While I'm on the topic of music,
This is my friend Stephen, and he rocks:
http://www.myspace.com/emptyorchestra
And here he is with the band Lingua Franca
Their music is just utterly beautiful.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
really good
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3 comments:
It's good, sounds kinda like something I have heard before though. Everyones ideal of beauty is different, what makes you think this particular artist's music is "utterly beautiful"?
P.S. The word verification thing SUCKS!!!
Hmm, I'm not sure that everyones idea of beauty is different-- at least where art is concerned.... I think everyones idea of identity is different and when I was young I defined myself by what I listened to, and that was a very immature perspective.
Mindless Self Indulgence was an aquired taste for me the same way that Alban Berg's operas were, but one that I'm very glad to have aquired... and I don't choose to identify myself with them the way their teen-age fans might.
And although there is a big difference between MSI and Lingua Franca, I think the the point is much the same.
And though it's said much better in music then I'll manage in prose, I'll talk directly about the song A Thousand Birds here.
Does it sound like something else, yeah (If I were going to do it the disservice of marketing, I'd have to say like a "gentle voiced Tom Waits for our generation.") But sounding "new" is never the point. Making something "new" is about our desire to bust out of the sick existence that our society says we should want for ourselves. And cliches are about the way our brains work-- we just automatically pigeon hole everything, and we try to break away from the "day after day and so on" because we want so desperately for people to really know us.
And anyone who dares to really communicate in our culture today is burdened by a language where a thousand lives can be erased so casually: "collateral damage." And when we accept that kind of language it means we're already worse than dead. In that kind of world what can I possibly be worth?
So how are you going to deal with that? MSI does it one way.
But Lingua Franca deals with the same thing a different way...
And the point here is "the urban gray," the mundane cliche that we're all expected to live. They try to make something beautiful with the cliches we're given in our society.... "day after day and so on, "and if bluebirds can, why oh why can't I?"
"A thousand birds" whispers In the hushed way that we dare to speak to our lovers about how vulnerable we are. In that way that we only hear some of the words, but it's all we need, because we understand already....
And then we try to break out of that-- so that people can know us, and know that we're spectacular, but there are just more urban greys, more cliches:
"and those summer days, when the nights were warm, the days were alive, the Urban grey was far from our minds, my heart will resound with the sound of a thousand birds, their wings stripped the sky,
If bluebirds can, why oh why can't I?"
Utterly beautiful.
Well, that didn't work... Perhaps I'll try to post something more on this later....
Or better yet, just go listen to the song again.
I don't think the majority of young people have "found" themselves yet or have the confidence/independence to be able to not define themselves by others music, clothing or personality quirks. I think at that age we all want to be someone else and reflect what we see not what we are. Beauty I believe is in the eye of the beholder especially art. Not everyone enjoys Andy Warhol, and some people despise country music. But others collect his art because they are so facinated by it and some people only listen to country and think the world of it. It's all about preference. I don't think self indulgence is an aquired taste, it's a natural instinct. Everything we do that we get enjoyment out of is self indulgence, because the end result is our satisfaction. Whether you enjoy helping others, taking care of animals, going into solitude on a mountain, going to an art gallery or eating a gallon of ice cream in the end it's all about you and how it makes you feel. I liked a Thousand Birds much better than the first song my soul stirred inside. I did listen to the first song again...hmmm..maybe I should have been more blunt the first time. It was just OK for me. I wasn't moved. (Oh there it is... beauty is in the eye of the beholder in an art form none the less)
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