reminds me of the 1988 debut album from Kingdom Come – who claimed to have never heard Led Zeppelin.

Reality is that there is nothing new under the sun – not really.  Every style has sidebars, forks and branches, derivatives, and some paying homage. There are tributes. There are wannabes.  Some will surpass their idols, others will not.

Think of it this way. In a past life, Klyde was working with a friend on a project. There was artwork involved. The owner brought out a very small piece and put it on an easel. Klyde’s jaw dropped.

The Mona Lisa is small but awe-inspiring. Jackson Pollocks’ tend to be large and overwhelming, and really cool.

In this case, the small (perhaps 4 x 5 inches or so) piece left me speechless. It was a Leonardo. A self-portrait, of which there are many. In a room. No velvet ropes. No glass. No security guards. I will never forget it.

There are musicians who leave me much the same way. The AI-powered, autotuned, derivative junk just leaves me cold.

I am going to keep harping on this. Go out and see live musicians. Grab some vinyl you have never seen. Xperience Monthly does three things. Art. Culture. Music.

Try all three sometime.

Until next time.

Klyde

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