Hello! If this is your first time to this blog, welcome! And if you are returning, welcome back! The goal of this blog is to provide a perspective from three different college students, each focusing in a certain area.
Why don't many people in the United States seem to listen to music from other countries? The first reason that probably would come to mind is simply that there is not a lot of foreign music as compared to domestic music available in the United States as far as the radio, CDs in stores, and those sorts of things are concerned. If people just plain don't even know something exists, then of course they will not listen to it. Fortunately, with the tremendous rise in use of the Internet, this lack of exposure to foreign music is diminishing. However, in my experience, people will also reject things that they aren't used to without even giving it a chance, especially with music. Even old Goggin himself has been guilty of this heedless judgment, but lately I have been trying to listen to new genres and bands in order to have a more complete knowledge and appreciation for music. It also helps me to get along with my friends, few of whom really enjoy electronica as I do. The third reason that people don't listen to music from other countries is that since most other countries speak a language other than English, their music is also in that language. For whatever reason, more often than not, people will stubbornly refuse to listen to music that isn't in English, a sad problem I've also encountered with film. Just because a song doesn't have words you can understand doesn't mean that the music isn't good. If you're listening to songs for the lyrics and don't care about how good or bad the music is, you might as well just read poetry. Most of the best songs I've ever heard, and movies I've ever seen, are from other countries and are not in English. It's really rather depressing that so many people refuse to look beyond the street they grew up on, so to speak. Clearly this is not true for everyone, but for me, the United States of America is just the country I was born and raised in. I am a global citizen. Anywhere I go, the world is my home, and it is to the music of the world that I listen. Goggin DuGalle, signing out.
There are essentially three ways to listen to music. You can listen to it live, with speakers, or with headphones. Of course live is the best choice, although a lot of music is produced with a computer and/or a synthesizer, and so there really is no live option. But which is better, speakers or headphones? Many people prefer one over the other, for various reasons. Both speakers and headphones have advantages and disadvantages. These aspects change if one is for example playing a game, as direction and distance is easier to gauge through headphones than through speakers. Therefore, only advantages and disadvantages when concerning music are considered here.
Headphone advantages:
Keep the sound to yourself
Block out some of the outside sound
Much higher quality for the same price ($20 headphones sound much better than $20 speakers)
Speaker advantages:
Share the sound with others
You don't need to wear something on your head
With a subwoofer, you feel the music as well as hear it
It is the second and third points of headphones that really cause me to choose speakers over headphones. Unless you are in a situation where headphones are the only reasonable option, such as on an airplane or when your passive-aggressive roommate is whining like a six-year-old, I can't think of a reason that anyone would want to have to wear something over their ears when there is an alternative solution. I really love listening to music with the subwoofer turned all the way up, as you can truly feel the music and it seems as though you have become one with its sound. It is true that if you have those weakling earbuds, such as the ones that come with iPods, you can give one to one other person and therefore share the music, but this is neither practical nor ideal. You each only get one channel, either left or right, and it is not very comfortable. Overall, I would choose speakers every time.
What happens when you mix the rough, rustic rocker vocals with a smooth never ending guitar solo... You get the song Into The Night. The lead singer of Nickleback, Chad Kroeger, meets the all too great guitarist Santana to make a classy fun song. This song is very simple, well maybe not Santana's guitar solo but the music has a simplistic flow that is very mesmerizing. The meaning of the song is pretty simple as well it starts with a troubled man who wants to end his life but happens to look across the street and falls in love with a girl just by looking at her. She seems to pull the devil straight out of him as she looks like she could be from heaven itself. This girl attracts everyone with her energy and dancing aura but to this one guy she is different.The song shows the beauty of this girl in a more natural yet still seductive manner. The song is a fun with a continuous chant of "ayo a yo ayo a" keeping the beat of the song going all the way to the end. Santana is a maniac on the guitar, just shredding and picking his way through the song. All in all this song is a very savvy upbeat song with an amazing guitar sound that is good for a drive on a nice day or in the club shakin' the money maker.
Something I haven't seen since No Doubt, a female vocalist and a band filled with men, but Paramore is rocking the nation with its power-pop-punk lyrics and catchy flow. Starting in 2004 doing gigs in Nashville, TN. Fueled by Ramen(producing many artist such as Gym Class Heros and PANIC! at the Disco) quickly signed them after a live performance in Florida. Their first album All We Know Is Falling was the album they played at The Warped Tour 2005 then almost immediately following played a stellar sold out tour in North America in 2006. After a little break they then recorded the sophomore album RIOT in 2007. The album is known for its biggest single yet, Misery Business. Although Misery Business made some stirs with the Christian community, saying the Lord's name in vain, Paramore (devout Christians) calmed the situation by explaining that the girl in the song was real and that she felt bitter towards her and that the song wasn't intended for people to break the commandments.
With all that aside, I think that Paramore is a great band to listen to. They are catchy, they are flashy, and they are deep. With songs like Misery Business you can get a little crazy with but then they have the ability to slow things down with songs like Pressure. It just so happens that Haley ( the lead singer) can actually sing, without the harmonic machine that most artists sing into, she actually has true talent with vocals and I think that is one thing that sets them apart from most.
Toy-Box is pretty much my favorite bubblegum dance artist. It consists of Anila and Amir, both born in Denmark but of Middle Eastern descent. They've since gone their own ways onto solo careers, but Toy-Box will always hold a special place in my heart. In keeping with the bubblegum dance style, their music is obscenely happy and centered around lighthearted and carefree love. Their lyrics are often ridiculous in a somehow clever way and in several instances make no sense at all, for example the line “No friends are never alone” which would really only work if the word used was “ever”. However, quirks like these only add to the fun of listening to Toy-Box.
My favorite Toy-Box songs:
Fantasy Dream World
www.girl
The Sailor Song
Tarzan and Jane
Prince of Arabia
007
Best Friend
Dumm-Diggy-Dumm
E.T.
Super-Duper-Man
Superstar
Wizard of Oz
It's very hard to choose an absolute favorite Toy-Box song, as many of them are almost legendary, but one of my favorites is “Fantasy Dream World”. The melody everywhere in the song is extremely catchy and expertly crafted. The low electric grinding instrument that accompanies the bass during much of the song sound very nice. The extremely subtle and hard to pick out magic sounding instrument forms a very nice counter melody to the chorus. It follows the same notes as the electric piano in the very beginning, so knowing that, it should be easier to find. Although when the prince is singing it's often so fast that it's hard to tell what he's saying until you've listened to “Fantasy Dream World” many many times, the words of the song are wonderfully powerful and often quite nonsensical in a startling beautiful way.
You must remove the downloaded file from your computer within 24 hours. It is only a sample of a track which you can purchase on a CD. The author of this site cannot be held responsible for the misuse or copyright violation of this song as enforced by any given country's laws.
Bo Martin Erik Eriksson, known as E-Type in the music world, is a somewhat creepy looking Swedish musician who released his first album in 1994 and is still going strong. His music is upbeat Eurodance, which logically is simply called dance when one actually is in Europe. Most of the songs are very clean sounding due to the bright instrumental sound and the clearly defined notes. They also sound rather epic and grand in a futuristic way because of the well chosen and used chord progressions as well as the powerful choruses, which have entrancing melodies and are sung by Nana Hedin, who is also from Sweden. Interestingly, essentially all of E-Type's vocal contributions to his songs are monotonous twanging in a rap sort of fashion that works sometimes but often just sounds weird. The only real problem I have with the music is that in general all the songs sound pretty much the same.
My favorite songs by E-Type:
This Is the Way
Olympia
Africa
Campione 2000 (The theme song for the 2000 UEFA European Football Championship that continues to be a popular soccer chant to this day)
Dans La Fantasie
If Heaven Were To Fall
Russian Lullaby
“This Is the Way” stands apart from the others because of its heavy and powerful feel as well as the great vocals. I find the words rather inspiring, and the melody of the vocals fits the strength of the song. I especially like the subtle up-down-up-down sound of a plucky sort of instrument that follows along throughout key sections of the song, namely the chorus, which are followed up by a sighing “oh-oh-oh...” that really encapsulates the mythic quality of the composition. Overall the song feels rather timeless, as in that it doesn't have a specific time it belongs to, whether ancient times before humankind walked upon the ground or the extreme future when the Earth has dried up and withered away. It has always been playing and always will be playing.
You must remove the downloaded file from your computer within 24 hours. It is only a sample of a track which you can purchase on a CD. The author of this site cannot be held responsible for the misuse or copyright violation of this song as enforced by any given country's laws.
Back in 2001, Jimmy Eat World released their biggest single of their career with "The Middle"; the underground Indie-rockers had never had a single crack the billboard top 200, and were all of a sudden getting heavy rotation on MTV. "The Middle" is Jimmy Eat World's most popular release to date, and their mainstream popularity has been down ever since its release. Make that is how they like it.
"The Middle" appeared on the album Bleed American. The follow up to this album, the 2004 release of Futures, was an absolute mess. While I myself have never considered J.E.W. (an awful acronym, I know) an emo band, it is hard to call them that, with titles of songs on including; "Work", "Kill", "Pain", and "Drugs or Me". When I heard about the release of Chase This Light, I was hoping that the band would move on from Futures. The first track off of Chase This Light gave me hope. "Big Casino" starts off with a fast guitar rift, and then starts to rock. It's a fun song, with references to the music industry, taking chances, and hopes of making it big, "i hope they draw my name from the lottery." "Big Casino" is not a J.E.W. original, but a leftover side project of lead singer Jim Adkins, titled Go Big Casino. While the first track gives promise, the rest of the album falls short.
After "Big Casino", the album returns to where Futures left off with "Let it Happen". The track is repetitive, drawn out, and downright boring. The third track, "Always Be", has an interesting start, with drum beats and snapping fingers, but doesn't do much beyond that. Throughout the album, there seems to be a theme of annoying, repeating background vocals. "Carry You" has a harmony similar to nails on a chalkboard, "Electable (Give It Up)" simply repeats "Uh-oh-Uh-oh" ad nausea, and "Here it Goes" does the same with an annoying "Hey, Hey, Hey!"
Despite all of this, there are a few tracks on the album worth mentioning. "Gotta Be Somebody's Blues" is a sullen, down trodden track, but is also the most interesting one on the album. The track is similar to Danish rock group The Raveonettes. "Dizzy" and "Firefight" are both a return to the bands earlier days. Both of these tracks seem like could of appeared on the bands album Clarity.
While Chase This Light is not as terrible as Futures, it is not a return to its earlier days as Clarity or Bleed American. And maybe Jimmy Eat World will never return to those days of popularity.
The Barcode Brothers are Christian Møller Nielsen and Anders Øland, a pair coming from Denmark. Their music is engaging and after hearing just a little bit you find yourself salivating for more. The music has a sort of trance quality to it, as it takes a catchy melody and repeats it while building upon it and putting out different variations. The Barcode Brothers only ever made one album, and it's the sort where with each track, it's either an awesome song or a fairly mundane one yet still worth listening to. The thing that sets the Barcode Brothers apart from other artists of the genre is really that their best songs are mind-blowingly extraordinary despite the disappointment of everything that isn't those best ones. They use instruments such as guitars, flutes, and bells together with the well-chosen electronic sounds that make up the bulk of the songs to create music that is easy to listen to repeatedly and actually somewhat meditative.
The best of the Barcode Brothers:
Flute
It's a Fine Day
Dooh Dooh
“It's a Fine Day” is a somewhat paradoxical song, as although the title and lyrics pronounce at first glance how nice of a day it is, the feeling and color of the music, as well as the interestingly chosen background sounds of waves and of seagulls, make the day being spoken of seem like a windy and cloudy day in deep autumn at the grass-covered top of high cliffs overlooking the ocean, perhaps with the singer standing up there wearing a big hand-woven coat. That is, however, a fine day in old Goggin's book. The sound of the chorus, both of the instrumental side and the vocal side, and especially the flute and nonsense vocals, is somewhat haunting in a strangely comforting way. The acoustic guitar forming a very subtle counter melody at certain parts is just one example of “It's a Fine Day”'s complexity and uniqueness.
You must remove the downloaded file from your computer within 24 hours. It is only a sample of a track which you can purchase on a CD. The author of this site cannot be held responsible for the misuse or copyright violation of this song as enforced by any given country's laws.
Thank goodness that Neil Young has released a new studio album. Young fans can now forget that 2006's Living With War ever existed. I, like a lot of fans and critics, was not entirely impressed by the album. Living With War was a concept album (the concept was basically bashing the Bush Administration's actions involving war, global warming, and other failings), and while the message was quite strong, most of the tracks were repetitive, and many of them fell short.
Now, in 2007, Neil Young has recorded another studio album, titled Chrome Dreams II. The album is a sequel to the Young album Chrome Dreams that was recorded in 1977, but was never released. The album does not has as much drive or direction as Living With War, but has a more general theme to it, such as his 1970 album After the Gold Rush.
The album starts off with a nice harmonica/guitar ballad in "Beautiful Bluebird", and it is very reminiscent of his song "Sail Away" from Rust Never Sleeps. According to his website, the first three tracks on the album, "Beautiful Bluebird", "Boxcar", and "Ordinary People" were all recorded in the 80's and scrapped from various albums. All of them do form a nice beginning to the album. The most effective tracks on the album are also the longest ones, with "Ordinary People" clocking in at 18:12, and "No Hidden Path" running at 14:33. "Ordinary People" is a song that has been long known by Young's die-hard fans, since it has been performed live a few times, despite never being recorded on a studio album. The track is a song that continuously tells the mishaps and misfortunes of various working and middle class people, with strong backing horns and keyboards filling in between verses.
The album encompasses a wide variety of Young's talents. He touches on his rocking side with tracks such as "Dirty Old Man" and "Spirit Road". The final track on the album is similar to "Our House", from Young's days with CSNY, although the it doesn't quite reach the same highpoint. Young of course includes a few guitar/harmonica driven tracks with "Shining Light" and "The Believer".
Overall, Chrome Dreams II is a very good album. The album is sort of a remembrance of Young in the 80's, touching on albums such as Rust Never Sleepsand FreedomWhile it is more of an album for Young's fans, it is still worth purchasing next time you are at a record store.
O-Zone is a fun band from Moldova, a country in Eastern Europe. O-zone split up in 2005, but before that, the members were Dan Bălan, Radu Sârbu, and Arsenie Todiraş, who have now all gone on to their own individual musical careers. A lot of O-Zone's music is very upbeat and energizing, and in the Romanian languge, although they seem to be the sort of band where a song is either absolutely stupendous, or rather boring. They were never very popular at all in the United States, except for their song “Dragostea Din Tei”, the real name to what many people know only as “The Numa Numa Song” from an Internet video from 2004 that quickly went from dashingly awesome to popular at an unfortunate level.
Anyways, my favorite O-Zone songs:
Despre Tine
Dragostea Din Tei
Ionize
Sarbatoarea Noptilor De Vara
“Sarbatoarea Noptilor De Vara” is an amusing song with a chorus sort of part that is really quite catchy. It has a pretty simple beat, which sometimes has whistles for some reason, but it works out fine with the rest of the music, which is also somewhat simple. The very subtle notes being played in a constant staccato manner throughout much of the song make “Sarbatoarea Noptilor De Vara” a pleasing song to listen to if you can pick them out. Because of that, I personally would have made them louder. The people going “Iyeee! Whoaa!”, as well as the background crowd of people laughing sometimes, put together with the somewhat back-and-forth aspect of the chorus sort of part makes it a nice song to both listen to and shout “Iyeee! Whoaa!” with your friends in a big car on a sunny afternoon while driving through the town with the music up and the windows down.
You must remove the downloaded file from your computer within 24 hours. It is only a sample of a track which you can purchase on a CD. The author of this site cannot be held responsible for the misuse or copyright violation of this song as enforced by any given country's laws.
When you have found yourself to be weary after a tough and aggravating day, it is only natural that you might want to recover with a remedy that is soft and soothing. “But Goggin,” you might ask, “What could possibly be both soft and soothing?” Well, nothing is softer than the French language. And nothing is more soothing that the music of Alizée Jacotey, who goes by the stage name of simply Alizée. Her music is a mysterious milkshake that invokes dark and calming colors such as black or deep blue. The songs carry with them a balanced pairing of powerfully continuous bass notes and upbeat drums, both surrounding the enchanting vocal melodies and a few electric guitars thrown in here and there. Now, you might ask where one could find such music. “Right here in my hand,” would be my reply, if the keys I now press to type this sentence could be considered to be in my hand. If that is true, it then follows that such music is also in your hand, the hand you are using to control your mouse, touchpad, or rollerball device.
My favorite Alizée songs:
J'en Ai Marre
J.B.G.
C'est Trop Tard
J'ai Pas 20 Ans!
Moi... Lolita
Veni, Vedi, Vici
Youpidou
“J'en Ai Marre” is an especially transcendent composition, and definitely my favorite Alizée song. The way that it opens with the violin and guitar pairing, next adding the drum and bass lines with such a peaceful greeting, then finally becoming the actual song, sounds like the timeless juxtaposition of clouds and mountains. According to an unreliable source, the song is about something along the lines of “in heaven I am fed”. Although I do not really know any French, and so do not know what the words are really about, I like to think that “J'en Ai Marre” is the story of an enormous French man with little glasses, a man who loves to eat. He spends his days as a connoisseur, traveling the French countryside in search of both new and familiar dishes to dine upon. Unfortunately for this man, he is attacked one day by a stranger from another land. After a lengthy duel that is brutal to both parties, the French man collapses and never gets up again. He is in heaven, and it is there that he can forever partake in his great passion, eating.
You must remove the downloaded file from your computer within 24 hours. It is only a sample of a track which you can purchase on a CD. The author of this site cannot be held responsible for the misuse or copyright violation of this song as enforced by any given country's laws.
Last year American Idol did something they have never done before, they produced the youngest winner in American Idol history at seventeen years old, her name is Jordin Sparks. Now that the new season is approaching a lot of people thought that she was just another shadow from the American Idol curtain because of the overdue album, but just when you thought she was not going to show she comes with a powerful song titled Tattoo. In American Idol Jordin never once entered the bottom two or three, saying a whole lot to the people who doubted that she would be the next Idol. At seventeen and standing well over her peers, Jordin has the music industry at her feet. Jordin is not only an amazingly powerful singer but she also models for a plus-size women clothing line, Torrid. It seems to me that this plus-size girl is doing more than plus-size things. I watch American Idol religiously and I have to be honest about not liking Jordin at first but I have come to love the youngin' and respect the fact that she is beating the odds by being a plus-size singer and showing everyone that she can do anything she wants. With the powerful and elegant voice to go with her bubbly attitude she can't help but be loved, although she never felt so much love before. Jordin went through the typical weight issue that most people go through. In high school Jordin towered over her classmates and told everyone that she often felt out of place. Even though she was different she had the loving support of a family and friends that stood by her side all the way. All the way through American Idol and still standing by her today. In the final show she was in tears because of the love she was given on stage and by the judges, this was obviously a dream come true for a girl who faced a big obstacle that many people fear to take on. I am very proud of the girl even though I have never met her. I can foresee a lot of great things coming towards this amazingly beautiful singer in the future.
“Hegyirabló” is a rather fascinating song, with its back-and-forth methodology and the singing of a man with one of the lowest and most resonating voices I've heard pretty much everywhere. The voice sounds like it's at the bottom of a swimming pool filled with delicious molasses and is surfacing to breathe every now and then. The supplemental strings and brass add a pleasant roundness to the song, as do the parts with several people singing in unison. The constant bass drum gives “Hegyirabló” a pleasant constantness, and the way that both the vocals and the other melodic segments of the song arrive in chunks on the beats makes the whole composition sound like the heartbeat of the Earth Mother.
You must remove the downloaded file from your computer within 24 hours. It is only a sample of a track which you can purchase on a CD. The author of this site cannot be held responsible for the misuse or copyright violation of this song as enforced by any given country's laws.
“Santa Maria” is another Neoton Familia favorite of mine. It too has back-and-forth singing as well as mulitple people singing in unison, both aspects of vocals that I am particularly fond of in music. The melody is rather simple and somewhat monotonous much of the time, causing it to in some ways take a back seat to the excellent bass line. That bass line is one of the grooviest and addictive bass lines to be found, and when coupled with the simple yet effective drum beat, forms a driving force that propels the song along its fantastic way. The chorus, where the only words are “Santa Maria”, is musically pleasing and fun to listen too. The violin instrumental about halfway through is quite beautiful as well. Overall, “Santa Maria” is an awesome song in the original sense of the word.
You must remove the downloaded file from your computer within 24 hours. It is only a sample of a track which you can purchase on a CD. The author of this site cannot be held responsible for the misuse or copyright violation of this song as enforced by any given country's laws.
Last night, I was able to see the one, the only, Bob Dylan in concert! The concert was held Assembly Hall in Bloomington. While Assembly Hall is a great building, I was disappointed that the concert was not held in the Indiana University Auditorium. If you have ever seen a concert at the IU auditorium, you understand my disappointment. The IU auditorium is an amazing place to experience a concert. I remember the first time I walked into the IU auditorium. By eyes grew large, my mouth dropped open, and I was awestruck. I was hoping for this to happen again when seeing Dylan; but overall, Assembly Hall a decent concert atmosphere.
Due to hectic traffic, I missed the first opening act Amos Lee. However, I did arrive in time to catch Elvis Costello. Costello performed an acoustic act by himself, and simply brought the house down. He came out rocking with the song "(The Angels Want to Wear My) Red Shoes". There was a good variety of songs, switching between upbeat rockers and slow ballads, such as his hit song "Allison". Costello interacted with the audience quite a bit, by talking between almost every song. He told stories about his children, previous wives, and Governor Arnold Schwarchenegger. Since he was playing at Indiana University, he said at one point, "I hope you all kick some ass tomorrow in your football game against Penn State." After some cheers from the audience, he replied with, "I have no idea what that means, they just told me to say that." Overall, Costello was a great 2nd opener.
Now this was my third time seeing Dylan live. The first time seeing him was a bit of a disappointment, due to the fact that he was on the side of the stage, not even facing the audience, or playing his guitar. This time around, Dylan's performance was much better. He played guitar for his first 4-5 songs, and actually played in the middle of the stage. He has a great backing band, who rocked and jammed on "Ballad of a Thin Man", "Highway 61 Revisited", and "Summer Days". Four songs came from his most recent album Modern Times, which were all performed well. An interesting thing to note was that Dylan's most famous songs, "All Along the Watchtower" and "Like A Rolling Stone", which are both regulars in his live performance, were both omitted from this concert. A song that caught be by surprise was "Blowin' in the Wind". It was the second song of the encore, and I didn't even recognize it until almost a minute into the song. The song was sped up, and had a country sort of twang to it.
Overall, the concert was very enjoyable. I look forward to seeing Dylan live again in concert, after seeing him live, the same goes for Elvis Costello. While I'm sure Dylan's live show is not up to the level it used to be, it was still great a music legend and my favorite artist perform live.
Another great band from Hungary is Neoton Familia, and one of my favorite bands as well, up there in the top tier where all are so great that a number one cannot be determined. In fact, one of the best CDs I ever owned was Napraforgó, which I bought when I went to Hungary. I conclude that Napraforgó means sunflower in Hungarian, judging by all the sunflowers that show up in Google Images when I search it, as well as the big sunflower on the cover of the CD case. I was quite upset when I lost it a year later, but luckily I always copy all the tracks to my computer as soon as I can when I obtain a new CD. A lot of their music sounds rather yellow or brown, and usually a happy feeling emanates from most of the songs. Neoton Familia is apparently Hungarian for The Newton Family, so I suppose that its many members are all in the same family. It is hard to find information about them, but I can tell you that they are mostly from the 70's. Their musical style is a sort of vaguely disco-like sort of somewhat early 80's rock in a way. In other words, it sounds like nearly every song is about “this is how the world is, isn't it great?”. Sometimes when my friends hear my playing Neoton Familia, they tell me, “Goggin, there is a reason that this type of music went out of style.” Well, I do not see why I should care that the music I like is not “in style”. Any music that is good music is always in style here in Gogginland.
My favorite Neoton Familia songs:
Don Quijote
Egy Huszas Eleg
Egy Kicsit Szemtelen
Forrófejű Lány
Ha Szombat Este Táncol
Hegyirabló
Nyár Van
Robinson
Santa Maria
Szia! (Helló!)
Tini Dal
Visz a Hajó, Fúj a Szél
As you can see by this bountiful list, Neoton Familia really rocks old Goggin's socks. You may look forward to reading more about some specific songs, what are perhaps the best of the best, when you tune in next time.
Groovehouse is a mystery. What dear old Goggin means by such a statement is that although there are several Groovehouse music videos on YouTube, the small amount of information available on the Internet, mostly from their own website, is all in Hungarian, which I cannot read. What I can tell you, dear reader, is that Groovehouse is from Hungary, is still active, and that the names of the two members may or may not be Miki and Zsolti. There seems to be a fair amount of quality electronica from Hungary, and Groovehouse is the best that I've heard. A lot of their music sounds black and purple, a result of the strong bass and the particular synth sounds they use. I also like the way that the language of the lyrics sounds, perhaps because of the flowing vowels, and because I do not know what any of the words mean, it becomes easier to hear the vocals more as another instrument of the music and less as just words on top of the music. It is important in good music that the vocals contribute to the overall composition as one of the instruments and not as fundamentally unnecessary words that add no true value to the song, no matter what language the lyrics are in.
My favorite Groovehouse songs, although I haven't heard very many:
Álom
Vándor
Olla-Olla
Szívvel Lélekkel
Vándor is a good example of what Groovehouse sounds like. It has a muscular beat and bass, setting a good foundation for the vocals and the rather subtle instruments. The piano counter-melody adds a very beautiful touch to the song. If I knew what the words of the song meant, the video would probably make more sense, but already I can tell that it has something to do with a bad man in medieval times, a hero man, some sort of creepy wizard man, and an ornate princess lady. The sound of Vándor fits the feel of many hundreds of years ago quite well, despite its modern sound.
“Rasputin” is one of the most famous songs of the 70's group Boney M., the members of which are Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett from Jamaica and Maizie Williams ad Bobby Farrell from the West Indies. Although they have a fairly large number of songs that are traditional songs, especially Christmas songs, Boney M.'s music is mostly disco-like with a few songs containing elements of folk songs. For example, “Rasputin” contains segments of the Turkish folk song “Uskudara Gider Iken”. It is a highly catchy song about the legendary Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin. The pacing and rhythm of the vocals fits stupendously with the steady drum beat, making the song easy to follow and easy to remember. Although the music is mainly gold-colored guitar and light green strings, “Rasputin” has an overall color of off-white. Listening to this song reminds one of a valley filled with dancing cossacks and Rasputin up front singing about himself in the third person. The music video personifies some of this feeling with some nice dancing and cool-as-custard facial expressions by Bobby Farrell. With entertaining lyrics and music that sticks in your head with a death-grip, it's a very cool song. By the way, it gets cut off by the video, but that last line is “Oh, those Russians”.
While searching the vastness of the internet, I have come across a few downloads worth mentioning. The first is the newest from the Flaming Lips, "I Was Zapped by the Lucky Super Rainbow". The song is from the soundtrack to the the movie "Good Luck Chuck". Since the soundtrack included the likes of Olivia-Newton John and Pepper, I decided to avoid the soundtrack at all costs, and just downloaded "...Rainbow" as a single off iTunes for $.99. The song is catchy and upbeat, similar to their single "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" off At War With the Mystics. The lyrics are about a guy talking about how lucky he is to of found the girl he is with. I would assume that this song goes along somewhat with the movie "Good Luck Chuck", however, I can't be sure, since the only thing I know about the movie is it stars Jessica Alba.
For the second download of the week required a bit of digging, and I was able to find the track as a bootleg. On September 19th, Bob Dylan performed at the Ryan Auditorium, in Nashville, Tennesee. The track is a song on which Dylan brought up on stage Jack White of the White Stripes to guest on the song "Meet Me in the Morning" off Dylan's Blood on the Tracks, a personal favorite album of mine. According to a Dylan site that has kept track of Dylan's setlists over the years, this is the first time that "Meet Me in the Morning" has ever been performed. White does more than simply guest on this song by taking the lead vocals, and even taking some of the lead guitar licks. White gives and upbeat kick to the vocals, with the backing band rocking out behind him.
Sometimes you might come across a song where somebody mixed a bunch of samples from one or more sources over a drum beat and called it music. These compositions are typically not so good to listen to in actuality. The Avalanches, an Australian band that does just this for the most part, is on the higher end of the spectrum with songs like these. One song in particular, “ Frontier Psychiatrist”, stands out from the pack as a phenomenal mix, having superb usage of music and samples making up a track that is jolly good fun to listen to as well as somehow being both energizing and calming at the same time. And to further raise “Frontier Psychiatrist” to greatness, it has one of the craziest and well-made music videos ever. Having visuals like this to a song that is made of essentially arbitrary clips of dialog and sound effects really helps one to notice and keep track of all the things going on, many of which might not be really noticed otherwise. Not only that, but a lot of the elements to “ Frontier Psychiatrist” are simply so odd or unconnected to the rest of the track that the viewer will probably think to themselves, “This is quite unusual! Why does that old man have a turtle's body? What is going on here? This is all so strangely delightful! And the monkey! The monkey is rather frightening!” Although the song is nearly four and a half minutes long, which is slightly longer than a standard track, it is so full of new and varied bits and pieces to notice and think about that when the video ends, the viewer will be somewhat disappointed that it has to be over already. Another good song by The Avalanches is “Since I Left You”, the eponymous track to their first album from 2000. It's also their only album, but apparently they are working on another.
"We all have a song that somehow stamped our lives, Takes us to another place and time" this was taken from the song by Kenny Chesney "I go Back".
Now this is another post that will require some feedback because I want to know, not that I am going to take the comments and do an experiment but I am just curious. I know that music is a deep art that some people can relate to and some can't, I love music and I love it so much that there is like a play list to my life. A song is always going through my head, it kind of marks a period in my life. I listen to almost everything but mostly when I listen to 90's rock I remember the good ole days back when I lived in Brook, Indiana. I was carefree and loving every minute of it, I can remember the smell of the air and the way it felt. I remember the way my parents drug me to all those parties and even though I bitched about it I secretly loved it. I loved watching my parents have fun and relax. I loved having drunk people let loose and show a side that most people don't see. I remember being the PIMP of the party at age 5, haha and having the high schoolers pick me up and take me with them to "Get me ahead of the game". It takes me back to a time where just waking up in the morning was good enough and the sound of a few friends was all I needed to make a successful day. I took for granted and regret not enjoying it more. I wish there was a way to go back in time and enjoy more of those times, but instead I listen to the songs of Bush, Nirvana, Third Eyed Blind, Tool, Green Day, Metallica, Oasis, Smashing Pumpkins, Fuel and many more grunge bands and it seems to satisfy the urge. I want to know what songs take you back to a day where you didn't worry so much and you were just living. I think everyone should take a time out and think about it. I know I do all the time, and it kind of makes me sad but then I think of how great it was and I can't help but laugh. Good Luck in the future but remember to live for the day because soon they will be your past.
Alright friends I am gonna take a route that I haven't taken since I have been on this blog. Drum roll please! Who is the Best Rapper? I know you are thinking where did this come from, well I was on the phone the other day with a guy that I had met in AIT. Well long story short we thought back about the fun we had and the argument about who the best rapper was. I said flat out Lil' Wayne! He argued that it was TI who was the best. Well the battle went to a stalemate but I had learned a lot about rap from this guy. He explained to me that TI thought he was the baddest and so he create a alter-ego AKA TIP just to battle him, cause he was that good. Well after we graduated he came to the conclusion that it wasn't TI or Lil' Wayne but the one and only Marshall Mathers AKA Slim Shady AKA Eminem. He said the reason for him being the best is because when TI and Eminem went to the studio to record TI had to go back and write another verse because Shady had went and blown him out. I agreed with the statement that Eminem was if not still the best, because no one will ever dare to battle him. He is feared by mostly everyone in the rap industry, with his no holds bared lyrics not many can hang with this white kid from Detroit. If you want a glimpse of any of his fatal lyrics just look up Eminem on a browser and there it will be. If you want a good "dis" track then look for the Hail Mary dis on JaRule. If you don't like Eminem then look up the Insane Clown Posse Slim Shady dis, but if you look that up then you might as well look up the Shady dis on the Posse. Anyway I want to know what you guys think, Who is the best rapper? Dead or Alive it doesn't matter just voice your opinion and let it be known who you think is the best!
I am not sure if you have heard yet but Kid Rock has come out with his new CD titled "Rock and Roll Jesus". I have listened to it and I am kinda impressed to say the least! The album takes a different route this time around with a much more slower pace and a more southern rock. All in all it sounds more mature and takes a little bit more from the south and combines it with the always popular Detroit rock. It really reminds me of Lynard Skynyrd just a little more rough. The song titled "Rock and Roll Jesus" really puts the impress of that. Now when you go more into the CD the songs get toned down and deep but still has the old time soul to it. The song "Roll On" is a particular favorite of mine, just because it gives that outlook of life and I think he captures it really well. I also have to say I am a favorite of "Lowlife" it is a bonus track, but it has that dirty gritty feel to it and it is just plain country rock! I love it. The CD in a whole has put a whole different style to Kid, it is something I really didn't expect from him at all. I like it but I remember the Sex, Drugs, and Booze Kid not the Southern Junkie. I think it just goes to show that he can really do it all, whether it be Rap, Rock, or Country he can go with the best. Nice stuff! If you are looking for a taste go to MTV.com and you can search Kid Rock and it should appear.
“Dream Drive” is another nice SOUL'd OUT song that takes a big pot of a basic but pleasing beat and some mondo magic vocals and then stirs in all this subtle usage of various instruments, mainly piano, slap bass, strings, and even an electric organ here and there. The result is a dish that is tasty, very tasty indeed. The music itself, especially the piano, is uplifting and has parts with a crowd of some sort shouting in unison, a compositional feature that old Goggin has a soft spot for. “Dream Drive” is a song that can be listened to while in almost any mood, whether happy, sad, or something else in between or outside. It reminds one of a car ride down the highway of one's life, a long journey that all take and a journey that must end someday. Are you driving this car alone or is your car filled with passengers sharing your trip? Is your car fast and wild or slow and contently observant? Whatever the answers to these questions you may have for yourself, there is no doubt that your journey will be a better one if SOUL'd OUT is playing from the stereo.
You must remove the downloaded file from your computer within 24 hours. It is only a sample of a track which you can purchase on a CD. The author of this site cannot be held responsible for the misuse or copyright violation of this song as enforced by any given country's laws.
This past Tuesday, Bob Dylan released a greatest hits CD, simply titled DYLAN. While I myself am a devout Dylan fan, I have absolutely no intention of buying this album. The reasoning behind this can best described by a review of the album on Pitchfork : "Bob Dylan's recording career has been compiled and re-compiled so many times that his new 3xCD box set needed to have some kind of serious reason to exist-- it's got the responsibility to give us some kind of fresh take on him. Instead, it's the same damn songs they've been feeding us over and over for 40 years."
Yes, this new greatest hits album has absolutely nothing new to offer. While all of the songs belong to be on a greatest hits album, every single one of them have already been on one of Dylan's greatest hits albums. In fact, 15 out of the 16 tracks from The Best of Bob Dylan, released in 2005, appear on DYLAN. After finding this out, I have to sit down and just wonder why this album is even being released. Despite this, there is one upside of the release of DYLAN. For promotion of the new album, British producer Mark Ronson has decided to make a remix of the track "Most Likely You'll Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)". The track can be previewed on the official website for DYLAN.
SOUL'd OUT is a one-of-a-kind band, and also one-of-the-best as far as I'm concerned. Hailing from the Land of the Rising Sun, which is a fancy way to say Japan, their eccentric musical style is a fusion of hip-hop and disco. The group consists of Diggy-MO', the main MC and the one in the middle of that picture there, Bro. Hi, the MC, human beat box and the one on the left, and Shinnosuke, the trackmaster and the one on the right. In many songs Diggy-MO' has a voice unlike any other I have ever heard, a sort of nasal chorus. Bro. Hi is truly a human beat box, once in a while making sounds I couldn't even begin to attempt to immitate. Shinnosuke never says anything but has the loudest and most impressive voice of all through the music itself. Most of SOUL'd OUT's lyrics are in Japanese, with a few bits here and there in English. For me this enhances the music even further, as the sound of the Japanese language is very pleasing to my ears, probably a result of having lived in that country in the days of my early youth. But then again, I enjoy the sound of the Hungarian language far more, and I only went there for about six days.
Anyway, a few of my favorite SOUL'd OUT songs:
Dream Drive
To All Tha Dreamers
1,000,000 MONSTERS ATTACK
ALIVE ~Wall5 Remix~
Love Peace & Soul
Flyte Time
Master's Groove
Diggy Diggy Diggy
Wekapipo
Magenta Magenta
I first found out about SOUL'd OUT from the TV show “Yakitate!! Japan”, a cartoon about bread and one of the best shows to ever exist. One of the end credits tracks for the second season was this crazy thumping disco hip-hop sort of song with a CGI rendering of one of the main characters dancing on a pedestal. That song was “To All Tha Dreamers”, and thus SOUL'd OUT was discovered. “To All Tha Dreamers” is an epic song with absolutely fabulous string, brass, and piano, colored whitish-green, a blossoming purple-pink, and pale blue respectively, all accompanying the energetic vocals. It also has a higher percentage of English lyrics than most SOUL'd OUT tracks. Although the song is about five minutes long, it feels much longer yet doesn't get tiring because of its many sections with quite varied styles and feelings. A veritable smörgåsbord of rhythm and sound that fills the listener with an unexplainable sense of energy and goodness in the world, “To All Tha Dreamers” is a truly legendary song and strongly represents the sound of SOUL'd OUT.
You must remove the downloaded file from your computer within 24 hours. It is only a sample of a track which you can purchase on a CD. The author of this site cannot be held responsible for the misuse or copyright violation of this song as enforced by any given country's laws.
Well I have been out of the loop for awhile about getting you some new music so I have searched the depths of myspace once again and came out with a guy from Greenville, South Carolina. His name Corey Crowder and he might not be all that new, after all he did make his debut on the reality T.V. show Real World. Even so he is really good. His song "Here's Looking at You" is a surelove song that could be played over and over again when you are with that special girl or guy of your choice. The soft-souled acoustic singer has been plucking at the heart-strings in his songs and with a little bit more light could probably make it into the hall of heart-throbs along with Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, and John Mayer. Check him out at his myspace, just type in Corey Crowder in the music section.
How about this guy who is nowhere near as popular as Corey Crowder his name is Mark Webb. He is actually from the same town as Corey, so I am assuming that they are somehow connected, but anyway he is kinda doing the same thing with his music but he is a little bit more upbeat with his songs. They are still love songs and everything but with a little more pep to them. Still a good guy to listen to so check him out also and see what you think. Just search Mark Webb at myspace in the music section.
Now the song I like best, "Walking Her Home", by Mark Shultz. I am going to put this video on the site and you are probably gonna cry if you listen to the words. Yep it is another emotional song and a real tear jerker, too. I don't know much about this guy but I do know that this song is awesome and really true. It shows love in a song and not just the summer love but the unconditional love that you see in the eyes of your grandparents or the old couple on the park bench. This song is just a solid song that shows the true meaning of life and what it is all about. I give this song a solid ten and I hope you guys like it as much as I do.
These are my new guys. Maybe they will soon be your new guys, too.
At first I found “Licky Licky” to be a decent song, but after a couple listens it began to grow on me. It is a song about tasting exotic fruit, but we all know what this standard metaphor is really about. Of course, because Crispy is a bubblegum dance artist, they just go ahead and slay what would otherwise be relative subtlety with lines such as “Would you like some coconuts? / I got a pair already”. The fruitfulness of the song is furthered by the fruit-salad of the music, carefully creating a delicious bowl of heavy baseline plums, string-counter melody honeydew melons, watermelon synth bits, and apple slice vocals. The awesome computer-flute thing sounds like frozen tofu, except that's not really something one typically puts in a fruit salad. Also, the little fruit men dancing on the table in that video there are kickin' rad and clearly Licky Licky Lady wishes she could dance like that.
A wise man once said, “Songs are ways to say things that sound absolutely stupid when you just say them outloud.” My favorite Crispy song, “Happy King”, is a perfect example of this great truth. For example, the line “I am happy as a king” is the cornerstone of this song. But what does that mean? Can one really assume that to be a king is to be happy? Never mind that since the singer is female, she should be happy as a queen. Nevertheless, the idea of complete happiness is conveyed perfectly. What I also wonder about is why every single line that the male accompanist sings is ridiculously amusing and amusingly ridiculous. Why does he say “and me still get no kiss”? And then he goes on to tell us “I never get no kiss kiss / Kiss kissy, never ever”. Whatever the reasoning behind this, it's lyrics like these that give this song and many others like it their addictive charm. This is especially true with “Happy King” because of its sugary upbeat nature, employing all manner of white and tan synthetic instruments to make a great song with masterful melodies in all the right places.
You must remove the downloaded file from your computer within 24 hours. It is only a sample of a track which you can purchase on a CD. The author of this site cannot be held responsible for the misuse or copyright violation of this song as enforced by any given country's laws.
Whenever Radiohead makes any sort of announcement, it is a big deal. The news the British band announced Monday is no different. The band announced its plans for one of the gutsiest moves in the music industry ever. The band will be releasing their seventh studio album In Rainbows on October 10th. The album will only be available for download on the bands website. According to a website made for the release of the album, the only required fee of the album is a credit card processing fee. When I first heard of this news, I immediately pre-ordered the album. Upon checking out, there was a blank next to the album price, with a linked question mark. Upon clicking on the link, I was brought to a page that simply read “It is up to You”, with another linked question mark. I clicked the link again, and was brought to a page that said “No really, It is up to You”. In other words, Radiohead will be releasing their new album ABSOLUTELY FREE!
With the release of their previous album Hail to the Theif, Radiohead completed their contract with EMI-Capital records. The band is releasing In Rainbows entirely on their own, with no label or company. I believe that this is a very good move for the band, and releasing the album for free is a concept that will end up helping the music industry as a whole. Having one of the largest international fan bases, Radiohead will without a doubt turn a profit despite having fans choose how much they want to pay for the album. Almost every track on the upcoming album has been performed live by the band, and can be found on YouTubeor multiple bittorrent sites. The success of In Rainbows will prove to the RIAA and record labels that digital downloading is not hurting albums sales. While releasing a new album for free is nothing new, it has certainly never been done at this caliber. Most new and upcoming bands release their albums for free simply to gain exposure, and to get their name into the market. Radiohead, however, is one of the most popular international bands of today. Radiohead is simply paving the way for the rest of the music industry.
This afternoon a package arrived for me, a package containing the CD I ordered the other day. This CD is “The Game” from 1998 by bubblegum dance artist Crispy. Crispy is a band from Scandinavia, containing the members Mads B.B. Krog, Mette Christensen, and Christian Møller. “The Game”, like all out of print CDs, is rare and hard to find, which is why I had to buy it used (but still in like-new condition) from a man in an undisclosed military location in the Pacific. I was also fortunate enough to obtain the Japanese release, which has sixteen tracks versus twelve on the original. However, this CD in particular is different because instead of the band making one or two albums and then breaking up like nearly all bubblegum dance artists did, Crispy made this one CD and then the lead singer Mette died of cancer a few years later. Anyway, the purchase was admittedly rather risky since I had heard only one song by Crispy ever, “Licky Licky”, but luckily my expectations that others would be just as good or better were correct. “The Game” is easily one of the best CDs I have ever purchased. With just about every track, the music is amazing and the song expertly captures that elusive perfect melody. It's the combinations of great music, enchanting melodies, and creative lyrics that make this album so magical.
My favorite songs:
Licky Licky
Kiss Me Red
Lover On The Line
Enchanment
Banana Bay
Happy King
Tune in next time for more about a few of the songs on an individual basis!
It's late at night here in Gogginland, and the perfect time for the soothing and altogether mind-deepening music video of “Sexy Boy” by one of my favorite artists, Air. The two members of this French band are Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel. Their music is pretty much all a smooth blend of resonating electronica, tranquil melodies, and light rock that reminds one perhaps of the seventies. I have never heard any other band quite like Air, a band whose music carries a steady flow and has a feeling both otherworldly and intimate that makes one think of how things will be two million years into the future. They also created the soundtrack for the movie “The Virgin Suicides”, which I have never seen.
My favorite songs by Air:
Kelly Watch The Stars
Alpha Beta Gaga
Sexy Boy
Cherry Blossom Girl
Now about the music video. The song itself has that fascinating baseline that acquires a captivating overlay of rough resonance between light and dark metal, and the powerfully repeated and eponymous line of “sexy boy”. It is the kind of song you might listen to while falling asleep in order to be taken to a place far out in deep, deep space, where the place you came from looks no different than all the places around you, and so you contently continue your amazing journey to another world far away while thousands of years go by. The music video obviously has a different take on the song, of course based on the words that are mostly in French and so have no impact on my interpretation because I don't know what they mean. But Sexy Boy goes to the moon, so clearly the outer space feeling is strong. The use of drawings and basic animation instead of live action represent the peacefulness and simplicity of the song very well. Although a music video that centers around a stuffed monkey wearing a shirt that says “sexy boy” on it has an inherent humor about it, the video and music together have a strange kind of rare beauty.
Undoubtably one of the best country stars in modern day times, Kenny Chesney has given the world a warm and summer feeling inside. Having six albums with at least one track going to the number one spot, Kenny has dug a pretty deep home within the country world. As one of the top artist in the country music industry many other artist look at him as a guide but no one can match this singer/songwriters ambition and love for the music. I dont want to sit here and bore you with numbers and how great he is because personally I cant speak for everyone. I want to explore the music and the artist that creates it.
I am a huge Kenny fan to say the least! So I can be maybe a little deep or favorable to this artist.
Who knows why this artist can make a song about summer and summer loves? What is the feeling you get when you listen to a track produced by this guy? I can tell you what I feel, I feel warm, like I am back at the beach and care-free agian. Like most of Kenny's songs they have to do with the beach or summer. I think that everyone can relate to this heart-throbbing summer beach bum. The lyrics make you think about life and how you may take things for granted, like his new song "Dont Blink". If you have ever been in a relationship then you can definitely relate to his songs. The songs make you go back, funny because that is actually one of his songs (I Go Back). They make you reminisce of the love you had for the summer and the love you had that summer. The feelings almost make you relive the past that you so much want to get back. It gives you that summer sun and that summer feeling all over again. Not to mention the non summer songs that have to do with life and decision making. The wild teenager that cant wait to get out of that small town but ends up right back in that small town, or the pissed off boyfriend that takes a trip to the neon lights looking for the good stuff. All these scenarios take place within everyone and the songs are here for that lonely car ride just clearing your head. The music this man produces is a cornerstone to almost everyone that takes a breathe. Through the hard times and the great times Kenny has got a song for that. So dont blink and make the most of memories.
Back in the summer of 2005, the Foo Fighters released their fifth studio album In Your Honor. Dave Grohl pronounced that the album is the “ultimate” Foo Fighter’s album. The album came as a double disc album, with the first disc being hard rocking songs, and the second album featuring soft, acoustic driven songs. Guests on the second album included John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Norah Jones, and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. In Your Honor is one of the Foo Fighters’ most successful and highly publicized album to date.
While many critics gave the album rave reviews, I was not one of them. The rock album drew thin, with the only enjoyable songs on the album being the singles “Best of You”, “DOA”, and “No Way Back”, with the rest being completely unbearable. Despite all of the guest appearances on the acoustic disc, as a whole it was a complete mess. To date, I believe that I have given the entire acoustic album a complete listen-through only once.
Ever since the beginning of the summer, when I first heard news that the Foo Fighters were releasing another album, I couldn’t wait for it to arrive, mostly because of my disappointment in the last album. When I discovered that Gil Norton (who produced their second album The Colour and the Shape, which was re-mastered and re-released this year as the 10th anniversary of the original release of the album) was producing the album, I was certain the it would be a success. On September 25th, the Foo Fighters released their sixth studio album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.
The album starts off with a bang with the first single from the album, “The Pretender”. The track is a hard rocking return to the early days of the Foo Fighters. The chorus is very catchy: What if I say I’m not like the others? What if I say I’m not just another one of your plays? You’re the Pretender What if I say I’ll never surrender? So who are you? The first single also includes a very cool music video, with a SWAT team attempting to attack the band:
While the album starts off very strong with “The Pretender”, if unfortunately fades from there. It seems that Dave Grohl and Co. could not steer away from the half acoustic/half rock idea that was used on In Your Honor. Instead of having separate acoustic and rock songs, there are multiple tracks where both of these ideas are meshed together. The tracks “Let it Die”, “Erase/Replace”, “Come Alive, and “But, Honestly” all have a similar recipe; they all end with hard rocking guitars, and include a soft acoustic intro or bridge. While “Erase/Replace” uses the recipe with the most success, the for mentioned tracks become awfully repetitive and boring. There are some enjoyable filler songs on the album, including the acoustic track “Stranger Things Have Happened”. The more enjoyable tracks are ones that most listeners will casually listen through. “Long Road to Ruin” and “Summer’s End” are both upbeat, 90’s rock songs that the Foo Fighters are known for.
The end of the album includes some interesting experimentation. “The Ballad of Beaconsfield Miners” is a sort-of tribute to a man Dave Grohl met before he was involved in the Beaconsfield mine collapse in Tasmania, Australia. The instrumental track guests Kaki King, and is mostly acoustic guitar picking. Another experimental tune is last one of the album, “Home”. The ballad includes only Dave Grohl singing and softly playing the piano. The track includes a tie-in to the album title: Echoes and silence, patience and grace And all of these moments I’ll never replace While both of these are an interesting change from the Foo Fighters norm, they both come as awkward and out of place on the album. These would both have a better effect if they were included in some sort of B-side or bonus disc. Personally, I would of much rather seen some more upbeat rock songs at the end of the album, instead of these two head scratchers.
Before I bought Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, I hoped for a follow up album that was better than In Your Honor. Overall, the Foo Fighters put together a decent album. The album had a better structure than their previous album. Unfortunately, the album left me wanting more, for it did not meet my high expectations.
SMiLE.dk is a nice bubblegum dance band with songs in a good range of styles and colors. As of their last album release in 2003, the members were Malin Kernby and Veronica Larsson. The .dk tag at the end of their name is because although the band is from Sweden, they marketed themselves in Denmark. Like many bubblegum dance artists, they were also quite popular in Japan. I do not actually know if the name is supposed to be pronounced “Smile” or “Smile D. K.”, but I usually just say “Smile”. One of their earliest songs, “Butterfly”, is quite famous because it is not only a good song but it was in the original Dance Dance Revolution. Several other songs of theirs have been in later versions of Dance Dance Revolution, but none are nearly as well-known as “Butterfly”. One thing that I've noticed about SMiLE.dk's music that makes them stand apart from other artists of the genre is their impressive proficiency in making songs that are delightfully easy to sing along with and stick in your head for a long time afterwards.
Some of my favorite songs:
Dancing All Alone (Kimono Mix)
Dragonfly
Boys
Future Girls
Come Chameleon
Golden Sky
Mr. Wonderful
“Dancing All Alone (Kimono Mix)” is both my favorite SMiLE.dk song and one of my favortie songs of all time. The original “Dancing All Alone” was basically the same song except that for the kimono mix they replaced the words “singing dum-dee-doh” with “in my kimono” which makes the song fifty times better. I don't know why they didn't just do it that way to begin with. My friend thought a kimono was a small wooden house, so I will tell you that a kimono is basically a traditional Japanese dress for women. Anyway, some of the things that make this track great are the beat and baseline that give the song its energetic feel, and the chorus that is easy to pick up and is strangely fun to sing. The song obviously has a sad connotation, but its melody has a kind of content beauty. I also like the instrumental side of “Dancing All Alone (Kimono Mix)”. It's quite a green song, with a dark greenish-black base, shiny green-gray plucky instrument things, and a light green string counter-melody to the chorus. My favorite color is green as well, so it's no surprise that I like this song.
You can listen to “Dancing All Alone (Kimono Mix)” here.
You must remove the downloaded file from your computer within 24 hours. It is only a sample of a track which you can purchase on a CD. The author of this site cannot be held responsible for the misuse or copyright violation of this song as enforced by any given country's laws.
Bubblegum dance is a genre of music that is not really like any other. The name probably came about because that's how each song sounds: like bubblegum that is dancing. Bubblegum dance comes primarily from Scandinavia, especially Denmark and Sweden, although the words to the songs are almost always in English. I love the bouncing beats, happy music, and fun lyrics, but it always invokes the same question from my friends. They ask, “Goggin, why are you listening to music that is clearly aimed at teenage girls?” I think such assumptions are unfair and wrong. I listen to whatever music that makes me feel good, and if someone thinks less of me because of that, I don't want to be their friend anyway.
Nearly all bubblegum dance follows this formula:
Steady 4/4 beat
Chord-based music with mostly synthetic instruments
Lead vocalist is female, often high-pitched and somewhat nasal
Song follows chorus-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-chorus-chorus-chorus-etc.
Lyrics are in English and about love
Lyrics contain sexual references ranging from thinly veiled to bluntly obvious
Nonsense lyrics such as "la-da-dee-dadee-dah" or "aiee-oh-wah"
Some of my favorite artists:
Toy-Box
SMiLE.dk
Aqua
Dr. Bombay
DJ Bobo
You may look forward to reading more about these artists in the coming weeks.
