January 20, 2010
I write about music a lot; and for good reason. Like so many people, I adore music, and no matter what I’m doing, music is either coloring or being colored by my circumstance. And like so many people, after a hitherto existence’s worth of hearing, loving, learning, and exploring hundreds of thousands of songs, trying to narrow it down to a single favorite song is impossible. The question hardly even makes sense. When asked, my weight shifts back onto my heels ever so slightly as I cock my head slightly and stare back blankly. It’s like being asked your favorite letter of the alphabet or the best breath you’ve ever taken.
With that in mind, I decided to narrow it down to five instead of one, which somehow seems slightly less absurd. Though being asked your five favorite letters or your twenty best breaths would seem even more foolish than narrowing it down to one, so that analogy just crumbled before my eyes. Moving on.
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Posted in Personal | Coldplay | Favorites | Feedback | Five For Fighting | John Mayer | Last.fm | Lists | Music | Sondre Lerche | The Killers
June 20, 2007
The next installment of my on-going series of “People Care About My Musical Tastes” posts, I thought I would reflect on some of my favorite albums. Why not, right?
As a disclaimer, let me say that by no means do I call this a list of the “10 Greatest Albums of All Time.” No, no, no. I have long recognized and embraced the fact that I have terrible taste in music. Don’t get me wrong, though. I love my taste in music, but as you will soon realize, few people share it. These are just a few of the albums that I’ve enjoyed the most, or have influenced me in one way or another. Anyways, in no particular order:
Boston – Boston (1976)
I bought this album over ten years ago for “More Than A Feeling” and “Long Time.” After I listened to it, I realized that I already knew every song on the album, and they were all incredible. I absolutely love Boston’s style, and it has a real nostalgic feeling to me. I am a huge fan of Classic Rock, and Boston is kind of the epitome of that genre in my mind. From their incredible solos to their dynamic vocals, none can match Boston in my mind.
Room For Squares – John Mayer (2001)
This is a great, almost completely irrelevant album. I love the fact that Mayer’s lyrics deal almost entirely with completely insignificant issues. From reminiscing about High School or childhood to regretting stupid stuff that he said by accident, few of his songs deal with anything of any relative weight. The real genius, though, is in the way he writes, making something as trivial as wishing he could have snapped a picture of a beautiful sunrise, for instance, seem extremely significant without taking himself too seriously. Plus, his music is top-notch. A unique mix of jazz, blues and pop, I find it incredibly refreshing and original. It’s just a great chill-out album.
A Rush of Blood to the Head – Coldplay (2002)
This is one that a lot people probably agree with me on. Coldplay has an amazing ability to create rich, lush sounds with very basic ingredients that I find fascinating. The whole album has a raw, natural, unrefined sound throughout that was actually a turn-off to me at first. Now, though, I think it is one of my favorite things about the album. It’s been extremely overplayed, but I never get tired of it, and I am constantly noticing things about it that I hadn’t noticed before. Plus, this album is really the first that inspired me to want to play pop/rock songs on the piano. Bonus points!
Black Holes & Revelations – Muse (2006)
Muse constantly amazes me. And, that’s not a figure of speech. I still listen to this album, and just sit there dumbstruck sometimes. Even their calmer, more low-key songs are incredibly lush and intense. And when Muse does epic, they do it to catastrophic proportions. The only big complaint that I have is that BH&R (like all of Muse’s stuff) is laden with political overtones, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is one of the most amazing albums I’ve ever encountered.
Kaleidoscope Superior – Earthsuit (2000)
This album is on this list mostly because Kaleidoscope Superior has influenced my drumming more than any other album. When I got this for Christmas in 2000, I had never heard anything like its fusion funk/jazz/rock drumming (or instrumentation in general). It completely changed my concept of drumming, and caused me to think outside of the box as a musician. Even now, I’ve heard few bands that had such a tight, unique rhythm section.
Give Up – The Postal Service (2003)
Another exception, because in my experience, nobody doesn’t like the Postal Service. Myself included. I love the super-emo vocals & lyrics mixed with 8-bit synth and techno effects. It’s almost surreal how those two styles mix together so well on this album. Either one on their own would merely be passively “cool,” but the Postal Service is able to pull them together to create something incredibly unique and catchy.
The Final Countdown – Europe (1986)
Anyone who knows me well should not be surprised that this album is on here (but you’re forgiven if you are). This is one of those albums that humanity as a whole would probably disagree with me on. This is, by all accounts of musicianship and good taste in general, a wretched album. 80′s cheese with a side of 80′s cheese. However, there are few albums that can so consistently put a smile on my face. It’s shallow, it’s lame, and I love it. Absolutely love it.
Room Noises – Eisley (2005)
If I was to fall in love with somebody whom I’ve had no actual interaction with, it would probably be one of the girls from Eisley. It’s difficult for me to explain this album to someone who hasn’t heard it. Lyrically at least, it almost seems like the album is best summed up as “childish,” but it is written in such an innocent, genuine way that it goes beyond being juvenile to more of a post-adolescent reminiscence of an idealized childhood. Which is something that I can completely relate to. Their eclectic music and stunningly beautiful vocals and harmonies only further hurl this album into its rightful place on this list.
Final Fantasy VI – Piano Collections (1994)
This spot should really go to all seven of the Final Fantasy Piano Collections albums, because they have pretty much single-handedly (hepta-handedly?) inspired me to delve into Classical piano. This spot was something of a toss-up between VI and IV, but VI won out because it was the first one that I really got into. Granted, I still feel extremely juvenile when I admit that my entire repertoire of piano music is from a Japanese video game, but the music really speaks for itself, and I honestly think it is some of the most beautiful piano music I’ve ever heard.
Katamari Fortissimo Damacy (2004)
This is the most bizarre, quirky, catchy album I’ve probably ever heard. Not coincidentally, it’s the soundtrack to a Japanese Playstation 2 game, Katamari Damacy. I still don’t really understand the theme or purpose behind the album, except to compile the most diverse group of amazing, happy songs. One song is an excellent Samba/Jazz piece, the next Japanese Pop/Dance, then a folk number, and back to J-Pop. It is extremely unique, quirky, unpredictable, and (most significantly) infectiously cheery. This is an album that frankly must be experienced to be understood. Granted, it’s not something most people would be able to get into right off the bat, but I honestly can’t imagine anybody not falling in love with at least one song on this album after any significant exposure to it.
Well, there you have it. 1,000+ words about music that I like and why I like it. I hope those of you that did actually read it didn’t keel over from boredom or disgust, because I certainly enjoyed writing it.
And that’s all that matters.
Posted in Personal | Boston | Coldplay | Earthsuit | Eisley | Europe | John Mayer | Katamari Damacy | Muse | Music | Nobuo Uematsu
April 2, 2007
Today, April 2nd, marks many an anniversary for me. For starters, it’s exactly one year since I quit Starbucks. And, consequently, it’s exactly five years since I first started working at Starbucks. Seems like forever ago, but it’s only been 5 short years.
Today is also exactly three months since I started working here at Pursuant. To celebrate this momentous occasion, I thought I’d look back at what I’ve been listening to these past three months. Through the magic of technology (and the iTunes Play Count feature), we can go back and see exactly how many times I’ve listened to every song on my computer. Instead of listing every song that I’ve listened to, and how many times I’ve listened to it, I figured it’d be a little more “reader friendly” to just include the top 25.
So, as you can see, I have been on something of a piano kick lately. My top 12 songs are either solo piano, or piano-lead songs, and only six of these 25 aren’t “piano” songs. Number one, Tifa, is the song that I’m learning right now on the piano, so I’ve had it on the brain of late. Hence me listening to it almost a dozen times more than the number two. Obviously, I’m also quite a fan of Coldplay, Eisley, Mat Kearney, Keane, John Mayer, and Elton John. And Final Fantasy piano music.
Nerd in the strictest sense.
Posted in Personal | Anniversaries | Coldplay | Five For Fighting | iTunes | Keane | Music | Musical Addiction | Nobuo Uematsu | Piano | Pursuant | Starbucks
