SONG REVIEW – Musicified

FREAKIN AWESOME MASHUP – Andie, Dodie and Orla (I love Youtube)

Gaaaah, I’m pretty sure nothing illustrates the power of music more than this video. I mean pure, real, raw music. The stuff that pulls you out of the universe and throws you into this whirlpool of honest emotion! These girls are the definition of talent.

I know there’s a lot of criticism around Youtubers, and this whole new world of music that’s developed in the last few years, but seriously I’m so glad stuff like this can be shared to the world. This is Andie, Dodie and Orla, three girls from totally different areas of the world, all three ever so full of talent, who are able to piece their art together to create something so fresh and true! I find that so wonderful. They just need one guitar, their three voices and a camera, and BOOM. There it is. THIS.

And seriously, even though this is such a cliché thing to say, how different is this from the stuff that’s on the music market today? You don’t need years in the studio adding fancy beats, complicated auto tune, ridiculous amounts of tracks and harmonies and just all round pollution. You just need talent, and heart. No pretention, just three musicians doin’ their thang for us all to savor.

Enjoy.

Jealous – Nick Jonas + Gospel Version

(Hey guys! I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a while, things have been crazy with trying to juggle music and school, but I’m back and have had a chance to really discover some good stuff so I hope you’re all ready!)

Oh my gosh I love this! I’m not sure if it’s the energy in all of this, the really catchy tune, or Nick Jonas (who is super cool), but I’m addicted to this video right now. Gospel is so powerful and I’d never had thought of mixing that soul and depth with a song like Jealous (“I turn my cheap music up and I’m puffing my chest”) – and the fact that Nick Jonas himself is involved makes it even greater. The whole thing has such a flow to it, which I love! It’s really refreshing but with a certain intensity to it… Does that make sense?

The Power of Music

I was listening to Black Treacle, by Arctic Monkeys, and I realized something.

“I feel like the sundance kid behind a synthesizer”

I had absolutely no idea who this sundance kid was, but those 9 words still shot a spear through my heart, and a tear down my cheek.

Music is a universal language anyone and everyone can understand. And I now know what to say to people when they ask me why I want to be a musician, why I love music so much, or why I’m always listening to music. “Music has no purpose, you can’t save lives with it”. Well no one will ever be able to find a better way to communicate than through music: how do you think some songs make you happy – or sad – for no particular reason? Music can save the world, can conquer all! Communication is the basis of everything in our world, now more than ever; and if you look at most of our problems on this planet, they are partly because of miss-communication. As much as I believe in the power of words, and literature and poetry, I’m absolutely sure that music is stronger than all of that.

Anyway, that’s all, if you don’t mind I’ll just go back to eating my chocolate eclair now. xoxo

Insert Song Title That Is Far Too Rude For Me To Write by Martha Wainwright – “BLOODY” GENIUS

There are some songs that come at you, all guns blazing, beating your fears to pulp; nudging you right into the epicentre of all emotions, right into the core of all the complications of life.

Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole, by Martha Wainwright, is one of those.

I am writing about this piece of music having discovered it no less than 5 minutes ago, after having savoured it’s wonderfulness a dozen times. I feel like I have just ingested everything I have ever felt in my life in one gulp. One infinitely deep spoonful of existence.

I can’t quite tell what this song is about… Disappointement? Regrets? Courage? Love? Hatred? Disgust? Or maybe a clenched fist struck proudly in front of life?

Her voice is raw and noble, so fierce but still so innocent. And that chorus, that spicy, rude, delightful chorus that stings your ears and makes you wipe off the tears you just shed from those incredibly true words.

“I will not pretend, I will not put on a smile, I will not say I’m alright for you when all I wanted was to be good to do everything in true.

You bloody mother fucking asshole”

EDDIE VEDDER – GUARANTEED | AN UPLIFTING TALE OF EXISTENCE

One single instrument, one single voice, and yet written so well that it empowers you in a way that a whole orchestra would sweat it’s brow to succeed at. The simple and soothing melody just glides through your ears and gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling in your gut: take a deep breath and enjoy the simplicity and emotion of Eddie Vedder’s Guaranteed, written for “Into The Wild”.

To begin with, I just couldn’t go without mentioning that fabulous pick: a bass line and melody tuned in with Vedder’s voice. The lyrics are so powerful, uplifting and universal but yet still abstract in their own way “Circles they grow and they swallow people whole […] A mind full of questions and a teacher in my soul”. The words weave together so many different themes like love, the simplicity of life, time passing “Wind in my hair I feel part of everywhere” (beautiful line by the way) and especially, hiding behind the simple melody, a strong critique of society. My favorite bit of this social satire is “I know the rules but the rules do not know me”. So personal but so brilliantly valid for any person out there. I love the way it describes the immensity of life.

Another important aspect of this song for me is Eddie Vedder’s voice. At first, I couldn’t stand it, but I grew to like the crackle and rumple in it: imperfections like that make music so much more touching and approachable. It makes it real.

This song was written for the movie “Into The Wild” which is definitely one of my favorite films ever. It’s the story of a young man who is fed up with society and decides to go out into the wild and face great big Alaska armed with nothing but a rusty old broken caravan. It is so terribly thought provoking, a beautiful, brilliant, marvelous portrait of existence that widens your perspective on life a whole lot. For me, Guaranteed is the song that represents that trait of the film the most throughout all of the soundtrack.

Just makes you want to grasp life: go make lemonade out of those lemons.

KATY PERRY – THINKING OF YOU – LIVE MTV UNPLUGGED

After having done some research, I found out that Thinking of You is one of the first songs she ever wrote, which is pretty impressive considering how emotional it is (plus, I didn’t even know that Katy Perry wrote her own songs – “you’re hot then you’re cold, you’re yes then you’re no, you’re in when you’re out, you’re up and you’re down” doesn’t seem very… elaborate). This version is even more passionate with the subtle mingle of strings and guitar woven together with the soft drums.

Katy Perry’s voice is astonishing, and I feel like it’s such a shame that she is not really recognized for her voice. She has so much control which allows her to focus all her emotions into her tones and levels of volume (along with all the fancy vibratos and so on).

Another reason why I adore her performance is the fact that she doesn’t seem to be doing too much. It’s just her guitar and herself with all of her vulnerability. It’s not boring, not in the least, I find it’s even more captivating to observe an artist beeing completely transported into their music and the emotion they want to convey. It’s beautiful, really.

“Comparisons are easily done,

One you’ve had a taste of perfection.”

CRYING TEARS OF FRUSTRATION – THE KOOKS, LISTEN

I’ve always been a great lover of The Kooks. Their fresh view on everything, a young twist on Brit-Pop, all their tunes so catchy and lyrics telling the tales of boyhood.

Their new album Listen (new-ish, I guess it took me some time to come to terms with my favorite band making an album I strongly dislike) is utterly dissappointing.

It’s just a load of electro-pop-indie vomit ~~which kind of makes me nauseous~~, and I doubt half the sounds on it are produced by actual instruments. Gahhhh, where has good music gone? And more importantly, why are good musicians making bad music?

Seriously. Take the third track Westside. Basically, there’s one teeny weeny guitar riff at the beginning, which is looped for what seems like eternity before this painful keyboardy sound is thrown onto a totally flat beat. The lyrics are so unlike The Kooks, especially as they’re repeated like a gazillion times and that’s what fills up the song to be honest. To me it just sounds like one of those annoying songs you skip on the radio in the summer when you’re looking for a song to spice up your road trips.

Okay, on a more positive note, there is one song I really love: See Me Now. Still, it doesn’t really sound Kookey but I am addicted to the simpleness of it. Just Luke singing, his pure voice bursting out onto quite a repetitive piano progression. Then comes in some bass, drums and backing vocals. Oh and there’s a nice bit of strings around the end of it that makes it feel extra 80’s.

Anyway, I sincerely hope this is only a test or something, because I can’t have all this talent beeing wasted on some commercial piece of crap.

I Want You Back The Kooks!!!

(get it?)

HOZIER – WORK SONG – LEAVES ME SPEECHLESS

hozier

A steady rythm, a simple melody, some subtle humming in the background: that’s all Hozier needs to orchestrate an utterly powerful anthem of passion.

I strongly believe that love is the only thing that death cannot break, something higher than human understanding that cannot be explained with any form of science or rational thinking. This upcoming irish singer-songwriter apparently thinks the same. In “Work Song”, he explores the links between the two extremes of life: love and death, which are empowered by his brilliant art of suggesting things without naming them.

“No grave can hold my body down, I’ll crawl home to her”

Another important aspect of this song to me, is the connection between the title “Work Song” and actual work songs, sung to get through the terribly hard days of work in the era of Afro-American slavery. He sounds like he is laboring for his love, as it is the only thing he looks forward to, thanks to the very simple rythm, which adds depth to the whole thing.

In a nutshell, Hozier describes the power of love with such a transcending edge: deeply moving and sincere.

THE TWO GALANTS // WE ARE UNDONE – WELL YOU SEEM PRETTY TOGETHER TO ME

Two Gallants - 2- Gallants

These 34 year old besties are a crazy fusion between rock and folk, critics comparing them to “Dylan covering The White Stripes”; and after The Throes (2004), What The Toll Tells (2006), The Scenery Of Farewell (2007), The Bloom And The Blight (2012), here comes their fabulous, dazzling new album We Are Undone.

Sounds burst out from all over the place, this anthology of incohesion is a roar into the boundless void of Rock and Roll. The Two Galants, Tyson Vogel and Adam Stephenson, who sound anything but gentleman-like, seem to be screaming farewell to their punk/blues past.

One of my personal favorites here, which plunges you straight into a boiling hot tub of a mesmerizing confusion, The Age Nocturne. It starts with some reverb/ overdrive lead, but that slight softness is slowly driven away by a heavy and crunchy strum, which is the perfect background to Adam Stephenson’s powerful choleric voice. A subtle crescendo that leaves you totally bewildered.

I’m actually getting high on these guys, on their art of fusing different genres and making it sound completely natural.