Thursday, February 28, 2013

STRFKR-Starfucker

                 I've been meaning to write about this band for a while now but I haven't gotten the time to, so now I might as well. STRFKR or Starfucker depending on what's best to use for the situation at hand, is an indie-electronica band from Portland, Oregon. One of the first things you notice is the distinct relaxed vocals that often seems to scream indie at to people who live in the top 40 loop. What I definitely attracted me was this very laid back, relaxed, slightly psychedelic sound that accompanies many of their songs and is the dominating sound throughout their newest album Miracle Mile. Though many of their songs are very relaxed, don't expect it to be a dull, downtempo song with a beat that could put someone in a coma, no they manage to produce very upbeat songs with an active drumbeat and various sounds that still manage to maintain a calm tone, primarily due to the vocals that remain somewhat long and relaxed.
                Certain albums such as Reptilians manage to explore a party pooping subject such as death and feature interludes of a man addressing the black lugger and still make the album sound as happy as Mr.A with his coffee playing Madison Square Garden and one could go through the entire album without the slightest idea of a theme (well, minus Bury Us Alive, Death as A Fetish, and Hungry Ghost, which all sound kind of dark/depressing by the title until you actually listen to them). I particularly enjoy this album just a bit more than the others due to the fact that it features the first song (Reptilians) and favorite (The White of Noon) I heard by them and this was the first of their albums that I resulted devouring (followed by many others). The White of Noon begins with a piano/synth intro that resonates throughout the song that is anchored by a complex but steady beat that grip your ears until the vocals finish you off. Also they're coming next week so I'll probably go to that.

I'll put links later
 

Saturday, February 23, 2013

This is a follow up from my last post about the harlem shake because it popped into my head first so that's what I'll talk about. Well since the video's up I'll just link that to reiterate on my point from last time of music's influence on such things such as the effect of the bass drop and the resulting insanity fueled by the increase in volume and beats that crumble a house's foundation. Alright here's the link, enjoy (or don't).

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=k7GUhbogKOo

In class we listened to Stevie Wonder and his album which was great by itself and turned even more sick when you realized (or remembered) that he was blind,  then it got insane when you were told he played almost every instrument on the album. Considering the depth of  the instrumentation and the skill involved to produce the varying sounds,  it's amazing enough for a person to be able to skillfully play multiple instruments, but on top all of that the guy is freaking blind, that really does amaze me. Overall,  I enjoyed the various sounds that ranged from fast jazzy sounds to some slower sounds.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Harlem shake

Based on what we did in the parking lot after school on friday, I figured this was fitting. Okay quick boring analysis of viral videos and music's role before I link some videos for entertainment; the extremely large viral videos  that quickly gather a large cult following tend to have eitheror 1. Physical action/inaction (usually of a comedic nature) 2. The majority also tend to have some form of music that propels and supports the action and is most prevalent in group actions and brings hysteria to a climax after the ceremonial dropping of the base, which is definitely the case with the harlem shake). Nearly forgot the key factor, comfort of group which can be identified as a group mentality, or more commonly, bandwagon.
             Alright enough if the boring crap, the link is below and feel free to continue (or don't) looking at other versions including our own Anderson version that damaged a minimum of three cars, the video will apparently be up sometime around sunday.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=4hpEnLtqUDg    a prime example, not the original or first to do it, but frankly the original is just weird.

We continued with Led Zeppelin and watched their live performance and while it got dull at certain moments, the entire show radiated  rock n' roll. What I enjoyed seeing was how much the band was into what they were doing and enjoyed playing for themselves if nothing else at all. The performance also varied a lot throughout in terms of sound and their experimentation with various sounds such as the bow (violin?, cello?) on the guitar that increased the length of the note in a different way than the guitar's pickups do, overall the performance wan't too bad.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

     In class we listened to John Lennon's solo album which was kind of balanced for me, there wasn't too many songs that actually left some form of impression and those type of songs for me, they're almost worse than songs I don't like because the ones I don't like at least have some form of effect on  you to make you not like it, basically songs that go in through one ear and come out the other. I did like a couple of songs however, one of them that can be seen coming from many miles away, Imagine, and the other one Jealous Guy.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

While listening to Joni in class when she hit some really high notes it reminded me of The Darkness'  "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" in which this guy hits notes a 5 year old girl on helium couldn't reach (well, it's not that high). It's also not a bad rock song.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=sRYNYb30nxU&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DsRYNYb30nxU

I guess he's still got it (and a mustache)

 http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=ftVoTP41el8 skip to 1:40

Joni Mitchell

In class Mr.A told us to shut up and listen to the album, and I'm glad he did because I ended up really enjoying her music and style (don't know why but I kept thinking about how Jewel sounded sort of like her), besides her great piano and guitar playing which I appreciated even more when Mr.A told us she had polio, her vocal range and seeming ease in reaching the higher notes had me in awe. While a majority of the songs were a sad, they still were good to listen to and kept my attention throughout in part with her lyrics that always told some story and her guitar/piano playing.