365 – New Music Daily

This week’s rotation!

I greet you all (partially) from a tired stupor that makes me feel something like Lenny from OMAM – and immediately launch into a tangent. As one of the biggest abbreviators around, am I alone in thinking that people that abbreviate albums on online threads are annoying as fuck? Perhaps it’s a correlation thing… annoying people are the ones who are commenting on music threads, pushing their glasses up and raising a finger… well actually, TPAB is his best because of the prose that flows throughout, connecting the album to a continuous poem that brings the plight of the… etc etc. Really it’s the ones that are so ridiculous that grind my gears peetah – perhaps you shouldn’t be having intellectual back and forth on Reddit if you’re abbreviating IYRTITL (that’s If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late) and arguing whether Aubrey’s bars fell off.

My cynicism has reached an undeniable level… anywho. (anywhom?) – this will probably be one of the least coherent blog openings that I’ve written, but I like reflecting here regardless of my mental capacity – this is much more of a share blog rather than one that gets into depth. Though we’ll just run with how we run with it, because I’m way too tired to do any work, but not to write 2000+ words about music. Sorry. (note – I came back to this a day later with coherence).

Nick Drake – And The Oddities of Lyricism in Music

Nick Drake elicited so many thoughts in my brain at once I felt like the opposite of Lenny – what is that? What? Before we get into my many thoughts about lyricism that Nick’s music spurred – let’s just get into the quick facts about the artist. We’re back to early 70s guitar music (I say this not to continue the revolution against genres – but more to capture that it’s rock/folk/etc. – though this is firmly folk) – and like a lot of the pioneers from this era, Nick Drake died young of an overdose (in fact, just missing the 27 club), which I believe was a suicide. The tragedy of artists in this time is truly remarkable – but that’s a story for another day.

Much like Bob and Jim Croce, Drake’s music is characterized often by, as I term, a man and an axe creating some magic. Multi-track guitars dominate and carry these songs to the point that you don’t even notice the absence of the typical song structure – they feel full, moving, and most of all, absolutely fucking gorgeous. While I don’t know enough to fully flesh out that Nick was ahead of his time, it’s clear in the amount that artists have tried to emulate the stripped down, folky song structure that he nails. And these songs are so clearly gorgeous, moving, with tangible emotion behind them, that it’s easy to become fully entranced.

One thing that sticks out to me though – and maybe it’s because of the rougher nature of these recordings making it somewhat difficult to parse out the lyrics – is that while these songs are so deeply moving and tangible emotionally – it’s not even necessarily because of the lyrics. In fact, reading the lyrics is an optional thing that only furthers the beauty of it – especially reading them as a coherent piece of music which elegantly flows like a story/poem. Which brings me into a tangent that is, in part, another installation of everyone’s favorite series: What can music do for you?

Lyrics in songs are often meaningful for folks in… the wrong reasons? Woah there… I’d like to get off now. No, but, what the fuck, right? I preach music as a subjective, nearly impossible thing to nail down what is “right” thing. What I mean by this comes down to a personal experience of making music, as well as just an overall observation. But maybe I’m wrong too. Actually, I don’t know if I can be wrong on my blog… cuh.

While most everyone on this blog has only seen the music that I make in a tongue and cheek way (though this does apply to that too) – for the folks that have seen my serious music, I generally get feedback that is positive based on the vibe, or maybe a line or two there. But as someone that prioritizes lyrics in their (poorly made, demo only) music – and thinks that is a massive part of the multiplicity that makes up the bar (as in, the different chords that can be struck… get it? chords? struck? fucking GET IT??) of what a song can do – I always take pride in lyrics and, while understanding that folks won’t dissect and analyze what I write like it’s prose, I love when people do hear the deeper meaning of a certain song or the coherence in what’s been written flowing throughout. I feel pride in what I write – even when that’s one of the most difficult things to parse from a song. Sometimes lyrics are only apparent when they are so fucking ridiculous (e.g., Future having a song with the lyric “found out I cheated on her she’ll still feed me grapes” which …. ok), not when they are part of this larger piece of writing with complexities. And not to call myself Sufjan Stevens, but when you come up with a piece of writing that flows, connects, and you have pride in – it’s something you feel good when people notice. Additionally, lyrics can also have an entirely different attachment – singing along to a song is an amazing feeling! Knowing the words brings you closer to a piece of art, creates a space in your mind, and also is an incredibly enjoyable experience. I’m sure we’ve all regurgitated line after line of certain songs without actually thinking about what it means – it’s one of the rarities in life where we can be attached to/speak words without giving them meaning behind “I like knowing the words”.

I’m sure that many artists – especially folks that are making deep, singer songwriter songs that are meant to create a sonic feeling that is often furthered and finalized by song content (though dychotomy of this exists too in a different way – a la Pumped Up Kicks being a ‘feel good’ song about school shootings ((double parenthesis – I’m not linking to this)) feel the same way too. Thing of something like Death With Dignity – it’s not easy to parse through Sufjan’s beautiful vocals, the amazing instrumental and song structure to read these lyrics. But if you do, you’re greeted with (well, in this case, a devastating) emotional meaning that can entirely reimagine what a song is to you. It’s somewhat like watching a movie again – you pick up on so many things you never had before, but in a bite size chunk. It’s one of the amazing things about music – the varied meanings and layers that something can take on in such a bite size, accessible format.

But, there is solace (hopefully) for artists in both understanding that one’s art can not be controlled, and all meanings, emotions, and reactions that are gained are also creating individual experiences for people based on their art. It’s also one of the complexities of being an artist – not that I fully get this – but once you put something out into the ether for folks to consume, meanings are completely out of your control. There is a human aspect of this – impressions you cast are completely open to everyone’s impression based on their realities – and you can’t really control that either. But with art, and specifically music in this case, people can run with it in the basic ways (this is good/bad/etc.) but also people can run with different emotions, interpretations, and connection to it. So even if folks are not listening to something that you feel is so important to it, so key to your personal points of pride (the lyrics) – if people are connecting with it, that’s something that peace has to be made with. For those that do recognize it – it can make it all the more special – but it’s not something that’s controllable, which is entirely odd – losing how self-expression can be interpolated and being unable to define it.

While I am injecting my own opinion on this – I say this all to say – lyrics are a big part of music – and such a weird, nuanced one too. But listen to them more – you may find another aspect of musical enjoyment that you can often neglect. And that was a ramble and a half so… hopefully it made sense. With that, listen to Place to Be and enjoy!

Quick Hits!

Check this out – I made a new section. Wow! Who cares. Anyways.. I like bloggin about the ins and outs of a certain music thing I’m thinking about – but sometimes it’s just worth sharing what’s spinnin’ aka – quick hits.

Beck – hold the Jeff

Beck. Who the fuck is Beck? Not Jeff Beck – which my musical puritan friends would scorn me for listening to the wrong Beck (Indeed that did happen… and he probably won’t read this… but if you do… you fool.) – is there a right Beck? Actually, the right to Beck is apparently a keystone of Union labor law.

Beck is a 90s alt rock artist who I had heard of, but never actually taken the time to listen to. Beck’s songs (that I enjoy) are varied — and while I don’t think that Beck is my new favorite guy — I really respect the unique musicality blend that Beck creates. Fusing alternative rock with 90s hip-hop – almost like a mix of Pavement vocals over Beastie Boys drums — this is some cool stuff. Not to mention his more ethereal stuff. Cool shit mane.. holy shitttt he bout to Beck!

Gang of Four – Geezer Central

I recently saw Gang of Four at the Somerville Theatre… some may say I frequent the picture show. The big picture! King yellow… anyways. Gang of Four – pretty cool band, especially when you get to see a 75 year old British man air hump a crowd directly after taking a bat to a microwave as part of the percussion of a song. But this is a pretty great late 70s band that reminds me of the birth of punk – Sex Pistols shit – Damaged Goods is their top but still my favorite.

see you soon and as always – jam the fuck out!