Woodstock quick thought and comparison

Based off what I've seen from the film the festival seemed like a cool place to be in terms of everything being relaxed with a more mellow atmosphere and while it wasn't exactly the most hygienic or most pleasant place in the world (heavy body odor from people who didn't bathe, those who did, did so in ponds) though there were portable bathrooms some chose not to use them so there was a pretty high chance of  stepping in feces while walking around and not being able to really watch out because of the mud especially if your were barefoot you could catch some serious infections. Even with the failing hygienic standards and weak infrastructure (didn't expect so many to come, the army eventually lent aid) it seems like a much better festival to be at in terms of listening to music than others we have today such as Acl granted either one is extremely crowded, the bathrooms are both nasty (but of course Acl beats Woodstock in terms of basic hygiene and infrastructure) Woodstock is much better in terms of people being there to actually listen to music and not just get drunk and high like a majority of people at Acl and other "big" festivals today (yes I do realize people also got high at Woodstock, but it wasn't the sole focus). Overall Woodstock seems like the best place to be at if you actually enjoy listening to music (if you're worried about crowds you're kinda screwed for both).

In class we finished up Woodstock with none other than the great Jimi Hendrix and his performance which is the one you know about when anything related with Woodstock comes  up even if you are barely know anything about the festival. Jimi Hendrix (and his glowing aura of cool) at Woodstock and his rendition of the national anthem brought more to life with a guitar than most singers with full orchestral accompaniment can even come close to and ever will, complete with whistling and exploding bombs and sirens (American and British, yes they sound different) and other sounds from the battlefield played out on a guitar to bring a new perspective to the anthem while flawlessly transitioning to the rest of his equally great songs. The only bad thing is that the recording equipment used by the crew mashed a lot of the sound together comes off as white noise at times.

Here it is:  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2ALNd3kIH0

In class we listened to some bands that sounded a lot like The Beatles such as Of Montreal with Gronlandic Edit which brings me to a band that can sound almost exactly like The Beatles but is also more than capable of producing their own unique sound, this band called The Draytones first caught my ears with a song  that sounded very much like The Beatles that led me to check what Beatles song it was only to find it was by a completely different band.  My only concern is that they sound so much alike that it leads one to think they might just making their music a carbon copy of theirs (yes there is a difference between being influenced by a band and copying their sound). The way I found this problem to be countered was when looked further into their music and found that they were capable of  creating their own sound and an Argentine-latin influence can be heard in these songs (as the guitarist is from Argentina).

First one I heard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjK3hnDBl8k

This is where they sounded almost too much like them, (vocals, background harmonies, guitars)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=L0LvqufMK6I&NR=1

A few slightly more "original" sounds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=MqhRnlnBx_Q&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=SKPHJTYsbw8&NR=1

Of Montreal- Gronlandic Edit (heads up: super trippy video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HBfgQvM7wtE#!

In class we watched Woodstock (film) which was a documentary on the festival that is immortalized through many different forms including this one which covered not just the performances, but also the thoughts and feelings of various concertgoers, artist and various personnel on various subjects ranging from the festival and the performances to the Vietnam war. So far the performance I found most interesting and crazy was Joe Cocker and the Grease Band. What was was crazy was watching Joe completely tripping out while performing and I'm almost positive he thought he was playing guitar when there was nothing there resulting in the most epic air guitar ever and on-stage seizures. So far I've enjoyed the film and the perspective it gives from the people at the time.

Theophilus London

Theophilus London is a hip hop artist (though his music transverses several genres and sounds not limited to hip hop) that I came across a  while ago while looking through some Kid Cudi and had him cited a similar sound and at first just by hearing his voice you'd think he was a "carbon copy" as some described him but the more I listened to his various mixtapes and albums the more I saw the differences between the two and where Theophilus dare I say it, surpassed Cudi in some musical aspects and diversity.The first of his songs that I heard "I Stand Alone" caught me off guard from the way the song started off was composed in a way that completely shook my initial suspicion of just another rap song right away as I continued to listen to the lyrics and actual depth. While he is completely capable of creating straight rap (which he does from time to time) his variety is also what further deepened my interest as some songs wouldn't even feature a a distinct hip hop beat and instead featured a tropical-latin sound featuring various guitars and tropical style vocals. Theophilus could be described as a jack of all trades that was master of all.

Here's a few songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WRuDAasz-8  - I Stand Alone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv-zE3QYkYI   - Lighthouse (the dude spelled his name wrong)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syt6TtRPIm4     - Mothertree

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g57DacvzU1Q  - Last Name London

In class we listened to The Band's album, Big Pink which its story behind its development and naming are interesting enough without even getting to how some of the songs were written.  The album itself was named after the house where a considerable amount of songs were written and recorded, the house was literally big and pink. I was amazed when I found out that some of the songs' lyrics were written by different people as a way to get into the house and how well they came together which without knowing you'd think it was one person that had written them. Each song sounded alike in some ways but also had its own distinct and unique sound such as "The Weight" which is a slower song yet the constant kick of the drums help maintain a steady rhythm and split vocals around the chorus gives it a good hook. Overall I enjoyed the album which was kept interesting by various changes to each song.

Last Tuesday as I was in class conversing with classmates (as it was stated the class wasn't going to listen to anything that day) when something caught my ear and I stopped to listen to what seemed to be a distinct rapper's voice mixed with good guitar and band, at that moment I pulled out my phone app to identify the artist so I could look more into it when I got home, it came up with Danger Mouse's December 4th. As I later looked on to the rest of the album I found an equal amount of great songs resulting from combination of The Black album and The White album (ergo it's name being The Grey Album). Though interesting, this isn't the first of it's kind I've heard though it does seem people enjoy mixing Jay-Z as there is the great Jigga Hendrix which mixes Jimmy Hendrix and Jay-Z (which was inspired by The Grey Album).

December 4th

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRWDuqzc5q0

Jigga Hendrix

http://soundcloud.com/fattyhezlop/jigga-hendrix-99-voodoo-problems

White Album

In class we listened to The Beatles' White album which is straightforward right off the bat- its cover featured a plain white "wall" devoid of any signs of a cover other than "The Beatles" printed in simple black font on the front cover.  The album overall was pretty good and enjoyable, it had a few slow moments, but only a few and other than those was defined by the simple and broken down use of an acoustic guitar which when played right is extremely hard to beat. One such instance of this being "Blackbird" which is features a light enjoyable guitar combined with their all too famous harmonies to create a great song that is stripped down to its core.

Gaining greater perspective

Throughout the week I've been going over different albums and songs from different bands to try to get even further in depth thinking about the music because personally, the more I listen to an album the more elements I notice that I may have previously missed or overlooked because I was focusing on  a different element that I hadn't yet noticed and results in the creation of a sort of  "layer" of knowledge/elements for that particular album, song, or even the overall sound of the artist and at times a finding can be so defining that it's as if you've found a new song in one you already knew . Also a new perspective is given when you watch the music video for a particular song because it often gives insight/reflects how the artist feels about the song not only musically but visually in terms of their videos and the different effects used to help further immerse you in the song and its mood that they try to pass on.

NCAA football 2006 Soundtrack

As I was pondering what to write about this time around I recalled Ann talking about the soundtrack for Heavy Rain which was notably a good one, this got me thinking about the best soundtrack I've heard on a video game which I sat thinking for about 5 seconds until I recalled the soundtrack on NCAA Football 2006, quite possibly one of the greatest soundtracks ever put together for one equally great game (yes I am extremely fond of this game half due to the soundtrack which even my brothers marvel at). The soundtrack consisted of mostly punk and post punk bands such as Bad Religion, The Clash, NOFX, Pixies and others that I'll list later on, the soundtrack also featured Pearl Jam's predecessor Mother Love Bone, the soundtrack however, did feature other acts that weren't exactly rock or punk such as The Pietasters and De La Soul, one of the greatest soundtracks in a video game I think.

                                                               Here's the complete soundtrack:

Artist	Song
Bad Religion	"Atomic Garden"
The Clash	" Train in Vain (Stand by Me)"
De La Soul	"Me Myself and I"
Guided by Voices	"Teenage FBI"
Jawbreaker	"Bad Scene, Everyone's Fault"
Lagwagon	"Know It All"
Lush	"Ladykillers"
Mother Love Bone	"This Is Shangri-La"
The Mr. T Experience	"More Than Toast"
Ned's Atomic Dustbin	"Kill Your Television"
NOFX	"Jeff Wears Birkenstocks?"
Pixies	"Debaser"
Superchunk	"Hyper Enough"
The Pietasters	"Out All Night"
Therapy?	"Nowhere"

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC63E8D3E7F59DECA - this guy's playlist includes almost every song on there but I'll link the ones that aren't, I suggest starting with Pixies' Debaser

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TUrz8xneV4 - Mother Love Bone, This is Shangri-La

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3PmyTTDxm0 - Bad Religion, Atomic Garden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3kgjzUsDeg - De La Soul, Me, Myself and I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw02oX3_uC8- same one but the music video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ9Wn3nCNg4 - Therapy?, nowhere

In class we listened to one of The Beatles' albums, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band which was essentially the first mainstream (there are concept albums from the 40's) concept album created in which throughout the album follows a storyline or theme, an example of a more recent concept album would be Kid Cudi's Man on The Moon: The End of Day which also follows a storyline throughout, but back to The Beatles, the album itself is composed of songs that technically speaking, were revolutionary in terms of recording and effects added  to the tracks themselves and added things unheard of in a music at all such as laugh track, the songs were also subject to heavy experimentation and sometimes it just seemed like they wanted to screw with people by creating the weirdest sounds imaginable.  Not so surprisingly, they still manged to make an album that I found extremely interesting to listen to as it developed and different sounds came into play.

Ill Mind

This week I haven't really gotten a chance to listen to anything out of the usual, but I do know a hip hop artist named Hopsin that caught my attention a while back with his criticism of his own musical genre in which he criticized the major subjects were talking about how much money they had, getting high, and women. When I was first told to look up his "Ill Mind of Hopsin" series on youtube, I expected another song about precisely these subjects, but what I found was an artist fed up with the way hip hop had been trashed by these subjects and called out every single issue and artist in various styles sometimes reminiscent of eminem in his humorous style of rap while other times a more serious tone but at all times carrying some sort of message. Heads up he wears white contacts so don't freak out about his eyes.

Ill Mind of Hopsin 5- hits almost evrery issue he has with hip hop in one song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRVOOwFNp5U&feature=related

Humor+criticism 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5sVKET0zaE 

In class we listened to The Beatles' album Revolver which I found pretty good, sure it had a few dull moments but they were greatly outweighed by the rest of the album. The use of sitar is more prominent throughout the album and provides an interesting sound as well as a form of layering that helps emphasize the other instruments and adds variety to the sound and keeps you interested especially if you like to focus on different instruments throughout. Revolver also featured an interesting cover, which featured all four Beatles drawn in exquisite detail and gives you an idea of the tone of the album, also it just looks plain cool.

Little People

No, this post isn't about midgets, it's about an artist I found a while back while I was on Pandora, all of the music in this particular station was passing by without leaving the slightest impression on me or motivating me to even check the artist. My ears were in "not really listening mode" when out of nowhere, an interesting intro finally caught my ear, as the intro continued on I feared the thought of this being another flop, until the beat kicked in with a strong beat backing and piano that gave me a sort of  "House" (the tv show) vibe because the intro song (Massive Attack's Teardrop) and "Basique" both have a downtempo beat as well as use of piano. I immediately listened to his other tracks in hopes that it wasn't a one hit wonder and sure enough he wasn't, the rest of his songs caught and held my attention as I listened and relaxed to the downtempo beats and various sounds that I now often study to. He just released  a new album so I'll have to get around to listening to that;

Compare the two:

Massive Attack- Teardrop (ignore the singing and listen to everything else)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAVUPu7URbc

Litlle People-Basique (it's slightly more upbeat than Teardrop)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkwPVkPbWzU

same? different? is it just me?

This one the piano caught my attention

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK5I4cTkL-E&feature=relmfu

More upbeat than some of the others

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8g1jJT5OxE&feature=relmfu

In class we listened to The Beach Boys' album Pet Sounds which I found interesting at times yet sometimes lacked in ability to catch my attention and as a result the music would just play and become a background thing.  When it did catch my attention and I began to focus more on the music and I found it pretty enjoyable as I heard the song play out. Of course there are songs from this album that are played everywhere so even if you don't know the band at all, you'll probably still recognize the tune, this happened to me a couple of times where I heard the song and I instantly recognized it.

The group I'll be talking about is one I've known for a while and first got my attention by its mixing of genres and incorporating techniques uncharacteristic to their core genre, Cyne is a hip hop group who's songs and lyrics are marked with activism and interrogation of society and its present state, addressing present issues as well as music for music's sake, for the joy of making music and appreciating it instead of using it to achieve fame and fortune. I always enjoy music that addresses some type of situation in society or carries some kind of message other than their bank accounts, yet the first time you hear one of their songs it's not the lyrics you directly divert your attention to, it's the music itself; the very first song I heard started with a the use of a guitar that was reminiscent of some old guitar style that brought you in and held you until the beat came in and intrigued you until some strong vocals came in and took you away to listen to the rest where you would find deeper lyrical meaning and confirm that it was indeed a hip hop song that just hit all levels of a good song from meaning to technique.  I personally enjoyed the incorporation of instruments such as guitar into a genre that normally doesn't use many other instruments and achieving a balance between the two melodies that is guitar and vocalist without sounding as if they're competing for the lead but instead sharing it.

Use of guitar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB7ysBudJgY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr1KON-K-Kk

Interesting intro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7YNh2gQdB8

Well there was almost no one in class today, mostly due to a strong case of the ACL's or whatever other name you have for it.  In class we watched some live performances that were okay at best.  Some of the things I didn't like how you wouldn't be able to understand what they were singing about because everything else sort of drowned out, often times the singer's voice, though this was probably more of a problem of watching it through the internet instead of being there where I imagine the sound quality and clarity was better.  There were some good shows where everything was way more toned down which was a welcome change coming from shows where it was many sounds clashing and instead only had a few instruments that were played right so there was no need for 5 other sounds.

The band I'll be talking about this time is one I've known for a while, yet even when I was just starting to listen to them I could recognize their distinct sound anywhere and tell it was them one of their songs.  Another way I can almost always recognize them even when it's a song I haven't heard yet is the way the music catches your attention and draws your ear closer to the source. The band is a french alternative rock band named Phoenix and  even if you think you haven't heard of them before, chances are you've at least a couple of their more popular songs on the radio which I'll add links to later. Their music can be easily recognized and distinguished by the use of their guitars which feature melodic yet rhythmic sound that keep the song balanced and allow the chance of hearing the rest of the band while maintaining a good melody. One of the more prominent features of the band is Thomas Mars' voice which has a distinguishing "far away" voice that harmonizes with the rest of the band to create a smooth and enjoyable music experience. They have many songs which are uptempo and happy sounding and give you some energy, but they also have songs where they completely tone it down to the point of an instrumental and the tempo drastically changes and they seem to relax a little bit which is always refreshing and pleasing to the ear following the numbing effects of uptempo music.

Lisztomania- catchy upbeat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ptWqpJnBuw

1901- repeated guitar influence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHPbKTkdBVE&feature=fvwrel

Slowed down song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gno15jfgLyc

In class we watched "Help" yet another movie starring The Beatles which pitted them against an eastern cult which is different compared to their previous film, "A Hard Days Night" which was made in the "mokumentary" style and its conflict was finding Ringo instead of having some other opposing force which in this case is this eastern cult pursuing Ringo. Overall the movie was a lot funnier but that may have been because I could better understand them unlike Hard Days Night in which their accents seemed astonishingly thick and most of the jokes were in Bristish reference while "Help!" more physical humor and less British comedy refernces, as well as their accents seemed to lighten up.  The soundtrack "Help!" was pretty evenly matched with "Hard Days Night" as both included notable songs and there was never a song that completely killed the film. Personally I enjoyed the film because it had an interesting plot, good soundtrack, and it had The Beatles.... so yeah.

The band I've just very recently have begun listening to has me wishing I would've started ages ago (while they were still together) and found them because a recently mentioned artist on this blog (Dan Black) was the frontman and while listening to his music I decided to finally look into this band he was in to see what he sounded like in a band but when I heard that first song, it floored me, I completely forgot about listening to how he sounded and was hit by how the entire band came together as one. The very first song I heard started with guitar that just immediately got my attention and drew me into the rest of the song as Dan Black's vocals entered as always distinguished but seemed to be in perfect balance with the music, then the chorus came in with a certain harmony that completely sealed the deal for me.. so I thought until later in the song came a guitar solo that didn't completely break away from the song to go on it's own path yet made it all the better and though other songs sound different they all share a distinct sound produced by the band that unify them. 

Here's the first song I heard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5YnMvW5E1Y

here's another, yeah they have a thing for abstract videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A5Z8HLjZl0&list=AL94UKMTqg-9B0PR9HJfC0MNgb5B_3kvbC&index=3&feature=plcp

another song, darker tone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLmIKWM1_Jk

In class we listened to some of the Rolling Stones' first album, .... and it wasn't too pretty.  They had a few decent sounding songs but my problem with the rest of them was the way it sounded; unbalanced, gritty (not in a good way), Jagger's voice comes across as plain but this might be a result of being it being drowned out by everything else and vice versa, making music that might have sounded at least clearer and defined to one large cluster of noise that overwhelms the human ear.  There were times however, where a certain song came on and it made you snap out of the zoned out trance of resulted of listening to the stones and you enjoyed the music because it sounded different, such a time was when they covered Chuck Berry's "Carol", the very first thing to wake you up is the way the guitar sounds and excites you for what's to come. For a first album it sounds okay but if you compare with later albums you'll be glad to hear they improve and find their sound with their own songs.

I'll be discussing an artist I've known for a while and still has me listening almost daily, partly due to his experimental nature with music and songs that vary not only in composition but also the way the message comes across. Dan Black, a British wonky pop artist who I first heard on a song named "Symphonies" that had Kid Cudi and for a while I viewed it as his song because of the quality of the song, and thought Dan was featured, but as I began to look into his music, I found that it was him that produced the entire song and Cudi featured. This drove me to begin looking at the rest of his music and found his songs varied great from slow, steady beats infused with acoustic guitar with calm lyrics to upbeat songs with fast lyrics and various covers and other experimental songs and visually interesting music videos.
 Symphonies ft. Kid Cudi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWWG75lLemA

 This is one interesting considering it's composed from covers and samples from Britney Spear's "Gimme More," Madonna's "Into The Grove," and Kate Bush's "Cloudbusting."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDMb00qtChg

An example of oneof his more techno-driven songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9QvyTZ_kZQ&feature=related

cover of Dizzee Rascal's "Stand Up Tall"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f1y8c9moZw

Use of acoustic guitar over slow beats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWkWVYKOthQ&feature=related

In class we watched a documentary over The Beatles and their first visit to the US and one of the first things noticed right away (besides it being in black and white, which frankly I didn't really mind) is the insanity of the fans throughout the film who can be seen completely losing their minds and apparently all bladder control (The Beatles are the only known entity at this time to possess such power) and sense of self preservation. I usually enjoy a good documentary over anything that's of my interest and especially ones over music, so I found this documentary enjoyable to watch not only people going crazy but the live performances such as on the Ed Sullivan show as well. One thing I noticed about their performances was that almost all of their actions were in perfect timing with each other and coordinated throughout almost giving a Motown vibe to them.

This post like last time, will be over a band I've been listening to for a while now (though I do need to catch up and listen to their newer albums) though their musical style is so distinctive that every time I hear one of their songs I instantly recognize their use of guitars and ....violin, so if you didn't instantly know who it was then you are new and I would like to introduce you to a rock band named Yellowcard and yes, they are a rock band that incorporates a violin into its music and it sounds great. So we're going to follow chronological order (sort of)  and start at their roots and not go straight to Ocean Avenue...yet. Their early work was notably different than any the rest due to their early hardcore punk sound with Ben Dobson's rough vocals compared to later years with Ryan Key's smoother voice that ultimately changed them to their current sound. Though the only major difference between the two eras was the vocals everything else remained somewhat the same minus a slight difference in guitar overdrive and greater violin presence which came to be a sound that could be instantly recognized. I keep addressing the use of a violin in this band not because of the "holy crap a violin in rock" aspect of it, but that it has a role in the sound of the band that rivals the guitars in importance because of the long, almost singing aspect of a violin which is extremely prevalent in many of these songs many of which altogether contradict their pop-punk genre genre label (they don't really adhere one genre and vary their sound) in which they'll utilize acoustic guitars with lyrics that were intended as an attempt to break into country music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=DFsmjMA0rK4 acoustic guitar use, violin prevalence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6eXIQ3f8Zw violin presence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqgxOfmLeU0 heavy country influence,violin prevalence
Compare these two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szNlPr78P5U early stuff off of Midget Tossing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5KZnzZZQ-s this is one of their better known songs off of Ocean Avenue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10-mEWsM72Y from newest album Southern Air

In class we listened to some of The Beatles first albums and talked a little about their history. One thing I noticed was how fast the songs and the album itself seemed to fly by. Their first album if listened to completely seemed short because well, the songs were pretty short but it was also due to their musical style and upbeat rhythm combined with constant flowing lyrics never left a spot that was more quiet or slower than the rest and even with considerably long song the combination of these elements made them fly by faster, one of the points being is the power of music itself to have such an effect on one's sense of time.

The band I'll be writing about is one I have known for a while yet every time I listen to them I find something new, something unnoticed before in their music, be it songs I listen to daily or brand new ones the music seems to take on a new meaning/style every time I listen to them.The band is Explosions In The Sky, a mainly instrumental post rock band from our own Austin Texas. The first thing I noticed when I first started listening to them (as would almost everyone else) was the lack of vocal presence which took about two minutes to get over once I really started paying attention to the music and realized that vocals aren't necessary at all to tell you a story, make you feel a certain way as the music itself already does that from the beginning. One of the notable characteristics of a EITS song is that usually the soft and mellow (or serious) beginning that slowly and patiently builds to a climax in the song. They make use all instruments for melodic and rhythmic purposes but the use of percussion defines their music and while giving a sense of calm and peace, it can also come with high intensity in their signature crescendo.I personally enjoy this band for the way one song can sound different every time listened to, a new melody or rhythm.
Here a few examples-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2LOJm5YRrQ



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6fjJTcaoKs

This week in class we have been listening to 1950's classic rock recordings and I noted much of the music and various songs sounded very much alike with uptempo beats and the characteristic use of piano as a way to fill and add to the songs as a whole, as well the melodic use of the guitar would also sound the same as other songs yet while these songs sound alike in many ways, they each distinguish themselves from the others to give a different and unique listening experience such as with Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode and Roll Over Beethoven. I also noticed that they would often use pauses in between leaving only the guitar and maybe a quiet bass to keep rhythm and would crescendo as in Jerry Lee Lewis's Whole lotta shakin' goin on.