Music-Live-Reviews

Must be the time for videos because they keep popping up on my radar.  This particular one showed up in care of the next area indoor football team, the La Crosse Spartans.  Posted on YouTube and Facebook, they call it, “It’s My Time - The La Crosse Spartans Remix.”  It’s honestly not the greatest produced video, but I’ll give them some credit for the lighting used on top of the bluff.  I’d also question the reasoning for this video since their targeted market would only be students or at most a select few of area residents.  Afterall, the key to running a successful organization in this city is professionalism.  Take the Loggers for instance.  I hope they prove me wrong.  Oh well, have a listen for yourself and leave your comments on this post.

I seem to be posting a lot of videos lately.  Not really being productive towards unlocking new methods of creating music or the next great thing you should keep your ears open for.  Oops, ended a sentence with a preposition…..of.  But since videos are fun to watch, and the ones I do post still technically have something to do with music, I find no harm in them.  And thank you to mindless internet searches for this find tonight.  Enjoy the sweet sounds of “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen covered by, The Muppets, in their own way that is.

Note: My favorite part is at 2:51

Lifehouse has been one of my favorite bands in my collection, even when they only had one album released.  Now, they’re about to release their 5th studio album, Smoke and Mirrors, which is scheduled to be released on February 2, 2010. 

Lead singer, song-writer Jason Wade is great asset to the current world of pop/alternative music.  It’s hard to see all of the bands/singers out there that find themselves singing and recording music that was written by someone else.  For the purpose of being “catchy” and a potential hit, mainstream music just isn’t the same any more as it was even a few years ago.  However, for the bands that put the time and effort into writing their own songs, and then touring to as many venues possible to make their fans happy, gives hope to mainstream music, even for the few bands.

What I like best about Jason Wade is his approach to how he writes his music.  In an interview with him while writing Smoke and Mirrors, Jason said that he strives to write his music is a new way for every album, using different chord progressions and harmony combinations.  The best part of that is he’s learning this new kind of music as he writes it.  In my opinion, that’s when the best music is written.  New techniques are fresh in your head and it’s almost easier to write new lines instead of doing a different version of the same old thing.  All 5 of Lifehouse’s albums have a different touch.  But you can also see the progression of Jason’s talent in his writing.  From “Hanging By A Moment” to “Halfway Gone” the best is still coming out of Lifehouse, and I hope they keep writing for years to come.

The first single from Smoke and Mirrors, “Halfway Gone”, was released in late October, and the video for the single was just made public.  As from the looks, I mean sound, of it, I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album.  Only have 3 months left to wait….ugh.  Check out “Halfway Gone” below!

Most of you have probably already seen this, but I just saw this today.  Watch it full screen when you play it, it’s too cool.  This is during a performance by the Black Eyed Peas on Oprah’s show while she was in Chicago.

Because it’s been so long since my last post, I decided that my next post needed to be epically proportional to my greatest post yet. Which post that is actually depends on your definition of music. But instead of trying to figure that out, I’m going to start my series of What is Music in today’s world. It will not be a catalog of my favorite music and arguments for why it is the best. It will not be a list of quotes from famous musicians and poets. It won’t even be a rip off of Pink Floyd song lyrics. I will do my best to encapsulate the emotion of today’s music and blend that into definitions of why we listen to music so greatly, and in so many different fashions. I’ve put together a playlist of songs that help me write and I’m not the slightest bit tired, yet. So put on your “open mind” cap and relate to your favorite tunes, because, in my opinion, I’m defining music.

What better way to define music than from good old Wikipedia,

“Music is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture.”

Sounds good, figuratively. But I didn’t ask for a definition of the science of music. Honestly, when you listen to the radio, do you listen straight for the dynamics of the song? Do you find the texture of sound to be the utmost reason to press your ear to the speaker? Of course not! Your reason is for the final factor that all the key words in the definition of music can result in. Emotion.

Now you’re probably saying, what kind of blog post is this? Why do I have to read about something that I already know about? Will I potentially waste time by using this post to test my vocabulary? Why am I asking inconsequential questions to a computer screen that will inevitably turn my thoughts into an answer? Touché.

For those of you who are musicians. And I’m not talking about the teenager who picked up a guitar a year ago in hopes to play at their high school talent show. I’m talking about the true musician. The one who took time to learn their scales. Who has listened to the best of the best for hours on end because the sound takes your mind to new heights. The person who is actually moved by the music. One of the music teachers I had while going through school once told me that if you are unable to feel any kind of emotion from the music you’re playing, you might as well walk out the door right now and find something else that you can feel emotion from. That message was actually voiced to the entire band, but remembering from the silence in the room, either it hit heart to most or opened eyes for the others.

But naturally, if music is defined as emotion, then what is emotion? Why not Wikipedia it?

“An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings, thoughts, and behavior.”

Yet again, we get a science definition for what can only be explained on a personal level. Trying to dissect these definitions is an infinite process, but I don’t think that I need to go any further than from emotion. Can you honestly read that definition and feel any emotion? Maybe pain, because of the attempt to unravel the possibilities from the use of nouns. But really, what could be a better way of describing emotion other than a combination of words that omitted the possibility of describing the word of itself. Wait a minute…yeah, that makes sense. I have an idea, how about using music to define emotion. But wasn’t I just saying that I wanted to use emotion to define music?

Of course, the fact that the World isn’t connected by a single sound that brings everyone to peace and happiness means that emotion and music cannot be equally connected. But how far can that statement be true? How about relating that to a personal level? And if that’s the case, does your personality affect both the style of music you listen to and the emotion that follows? As you can see, I have enough questions to start writing a book. However, these questions are not for me, nor for you personally. They’re more of a stepping stone to branch out your thought process for what you listen to now and why you should or should not continue down the same path. That is, if you’re willing.

Join me for the next few posts, which will hit on many of the questions just asked. Across most music styles, personality traits and the occasional example band. After all, I’m only trying to derive the purpose of this blog and ask, What is Music?

-BC