| Ears Like a Hawke |
|
|
I feel like every time I listed to "You're A Good Man Charlie Brown," I relate to a different character. Sometimes it's Sally's anger. Sometime's it's Charlie Brown's hesitation and self-doubt. And sometimes, it's Schroder's musical angst and desire for people to care just a little more about something so magical.
Why don't we have a real Beethoven Day? Really?
0 Comments
I think a few years ago I kind of hovered back and forth on Karen Elson's music. It was great at some points, and at others just could not hit right.
This popped up as new music this week, and without knowing who it was I made sure it got added to my lists. I was really impressed to see the artist in question though, and am excited for this growth in her music. She does have a new almost forthcoming too, and a tour in the works. This one may be worth the ticket price.
In listening to this, I was trying to determine the redeeming quality. I go back and forth on how I feel about The xx (I shared my personal background on this in my January article for Geekade - which you can read right here). Sometimes they have great music. Sometimes it's hard to grasp onto, like this.
This is one that grabbed me lyrically. As a songwriter (I use that term sparingly... and wishfully), the theme of acting for someone, for putting on a performance, is something I've definitely played around with since we're all guilty of it. It's captured really well in the lyrics of this song, and though the music is eerie without much of a grasp, the deeper listening is what makes it work. 
I always love a good, stripped-down version of a song. Shinedown tends to already have this strong vocal lead that hits you over the head with whatever message they're trying for in a totally band-back songs. So take away the drums, guitars, all the production, and just have that hard vocal with a small amount of instrumentation behind it, which really just serves to move it along - and you get an intense song released this Friday.
I'm not just being biased here because this is my best friend at work and her husband - they are seriously incredible musicians and creators. And the production on this is so unique, but it's it works so damn well. Ashley's vocals are embedded into the song, instead of being overly out front like most productions. There's a certain special sound here where the song feels completely level in every aspect; like you basically get entraced and completely surrounded by the entire song, never use a piece of it.
I've been fortunate to be an outside party along their journey, getting to hear about the progress of creation and production. It's one of those rare times that you get to see it go from beginning to end, and that's really special to me. These two have more music coming soon too, and I really cannot wait to get it spinning on my record player (like this single that I bought off of Ashley for a coffee :)). 
I think I mentioned sometime last week that my Discovery playlists have been reall off because of listening I've had to do for work. Well, this continued into this week, which makes me oddly interedted in the reasoning behind why I enjoy this song so much. Talk about super poppy and over sweet, this is it. I mean, I guess you just find a need for that on a random Tuesday sometimes.
Welcome back to Musical Mondays. We'll kick off this return with a song from my all-time favorite, "Rent." This is the heard -gripper, as Roger (originally played by the young and amazing Adam Pascal) pours his heart out as a songwriter looking to write the one perfect song before he goes... that, well, doesn't remind us of "Musetta's Waltz." A classic and amazing soloiloquy in a great show.
This has been a pretty decent new release week, what with Ed making waves once again. I had to give the rest of Release Radar a chance as well though, and lo and behold, my boys from Rascal Flatts have a new song out too!
This is particularly exciting because it's been a few years since they gave us brand new music. Not to take away the past few years from them - they've had some peak success with "I Like the Sound of That." I went ot one of their shows this year, and they had people raise hands if they'd never been to a Rascal Flatts show before - I'd say about half of that place put hands up. So yeah, they had a great 2016, and with this pop/country fun number, we may be in for yet another chapter in this legendary-status group's story. 
It's this lovely lady's birthday today!!
So, go listen to her music, and in her honor party it up. Can't think of anyone who deserves a happier day! 
I was explaining to a friend yesterday night that I think my Ed Sheeran fandom was a slow-propering one. I never heard + or x in their entirety at once on the initial release days. I got pieces of each at a time. A few songs here, a single there. My admiration for his music was slow, but grew pretty strong. And it was never sudden.
Today, however, was anticipated. We got news on the first of the year that Ed was releasing new music today, and we got two new songs. The build was actually there this time, and only for a few days. So a few friends at work and I locked ourselves and our computers in a room and sat to listen together. "Shape of You" was great, in its own way. But this song has now stuck with me for 24 hours strong, and it's like a driving heartbeat somehow. It's got the same effect as "She Sets The City On Fire" does when you're walking down the street, and a reminiscent lyrics that bring tears to your eyes as you start to relate them to people and places and memories. He's upped the production a bit, and brings that rasp in his voice as he starts to sing harder and more emotionally. Basically, nailed it - welcome back Ed. It's good to have you here again. 
|
Custom Search
AuthorBecause songs define our moments. Archives
May 2020
|
RSS Feed
