Music
As a writer, I'm a bit envious of artists whose mode of expression is in music.Music is an instantaneous evocation of emotion - the musician can form an immediate and direct relation to his listeners. The force in which music can capture a moment is unparalleled among the arts. Writing, on the other hand, is clunky compared to music. It's stiff. It depends much more on the attention (or intention) of the reader than music does its listeners. Yes, as a writer, I do say that I envy the musician.
But this envy is dwarfed - no - drowned by the depth of admiration I have for music. And I believe it's because I write that this admiration has become so vast. Writing has allowed me to view each piece of music as a small part of the artist. A glimpse into the composition of the individual who created it. This is the interrelation between all of the arts: composition. To compose. To take parts of who you are and arrange them in a way that creates an outward expression of what's inside you. This is what writing has allowed me to see in music. In all art. I see now that the artistic creation constitutes the artist who made it. And what it means for a song, or poem, or novel or painting or film - what it means when you say, "that really touched me," is that a small part of the artist who made it is now a part of you. That's the beauty of music, and of art itself.
Oh get to the point, you god damn Romantic.
Yeah, yeah, that was little bathetic, a little too syrupy. But hey, that's how I feel about these things man. Lets get to what this is all about, shall we?
Today's featured tracks are from a variety of incredible artists: Howlings, Astronauts etc., Ace Mo, Aether, MMOTHS, tours, Lights & Motion, Christian Johns, and emigrant. Find a comfortable spot and settle in, your ears are in for a treat.
I know close to nothing about this artist. I assume he calls himself emigrant, and judging from his soundcloud it looks as if this music comes out of France. Regardless, his music is incredible. Featured is a song called 'Ciao'; a simple tune on the piano that evokes such raw emotion as the chords carry you along. Enjoy.
Astronauts, etc.'s music blew my mind, to say the least. It's been a long time since I've heard music as timeless and beautiful as his. Honestly. It's too bad he doesn't provide more information about who he is or what he does. I'd love to hear more about him. Nonetheless, his music speaks for itself, words just wouldn't do any justice. Here's his song 'Chemistry', kick back and get ready for an incredible experience.
I highly recommend you listen to more of his music on Soundcloud. Or Facebook. Either way, you won't regret it.
Ace Mo is an electronic artist based out of New York. There isn't any information about the real man behind the talent, but either way - his music is something else. From hip-hop remixes to melodic rhythms and beautiful synths - Ace Mo's music is a true gem. Featured is an old song of his called 'Fire Sky', and god damn does it deliver.
For more of his music, check out his Soundcloud, or Facebook.
Christian Johns music focuses on a mixture of folk, electronic and hip-hop. I couldn't locate much information about his history except that he's from Louisville, KY. His music presents a wide variety of different styles and sounds, every song is a unique composition. Below is a track called 'I Was Young', a blend of chillwave and hip-hop that I really enjoyed.
Head on over to his Soundcloud for more of his music. Or check him out on Facebook.
I just recently discovered Lights & Motion, and I can't believe I hadn't heard about him before. The man behind the music is Christoffer Franzen, a 24 year old Swedish musician. I'll just share with you the explanation of his music from his Soundcloud: "... he started to spend nights alone in the studio, learning about the different ways of recording and creating music. With no one else there with him, he was forced to pick up all the different kinds of instruments that he felt he needed himself. Songs started to emerge during these late night sessions, and Lights & Motion started to take its form. Built on melodies, ambient soundscapes and crushing crescendos, Lights & Motion draws you in and doesn't let you go." If there's one thing I can say for sure, it's that Franzen's music is capable of exploding across the world. This guy can make music. For real. And once he gets the recognition he deserves... You'll just have to see for yourself. Keep an eye out in the future for Lights & Motion. Here is the song 'Reanimation' from his most recent album - "Reanimation."
Find more of his music on his Soundcloud. Also, find him on Facebook or Twitter.
Aether hooked me a few years back with the release of his album, 'Artifacts', back in 2008. It is the alias of Diego Chavez, an artist out of Boston, MA. Chavez began music by making beats for his friends to freestyle over. His hip-hop background still resonates in his music today, which is an experimental mosaic of electronic sounds, catchy beats and emotional samples - all together making his music bleed with soul and emotion. He's also a graphic designer and video producer, and you can find out more about that at his site. Below is actually the first song I ever heard by Aether, called 'Makeshift Sanctuary', and I've been a loyal fan of his ever since.
Show some love to Aether and visit his personal site, aetherbeats.com. There you'll find links to all other related webpages.
Tours is what the artist Dylan Sieh calls himself. Based out of Philadelphia, PA, Sieh began making music only three years ago in 2010. His music is a blend of sounds from chillwave to shoegaze, "his music orchestrates the sound of sunny days and lazy layovers." Featured is a song he released early last year, but one of my absolute favorites - dive into the beautiful sounds of 'Grand Lux'.
Check out more of his music on his Soundcloud. For more information you can go to his Facebook or Twitter.
Jack Colleran from Newbridge, Ireland, is who you can thank for the amazing music of MMOTHS. He's played piano since five years old and this accumulated talent really shows in the quality of his music. His songs implement a beautiful blend of electronic music with such a pristine sound they will chill your bones. I have incredible respect for Colleran - he's truly an artist in every sense of the term. Check out this latest release of his called 'All These Things'. By the way, Holly Miranda's vocals are outstanding.
Do yourself a treat and venture on over to MMOTHS' Soundcloud. Or you can check him out on his personal site, mmothsmusic.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter. He is signed to the record label SQE.
Howlings' music is the product of one guy, Isaiah Williams from San Francisco, CA. In his own words, his music is "full of lush dreamy melodies, pitch-shifted vocal samples, dreamy vibes, warm hard hitting bass melodies driven by alternate bliss and relaxing beatwork combinations." It might sound like a tough description to live up to, but Howlings music delivers all of this and more. Here's one of his more recent tracks, a collaboration with Mustafa Mond, called 'Stay Awake'.
If you dig his music, check out his other sounds at his Soundcloud. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter.
Some closing words
So this concludes the first music-featured post thus far. I hope many of you discovered a few additional artists for your collection. I've learned a lot already in making this post, and hopefully they will continue to improve and develop as I gain more and more experience. Feel free to share any thoughts or comments - it can be about the music, the post or suggestions for the blog in general, I'd love to hear anything you wish to say.
And now, I'll leave you with this:
"We ought to take the lighter view of things and cultivate tolerance; it is more civilized to laugh at life than to lament over it... the man who laughs at the human race deserves more gratitude than the man who mourns over it, for he allows it hope of amelioration, whereas the foolish weeper despairs of the possibility of improvement."
-Seneca
Keep it real and until next time,
JB
Monday, February 18, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Adding a Perspective to 'The Silence Between'
A few words of introduction
What's more difficult in a creative pursuit, making the decision to start or the act of creating itself? This is the question that comes to mind as I set down these words, words that signify the start of something I've wanted to do for a long time - but I never built up the courage to actually begin. The truth of the matter is that the hardest part of creating is actually making the decision to start. It's this first step, I think, that stops most people from pursuing what they really want.
Before now, my excuse was that I needed some sort of justification to spend time on something as virtually unrewarding as a music blog. But after I stepped back and looked at it from a different perspective, I realized it's the furthest thing from an 'unrewarding' endeavor. These days it's really easy to under-value the opportunities we have in our society, the incredible ease in which we can reach out and share with others - share our concerns, share our ideas, share what we love. And once this dawned on me I saw my wish to create this blog in a new light. It's simply a way for me to say, "Hey, I really enjoy this, maybe you will too;" and the ability to do this while, at the same time, supporting the amazing artists who have added so much to my life - that's more rewarding than anything material could ever be.
So without further ado, let's get to the heart of this post, and ultimately this blog. I'll say a bit about how I plan to structure my posts and what sort of content you will find as the blog progresses.
How each post will be structured
Please understand that these first couple of months or so will be a rather dynamic period. How posts are structured now might be entirely different than next month, or even next week for that matter. As time goes on I'll continue to implement certain aspects that work well, and change what doesn't. And this development will mostly be in the hands of the readers. All I can do is furnish the posts; how they evolve depends on your feedback. So feel free to offer any suggestions as to how you would like these posts to change. I will do my absolute best to accommodate to the wishes of my readers. As for now, this is how the posts will go:
Each post will begin with an abstract. Whether it's a random thought or an idea of mine, a link to some cool shit I recently found and a few words related to it, a request or poll for people's opinion on something - it could be anything. My hope is that it will be a way for all of you, as my readers, to get to know the person is behind the screen a little better. And who knows, perhaps it will eventually lead to some meaningful relationships between us.
Following the abstract will be a paragraph or two where I mention all the artists featured in that specific post. I'll say who they are and a few interesting things about them etc.
Then comes the goodies. I'll share each track and say what I personally find to be significant about them - what they mean to me. Under each embedded track I will provide links to various sites related to the artist (personal site, facebook, soundcloud, twitter etc.) That way you can look further into a specific artist if you wish to learn more about them, or find more of their music.
Lastly, I'll say a few closing words, and leave you with a meaningful quote. The quote might be from an author, an artist, someone I know, anyone - but credit will always be given to its origin.
Content of the music shared: styles and genres
The majority of music shared here will have a chillout sort of vibe - melodic, mellow tunes that keep the atmosphere steady. Occasionally I'll share something more upbeat, but it will mostly consist of music you can kick back and relax to.
Genre in music today is almost obsolete, there are so many different labels you can never really single anything out specifically. Here's a quick list of genres you can expect: electronica, chillwave, downtempo, dream pop, lo-fi, post-rock, post-dubstep, chillstep, indie rock/folk/pop/synth/alternative, ambient, minimalistic, experimental, future garage, trip hop, shoegaze... You get the picture.
Alright, I believe I've covered everything I wanted to. I really look forward to getting this moving along and I hope all of you enjoy the blog. It should be fun.
Keep it real and until next time,
JB
What's more difficult in a creative pursuit, making the decision to start or the act of creating itself? This is the question that comes to mind as I set down these words, words that signify the start of something I've wanted to do for a long time - but I never built up the courage to actually begin. The truth of the matter is that the hardest part of creating is actually making the decision to start. It's this first step, I think, that stops most people from pursuing what they really want.
Before now, my excuse was that I needed some sort of justification to spend time on something as virtually unrewarding as a music blog. But after I stepped back and looked at it from a different perspective, I realized it's the furthest thing from an 'unrewarding' endeavor. These days it's really easy to under-value the opportunities we have in our society, the incredible ease in which we can reach out and share with others - share our concerns, share our ideas, share what we love. And once this dawned on me I saw my wish to create this blog in a new light. It's simply a way for me to say, "Hey, I really enjoy this, maybe you will too;" and the ability to do this while, at the same time, supporting the amazing artists who have added so much to my life - that's more rewarding than anything material could ever be.
So without further ado, let's get to the heart of this post, and ultimately this blog. I'll say a bit about how I plan to structure my posts and what sort of content you will find as the blog progresses.
How each post will be structured
Please understand that these first couple of months or so will be a rather dynamic period. How posts are structured now might be entirely different than next month, or even next week for that matter. As time goes on I'll continue to implement certain aspects that work well, and change what doesn't. And this development will mostly be in the hands of the readers. All I can do is furnish the posts; how they evolve depends on your feedback. So feel free to offer any suggestions as to how you would like these posts to change. I will do my absolute best to accommodate to the wishes of my readers. As for now, this is how the posts will go:
Each post will begin with an abstract. Whether it's a random thought or an idea of mine, a link to some cool shit I recently found and a few words related to it, a request or poll for people's opinion on something - it could be anything. My hope is that it will be a way for all of you, as my readers, to get to know the person is behind the screen a little better. And who knows, perhaps it will eventually lead to some meaningful relationships between us.
Following the abstract will be a paragraph or two where I mention all the artists featured in that specific post. I'll say who they are and a few interesting things about them etc.
Then comes the goodies. I'll share each track and say what I personally find to be significant about them - what they mean to me. Under each embedded track I will provide links to various sites related to the artist (personal site, facebook, soundcloud, twitter etc.) That way you can look further into a specific artist if you wish to learn more about them, or find more of their music.
Lastly, I'll say a few closing words, and leave you with a meaningful quote. The quote might be from an author, an artist, someone I know, anyone - but credit will always be given to its origin.
Content of the music shared: styles and genres
The majority of music shared here will have a chillout sort of vibe - melodic, mellow tunes that keep the atmosphere steady. Occasionally I'll share something more upbeat, but it will mostly consist of music you can kick back and relax to.
Genre in music today is almost obsolete, there are so many different labels you can never really single anything out specifically. Here's a quick list of genres you can expect: electronica, chillwave, downtempo, dream pop, lo-fi, post-rock, post-dubstep, chillstep, indie rock/folk/pop/synth/alternative, ambient, minimalistic, experimental, future garage, trip hop, shoegaze... You get the picture.
Alright, I believe I've covered everything I wanted to. I really look forward to getting this moving along and I hope all of you enjoy the blog. It should be fun.
Keep it real and until next time,
JB
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