infinite playlist

The chills. Don’t know what that is? Have you ever just sad down and you suddenly felt a cool feeling down you’re whole body? You’re body just feels weird and you get goose bumps all over your arms and body and you just feel cold. As much as it happens randomly, some music just gives you the chills. For me, its specifically classical music. More specifically the piano and violin. A lot of people hate classical music for no apparent reason. Hate is a strong word, they just think its boring. Maybe playing classical piano for 12 years has made me think otherwise. But, if you’re looking for originality and the true source of music and its inspiration for the past couple of hundred years, classical music is the way to go. I would remember seeing my dad who grew up with classical music, just sitting in front of the stereo in his room just blasting classical music. I heard it over the video game music I was playing and I just sort of gravitated towards my dads room to see why it was so loud, and he just sat peacefully. I remember the quality of the song too. It was all orchestrated and the violin part stood out. I tried to say something but he just put his finger up and I just stood there and listened. When the song ended I felt cold and weird. I then asked him what it was and he told me it was from an opera called Thais. I thought to myself, opera? Where are the loud obnoxious voices of singers who I don’t understand? I was just perplexed and to this day everytime I randomly play the song, I get the chills. The song is called Meditation from Thais by Jules Massenet. Yeah, I have no idea what any of that means, but its beautiful.
Here is the link to Last.fm
http://www.last.fm/music/Jules+Massenet/_/Meditation+from+Thais
Enjoy.

“Razor” from Foo Fighters, is kind of a depressing song. I think its worth mentioning especially in terms of an acoustic song its one of my top. I always loved Foo Fighters, catchy music, cool guitar parts, and their songs always seemed to work well with each other. For example, Everlong, Hero, The Pretender are all songs worth listening to from Foo Fighters. The gutiar parts seem to just mesh well together with each other. Theres a lot to like about this song. Good music in my opinion puts you in a certain and mood and its an escape from reality. The song just makes you think. To me it seems like the lyrics and the melody behind it reveal suicide. While it is sad and depressing, it focuses on the thoughts and ideas of someone who might commit suicide. The song doesn’t want me to commit suicide, but for some reason the melody itself is just relaxing (not deeply listening to lyrics). Song just sorta makes you think through life itself. Worth listening to.

If you haven’t heard, the Joe Satriani is sewing Coldplay for stealing his work. Saw a video analyzing the two songs.
Just thought it was interesting to see these two songs together. The guy who made the video put the two songs together and created his own version which actually sounds really cool and interesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ofFw9DKu_I

Anyways, I think it is clear that Satriani’s music was taken from Coldplay. Something should have been worked out between the two groups. I heard on the radio that Satriani tried to contact Coldplay but they failed to reply to him(although thats just a rumor). Kind of sad to see Plagiarism in play here. I thought “Viva la Vida” had really cool ideas with their song. It seems that the song just built off of that solo, and took it in their own direction. Satriani’s solo part that has remnants of Coldplay’s chorus, but his solo strays away from that idea. It isn’t a main chorus like in Viva la Vida.

Yet, it’s tough to find originality in music today. Artists and musicians have to compete with hundreds of years of music. Especially in the past 50 or so years when there was a large variety of musicians who expressed their ideas through jazz and rock. Every artist and band has its influence from different musical eras. However, one may think that every musical option has been explored. In reality it hasn’t. Music like rap, trance, techno, rock, hip hop, jazz, etc has its own awesomness and originality. Finding new originalities is what drives musicians to create new sounding catchy music. So when looking back at the two songs, Coldplay took their song in a different direction than Joe Satriani solo. That can be seen as original and different, but it will be determined what the verdict is. I still think Coldplay used that part of his solo and should have acknowledged Satriani.
Leave a comment =)

I just wrote a paper about how the smell of something can remind you of something and create a vivid memory in your mind. For example, the smell of perfume or food or anything really brings you back to a place of comfort or nostalgic roots. Same thing goes for music. When you listen to a song you haven’t heard in a while it brings you back to your childhood. Good example, Smash Mouth’s All Star. You know, when you hear that song you just wanna jump up and dance like a 5 year old. Well at least i still do that. Another song? Queen’s Dont Stop Me Now. I’m sure theres an online video of me singing this song and tackling someone at the same time while jumping around all at the same time. (recently) That song in particular just brings happyness to me and to others who laugh at me while singing this song. (no im not gay) Do you ever see someone bust into air guitar? Same concept. Music has that weird thing about it, whether its the random techno beat, or just some stupid hip hop song or a really cool rock song that just makes you feel a certain way. If you listen and like jazz or classical some of the slow tunes can just put you in that mood. If you dont know “that mood” just listen to some grooving jazz music i swear its an awesome feeling. When you listen to music that has or had an impact on you, it just brings you back to a simpler time in your life when you just take it easy. Sometimes you just need that with the shit life throws at you. (Economy, work, people) Sometimes you just need to get the led out (as urban dictionary says, rocking out to Led Zeppelin). Or maybe you just need to sit down and listen to a good hour of music that calms you or puts you in a certain mood. Thats the best part of music. Music is nostalgia.

I’m all for creativity and storytelling. Absolutely. I think creative license is one of the most amazing things about music. Hip hop music, in particular, offers me (and most others) a glimpse into a lifestyle I have very little exposure to. I don’t “carry guns the size of lil bow wow”. I’m by no means a “duffle bag boy”. No blue flags adorn either of my back pockets. I don’t “sling crack rock” nor do I have “a wicked Jump shot”. To answer TI’s eternal question, “What you know about that”, I must resolutely reply….well, not very much. That doesn’t mean I won’t listen to Weezy or Snoop. But, it still doesn’t address the fact that the themes and lyrics of rap music resonate very little with my own, “suburban” life experiences. Not that music HAS to remind you of your own life, but it sure is nice to be able to relate to what you’re listening to. Am I destined to live a life of “Fronting” or “Perpatratin”? Should I exclaim loudly “FUCK THESE HOES” and abandon the hip hop genre all together?

No! Alas! An “Average Joe” rapper has climbed through the ranks of Underground Rap and has just started to gain acceptance in mainstream music. Atmosphere, a duo comprised of Anthony on Drums and production, and Slug, the sickest MC on either side of the Mississippi, has risen from the deepest fathoms of obscurity to quell our aching hearts! Translation: THEY RAP ABOUT SHIT THAT WE CAN RELATE TO! Hailing from the unorthodox hip hop hometown of Minneapolis, Atmosphere raps through a small town perspective, and not on guns or gang violence, but on universal themes that transcend race, social class and environment.

Unlike pop rap like 50 cent and other thug-turned-rappers who aimlessly babble about their hoes, guns, rims, candy painted Cadillacs and questionable drug peddling histories, Slug spits verses in a folk style, storytelling flow. Simple melodies and drum machine creations loop in the background as the master lyricist tells tales of drug use, hangovers, crazy bitches that weren’t worth it, broken homes, lost love, failure, desperation, lust and disappointment. His words are so raw and genuine, you can’t help but cringe at some of his verses.

“My better half is mad at making magic out of canned goods, my tax bracket status got me questioning my manhood”

“I watched the way you try to keep your mom happy, Daddy learned that from you, you’re supposed to learn that from daddy”

“I studied my mother, I digested her pain, and vowed that no woman in my life would ever feel the same.”

After you listen to a few songs you realize why Atmosphere has such a cult following. Slug is goddamn mess! He’s the fuck up of all fuck ups. He’s anguish personified. He’s every human flaw ever, wrapped in a self destructive vortex of anger, sorrow, moments of melancholy elation with endless fountains of regret. His delivery has just enough aggression to make it seem like he’s sharing life lessons learned the hard way without bitching or preaching. And that’s why we like him. In his confessions of his shortcomings, his fuck ups, his pain and his pride, we see ourselves. He’s fucked up, and in a way, some way, so are we. I don’t know where I’m going with this. Describing Atmosphere is like describing salt. Its….salty. You just gotta hear it for yourself, I promise you, it’ll change your life.

Listen to (in this order): Guarantees, Fuck you Lucy, Little Man

Last Friday, with 80 other 12 year old school girls, i unfortunately had to watch Highschool Musical 3 or as the die hard fans say, HSM 3!!!!!!!!!(with great enthusiasm and excitement) I never watched the other two movies but one thing that struck me when i watched this film was the music. The movie is obviously supposed to be a musical and it accomplished that, but it just sounded so lame and awful to me. Movie theaters charge about an average of 10 dollars on this film, and I could have used that money to feed some poor family in the world or maybe use those ten dollars to commute to school and back five times. Disney magically took my ten dollars and I just wish I could get my money back. Thats besides the point, I found the music video for a song on youtube.com that shows parts of the film. I just don’t get it.
NOW OR NEVER! YEAH!
Is the song supposed to get me pumped and jump out of my seat and say “YEAH!” Clearly it failed, to do just that. Maybe I’m supposed to have school spirit for a school that doesn’t exist? I don’t know? I think my favorite part of the video is when all the lights turn off and Vanessa Hudgens stands up in the middle of the crowd and starts singing. Was I supposed to feel all fuzzy inside and root for the douche bag and the school? They have nice voices I’ll give that to them. Second favorite part of that video might have been when they put their hoods on and re entered the basketball court. They looked really cool! But seriously I feel bad for any parent or individual who is over the age of 15 and had to endure pain for 2 hours. Unless those people enjoyed it then I’m just baffled. Highschool Musical 3 failed on three different accounts.
1. Music - awful
2. Dancing - frightening
3. Overall presentation - terrible.
I just can’t imagine the director and musical director walked out of that film and said to themselves, “high quality movie.” If any girl wants to torture a guy, just make him sit through this.

Click, Click, Click, rapid clicking defines Muse for many people who are unfamiliar with the band. Why clicking? Guitar Hero 3. Anyone who has ever played Guitar Hero 3 knows that Knights of Cydonia is an exceptionally painful song to play on expert. Even on the silent guitars, you will hear clicking and you might not even hear the song because of the clicking. Depending on how much you are into the game, you might not even know what your playing and your just looking at colors and pressing down on the guitar at the same time.  Guitar Hero and Rock Band is a great way to listen to music from bands from any era. But, enough of that. Muse is an english band which is probably why its not well known around here. If you look at some of their other songs you will find exceptional music. One of them in particular, Butterflies and Hurricanes. To set something straight, theres nothing wrong with lyrics and they are definitley important in music. However music does not need lyrics, some of the best music has no lyrics. The best lyrics tell a story, but so does the music and the melody especially if you listen to classical music. I feel that if the lyrics arent meaningful at all then why even have them? Butterflies and Hurricanes is a beautiful song. The lyrics also have meaning and emotion to them. The way the band presents itself is unbelievable. Muse is still relatively unknown despite having a song on Guitar Hero 3. Their music is very deep and emotional, catchy but extremly musical. All signs of an excellent band. Butterflies and Hurricanes features a classical piano solo in the music which sounds awesome and adds a whole new dimension to the song. Muse has other great songs too, Time is Running out is a personal favorite, Bliss, Sunburn, are a few others. Black Holes and Revelations is an excellent album. (It’s one of those albums that has more than two good songs.)
Knights Of Cydonia

Ah, what can I say about this band, they have got me through some of the toughest times in my life. Their single “Fix You” from their album X & Y is by far their best in my opinion. The lyrics in this song are superbly well-written, like all; but there’s something different about this single that stands out from the rest. Whether it be Chris Martins some-what fragile-emotive voice or the church like organs in the intro that immediately draws your attention. You’ll find yourself sitting there, dosing off to this me unabashedly sentimental song. Martins signature voice makes this song for me, no other vocalist/pianist could ever replace him.

Fix you ranks up with Viva La Vida, The Scientist and Square one, some of my favorite songs of all time. The way I interpret this song is someone trying really hard to do right things in this life although he can never do things perfect, never being good enough. So he settles for second best “When you try your best, but you don’t succeed; When you get what you want, but not what you need. When you feel so tired that you can’t sleep” He’s full of despair and is exhausted because it seems like everything he has done was in vain so he sometimes feels like giving up, but at the same time he really hopes for something/someone to save him from giving up entirely. Hence the “Lights will guide you home” reference. Simply amazing! I don’t know what else to say and I’m ashamed. I highly recommend watching the video for this single as well. It sets the mood, watching Martin walk down empty streets gives the feeling of hope lost, despair even. And when the song picks up he enters a stadium with infectious drums and U2-esque guitars filled with thousands of fans with lighters wavering in the air it’s electrifying! I believe the stadium is the O2 Arena in London; I’m not quite sure though. WATCH THE VIDEO PLEASE! It makes the song that much more Powerful. I give it 5/5.

Music is a means of escape from our perception of reality, allowing each being to express him or her self through it, or simply change the way we perceive life through it’s lyrics… that is why we created IPL. So I have been busy advertising infinite playlist, and haven’t posted much; well at all. I am loving the way this is going and truly does show potential. I also love that we don’t just have one or two writers with the same taste in music putting up the same ol’ biased viewpoints on music. We are all really good friends, but usualy could not be more different in terms of music we like. Gil likes his classical or his old school rock, alex has his inndie skater music, rey the writer likes obscene nontraditional over the top stuff, and pauly has tance. I am the guy who likes just about everything. I can fall asleep to classical, i write my essays to trance, i drive listening to ethnic music, or i just sit down and listen to bluegrass when i have nothing to do.

So it comes down to what is my first post going to be about; it has to be something epic. I loved Paul’s post before mine on trance, but I don’t agree on his view points of house. True unadulterated house is not what those fist pounding guidos listen to in their civics. In the comments i also didn’t agree with Gil’s point that he cant feel the emotion, because its all digital and electronically done. Another point was made is that the emotion in music is in just that the music, not the lyrics. I believe music digitally created can deff show true emotion, you just have to stop for a second with out bias and listen… I also believe that one’s voice can be the greatest instrument of all. A voice paired with the deep lyrics with meaning behind them can move mountains in my opinion. A being singing with no instruments, can in essence create their on music and feeling just with the arrangement of their lyrics, voice, rhythm, and emotion. Now shall i put up real house music to fight the stereotypical views on it…. or do i put up something hat proves you can make music with a voice alone.

but then …

Epiphany !

I got bored looking for music to make a post about, and i automatically put this song on. So why not make a post about music I am feeling right now. +44 is a band that off shooted from the beloved Blink 182. This song is called weatherman and I am putting up the acoustic version because not only is the guitar absolute bliss, his lyrics are very deep and shows his anger giving a big “F You” to the break up of blink, and has a beautiful voice on top of that.

Hope You guys like it…

Oceanlab - Sirens Of The Sea

“Above & Beyond’s vault from innovative trance trio to globetrotting DJ superstars is now complete.” DJ Magazine

Now, but a few Trance artists have reached Above & Beyond’s stature in terms of integrity and respect. Put Above & Beyond’s sleek electronic rhythms, lush filmic textures and old-fashioned songwriting and Justine Suissa’s highly distinctive ambient voice and you have Oceanlab. Oceanlab is something more, it’s explicable. Justine Suissa’s voice just captivates me; it takes me to my highest high and alters my state of mind. She is an irreplaceable addition to what is Oceanlab. Now, Trance is different than techno/electronica/house and what-not. Most people classify any kind of music that has a tempo of approx. 128 and 160 bpm, synthesizer phrases and a musical form that builds up and down throughout a track as “House”. No, House is that stuff you hear blasting out of a 2000-ish silver civic with an Italian emblem underneath the LX or Si (Most Likely) with guidos fist pumping with their freshly cut blowouts heading to a club to find some skanks and down some jager bombs; oh, and don’t bother them, apparently they are in the zone. Don’t get me wrong I love house too! It’s just that trance is so much more, it’s not for when you just want to let it loose and dance, it’s the music I listen to when I just want to escape. Leave everything behind and just go into a special zone and sit there and let the vibes soothe my brain. There are DJs who can rock a party, a club, a festival. And there are acts that can write songs that will bring out the goose bumps in you. But there’s only one band that can do both, that is Above & Beyond. Holding concerts with more than over a million at Rio de Janeiro to astounding many back at home in London. Oceanlab is what trance music is meant to sound like. It’s a shame that trance music isn’t recognized in the states but hey, this is why we have this AMAZING *cough cough ADVIRTISING MUCH cough cough*site. It’s dedicated to exposing you to new artists in hope of expanding your music library. So take a chance, just listen. ^_^

Also recommend – Above & Beyond – Home and Above & Beyond – Can’t Sleep