This week's music is going to be music that I'd like to listen to if it were nicer out.
(HINT FREAKING HINT, STATE COLLEGE WEATHER)
So most of it will be folk music, and all of it will be good music. Let's begin!
FIRST SONG:
This song is Hang On by Dr. Dog. Everything about it is so good. They're just a bunch of great musicians getting together and having a good time. Honestly though, I'm a little nervous to say anything more about this song in terms of analysis...
Because the guy in the orange camo and funny hat playing banjo and doing backing vocals is my guitar teacher.
SO. I don't wanna get anything wrong.
NEXT SONG:
Blue Skies by Noah and the Whale. A lot of you might know this song already. It's kinda sad. But the music is really nice and it reminds me of summer. The refrain of Blue skies are coming always conjures up images of the most beautiful of days.
These guys also have such nice harmonies which is always a plus in my book.
NEXT SONG:
This is a song by one of my favorite musicians and also performed by a new discovery (but I like what I'm hearing). The song is Losing You by John Butler feat. Mama Kin. It's such a beautiful song. It's so peaceful and I really wish this particular session and performance was recorded somewhere where there weren't people walking by or wind. There is a studio recording, but it doesn't hold a candle to this performance.
John Butler is incredible. He became famous when a performance of his went viral on youtube. Some of y'all might have already seen it, the song is Ocean, and here is the video:
Fun fact about this song: If you notice, this is a twelve string guitar, yet it has only 11 strings. It's missing the octave up G string. This is because (if you heard him at the start of the video) he used to play songs like this when he was not famous and he ended up breaking the G string. Strings are expensive when you have no money. So he just played without it, and now he just never plays with it. Also, this is just an excellent performance. JB is a killer guitarist (not like he goes around killing people. I meant it colloquially).
So these are some songs that remind me of pretty weather in hopes that it will have some sort of influence over the State College Weather Gods. Clearly they are angry and if this doesn't work, I think we'll have to move on to sacrifice and I don't think anyone wants that.
Maybe this weekend everyone can just listen to their favorite summer songs all the time and then next week we'll have better weather. Yeah.
Oh damn, here's my doodle. Almost forgot. I forget this part frequently.
This is a face. I don't really know what the influence was. But I like it. I suppose it was sort of influenced by the artwork on Sublime album covers.
Last week I forgot to upload the drawing I did. I guess I was so excited about the classical stuff that it must have completely slipped my mind.
I got too eager.
I am sorry.
This week I promise there will be a drawing at the end of the blog. I am really happy with how this one came out. SO. It will be there.
OKAY! First song:
The song is called Broadripple is Burning and it's by a band called Margot and the Nuclear So and So's. I bet you've never heard of them (that's the hipster in me). But seriously, if you've heard of this band before now, that's awesome, but they are pretty obscure.
I personally stumbled upon this song entirely by accident. I was surfing youtube and I clicked on the wrong video and I was struck by the name of the group so I gave the song a listen and, as it turns out, it is now one of my favorite songs. I started playing a cover of it with my buddy's girlfriend all the time and now it's just one of my favorites. It's got such a nice melody and a superb climax on the chorus. I really enjoy playing and listening to this one.
NEXT SONG:
This song is called Dustbowl III. The group is Other Lives and they are a very new discovery for me and are already one of my favorites to listen to.
I happened upon this band through an NPR Tiny Desk Concert (if you don't know what they are, I highly recommend them. There are some great bands you might not have found otherwise. Just search NPR Tiny Desk on youtube).
What I really like about them is everything. For real. The beautiful minor drone and the haunting backing vocals. The outstanding use of folky guitar chord progressions and picking patterns. Also the cello sounds incredible with the rest (not to mention the cellist, Jenny Hsu, is quite good looking). They're just such a solid band all around.
They're not very famous yet, but they will be. And I wish they were so that people would start writing guitar tabs for their songs. They have toured with Bon Iver in the past, but I think after this year they're really going to start making a name for themselves because they are currently on tour opening for Radiohead.
I also really like the song For 12 by Other Lives.
LAST SONG (for this week):
This song is Eli the Barrowboy by the Decemberists. I'm sure I've written about the Decemberists here before, but this song is a rediscovery for me. It popped on pandora the other day and I was like, "Oh man, this song!" I got pretty excited.
Anyway, this song embodies what I like so much about the Decemberists, and that is their story telling lyrics. I love love love love Colin Meloy and his fantastic songwriting prowess. He just knows how to make a great folk song and this one is no exception. The chord progression is also awesome.
AND FINALLY... the sketch:
This is an old man. I really like how it turned out... although the picture of it doesn't look nearly as good as actually seeing the drawing. I don't have much to say about this one. It doesn't mean anything in particular. Actually, I didn't intend to draw this at all when I started, I was just trying out a different way to draw a nose... and then came the mustache, and then the rest.
Welp. I hope that you enjoyed the music and the art. That is all.
I love classical music. It always surprises me when I hear that my peers, that is, my fellow generationers (I know it's not a word, but you get the point) do not get enjoyment out of the "old masters" so to speak.
Beethoven, Back, Mozart, Chopin, Handel, Haydn... the Liszt could go on.
(By the way, that was a music nerd joke, Franz Liszt was a classical pianist).
Anyway, when I was little, my Grandmom and my Aunt always played classical music for me. Both are classically trained pianists and I think I got my love for watching live performances from them. Nothing makes me happier than hearing one of them play from the other room during family gatherings and then going to watch as they dance along the ivory keys.
The first song I'm going to post is one of my favorite piano pieces:
This is Nocturne op.9 no.1 by Frederic Chopin. And the youtube video even comes with a nice sketch of the man. This is one of my favorites for a couple reasons, the first is because my Aunt Nadine plays it wonderfully and when I started being able to read music, I was able to listen to her play while watching the little black dots progress along the pages. I became her page turner. So when she played, I wasn't just the listener anymore, it was something we could do together.
Another reason is because of the story. I think that we have largely lost appreciation for a story without words. The wonderful thing about this type of music is that it paints a different picture in the mind of every listener and every player. For example, this particular pianist (the one in the recording I posted) will have a different interpretation of the piece than my Aunt will. That holds true for most classical (and also many contemporary) pieces. Each player can add their own emotions to the interpretation and, even though they didn't write the piece, they can make it somewhat their own.
Here is the next piece:
This is a piece by Samuel Barber called Adagio for Strings and I am convinced to this day that it is one of the top 5 most beautiful and moving pieces ever written. If conducted and performed well, the sound of the orchestra is breath taking. This particular recording was done to honor the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
See the emotion in the expressions and the movements of the conductor. He feels every note. He knows this music so well he barely even glances at his score. Notice how he plays each pause. As the orchestra begins to decrescendo, he takes advantage of the coming silence and anticipates the next part of the piece.
It really is quite a wonderful composition.
Another piano piece:
This is another Chopin: Scherzo no.2 op.31 and the performer in the video is actually a friend of mine's father. He is an excellent pianist and this is an excellent piece. Nothing much more I have to say about this.
One more piece, another full orchestral:
This is Beethoven's Symphony no.7, the first movement. No one has and ever will sound like Beethoven. It may be a little cliche, but Beethoven is my favorite classical composer. In my opinion, no one has ever quite been able to work an orchestra like he did.
And the man was deaf for most of his life! Freaking deaf!
How maddening to be a musical genius who can't hear his own sounds?
When I was younger, I used to have this CD that I listened to over and over in my room. My mom got it for me (I think, coulda been my Grandmom, I'm not sure) and it was called Beethoven Lives Upstairs. It followed the story of a young boy whose parents, as landlords of a building, had rented out the top floor to a tennent: Ludwig van Beethoven. As Beethoven's music played in the background, the little boy would voice his frustration with how loud Beethoven was. Always pounding away on the floor and on the keys, keeping him and his family up all hours of the day and night, waking the baby. Eventually, the boy learns that Beethoven is deaf and plays as loud as he can so that he can compose his music by literally feeling the vibrations.
Think about this:
Beethoven knew music so well that he could compose pieces without being able to actually hear them. He could look at the notes he was writing on the page and hear it in his head! The flutes, the first violins, the timpani; the pieces came together, sometimes, without their composer having ever heard them.
A true genius and a true madman. One of the first Mad Geniuses, if you ask me.
Whew! This was a long post. As you can see, I could go for pages and pages writing about this genre. Maybe next week I'll post about some more classical pieces?
I am going to talk about one song this week. Just one.
Here it is:
It's called Wooden Heart and it's by a band called Listener. I'll do my best to describe it and tell you what I think although it speaks for itself better than any other words could. The singer, if you could call him that (I would call him a performer) is named Dan Smith. He's amazing.
I honestly can say that I've never heard lyrics like this before in my life. When I first heard this song, the first two lines hit me like a punch to the face:
"We’re all born to broken people on their most honest day of living
and since that first breath... We’ll need grace that we’ve never give"
It's poetry. People don't write like this anymore. And the way he performs! He feels every single word and he believes it when he says it. Just like Bob Dylan's voice was perfect for his music, Dan Smith's is perfect for his. Listener has a very unique style, this spoken word/rock fusion. I know it can be hard to dig this stuff, but give it a chance, and definitely check out the lyrics.
The song is about a community who wants to build a church, but there's not wood. They live by the shoreline though, so they build it from a shipwreck.
It's so simple, and said in such elegant beautiful words.
When I went home for Spring Break, I showed this song to on of my friends. About half way through, she was tearing up, by the end: full blown tears. It's not that my friend is overly religious, the language just struck her in such a way as to make her cry.
Anyway, the drawing I did to this song was inspired by the lyrics:
"With tears of joy and tears of grief"
I'm not really sure what it represents. It's just what I was feelin'...
This week, in honor of my essay on Motley Crue, I was listening to metal. So I'm gonna post a couple songs and talk about why they're awesome, like always.
Oh and before i forget about the sketch part, like I did last week, this is the drawing I did this week:
It's a devil. I did it all scribbles on purpose. I don't know why. Thought it would look cool.
In any event, I thought a devil was appropriate for metal week.
First song, let's go Motley:
This song is called "Kickstart My Heart". It's one of the most bad ass rock and roll songs I've ever heard. A little background, Motley Crue is (they are still touring and making new music) a Glam Metal band that from LA. They made their debut in 1981. The members have been the same since 1981 except for on one album when the singer changed, but that was temporary.
As it stands, Motley Crue consists of:
•Nikki Sixx- Bass guitar and primary songwriter
•Tommy Lee- Drums, Piano and Backup vocals
•Mick Mars- Lead and Rhythm Guitar
•Vince Neil- Lead Vocals and Rhythm Guitar
The goal for Motley Crue was to be the biggest, loudest, raunchiest, sleaziest, sexiest, most aggressive, bad ass, drug using womanizing, car buying and most in your face band ever.
Suffice to say, they succeeded. Motley Crue was and still ridiculous. Without a doubt they were the best at what they did. No one ever has or ever will be able to do what Motley did for rock and roll. More than anything though, they revolutionized the way a show is put on live and the attitude it takes to be a bad ass rock and roll group.
Today, all 4 members of Motley Crue no longer use drugs and only two of them (Neil and Mars) still drink, but only on occasion. They had to stop sometime right? Otherwise they'd all be dead. As it is, Nikki Sixx has survived being dead twice. Both times of a heroin overdose. Seriously, how rock and roll is that? Being dead twice and being like, "Nope, I think I'll live a bit longer." He probably had a nice conversation with the devil while he was croaked.
Some other Motley songs I like:
-Girls Girls Girls
-Shout at the Devil
-Primal Scream
-Saints of Los Angeles
-Wild Side
-Smokin' in the Boys Room (which is actually a cover song, not written by Motley)
NEXT SONG:
This song is called Under a Glass Moon and it's by a group called Dream Theater off of their album, Images and Words. DT is one of my favorite groups of all time because they have such a heavy sound with a lot of hair and mojo, but still are one of the most musically and technically complex groups out there. They are often praised for the technical excellency of each of their musicians.
On this song, the drummer is Mike Portnoy who was actually their original drummer and a founding member of the band. He remained with DT until this past year when he and the rest of the group had a falling out of sorts and he felt he had no other choice but to quit the band.
A quality of Dream Theater that I really appreciate is that each of their songs are so long, you really get what you pay for in terms of length of the album. Also, each song showcases the talent of all the musicians in the band at one point or another. The solos are nuts. Especially the guitar solos. I've never heard anyone play guitar like John Petrucci.
Also, Dream Theater often plays in time signatures that would be impossible for most bands out there to keep up with. Their songs are rhythmically engaging and musically extremely challenging.
NEXT (and last) SONG:
This is called The Devil's Orchard by a band called Opeth from Sweden. I don't have much to say about them. They basically speak for themselves in the music. I will say this though, I got the chance to see them live once and they were unreal. One of the best shows I've ever been to.
Here are some other bands to check out if you're interested:
-Beardfish
-Avenged Sevenfold
-SixxAM
-Methods of Mayhem
-Pain of Salvation
-Five Finger Death Punch (specifically the song Bad Company. Shit is unreal)
Thanks for reading y'all! I know metal can be tough for some people to get into, but it really is a great genre of music. And awesome for those days when the expression on your face might as well be a middle finger to everyone walking by you.
This week I have been listening to a LOT of Nirvana. Seriously just not stop.
It all started with this cover song:
It's incredible. It's a cover of a blues song from the 40's called, Where Did You Sleep Last Night by a guy called Leadbelly. Leadbelly is famous in guitar history for his work with 12 string guitars. This acoustic session is just pure genius and pure soul. Especially this song, it's a straight up blues minor chords change and very simple lyrics, but it has so much power.
It would be impossible for me to pick a favorite Nirvana song, but definitely this past week it has been:
Heart Shaped Box off of the In Utero album. This song is so Nirvana. It showcases the musical prowess of Kurt Cobain in his voice and guitar riffs and also Krist Novoselic with his funky ass bass lines and the power drumming of Dave Grohl.
Fun fact about this song: This was the last song sung in concert by Kurt Cobain before he took his own life. During that entire show, Cobain had Bronchitis.
Another great Nirvana song is Polly off of the Nevermind album (the one with the naked baby in a pool grabbing at a dollar on a fishing hook on the cover). Kurt Cobain saw the story in the song on the news and was so touched that he wrote this song, so the story goes.
This is the unlugged version, although there's a dirtier version on the actual Nevermind album, I actually like this one better.
How sad that Kurt Cobain died right? I think about this a lot actually. What if Kurt Cobain never used drugs and wasn't depressed and didn't want to kill himself and were still alive.
Well, there simply wouldn't have been a Nirvana. At least not like we know it today.
I'm not advocating drug usage or suicide. Not even a little bit. But I think those things highly influenced the songwriting of a genius.
This week I found some of the songs on my iPod that I haven't listened to in a while and put 'em on.
Man I forgot how much I love classic rock. I was jamming to Zeppelin, AC/DC, the Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix non-stop all week. I definitely like how all of these artists can take you back in time in a way. The attitude of the music shows what the attitude of the time was. Also, these artists were true professionals, all musicians in their own right.
So to start off, we've got some Led Zeppelin:
Over The Hills and Far Away is one of my favorite songs of all time. It has everything you would expect from an all-star band like Zeppelin. It starts off with a sweet guitar melody by Jimmy Page. He uses a straight acoustic tone and the chorus effect makes you feel like you're in the studio with him until the second harmony guitar parts come in. The soft melody changes slightly right before Robert Plant's sweet, raspy vocals come through strong.
When John Bonham and John Paul Jones come in to finish off the groove, there's not a sound like it. Only Led Zeppelin could pull off straight jam songs in studio and on stage.
Overall such a quality song.
Next we've got a song with a story:
The first time I ever heard AC/DC was by complete accident. I was at Arrowhead Day Camp and as I was walking by the drinking fountain I saw a CD. I went over and picked it up and all it said in messy Sharpie writing was, "Classic Rock". I put the CD on my stereo the moment I got home and cranked up the volume. The first song was Hells Bells by AC/DC.
I couldn't believe that such a sound existed. It was the most bad ass thing I'd ever heard in my life. And just as Angus Young was ripping into the guitar solo, my mom came downstairs singing at the top of her lungs:
"HELLS BEEELLS! ACROSS THE SKY!"
I was like, whaaaat, mom you know this song?
That day, I learned that my mom was a head-banger.
Awesome.
Some other songs I listened to this week:
Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite- The Beatles
Paint it Black- The Rolling Stones
No Satisfaction- The Rolling Stones
Castles Made of Sand- Jimi Hendrix
Like A Rolling Stone- Bob Dylan
In My Time of Dying- Led Zeppelin
Anyway, here's the picture I drew this week. More of a sketch really. I don't draw with pen very often, so I figured I'd give it a try.
It's a devil sorta thing. But as always, you can interpret it however you want.
I was so hooked from last week I was listening to bluegrass all this week too. So I'm gonna go ahead and post a couple of songs and some comments before going into the new stuff.
This first video is of two of one of my all time favorite bluegrass players. Chris Thile (prnounced thee-lee) is the mandolin player/vocalist who looks like an un-bathed version of Robert Pattinson. Suffice to say, he's fantastic. Everything about the music just seems to flow with this guy, and I don't know how many of you guys have ever tried to play a mandolin, but it is freaking hard. There are 8 tiny little god damn strings and these little frets and I can't imagine this instrument was meant for adult fingers. But he rocks it.
I can't say I know very much about the guitarist/vocalist, but I sure do like his playing. He seems to have incorporated a banjo claw picking technique to his guitar picking which gives an interesting sound to the rhythm.
This next video is awesome. I am literally at a lack for words. And it's through surfing Chris Thile videos on youtube that I even found it. For some background, all of these players are considered to be top of the world at their instruments. Yo Yo Ma (cello) and Edgar Meyer (Double Bass) have been hailed as two of the best players to ever pick up their respective instruments. This classical bluegrass fusion is just, in my humble opinion, nothing less than perfection. Everything about it. That these artists are able to come together and make a sound like this is a fantastic thing.
Okay, new stuff and a picture.
This is Sigur Ros. The first time I heard them I was literally in awe of the shear sound that was coming out of my speakers. It's relaxing yet engaging.
To start, this band comes from Iceland, but it is not entirely Icelandic that they are singing, sometimes the lyrics are literal nonsense.
The ethereal, yet hype beat driven sound is very common of Sigur Ros (which by the way is prnounced See-gore, and rose with a soft "s"). In my opinion, this is the music of the imagination. If I'm just sitting around thinking about stuff, this is the kind of music I want running through my head.
This band is called, Godspeed! You Black Emporer. I have no idea why they call themselves that. I really don't. But they are incredible. A little more of a progressive sound than Sigur Ros. They not only have the same eerie, ethereal sound, but they utilize sound clips and "outside" (non musical) sounds. I guess you could consider this the "avante-garde" of whatever genre of music this is.
Anyway, this is the picture I drew this week:
Sorry about it being on its side, that was the only way to get a decent image. It looks much better in person in my opinion. It's supposed to represent imagination. It's two boys sitting in a sandbox together sailing through imagination.
So this week I have been listening to a lot of bluegrass music. It started on Monday when I was singing "Man of Constant Sorrow" form the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. My roommate came in and asked me, "Was that O Brother Where Art Thou?" "Err, yeah..." I responded, almost embarrassed that my roommate had walked in on me full on belting country-bluegrass.
His response was possibly the highlight of my entire week: Without saying a single word, he walked over to his computer, plugged in the speaker cord and proceeded to play from top to bottom the entire O Brother soundtrack.
Suffice to say, we had a sing along.
So since Monday, I have been all about bluegrass and folk music. Mostly, I've been listening to The Tallest Man on Earth. Despite his moniker, Kristian Matsson is a Swedish singer-songwriter of fairly average height and quite classy facial hair. A multi-instrumentalist, Matsson primarily plays the guitar and sings. A master of the finger-picking style that is common of many bluegrass and folk guitarists, The Tallest Man on Earth couples his precise and beautiful playing with a haunting, raspy Bob Dylan-esque voice.
As well as his impressive musical ability, The Tallest Man on Earth is also a master lyricist. Every so often, lyrics are emotionally moving and when listening to this particular song, "Where Do My Bluebirds Fly?" I felt like a needed to draw a picture. It's no masterpiece, but I'm happy with it:
This is titled, "Man of Constant Sorrow" after the song and was modeled after a picture of Robert Johnson, a blues guitarist who, according to legend, sold his soul to the devil.
While listening to "Where Do My Bluebirds Fly?" I did the outline for this picture. But I finished it listening to something a little more raw. By shear happenstance, I stumbled upon this country-bluegrass trio and they are sick. Going by the name The Devil Makes Three, don't expect any songs about the pleasant country and pick-em-up trucks. Instead, expect to be fully entertained by songs about getting into mischief and heavily drinking.
Anyway, this is the song I was listening to when i finished up that drawing:
The first thing I would like to point out is that the banjo player's beard is highly impressive. The second thing is that, while these guys aren't as musically talented as Kristian Matsson, they make up for it in shear bluegrass spirit. Their songs may be simple, and the lyrics maybe not so poetic, but I'll be damned if they aren't having a great time just playing.
So that's a little insight to my bluegrass week. For sure, these two songs were not the only ones I listened to this whole week, but they certainly exemplify my musical experience.
I'd like to leave you with a band that needs no explanation. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes
