Leonard Cohen, Lovelies.

Image via Wikipedia

Forget your perfect offering.

There is a crack, a crack, in everything…

That’s how the light gets in.

Sometimes it blows my mind how much I am in love with music, music with beautiful words.

Nod to a Missed Opportunity

(Written 2004-05)

I know it’s odd to notice now
The way you make me feel
Always there, you were my mark
The one I could count on, the one I thought
might count on me.
I could see us together but that’s just how I feel when I’m with you
I liked you too much to “be with” you
Every Christmas song I hear, I think of you
And now, hearing of another girl, I have to hide
There’s just a funny thing inside
I guess you’re not really mine, you’re my friend
And I am yours…

Your friend.

Music Connections

I used to entertain thoughts that I would one day hear every song ever produced. It was exciting to watch my CD collection grow, and I would keep track of how many mp3’s I could download off Napster in an evening (ah, Napster). As the realistic impossibility of this task became obvious, my search sadly slowed (say that five times fast ;).

There have, however, been seasonal bursts of activity in my quest to hear new music. One was at camp when I was thirteen, and I discovered Tool, Zeppelin, and Depeche Mode. Another was when I was fifteen and discovered The Beatles (late bloomer). Yet another was when I met my first serious boyfriend and we bonded over a Doobie Brothers track; he consequently introduced me to ulu, Bela Fleck, Jimmy Swift Band, Wassabi Collective, Keller Williams…even throat singing! I became an avid fan of jam music, and learned to love the live show. Unfortunately, I tend to get comfortable with what I know and, admittedly, become lazy. A class project requiring that I explore connections between a band of my choice and something completely different (branching out) offered me a fresh chance to widen my musical horizons. It challenged me to set aside the time to discover anew.

I had many false starts with this assignment. Initially, I used The Jimmy Swift Band because I listen to them frequently. I emailed the band members and received prompt replies about musical influences and past contributions to bands. It was both exciting and disappointing to see lead singer Craig Mercer’s list; they were all bands I already knew and loved, like Pink Floyd, Metallica, and Led Zeppelin. On the other side of the spectrum, I hardly recognized any of the names on the drummer Nick Wombolt’s list – which would have been awesome, if I could have found any of the music to sample! I will definitely track those down in my own time, but for the project’s sake, I was becoming less enthusiastic about my choice. I needed something I appreciated for its diversity; in other words, something I wouldn’t be afraid to wander away from.

I realized the perfect band for this assignment was one I have been curious about for years: System of a Down (SOAD). They seem to draw so many different influences into their music, from Middle Eastern and opera to industrial, metal and grunge. I remember first getting into them and thinking it was like nothing I’d ever listened to before. I suspected they would become when ‘Chop Suey’ became overplayed on the radio, but that is somehow one of few songs the radio never ruined for me. SOAD, to the best I can describe, plays edgy, aggressive music with intense vocals and fluctuations between angelic harmonies and dissonant screaming. Their lyrical messages are about social and political injustice, but mostly about being a free thinker, and I respect that. Their music always surprises me, because it can be haunting, beautiful, or bitter. It leaves me exhilarated.

The band is made up of four American-Armenians: Serj Tankian (lyrics/lead singer), Daron Malakian (lyrics/singer), John Dolmayan (drums), and Shavo Odadjian (bass). I have always heard rumours that Serj is a trained opera singer, but since I could not confirm this on their [intensely active] fan message boards, I checked out some of the bands they signed for record deals under their label “Serjical Strike Records.”

Not without my doubts, I checked out a band called Bad Acid Trip, which was interesting and similar in style to SOAD, but I was not a fan. I moved on, and found out that Serj is also in a band called Serart with fellow Armenian Arto Tuncboyaciyan. It is the oddest music I had heard in a while, mixing Middle Eastern melodies with African rhythms, classical motifs, and percussion (I had caught this once in SOAD’s music, at the end of ‘Aerials’, with tribal chanting and unusual instrumentation). In a mere 20 seconds of stream, I heard soft piano, jazz, oriental, and grunge, and of course, Serj’s unmistakable vocal line. It was so different from what I hear in SOAD, though the two bands are glimpses into one another. [The stream I listened to is called ‘Serart Mixdown’, a mix of songs off their album.]

This got me looking out for other Armenian musicians, because the lead singer of SOAD has obviously stayed connected to his roots. I used LimeWire to find some native Armenian songs, but because I was unable to figure out exactly what I was listening to, I explored the shelves of the MIDI lab in my local library. First, I looked up some of the most famous Armenian musicians on Wikipedia to get some ideas. I found out that Cher (real name: Cherylin Sarkissian) is Armenian. I decided not to follow that connection (although I did once attend a concert of hers, and she puts on quite the show). I also listened to a 1939 recording of Erivan bachem arer, an Armenian-American folk song, and parted ways with it soon after, fascinatingly exotic as it was.

One of the composers listed on Wikipedia, whose CD I could actually track down in the library, was Aram Khatchaturian, internationally known for ballet music. I did not realize that I already knew his work until I listened to Sabre Dance from the ballet ‘Gayaneh’. I also sampled tracks from his ballet ‘Spartacus’, and wished that I might have been able to find a video recording. The influence of Armenian folk music is said to be very present in his works, as well as those by another American-Armenian I tracked down named Alan Hovhaness, whose classical composition The Holy City I found on record. I thought these were interesting links to SOAD (whose relatives all dealt with political grief, leading them to take a deep interest in their roots). I suppose a person can’t help sharing the deepest parts of themselves when they compose music that reaches a wide audience.

What I took away from the connections assignment was that, if I truly want to hear everything out there worth hearing, I just have to start looking, if only for the sake of leading myself down a winding path.

Send This To Your Mom Today

“The Mom Song” to the William Tell Overture (Anita Renfroe)

Get up now, Get up now, Get up out of bed
Wash your face, Brush your teeth, Comb your sleepyhead
Here’s your clothes and your shoes, Hear the words I said
Get up now! Get up and make your bed
Are you hot? Are you cold? Are you wearing that?
Where’s your books and your lunch and your homework at?
Grab your coat and gloves and your scarf and hat
Don’t forget! You gotta feed the cat
Eat your breakfast, the experts tell us it’s the most important meal of all
Take your vitamins so you will grow up one day to be big and tall
Please remember the orthodontist will be seeing you at 3 today
Don’t forget your piano lesson is this afternoon so you must play
Don’t shovel, Chew slowly, But hurry, The bus is here
Be careful, Come back here, Did you wash behind your ears?
Play outside, don’t play rough, will you just play fair?
Be polite, make a friend, don’t forget to share
Work it out, wait your turn, never take a dare
Get along! Don’t make me come down there
Clean your room, fold your clothes, put your stuff away
Make your bed, do it now, do we have all day?
Were you born in a barn? Would you like some hay?
Can you even hear a word I say?
Answer the phone! Get off the phone!
Don’t sit so close, turn it down, no texting at the table
No more computer time tonight!
Your iPod’s my iPod if you don’t listen up
Where are you going and with whom and what time do you think you’re coming home?
Saying thank you, please, excuse me makes you welcome everywhere you roam
You’ll appreciate my wisdom someday when you’re older and you’re grown
Can’t wait till you have a couple little children of your own
You’ll thank me for the counsel I gave you so willingly
But right now I thank you not to roll your eyes at me
Close your mouth when you chew, would appreciate
Take a bite maybe two of the stuff you hate
Use your fork, do not burp or I’ll set you straight
Eat the food I put upon your plate
Get an A, get the door, don’t get smart with me
Get a grip, get in here, I’ll count to three
Get a job, get a life, get a PHD
Get a dose of, ”I don’t care who started it! You’re grounded until you’re 36″
Get your story straight and tell the truth for once, for heaven’s sake
And if all your friends jumped off a cliff would you jump, too?
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said at least a thousand times before
That you’re too old to act this way, It must be your father’s DNA
Look at me when I am talking, Stand up straighter when you walk
A place for everything and everything must be in place
Stop crying or I’ll give you something real to cry about
Oh!
Brush your teeth, wash your face, put your PJs on
Get in bed, get a hug, say a prayer with mom
Don’t forget, I love you
And tomorrow we will do this all again because a mom’s work never ends
You don’t need the reason why
Because, because, because, because
I said so, I said so, I said so, I said so
I’m the mom, the mom, the mom, the mom, the mom!!
Ta da!!!

A Cure For What Ails Ya

Since I’m always looking for ways to improve quality of life without swallowing gigantic horse pills or experiencing side effects, I’m interested in what I Dose has to offer. The website employs specific auditory stimuli as a method of achieving desired effects; among their musical ‘doses’ one can find a ‘cure’ for PMS, lack of focus, depression, pain, fatigue, and so on. How they claim to achieve this:

Binaural beats affect our brainwaves directly and can alter moods, behavior, even consciousness. Sound crazy? We thought so too. But guess what? We tried it and it works!

Other than streamed tracks and testimonials, there is not a lot to this site – yet. The fact is, there’s no harm in trying it, there’s scientific truth in the claim that music helps set the tone for your mood, and, last but not least, it’s free! I’m going to give it a shot, and if you choose to take it for a spin, comment on your experience below :)

Music’s Love Story

I just came across a page in a notebook from about 2001 that I remember so clearly. I was waiting at the airport with my headphones on, and decided to give a little project a try. I focused on the lyrics, and for every phrase I heard about relationships, I jotted it down and moved on to the next song.

Once the page had been filled, I read over it, and scrawled across the top, “Part 1: The Romance, Part 2: The Reality.” The following is what came of the exercise.

You were like nothing I’d ever known
Loving you came easily to me
You needed love to light the shadows in your eyes
You became the light on the dark side of me
Two worlds collided, I didn’t want to miss a thing
I was living for the only thing I knew
There was nothing in the world that could change my mind
Who needed them when you meant everything

I’ve never felt so good since then
I don’t ever wanna feel like I did that day
Get over the faithful yesterday
Face to face with something I couldn’t have admitted
Look carefully, the result of the pain you committed
I could see the glow slowly fading from your eyes
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?
Everything’s made to be broken.
Everybody’s got a story that can break your heart.

I’m happy cause I smile but how much can I fake?
Still waking up late at night crying tears
Is it safe to look within?
Is it gone? Tell me what went wrong
I’d rather be alone than unhappy
And I don’t want the world to see me, cause I don’t think that they’d understand
It’s the human connection that kept us apart
Without you in my life I’m completely incomplete
This is what you do
You make me come, you make me complete,
You make me completely miserable. 

I bet most of you recognize at least a few songs out of there! I challenge you to pick a topic, try the same thing, and share the results below.

All I Wanna Do Is…

…share my current song addiction with you. Lots of mixed reviews on this one, but it works with my lazy, laidback, chilled-out, bummed out moods.

M.I.A. – Paper Planes (lyrics below)

[x2] I fly like paper, get high like planes
If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name
If you come around here, I make ‘em all day
I get one down in a second if you wait

[x2] Sometimes I think sitting on trains
Every stop I get to I’m clocking that game
Everyone’s a winner, we’re making that fame
Bonafide hustler making my name

[x4] All I wanna do is boom boom boom boom…
And (ka-ching!)
And take your money

[x2] Pirate skulls and bones
Sticks and stones and weed and bongs
Running when we hit ‘em
Lethal poison through their system

[x2] No one on the corner has swagger like us
Hit me on my Burner prepaid wireless
We pack and deliver like UPS trucks
Already going to hell just pumping that gas

[x4] All I wanna do is boom boom boom boom…
And (ka-ching!)
And take your money

M.I.A.
Third world democracy
Yeah, I got more records than the K.G.B.
So, uh, no funny business

Some some some I some I murder
Some I some I let go
Some some some I some I murder
Some I some I let go

[x4] All I wanna do is boom boom boom boom…
And (ka-ching!)
And take your money

P.S. Funny shit, check out this video by some fans of the song:

UPDATE: I can’t help but think M.I.A. might appreciate these Chanel gun shoes, below (via BoingBoing). Step-KAPOW! Step-KAPOW!

B****, I play the banjo!

So maybe it wasn’t Deliverance that made me want to learn the banjo (so much as avoid the woods), but it certainly introduced me to the first song I wanted to learned on it.

P.S. Deliverance got a shout-out on the newest episode of South Park (mediocre at best, I hate to say), s12e08: “The China Probrem” ;) Catch it around the 16:00 mark.

Review: Hot Chip’s album ‘The Warning’

For a History of Rock Music class I took in undergrad, I had to pick a review of an album and then write a review of that review…follow me? I chose this review of Hot Chip’s ‘The Warning’. What follows is my review of the article:

The album I selected for this assignment is “The Warning” by the British electronic indie band Hot Chip. Due to the fact that they are still mainly known in the U.K., I will introduce the band before I delve into the particular review I chose to critique.

Hot Chip is presently signed with DFA Records, an independent record label that holds an exclusive distribution deal with major record label EMI. The band’s music is sometimes described as electropop and sometimes electronica; it has been argued that they have created a new landscape of electronic music that cannot easily be labeled.

When categorization is attempted, the most common band comparisons found among both fans and critics have included a more experimental and danceable version of Postal Service, “Arcade Fire remixed by Of Montreal with a hint of Spoon” (anonymous), and the “dance rock of classic Prince and New Order with a modern, synth-happy sheen” (Entertainment Weekly). Their most widely-cited influences do include Prince, as well as a healthy dose of everything hip hop and R&B. Their first album, “Coming on Strong,” reflected this potent R&B and soul influence in its sparse and laidback rhythms; this was a general source of criticism that the band responded to with their second full-length release “The Warning.”

“The Warning” hit the U.S. market in June 2006, just months after its release in the U.K., which it collected such awards as the 2006 Mercury Music Prize to the 4^th Best Album of 2006 in New Musical Express (NME) Magazine’s annual poll. NME, a self-proclaimed “Bible of every young music fan” in Britain, is the source of the album review for this assignment. Written by Stephen Worthy, the review consumed two praise-filled pages of the issue, but the album only earned a rating of 8/10 from the author. I did some research, and based on my findings, it seems that Worthy has, at the writing of this piece, authored eight articles for the magazine, seven of which he gave the exact same rating. This caused me to approach the review with some caution.

My first impressions upon reading the review were based on Worthy’s stylistic techniques, which could best be described as loquacious and excessive. His use of strung-together adjectives at first seemed charmingly descriptive, but once the pattern was established, seemed merely an attempt to show off. He ultimately came across as a try-hard, and effectively demonstrates that less can be more.

I was able to ascertain some useful facts about the band throughout the reading, as one should hope to do; at times, however, obscure references only confused and distracted me from the purpose of the review. Worthy employed name-dropping as I’ve never seen before, to the point where it was necessary to keep Wikipedia handy.

What I often found was that Worthy’s references were of very little relevance or import to Hot Chip or their album (e.g. Bruce Banner, the name of The Hulk’s comic character; the Krays brothers, organized crime leaders in the 1950s and 60s; Friends of The Earth, an international network of environmental organizations). How did Worthy relate the ideas? Any way he could to fill space, it seems, since they lend nothing of value to what this album comprises. In fact, the time I spent researching these names could have been spent checking out the album for myself.

I spent days familiarizing myself with the tracks included on Hot Chip’s current album, as well as a few from their previous album for comparative purposes. I can agree with the general consensus among album reviews that “Coming on Strong” lacked the oftentimes-frantic energy and overall attitude driving the songs on “The Warning”.

As Worthy accurately points out, to his credit, this likely explains the messages behind many of the lyrics on their current album, which dare past critics to eat their words. For instance, the track ‘Over and Over’ addresses the accusation that their creations are frivolous, too ‘chill’, not to be taken seriously (“Laid back? I’ll give you laid back…Over and over and over and over and over… Like a monkey with a miniature cymbal, the joy of repetition really is in you.”). While the catchy tune is designed to get people moving, these lyrics have another, almost ironic layer that seems to ridicule the monotony of mainstream pop, which is perhaps the category that listeners and critics were inadvertently lumping them into by attempting any comparisons in the first place.

While Worthy is able to identify the angry dissatisfaction that fuels some of the songs on this album, he vastly overplays its significance, which leads me to believe that he worries less about conveying the emotions invoked by the music than in entertaining guesswork regarding the reasons behind the lyrics. He makes constant references to violent intentions, stating that “you wouldn’t want to make Hot Chip angry,” and suggesting that the members of the band might have a thing or two to say, “possibly after pinning you against a wall.”

These are groundless suppositions, conceivably made for the author’s own amusement, since he uses all the following words and phrases to describe the band members: nerd, demure, fragile, diminutive stature, over-sized physics teacher glasses. Perhaps he is simply (and unsuccessfully) trying to get across the point that Hot Chip is generally known as a charmingly playful group of young men that can shift between silly, flippant moods (‘Tchaparian’, ‘The Warning’) to funky, weighted ones (‘No Fit State’), and even sweet vulnerability in some cases (‘Look After Me’). Some of their motifs are even reminiscent of early 20^th century classical music (‘Won’t Wash’); there are several instances over the album, in fact, where dissonances and minor chords are used to create a state of discomfort or frustration.

This diversity of conflicting emotions strung together into a satisfying album is likely what leads Worthy to declare it a “coherent electrifying whole.” He is not the first (Stylus Magazine, Paste Magazine), but I am also not the first to disagree (Rolling Stone Magazine, Blender Magazine).

It’s true that the composition of the album creates a balance of beauty and ugliness, of both variety (unique sounds and moods) and consistency (motifs), but an album is composed of more than just balance; the flow is what guides the emotional experience of it. There is something to be said for quality control, and as long as superfluous tracks (‘Arrest Yourself’, ‘So Glad to See You’) make it under the radar, they are beaten into submission by the great ones and automatically disrupt the flow. Nevertheless, just because not all the ideas connect, it does not detract from the accomplishments of this album.

This leads me to a last criticism of Worthy’s review. He refers to Hot Chip as “scientists at the very top of their game,” but this is an arguable claim because the improvements they demonstrated from their first album to the second, coupled with the fact that some further improvements could yet be made, suggest that they are still in the process of evolving and maturing. This is good news for the band, because their originality and creativity has left a steadily-growing fan base in anticipation of their next album. It is nothing to be ashamed of; however, it is equally nothing to be overlooked.

In the end, I feel that Worthy did provide a decent picture of where Hot Chip is coming from, and he does acknowledge his inability to predict their future based on this album, though he credits the band as worthy of the success that might arrive in the near future. The sources of his conjectures are fairly ambiguous, and so it might have been useful to draw from existing interviews (or cite them, if he did in fact make use of any) to properly comment on the moods and expectations of the band, if he could not himself reach the band for comment in the writing of this piece.

His major flaw lies in the glowing praise he builds on a pyre of obscure references; there are two points missing in his rating that go unaccounted for, which suggest some unspoken constructive criticism that might have been offered. By offering praise without condemnation, he contradicts his more realistic accreditation of 8/10, which denotes a good effort from a talented group capable of doing even more.

Finally, Worthy’s stylistic methods tend to distance the layperson, which I deem contrary to the purpose of a review: to relate information about an art form to a general audience, so that they may determine their interests appropriately.

See Hot Chip’s MySpace page or their official website.

Ladytron – Ghosts (Blestenation mix) lyrics

I had to work this out on my own so comment with suggestions!

UPDATE: lyrics have now been posted on YouTube from this page. I feel special.

NEW UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who commented with lyric input/corrections!

Official MTV music video here – although it’s restricted to US viewers so I can’t see it :(
Download song here

Ladytron – Ghosts (Blestenation mix)

[rap]
My fault
My bad
I had to be trippin
I’m wipin your tears and I’d do it again
You’re playin the game
I’m layin the craze in your brain when I fuck with your head
You’re playin for change but shit is just stayin the same
‘Cause I got that chain around you even when I ain’t around
I’m hittin the town
You wait in the house
Cursing and sayin my name
You callin me but my voice-uh-mail just picks up on the first ring
Your mind is playin the worst thing into tears again, you’re bursting
Here it comes just like rehearsal
I thought my bad
I had to be trippin
That’s just how the cycle works

(Ladytron – Ghosts Chorus)
There’s a ghost in me
Who wants to say I’m sorry
Doesn’t mean I’m sorry

[rap]
A Part of me just wants to say that I’m sorry
But I’m not so I gotta be pardoned
I’m a hard hitter my heart is just hardened
It froze, it’s over darlin
Listen I know that it’s sad that you’re cryin
And I don’t care, but I’m tired
Of all the moaning and bitching and whining
I just came here to pick up what’s mine and be on my way
I’ve got an appointment
Yeah, I’ve got a job employment
You were a puppet, a prop, a pawn for my enjoyment
To get to my point, I met someone else
Who’s better in bed, better-looking, respects me
Someone who’s trying, who protects me
Heh
That’s what she said when she left me

(Chorus x4)
There’s a ghost in me
Who wants to say I’m sorry
Doesn’t mean I’m sorry

[Computer animated voice]
I woke up this morning cold and lonely
And my first waking thought was to get angry with you
It was the first time I’d thought of you in a while
But there I was mad because I was cold and lonely
And I guess it was that I was mad because you weren’t there
It’s just sometimes my friends tell me that I thought you would be there
That I was wrong living with you in New York and L.A.
Not that I remember anything from in December

Anyway, I had a very pleasant second date tonight with a very nice man
I probably had too much to drink
I probably shouldn’t be writing you now
It’s stupid, and petty, and childish and isn’t going to do me any good
But the truth is the truth

There’s a ghost in me
Who wants to say I’m sorry
Doesn’t mean I’m sorry…

Other song suggestions:

Wiley – Wearing My Rolex
Sia – Soon We’ll Be Found
Incubus – Sick Sad Little World
Lily Allen – GWB (Fuck You Very Much) – so pleasantly demeaning!
Adam Tensta – Dopeboy:

Which reminds me of another song with sick beats that I enjoy, Aesop Rock – None Shall Pass: