13 posts tagged “music”
They're an unusual brand of spaced-out indie electronic rock. Apparently, their song "Oh My" is the theme of Project Runway, but I've been watching Runway for 4 years and I don't remember it. Their other single, "Fashionably Uninvited" was featured in the movie "The Invisible."
Credits aside, I enjoyed this album very much. Their songs have the perfect blend of traditional rock instruments and electronic sampling, giving them a Radiohead-like dreaminess.
Possibly another plus for fans of Radiohead are the lead singer's vocals. Jonathan Bates is like a more coherent version of Thom Yorke or the poor man's Chris Martin of Coldplay. A subdued, understated color to his voice gives all his songs passion without Bates having to resort to screaming. Quantity is most definitely not quality, especially in this case.
What Mellowdrone brings to their music is a sophisticated set of lyrics. Like any good song, they really don't make much sense on their own, but when combined with the music and Bates's soothing voice, they words come to life. It's a very cosmic sort of poetry.
Who needs sex when you have Trent Reznor?
http://theslip.nin.com/
This man makes me cry.
Trent Reznor...
Just when I think I've lost faith in you, you go and do something incredibly amazing that reminds me why you are a god.
2 disks
36 tracks
instrumental
...
I'm in love so much I'm crying.
Why the fuck hasn't my debit card come in the mail yet?
Video: Show us a video that makes you want to dance.
If your body matches what your eyes can do, you'll probably move right through me on my way to you -
Audio: What's your favorite carol or holiday song?
...yeaaaah. It's pretty much the most amazing song ever.
But I also like the Metallica/Trans-siberian orchestra version of Carol of the Bells.
I find it really disturbing that Trent Reznor has such a similar voice to Saul Williams. It's not identical, but there are a lot of similarities in tone and pronunciation - such that I find it really hard to differentiate the two.
This is made a lot stranger by the fact that Reznor is a white, industrial rocker while Saul Williams is a black hip-hop artist.
If you don't know, Trent Reznor has worked closely with Williams in order to produce the free album "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!" He produced the album, arranged the music, and did backup vocals for several songs.
It's a really interesting and intelligent album, so download it here: www.niggytardust.com
Do you tend to like music in particular genres, or are your tastes all over the place? What are your most and least favorite musical genres?
This question was made specifically for me, right? Haha..
My music tastes are all over the place - really. My top genres are usually very electronica themed - something with a really good synth/electronic blend but still with very melodic tones really makes me happy. You can see the influence of my early musical loves (Linkin Park, AFI, Ace of Base) in almost everything I listen to today. Especially with Linkin Park. Their remix album, Reanimation, is still one of my favorite albums to this day, and is exactly what I look for in terms of electronic/industrial music. Nine Inch Nails is the perfect mix of electronica and industrial rock, which is, undoubtedly, why they're one of my favorite bands today.
Another genre I love has got to be post-rock. It's stuff like MONO, Explosions in the Sky, The Album Leaf, World's End Girlfriend (which is more electronic/ambient). Post-Rock music tends to be all-instrumental (or with limited vocals) and focuses on building stories with music. Quiet intro growing to an epic climax before dying down again. It paints a landscape. For me, I find that music is more important than lyrics. I'll suffer through poorly written lyrics if I like the music. (*cough*Ayo Technology*cough*)
Recenly, I've been getting into hip-hop. Timbaland, Rihanna, Sage Francis. I started listening after TJ and I broke up because it was the only thing I couldn't associate with him. Since then, I've been casually listening to that sort of music because -- well -- it's empowering, in a way.
Other genres I typically listen to include indie pop, symphonic metal, alternative metal, pop in foreign languages, goth rock, and revival music (i.e. Queens of the Stone Age and NOFX)
The only genre I wont' listen to is country. I find the voices really irritating, probably because I dislike southern accents, and the music is just too generic. :/
...
That was too much for such a short question, right?
The first band I liked seriously was Linkin Park, which I am only mildly ashamed to say. Meteora was the first CD I bought with my own money.
At that stage, in seventh and eight grade, I went through my whole, "I HATE THE WORLD!" phase, something quite a few teenagers seem to be stuck in today. Linkin Park spoke to that phase, and I quite arrogantly thought "Oh, this song is about me! This song speaks to me!" How pretentious...
For the longest time, I was OBSESSED with LPTV -- the documentation of their tours. Before the days of three computers with internet in my house, I would go to the public library and watch the ten minute videos downstairs...in the children's section.
...what a rebel.
Now, I like to think that I've grown up a bit from that phase. I like to think that I am self-aware and have good taste in music. But still -- I have the occasional day where I pop in Meteora or Hybrid theory and just smile at how cute Chester is.
Chester: WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME?!
Me: No one will ever know...
My favorite Linkin Park album is still Reanimation, their remix album. In fact, I still consider that to be one of my all-time favorite albums of any band I currently listen to. I'll agree with my friend Kat on this one; if all of Linkin Park's music were like Reanimation, I would not be ashamed to listen to them.
This song, P5hng Me A*Wy, remains one of my favorites on the album, next to the remix of Crawling.
Yes, their lyrics are cliched, all about teenage angst and killing yourself and all of those lovely things, but the music is not bad! The mixing done for Reanimation is what makes it such an excellent remix album. It's electronic but still heavily melodic.
When I look back at Linkin Park as my first serious band (yes, I had a total crush on Chester), I realize that they influence the type of music that I like today. If you look at the majority of my music, it's heavily electronic, industrial, with strong male vocals. This even explains my love of intelligent hip-hop/rap, because Mike Shinoda's voice is actually understandable to me.
They came out with a new album recently, Minutes to Midnight, which I dutifully bought out of principle. I don't want to say that I was disappointed, because I thought that it was quite adorable that Chester was still having issues that he wanted to sing about. However, I didn't like it nearly as much as I loved their old music. It was different, but it still retained a lot of the elements that made their old music appealing.
Even if I didn't like it, I can acknowledge that they were very smart about releasing it. It retained enough of its old elements to be somewhat different from all of the pseudo-rock bands of today, but it broke more away from its nu-rock roots in order to attract new fans.
Honestly? It was a really smart move: in terms of music because it shows that they can do something experimental while still sounding like themselves, and in terms of general marketing.
And Chester is still cute and all screaming-y. <3 Have you noticed how almost all the "screamers" in rock bands tend to be super skinny and wiry?
Anyway, I still liked a bunch of songs off of the album. I feel that "Bleed it Out" was the closest to their old style, but some of the slow ones where he's all emo and broody were just adorable.
Oh, not to mention, "What I've Done" was the image song for Transformers.
You can't go wrong with transformers.
Audio: Share what you're listening to right now.
I immediately recognized Trent's background vocals when I heard this. That made my day.
<3
Ever since he and I broke up, I've been consciously changing myself, I think.
I cleaned and reorganized my room.
This weekend, I'm cutting my hair short...i think? I'm not sure if I want to. I keep waffling back and forth.
I bought a bunch of new, colorful clothes/shoes last week.
And for the past two weeks, Rihanna and Timbaland have dominated my iPod, something I find odd and not quite "me."
Today, I started getting back into Nine Inch Nails. They've been the driving force in my life for the past two years -- the one thing I'm glad for Jess's influence. After some shit went down last night from him, I watched the Beside You In Time concert again (first time in a few months) and felt almost instantly better.
Going back to these old values is necessary for me once in a while -- no matter how much I may dislike "With Teeth" I always go back to it every six months or so because it centers me once more on the person I was in contrast to the person I am/want to be.
I need to restructure myself constantly and consciously -- I need to focus on those things that are important and not be an idiot at school.
I really want this Humanities project to be over because I can't take the stress anymore.
