guitar – 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.

HOZIER – OLYMPIA 2TH JULY 2015

Thursday 2th July 2015, Olympia Theâtre, Paris

Well, I can’t say he’s the arrogant type. Actually, out of all the words of the whole of the English language, arrogant would be the least appropriate to describe him. I would say he’s more of a… warm person. Yes, that whole experience was overall warm. (that sounded much less weird in my head)

The whole warm thing was on multiple different levels:

1) His personality. Imagine a cupcake, strawberry and vanilla, with more cream icing than it would be safe to put on there, extra sprinkles and a glass of fresh milk: that’s Hozier. Wait, no, sorry; make that cupcake irish.

He is just the sweetest person ever. I can’t count how many times he thanked the audience, his band, his friends, his managers… He even managed to personally thank, out loud, every single person that was on his tour.

2) His music and his band. It all was totally put together and seamless in a really rough way – I’m not sure that makes sense – but it was so natural and just… out there. I couldn’t have enjoyed anything more than those few songs he and his great band (Keyboard, two backing singers, bass, drummer).

3) The atmosphere the crowd and the venue. Half of the audience was a bunch of old prunes sucking the extremely hot air out of the place with their profoundly annoying disapproving glances and grimaces. The second half, on the other hand, was a gang of enthusiastic music lovers, most of them probably irish or english (a series of boisterous cheers at every moment Hozier mentioned where he comes from can vouch for that).

4) The heat (approximatively 45 degrees in that room). Attending a Hozier concert in a boiler would probably have been less hot. Oh well, it was a very, very nice alternative to a heating appliance.

All in all (and on a more serious note) it was a wonderful and intimate experience, where an artist honestly exposed his pure and soulful music to an audience, proudly flaunting his emotions and thoughts to the world. Isn’t that what music is about after all?

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”

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.”

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.