Neapolitan

My Lo-Fi Journal

I was thinking of taking a short-cut and concentrate on one or more songs from a band and have that as my main focus. I might work my way up to album reviews later but I don't think I'll go the route of critiquing whole discographies. What I hope to accomplish with my music journal will be is something between Rhino's Nuggets and VH1 120 Minutes. Hopefully there will be good mix of songs from old favorites to ones I found recently.

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Neapolitan

The first impression are the most lasting, so I felt I had to come up with a song that make a good introduction to the music I like. That I could branch off of and would tie in some of the different things I like. I had a few in mindI wanted to start off my journal, but they got bumped back when I came across this one. I felt this song would be a good way to start off this journal. First thing I love about this video is the fact it starts with three seconds of silence before the song beginning, it's a moment of anticipation wondering what to expect. In a way it starts with a question "What are they going to play? " "What are they going to sound like?" And they answers it with a really decent 3 minutes song. To me it has different elements, it's not borrowing from just one, it has different lines of influences and manages to blend them together. In a way that is true of every song. Any group has a wide range of influences some more prevalent than others. Besides modern alternative there a things reminiscent of the past. How they dress coincides with that, the bass player has a 60's look about her, the drummer's maybe 70's and the guitar player is definitely looks like she just step out of the 80's. I don't know if they plan it that way maybe it is an accidental coincidence.

Cassie Ramone is on guitar and lead vocal, Katy Goodman is on bass and also share vocals, Fiona Campbell on drums. In this video Cassie plays a white Telecaster, she strums chords at steady tempo on top of her playing are the driving force of the song the bass and drums. Katy plays a violin shape bass modeled after the Hofner Bass (often called The Beatle Bass). For this video Fiona is playing kit that's pared down only a snare, floor tom and bass drum but she makes most out of it and comes up with a really great drum beat.

The video is very well done. Besides how they dress and what they play another thing to notice (though it obvious though) it starts off in a dingy room the windows are covers and it appears as if they playing at night, and after the chorus the sun starts to appears, and towards the end of video the light becomes brighter and brighter until the whole room is inundated with light.

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Trollheart

Hey, don't sweat it! Play to your strengths. Many people here write short, almost non-reviews, but it's more about letting people hear/be introduced to the music you like than writing novels. I personally run off at the mouth constantly in my journal, but then, I'm an aspiring writer, at least in my mind, so that suits me. Doesn't suit everyone (ask starrynight).

Just do whatever feels comfortable, and don't feel pressured or pushed to produce content you're not happy with. Don't make it a chore: it's meant to be a fun pastime (what? Deadline? What deadline? Yes, yes I'll be there in a minute, I'm just taking a break!) not an endurance test.

You'll do fine.

Best of luck

TH (heading back to work...)

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Neapolitan

Trollheart,

Thanks for the advice and words of encouragement. How I feel is if I have any strength either I don't see them or they're in my blind spot. I'm more concern with what I don't know than what I do know already. I consider myself lucky (and and even a bit spoiled) because I where grew up was in a town that had a dozen or so radio stations each with their own different formats. So at a very young age I was always trying to learning something new, something different. When I was young I thought I had a pretty good survey of what was out there now I fell I only heard a small sampling of all the music in the world.

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Trollheart

While radio used to be a decent medium through which to assimilate new music, especially the old pirate radio stations and of course Radio Luxembourg, it's not so much now. These days they just play whatever's popular mostly; time was when you could first hear new music on the radio, and this led to the purchase of various records by me, including Dan Fogelberg's "Windows and walls", Bob Seger's "The distance" and Jeff Wayne's musical version of "The war of the worlds". But before the advent of MTV and the internet, I used to get all my recs from friends.

I remember a guy in school had a cassette copy of Genesis' "Foxtrot", and this was the first time I had ever heard the band. I heard guys on a coach trip I was on singing (badly) "Stairway to Heaven" and didn't know what it was. A mate of my brother's brought in a single by the Tygers of Pan Tang, and I instantly wanted the album.

Then there were the record shops. We had one here in Dublin (still exists) where they played only rock and metal. You could go there and hang out for the day, listening to the best music around --- some of which was not even available anywhere else, as the guy regularly went over from Ireland to the UK to pick up the latest imports for his shop --- although you usually ended up having to buy something in the end. We didn't mind though, it was great music and the point was you got to hear it before you bought it. If you were interested in something, you could ask the guy what the band was like and he would put the album on for you, or else honestly tell you they were not great, why not try this one instead, and spin it?

I guess like most people I got my music in phases: prog rock, heavy metal, classical, country and so on, but the general rule I always applied --- and still do --- is that I don't listen to something just because it's in my favourite genre, or because I'm expected to like it. Though a prog fan, I still struggle with some bands like Spock's Beard, IQ, Dream Theater. Some metal I hate, eg doom/death. Punk I've never been into, nor dance music, and I just more or less steer clear of those genres, though I guess if I suddenly heard something I liked I would just get that artiste's music and not worry I was "crossing genres".

I've also tried to expand my somewhat limited musical tastes since starting my journal, deliberately venturing into areas I would traditionally abhor or avoid, as evidenced by my dissection of the (ahem!) genre of boybands. I think it's only fair that if you're going to slag something off you should know as much about the band(s) as possible, so that then you're talking from a position of some authority.

Anyway, again best of luck. I see you've posted your first review, and I have to say it's quite interesting. Keep it up, and like it says on one of the many sections in my journal, keep it simple.

TH

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Neapolitan

Trollheart,

I lend out about a half dozen Genesis CDs that never returned, we would had gotten along great as friends - you know provide we lived in the same country.

I like Dan Fogelberg. I have his greatest hits but I really didn't get into collecting his studio albums. The one song of his which grew on me which I heard constantly was Leader of the Band. Usually when people hear a song over and over it wears thin on them but the more I heard that song the more I liked it. I remember finding that song listed in the contents in a tab book - I felt like I won the lottery. I practice that song for hours trying to get it just right. I think the time I put into that song, is about the same time some people would use to hear quite a few albums. I'm not always into hearing albums in their entirety and I don't always feel the need to collect the whole catalogues. I feel that is the difference between album collectors and my approach to acquiring music - I get hooked on a song almost to the point of an obsession, so a copy of a song is just fine and generally they're one I like to learn on guitar, while their (the collectors') goal is to collect the whole catalogue of their favourite artist/bands.

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starrynight

Music is so segregated now I think it's hard for radio stations to keep up with all the new music that comes out in the West. Many people listen within quite narrow genres. Those who listen to chart music listen to rnb or dance stuff, then you have those who listen to metal, then those who listen to electronica, then those who listen to indie rock/pop, and others who probably listen to country/folk. There was a time when you could probably hear several different types of thing in the charts and on a radio station even if some things dominated more, I'm not so sure that is the case now. I like to give all things a chance, but I don't think most have the inclination or the time to do that.

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non-cliquey member of every music forum I participate on

Neapolitan

The first is a Swiss band Chin Chin (there might be another band by that name too) the guitar solo has a bit of a 60's spy music to it. The second is Jo Lemaire & Flouze from Belgium. The drummer is playing on a acoustic drum set, but in a simple style that was often used by 70's techno band like Kraftwerk.

I don't know much of these bands except for the fact that they come from Europe.

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Neapolitan

Trollheart,

A few years back I found a used record shop. Unlike some CD stores which are mostly identical, it definitely had atmosphere of its own it. I got to know the own and he was more approachable and knowledgeable than someone you would meet in a music store or anywhere else. I was talking to him about bands with similar names and I brought up Smith and The Smiths (I'm not the greatest conversationalist) I asked him how where they as a band and he said they were pretty good. I didn't buy their cd at the time I kinda miss an opportunity there. But I also miss him and the shop too. Fast-forward to present time looking around songs on youtube I came across them and I was impress with them.

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starrynight

I know the Jo Lemaire one and it certainly has a nice atmosphere and is catchy too. Smith give a very nice soulful version of Baby It's You. It's a quite early Bacharach/David song and not one of their very best for me, but it's ok.

I agree that there's plenty of good music that can be found in the past as well as the present. Adding to that I'd say there is plenty of good music from other countries that most people don't bother with, including much good music in other languages that most won't listen to just because it isn't in English.

And certainly not all bands/singers want to confine themselves to narrow genres. Some of the more creative ones will actually mix elements from different styles. Often they then get missed by people as they don't fall into a more simple genre classification that both the media and most of the audience seem to want. Ultimately artists will create what they want, whether it be narrow or not. I blame more some of the audience and those funding their recordings in some instances for pushing some music towards a more copycat and bland direction.

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non-cliquey member of every music forum I participate on