one-hundred-seventeen.

[cabaretlights.livejournal.com]

When I'm Gone
We Shot the Moon
Love and Fear
2012

♥: As I mentioned in my Mixtape post, I keep seasonal mixes. This is mainly because I love returning to songs as memory triggers, little heartbeat bombs from my past -- and it's gotta be the right temperature outside; gotta be the right time of year; all those factors need to line up before I can get a musical stomach-drop.

Problem, though, with getting older: the seasonal playlists pile up. And up. And then, right around the time you find that you don't have as much time for music as you used to -- you realize that you're listening to old music more than new music. And it's not bad, not at all -- it's sort of necessary, in a lot of ways. But the heart I keep music in feels like it's getting full, and that makes me feel terrible. I don't listen to new music as much as I used to -- partially because I have so much old stuff to return to...

But it's also partially because a lot of what's coming out bores me. It's the same boring folk indie garbage or tired pop & rap over and over again, with predictable patterns and hooks and everyone is listening to the same garbage and I don't even have the energy to wade through the bullshit, sometimes. I miss discovering music and getting terribly excited about it. I hate that I feel I might be losing the way I attach to music (though I think, as with everything, much of it hinges on the fact that I need more time to myself).

But more for another post.

A few weeks ago, I heard this song, and it was magical and it was instant and I loved it. It might be similar to some of the indie-synthpop already out there, but there was something about it that absolutely clicked with me. I don't really know the band; their other stuff doesn't do a whole lot for me -- but any time a song hits a personal chord, nowadays, I take note.

I also like the righteous indignation of this song: "You're gonna miss me when I'm gone!" the singer proclaims, as if that ever really happens. We tell ourselves these lies to make ourselves feel better when we get put in bad situations, but as you get older and more aware, the cognitive dissonance sort of..fades. And I love that I can sort of get into this song, feel the dissonance again -- instead of just feeling useless, ineffective, as I so often have this year.

Thus far I am not a fan of growing up.

one-hundred and seventeen

[amethysting.livejournal.com]

No One Does It Like You
Department of Eagles
In Ear Park
2008

Despite the fact that I found the Montreal Contemporary Art Museum to be an utter disappointment when I visited it a few years ago, I did discover two songs that have stuck with me.  I already posted the first and it seemed inevitable that I would eventually be posting the second, "No One Does It Like You".

Again, I was introduced to this song through its video.  The bizarre and pleasantly unsettling video--in combination with the thumping forward march of the music--made me sit up a little straighter in my plastic folding chair.  I instantly had the feeling that I was seeing and hearing something that would be deeply affecting.  I like the fact that I first heard this song in a darkened room--save for the flickering light of the movie screen--and with the sound turned up.

I almost wonder what it would have been like to hear this song without seeing the video...would it have made such a lasting impression?

I think so.

The song and video are like two separate and distinct works of art wherein each can be interpreted and enjoyed independently of the other.

"No One Does it Like You" has all the marks of the kind of music I tend to be drawn to--replete with ghostly ooooohs, that killer, heart-squeezing line ("I tried so hard") and a weird, but rhythmic sonic soundscape.  I never tire of this song; I'm excited to be sharing it with you.   

post one-hundred and eighteen theme

[amethysting.livejournal.com]

Because it's that most dreaded time of year...and to carry on the kind-of tradition (haha), next week's theme is: