VEGANGELICA

I get the feeling you like this Slowdive song quite a bit, UB! It does have a great atmosphere, matching the video very well.

Your feeling of clarify you get from the song sounds like what I hear meditators (and drug-users!) get from meditation and drugs, respectively: a sense of peace and unity with everything. Isn't it fun how music can elicit different mental states? This song reminds me of your music a little, by the way, because of the wave-like repetition and emotion.

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The Fascinating Turnip

It is quite fascinating that music has such power, yes.

The fact that you find that what you so kindly called "my "music" can even remotely transmit any kind of emotion is flattering already, but to associate it with that amazing song saying it reminded you of it is quite frankly jaw-dropping. It means a lot to me, I can only hope to make music that will transmit such feelings with that remarkable intensity. Thank you

VEGANGELICA

Well, I'm simply telling you the truth, UB. Your song "Whale" is one of the MB compilation songs that I have kept on my MP3 player. It was my favorite of yours. Sweet and haunting, it makes me want to cry. (Actually, it makes me cry! ) The song feels to me as if the rest of it is yet to unfold...I can imagine more to the song. And so I was saving "Whale" to listen to, imagining the rest of it, because I wish to copy the quality of your song...the bell-like tones, the langorous feeling...and incorporate that feeling into a song of my own. Mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

Your "Whale" song always gives me an image of a memory that turns out to be one I enjoy a lot, though I didn't realize at the time that the memory would last so long and feel so present, if you know what I mean. In this memory, I am in Florence with my mom and dad (my future ex but then fiance and his parents were somewhere else)...and we are climbing higher and higher up a hill above the city on little winding, cobblestone streets, past gardens of gnarled olive trees. Our goal: a little church my dad remembered from years earlier when he visited Florence. He remembered the singing of the monks there.

Finally we get to the church and listen to a part of the service, all in Italian of course, where the monks are chanting/singing. I think it is the chanting and singing that reminds me of your song, or vice versa, since you are singing in a melancholy way, and I can't understand any of the words. Afterwards, my parents and I strolled around a lovely garden where I had read there was a grotto that I wanted to see.

This memory makes me happy, and then sad...because the moment is over...and then happy again, because I'm glad to have experienced it.

I suppose most songs that touch us stir some memory or emotion already there. And "Whale" does that for me. It reminds me of this scene which I could see from the hill as we were climbing, and gives me a feeling of nostalgia and melancholy and love.

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The Fascinating Turnip

I am absolutely flabbergasted.

And I've been to Florence as well, even though I didn't have time to see much of it. That sight seems quite familiar though.

Again, thank you.

Arya Stark

Hugo, write more things.

P.S. I still love "Husband House!"

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MB Journal.
Azucar y Especia. My blog.

The Fascinating Turnip

^Hehe, it's a great song.

You may be thinking what the bloody hell The Foppish Corner is. Well, it's a place in which I'll discuss music that gives off different sensations but has an air of sophistication about it. Let's call it panache

A quality I quite enjoy in music is a sort of briskness, music that feels like it's the soundtrack of a crisp winter morning.
For me, atleast, the music that most commonly reminds me of a certain crispness is usually quite jangly in sound, but with the slightest change the mood can very swiftly change from sunny (in a cold wintery way) to rainy.

A few examples seem to be in order:


Both tracks are lighthearted pop really, but I quite like the feeling they give off, they're rather jaunty.

Felt is a quite interesting band, the fingerpicked guitar is present in most if not all the songs, and that along with some, in a way, baroquely glorious imagery creates a unique atmosphere. The character that is Lawrence is also rather interesting, little is known about the man it seems.

Here's another track:


Music is rather special in that it can take you away to a certain place. Much like books, it creates an atmosphere with no visual aid and if it's quite good it'll make you lose yourself in it.
Sometimes it may not be quite clear to you what it creates or where you've been, but you've still been somewhere.

These particular music-created places discussed in this corner always turn you into some sort of dapper individual, the protagonist in the tale being told or the tale you immediately imagine. Everything gains a certain grandeur, a dramatic twist that fortunately manages to avoid the imagery of David Brent singing If You Don't Know Me By Now. Just like the tracks above, though, the whole ordeal can be quite jovial and lighthearted.

Whilst we're on the dramatic side of the Foppish Corner, here are a couple of tunes that came to mind:

The Television track might not be entirely suited for this due to the vocals, but suited it is nonetheless. Torn Curtain is a fantastic song, the chorus always reminds me off some sort of cascade crashing down, which fits quite well with this excerpt from the lyrics:


Now, on to the other tune:

Do You Remember The First Time? is one of my favourite Pulp songs, it has a sort of air of forgotten youth, incredible lyrics (though they look fairly plain on paper) and the vocal delivery is amazing.
The video is also fantastic, although the good taste in Jarvis Cocker's shirt is questionable. Still, you can't deny the man is effortlessly cool.
Pulp is a band that has a very peculiar feel to it. It can be incredibly classy even if it's quite verging on being tawdry, or if a fairly common-place situation is being discussed.

A few other tracks, then:


A fairly common situation in teenage life turned into a bloody hymn.

Now, on to their more seductive side:


This is Hardcore not only has a terrific video, but it's a fantastic tune, has quite a "film noir" feel to it: femme fatale, man with a raincoat and hat standing in the corner in the pouring rain, the lot of it.
The second track is a bit more animalistic, but the general theme of the "corner" is still there, sophistication and a lot of emotion.

And so this comes to an end, I wouldn't want to run out of subject in future updates (hopefully I'll get round to them).
I hope my constant use of the word sophistication and other synonyms doesn't make me sound like a muppet who thinks he listens to the best music around. I suppose only time will tell.

Gavin B.

Some great songs posted here. I have a soft spot for Felt. I had never heard Felt's masterful rendition of Crucifix Heaven which reminds me of Andres Segovia's mysterious flamenco & Spanish classical guitar instrumentals. I'm guessing that the guitarist on Crucifix Heaven is the classically trained Maurice Deebank who played second lead guitar behind Felt frontman and first guitarist, Lawrence Hayward.

Quite a few people think Haywood's electric guitar playing resembles that of Television's Tom Verlaine who is represented on your Torn Curtain selection. I've read that Haywood worshiped Verlaine's songwriting and guitar playing & his twin guitar attack with Maurice Deebank was a tribute to Tom Verlaine & Richard Lloyd's dueling guitars in Television.

At first glance, when I saw VEGANGELICA's picture of Florence, I thought I was looking at a wide angled shot of Prague, another European city that has preserved much of it's time 19th Century, Old World architectural charm. I'm posting a wide angle shot the red roofs of Prague to show the remarkable similarities to the photo of Florence. Prague is untouched by the 20th Century advent of monolithic skyscrapers and the wide traffic boulevards of many European cities.

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There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt

The Fascinating Turnip

I didn't expect the presence of the great Gavin B. around these parts!

Thanks for completing my "entry" on Felt!

James

A great entry there. Four of my favourite artists being mentioned.

The Fascinating Turnip

The Foppish Corner

When I'm absolutely down in the dumps due to some ridiculous matter of the heart, I always find myself listening to a few melancholy tunes, which obviously doesn't do much to help. Call me a moper, I suppose.
In any case, one of the many bands I turn to in these times of crisis is Talk Talk. It's not that they're especially depressing, I listen to them regularly, not just when I'm being an idiot, they just have a relatively mellow sound to them, perhaps due to their approach to the synth.

This tune is one I find myself listening to excessively, perhaps, from It's My Life:


The synth is amazing, Mark Hollis is amazing, and it's of such a heart breaking helplessness that I sometimes can't help but shed a tear in reverence. His cries of "Renée" are filled with agony.

Happiness is Easy is a fantastic track from The Colour Of Spring:


The synth, the voice, the guitar arrangements, Mark Hollis' voice, and even the children choir are all terrific, and together melt into something of sheer brilliance. Despite being relatively melancholy in sound, and despite the obviously poignant lyrics, it somehow manages having a hint of hope, a light at the end of the tunnel.

Slowdive are a band I've mentioned before in this Journal, and I shall mention them again:


The ethereal sound of the track immediately sucks you in to a world of heartbreak and magic, something rather unique. The lyrics are terrific in their simplicity as well, here's a small extract:



Perhaps they just appeal to my adolescent self, but I'd say that's not especially bad.

The Beatles are of course known for quite a few sappy love songs, and here are two which are quite different from each other:


Typical love song, obviously about a girl, but a rather terrific one at that, if I may say so.

Now this is something else entirely, possibly my favourite Beatles song. It's perhaps a product of George Harrison's interest in spirituality, but I'd say that even so it can be considered a love song:


Just stunning. Absolutely moving, again a song worthy of a tear now and then.

And so my ramblings come to an end.