There’s a simple antidote to all misery, frustration, anxiety, restlessness, unease, self-loathing one feels: listening to music. In my case, it’s listening to a certain kind of electronic music. It works so well that it almost feels like cheating.
And in a way, it is.
It doesn’t really address the root causes, rather merely performs ‘precision’ massage on certain parts of your brain, in the form of perfectly calibrated soundwaves hitting your eardrum at an angle. With each drop of beats, subtle changes in scale, variation of rhythm and tempo - your senses are heightened, you get a persistent dull ‘feel good’ sensation, your thoughts are elevated, you take a flight of fancy - and soon, arrive at a state of ‘high’.
Once the music stops, you can ride that high for a while, but eventually reality sets back in. You’re back to square one.
What’s your point?
My point is - listening to good music is essentially a form of drug to certain individuals. And like all mind-altering, addictive drugs, the ‘use’ of this ‘drug’ should be regulated, if not deemed outright illegal.
Galaxie 500 | Leave the Planet
(Source: magnificentruin)
M.I.A. has dropped the video for “Bad Girls” and has once again proved that she is way cooler than all of us even though she is a bit insane.
“Do you like A$AP Rocky? I’ve been a big Rocky fan ever since the release of his Youtube video, ‘Peso’. Before that, I really didn’t understand any of his work. Too chopped, too screwed. It was on ‘Peso’ where A$AP Rocky’s presence became more apparent. I think ‘Bass’ is his undisputed masterpiece. It’s an epic meditation on swagger. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of his style. Christy, take off your robe. Listen to the brilliant ensemble arranged by the track’s producer, Clams Casino. You can practically hear every nuance of every sample. Sabrina, remove your dress. In terms of lyrical craftsmanship, the sheer songwriting, this mixtape hits a new peak of professionalism. Sabrina, why don’t you, uh, dance a little…”
Pure gold. Excited for the show this week.
Don’t know what I’m more excited about: the shows or the fact I didn’t pay a single $ to Ticketmaster to get the tickets.
WSJ has an interesting, albeit somewhat hilarious “behind the scene” look at famous bands and their lucrative yet publicity avert corporate gig racket :
The standard contract stipulates the rocker spend 20 minutes greeting people, with a limit of 50 hands shaken, says SAP’s Mr. Giampaglia. To get it over with, producers sometimes line guests up in groups of two before the performer enters the room. […]
Some stars make demands of their own: Before Metallica would agree to its first-ever corporate gig, for Salesforce.com last year, the band stipulated that several hundred members of its fan club be allowed to attend free.
While the die-hards and the conference attendees mixed peacefully, Metallica fans on the heavy-metal band’s website complained later about the corporate crowd.
“Everyone is just pretty much standing there motionless with their cameras out,” wrote one.
Finding an act for the typical 40-year-old tech-industry attendee isn’t always easy. […]
Indeed, stepping outside the mold sometimes misses the demographic mark. In 2010, Oracle hired hip-hop’s Black Eyed Peas; one older Oracle salesman, asked the following year, recalled their name as “something with food.”
Can’t get enough of A$AP Rocky lately. LiveLoveA$AP is off the charts.
That title is a bit misleading but I’m going with it. I thought it’d be fun to simply make a list of my most listened pieces of music that fit the following two criteria:
a) they can be found outside of Soundcloud (i.e. released in album format) and…
b) were put out in 2011
And when sorted in the order of # of times listened, this is what it looks like:
11. Other Lives - Tamer Animals
10. Walls - Coracle
9. The Weeknd - House of Balloons
8. Machinedrum - Room(s)
7. Clams Casino - Rainforest EP/Mixtape
6. Little Dragon - Ritual Union
5. Andy Stott - We Stay Together
4. Snowman - Absence
3. The Field - Looping State of Mind
2. John Maus - We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
1. Monster Rally - Coral
