Was searching YouTube tonight and ran across this little gem. Acoustic guitar version of Damien Rice singing "9 Crimes." (he usually plays it on piano.)
That’s basically what a lot of music that comes out now days sounds like. Thanks for helping make my point Brick (Steve Carell's character in Anchorman) Or maybe it’s like throwing some instrument tracks into a large blender and instead of hitting “puree”, or smooth, some producer hits the button that chops ice. Depending on which method you choose, you are going to get two very different results.
How often do you listen to a song and are actually able to feel the raw emotion(s) that gave that particular song life? It’s pretty damn rare. You’ll never find me tuned into a Top 40 radio station. Most of the songs in rotation are about as full of emotion as Death Valley is full of water. Is a little emotion in songwriting too much to ask? I want to feel, almost [temporarily] experience, that artist’s emotion. Sort of a “paint your story on an empty canvas in my head through your music and make me feel what you felt.” (Okay, so I admit that there is more than just emotional radiance that makes me like a song. – i.e.: melody, lyrics However, emotion is a big component for me.)
Have you seen the movie, Once? If you have then you know the kind of emotional music I am referring to. The song the lead male character [Glen Hansard] sings at night on the street during the opening credits, “Say It To Me Now”, is one of the most raw forms of emotionally charged songs I’ve ever heard. It’s about as naked as a song can get. A guy. A guitar. A voice. That’s it. Nothing gets lost in over produced, super enhanced music. Here, just watch (Glen Hansard really is singing, it’s not some scene where the song is overdubbed.)
To use a popular phrase in Ireland, “brilliant!”
Want to know what else I love about music? How it can enhance a scene in a movie or TV show. It’s almost as if it helps direct one’s emotions/feelings for that short period of time. Zach Braff seems to have mastered the rare skill of placing a song perfectly within a scene, or series of scenes. (Check out the movie The Last Kiss to see what I mean.) Who ever is in charge of placing music in the NBC TV show, Chuck, has the gift. Same goes for Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs.
Here's one of my favorite examples.
[Scrubs "My Cold Shower" season 6 episode 19] [Song: "Stolen" by Dashboard Confessional]
There you go folks. More random music thoughts in the future.
Adios,
Biggie Burt
PS-I’m sitting in Newark airport and all I can smell is greasy fried potatoes. The scent is making me nauseous…and my flight doesn’t leave for another three hours. Sonuva bitch!
