This weeks playlist blogpost, is a blogpost dedicated solely to one of the best guitarists i have heard out there. Lots in variety, lots in genuineness, in the instrumentation of both the meat and the marrow. This artist is obviously as you have guessed, heard, and probably scratching your head thinking whether or not to read further here.
All i am doing here is listing a few of my favourites a talk about it like you do over a mug of beer next to the juke box.
All in the Waiting:
She Sells Sea Shells by the Slaughterhouse:
And this is one of my all time favourites:
Jordan \m/
Whitewash: (Great use of delay here)
And finally The blind watchmaker: Interesting to see he always has a choice variety of patches that makes a lot more enjoyable.
This topic has always been of great interest to me since i was a child. I always wanted to 'see' music, play around with it in my head. I am an amateur in music, but still a little to brag about - My music lessons were also towards this to an extent, they made me think about viewing music to see the scale i sing in, the range i am singing in. But this is too specific to what i really want to talk about here.
Music visualization has been around for ages now - The windows media player has an assortment of these visualizations with the battery mode, the famous graphic EQ mode and many others. There have been interesting history to such visualizations(please do take a look at the external links on Visual Music). There is a certain appreciation we gain in looking at these images when we listen to music. It reflects many things in my opinion - it shows the involvement in the music in many levels.
There can be a direct correlation one sees to notes, rhythm and detail of the music, it shows ones observation in action here and this is something very strong and catchy in a visualization that one sees. There can also be a subconscious drive to the same phenomena, where we associate emotions, reactions and thoughts to the visualization in sync with the music. This is something of field by itself under study, an extreme case of this being synaesthesia, Where one hears music there is a creation of a visual cue, or vice versa. This very interesting phenomenon underlies according to me a fundamental effect when one hears music - We experience in various levels what the effect of music and towards this blogposts idea, an visual representation of what one hears.
Lets have an example of what i am talking about, this is one of my favourites from this site called musanim (music animation).
Vivaldi - Allegro
Nothing Else matters (flute)
These two examples were very indicative of how the visualizations here are made to remark the location of notes, relative displacements, tempo, and in some coarse sense the structure of the song.
Try this abstract one out by floyd..
This is more towards the pyscadelia side of visualizations where ones imagination is just about taking over to see some sense in the visualization.
To build a few bridges - Remember this from Ratatouille ?
This represents close to what i want to depict with the previous 2 examples - Remi here tastes cheese, strawberries and other distinctive snacks around, with particular visualizations being show next to him, this as we see produces in some sense a visualization of the taste and gives a more deep understanding (more information basically) to the viewer appreciate the taste that Remi experiences in his mouth.
Similarly when it comes to music there are distinctive flurry of thoughts that conjure up a unique feel to the rhythm, notes, details of the music, and at the most abstract level emotions (dips and drives) in the song. Different textures in different dimensions of the song can be seen. This is something that the we contribute to more than the video. This makes the experience a lot more enjoyable (at times). I shall continue on the same in the next blog post and talk about how our creative imagination plays a role in enjoying as well as most importantly create great music !!
We see a lot of these videos and visualizations used profusely in Trance, Hip Hop, House, And variants of these genres - what drives the visualizations is the idea of making the experience a lot more perceptive than just hearing, listening, and dancing.
This is something random i picked to help see the visualization and its effect on how a viewer associates with it - different people respond to it in different ways. Associations with words, with music are something that i shall i again address in the near future, but the primary discussion here is how music (without all of its anatomy specifically lyrics) limited in form - affects and effects us in an unlimited way.
This times post is for some energy, for some blinding heavy beats, some viking rage.
As a part of checking out some Icelandic bands I discovered "In Extremo" - A German metal band that plays in many different ancient languages(including Gaelic, Spanish, English, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, French, Estonian, Hebrew, Latin, Occitan, Old High German), with exotic choice of instruments ( in this particular case the lyre). Their name is Latin for "At the edge". The Songs they play are all in ancient lyrical settings (for example this Icelandic song i have posted is an ancient folk song about the Raven and its role in Icelandic Winters).
The next band on the line up is Eluveitie, a Celtic Metal band from Switzerland. They Also have a unique choice of instruments(flute and bag pipes in this case) and a heavy rhythmic tinge to most of their songs. Here is a song about a wolf and girl playing games, Omnos ( I am not sure - but some of the posts on Eluveitie forum mention it mean Fear).
I Guess I ll start of the playlist for the month here with Ms.Florence and The Glitch mob who are currently part of my running playlist.
This song by Ms.Florence is something i heard for the first time on a radio station on a flight. Her voice, the hauntingly beautiful essence, and the thumping heart beat like rhythm just makes this one of the songs you have to try.
Blinding:
Her First and the newest album Lungs is something one has to really try out. All songs are on YouTube i think. She has a lot of live shows in and over London right now, and i hear from friends that she way more captivating Live !
The other band i have had my head wrapper around is this trio electronica group from LA, who were famous for the America's got talent video where a artsy dance group used them for their background beautifications.
Heres a couple from my line up.
Drive it like you stole it:
Matty G - West Coast Rocks:
Nalepa Monday:
Glitch charged up with great beats, some juicy samplings, great changes in quantizations, some really good mixes, these guys put up very energetic, and in some cases very catchy, grinding music !
This is a blog i have envisaged, created, dedicated for reasons of indulgence in music, of all kinds, natures, tunes, and for all purposes that is humanly addressable as musical. Beware this might take turns into alleys of songs from the deep underbelly of human condition, or the might just jump up the adrenaline with some notes of the art, part and heart.
I shall try and post a playlist over here for the sake of just listening, discussing, sharing and what not that falls in the everyday music lovers chatter. All songs, of different genre, artists, themes, anthologies, and what not, that are part of my understanding, taste or/and most importantly suggested picking ups of my co-music enthusiasts.
In general i would like the blog to be something of a forum, more than a personalized palette, so please do go on and holler your thoughts out.
Drum Roll ...
Now just to start off, heres one of my favorite artists from the recent past, and this is also a dedication to a couple of my close friends. Please enjoy Ms. Florence + The Machine.
