The Finer ThingsCheck out my friends’ band War Games from Massachusetts. They have a unique jazzy-indie sound to them. Definitely one of my favorite touring bands. It’d be nice to see them get bigger than they are.
“You Are a Tourist” by Death Cab For Cutie
The second half of the second verse always stands out to me. The guitars remind me of wind chimes and they help make the song feel dynamic and even brighter than it already is: a perfect fit for the optimistic track. Sometimes small parts like that can say a lot.
“Ice Monster” by Minus the Bear
I love the chorus of this song. It comes unexpectedly. After a verse of wistful guitars and playful bass, the song changes gears with syncopated guitars, changed time signature and bluesy melody and lyrics. Not many abrupt changes sound so right.
Thanks to some requests that I’ve been getting recently, I’ve decided to start posting on this blog again. Sorry I’ve been gone for a while. I tend to be bad at posting regularly sometimes. I’ll try posting more often!
“You Won’t Know” by Brand New
This song uses one of the most chilling effects I’ve heard used in this genre. I love how the singer’s chopped-up yell fades in right before the louder section of the song kicks in and reappears after the section ends. I don’t know exactly what they did to get that effect, but it was nice.
“Follow and Feel” by Saosin
The drums in this track are amazing, especially the fill that was played in the bridge. The drummer does a good job with playing a variety of beats that go from being staggered and intricate during the verses to simple but effective in the pre-chorus kicks in. I also love the little nuances the bassist adds into the chord progression in the second half of the chorus.
“Stylo” by Gorillaz
This track has a very retro sound to it. The bass line and drum machine that spans the entire song makes it feel drone-like vibe while the higher synths makes it feel trippy and almost dated (in a good way). And I thought that it was also interesting how much the vocals in various parts of the song contrast each other.
For my birthday, I went to go see Victor Wooten and Stanley Clarke play in the area. May I just say that the level of skill required to not only play, but also compose jazz like that is astronomical. I grew up listening to people like Stanley Clarke, John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Bob James, and it never ceased to amaze me that they could put so much emotion and feeling into songs without lyrics. To me, that’s the true essence of music, the kind of music who’s melody, harmonies, chords and rhythm can stand alone and all come together to hit you on a deep level. Although I do love (and I mean love) well written lyrics, I feel that instrumental music is an entirely different beast all together.
“Fed to Death” by Say Anything
One of my favorite things about this song is how bold it sounds. The track starts right off with vocals with out hesitation and gets straight to business. And the intensity only escalates more when the full band kicks in. I’m also a big fan of the acoustic guitar tone in the intro.
