http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n01Vwr1Wj7Y
Beware music analysis; I knew so much about Andrew Bird. I knew he was 23 when the album came out; it was real, traditional folk, before any of Andrew Bird's later, more experimental work; I knew it was self-released; I knew the genre and the influences and the weird imagery of the cover art. And I showed it to people; it was (is) a gorgeous song, deliberate and musically satisfying.
I showed it to a friend; she saw the song title and began to laugh; I'd missed the pun entirely, assumed nuthinduan was a region, a place, a genre. It wasn't. Nothin' Doin'. I didn't have a clue.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Friday, May 3, 2013
Take Off The Blues — The Foreign Exchange
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a6OueWQ0O4
Ah, R+B. My guilty pleasure. I have no idea where I got this song (it doesn't show up in any of my playlists), but it stumbled into my Genius playlists one day. It fits perfectly; it's the modern successor to Otis Redding, Smokey Robinson, Sam Cooke. Or, iTunes seems to think so.
I know exactly what I see in R+B — it's catchy, jazzy, soulful and meaningful; about feelings or sex, always. It's talented and danceable and I do love the timbres of it — but I'm more interested in why that timbre sounds so good. Is it because it's so different from the indie rock I'm used to?
Ah, R+B. My guilty pleasure. I have no idea where I got this song (it doesn't show up in any of my playlists), but it stumbled into my Genius playlists one day. It fits perfectly; it's the modern successor to Otis Redding, Smokey Robinson, Sam Cooke. Or, iTunes seems to think so.
I know exactly what I see in R+B — it's catchy, jazzy, soulful and meaningful; about feelings or sex, always. It's talented and danceable and I do love the timbres of it — but I'm more interested in why that timbre sounds so good. Is it because it's so different from the indie rock I'm used to?
Guilty Cocker Spaniels — Modest Mouse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igXIB2ArH8c
I was used to the tone and structure of a typical song at this point. Modest Mouse were verbose, redneck, literary and uncultured; clever and professional and yet so rusty and loose. But I was adjusted at this point, so I got to listen to these songs with open ears, listening for songwriting, dynamics; how they'd perform them, how I'd cover them; what they meant and what they did and if they matched; what was a choice and what was interpretation; how they wanted me to see it and how I really did. This song is clever; it has wordplay and nice swells and swoops of phrase; it has Isaac Brock's unusual exaggerated vocals; it's more melodic and yet somehow more full, more wall-of-sound than most; further from trucker rock and more into indie pop, but never twee. I like it a lot, and it was one of those new songs. The ones you listen to and you must share.
I was used to the tone and structure of a typical song at this point. Modest Mouse were verbose, redneck, literary and uncultured; clever and professional and yet so rusty and loose. But I was adjusted at this point, so I got to listen to these songs with open ears, listening for songwriting, dynamics; how they'd perform them, how I'd cover them; what they meant and what they did and if they matched; what was a choice and what was interpretation; how they wanted me to see it and how I really did. This song is clever; it has wordplay and nice swells and swoops of phrase; it has Isaac Brock's unusual exaggerated vocals; it's more melodic and yet somehow more full, more wall-of-sound than most; further from trucker rock and more into indie pop, but never twee. I like it a lot, and it was one of those new songs. The ones you listen to and you must share.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Little Bribes — Death Cab for Cutie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uNZuKCSDtw
This affection for music comes and goes in waves. I listen to new music all in rushes; I discover a band and dwell on them for months, and then I reject them and move on. The same for this blog — it's never been reviews, but it's moved away from analysis and journalism into real journaling, a diary of my experiences, a soundtrack; the songs are secondary to my stories.
This was the beginning of a new wave. In middle school, I got myself a new album each of Decemberists, Death Cab, Modest Mouse, Counting Crows — I actively decided to sit down and listen to them. A conscious discovery effort. It was new and exciting and I felt full; each new song had a tone I was used to, from the band; it was educated listening, music appreciation rather than intake. This song marks that. I was in Borders, 9th grade, a reunion; I began to realize that I recognized the CDs on the shelves; these weren't new things any more.
This affection for music comes and goes in waves. I listen to new music all in rushes; I discover a band and dwell on them for months, and then I reject them and move on. The same for this blog — it's never been reviews, but it's moved away from analysis and journalism into real journaling, a diary of my experiences, a soundtrack; the songs are secondary to my stories.
This was the beginning of a new wave. In middle school, I got myself a new album each of Decemberists, Death Cab, Modest Mouse, Counting Crows — I actively decided to sit down and listen to them. A conscious discovery effort. It was new and exciting and I felt full; each new song had a tone I was used to, from the band; it was educated listening, music appreciation rather than intake. This song marks that. I was in Borders, 9th grade, a reunion; I began to realize that I recognized the CDs on the shelves; these weren't new things any more.
Coney Island — Van Morrison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPfybDTJ-Bo
And all the time going to Coney Island, I'm thinking,
Wouldn't it be great if it was like this all the time?
Summer is coming and I'm growing up by the seat of my pants — in a few weeks I'll have a paying job, an apartment on campus, a roommate; I'll have to pay bills and buy groceries, ration money and figure out what to do with my free time. It's not hard, everybody does it. Still, it feels real and important and exciting, moving house and figuring things out.
Plus, the feelings of summer — peace and sun and warmth, intrinsic natural human responses — and plenty of time for my work, my research, my hobbies. This is what I want it to feel like.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Senseless Sentences — Second Person
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac1zKX3Z2nM
I don't like most of the rest of Chromatography, but I do like this.
I finally found a word for this sort of music — I may have described it as cohesive before, but I think a better phrase for it is exists in a vacuum. This music exists in a vacuum. If I don't know the context; if the production is quiet except the essential elements; if the lyrics present a coherent and complete worldview, the music can be said to exist in a vacuum. You can escape into it; it has room for you and all your baggage. It threatens to infringe upon the real world; it can be addictive. This is dangerous music, a complete story with no room for interpretation. It bites down and won't let go.
I don't like most of the rest of Chromatography, but I do like this.
I finally found a word for this sort of music — I may have described it as cohesive before, but I think a better phrase for it is exists in a vacuum. This music exists in a vacuum. If I don't know the context; if the production is quiet except the essential elements; if the lyrics present a coherent and complete worldview, the music can be said to exist in a vacuum. You can escape into it; it has room for you and all your baggage. It threatens to infringe upon the real world; it can be addictive. This is dangerous music, a complete story with no room for interpretation. It bites down and won't let go.
They Stood Up For Love — Live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK463fcJebI
I've never heard the end of this song. I got it from the library back in middle school, I ripped the CD, there was dust on it, the song skips and cuts out at 3:53, abrupt and like a record, cutting right to the next song in iTunes. I never bothered to fix it.
Looking back now at what I listened to in middle school, it's super embarrassing. It's a new-age neo-rock band with heavily spiritual lyrics, overproduced and underwritten, vague and sentimental and catchy as all hell — I loved that organ riff, the clean drums, the dramatic vocals — all the things I like about Scissor Sisters, actually — but didn't notice the overt undertones (overtones?). Now it's just weird and uncomfortable to listen to, but I still do love it — if only for its context, the CD rack at the Morningside Heights library back when I was 10 or 11, going to the library every Sunday morning for years, without fail.
I've never heard the end of this song. I got it from the library back in middle school, I ripped the CD, there was dust on it, the song skips and cuts out at 3:53, abrupt and like a record, cutting right to the next song in iTunes. I never bothered to fix it.
Looking back now at what I listened to in middle school, it's super embarrassing. It's a new-age neo-rock band with heavily spiritual lyrics, overproduced and underwritten, vague and sentimental and catchy as all hell — I loved that organ riff, the clean drums, the dramatic vocals — all the things I like about Scissor Sisters, actually — but didn't notice the overt undertones (overtones?). Now it's just weird and uncomfortable to listen to, but I still do love it — if only for its context, the CD rack at the Morningside Heights library back when I was 10 or 11, going to the library every Sunday morning for years, without fail.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)