I really do like soundtracks. One of my earliest favorite songs were from a movie and a TV Theme song. My first real soundtrack was Star Wars which I adored. The Heavy Metal Soundtrack is still one of my favorite albums. I think it is safe to say that I will always love sound tracks. I just a quick count. I have over 200 soundtrack albums.
As we discussed there are different kinds of soundtracks. There is the original orchestral score like you get with Star Wars, Jurassic Park or The Hunt For Red October. Then there are the collection of songs type of soundtrack like Heavy Metal, High Fidelity, or The Matrix. Then there is the cover songs adapted with a particular theme like Sucker Punch or O Brother Where Art Thou?. Another type is the fake songs by the fictitious band in the movie like Spinal Tap or Scott Pilgrim vs The World.
I like them all. I even have soundtracks of movies that I have never seen just because they had some good songs on them. Here’s a couple of good examples.
When you work with a guy long enough, you can’t help but influence each others Musical Evolutions. Ken and I are very different in many musical ways. I’m told that he used to have a bazooka tube in a car that was too small for it. He liked to bump down the street beating the rust off his car from the inside out with rap music. Still he has landed some pretty cool music.
He brought some CD’s in at my request. I’m always looking to check new stuff out. I cringed when I saw the condition of the CD’s that obviously rode around in a CD wallet in his car as he drove to Kandahar and back in a dust storm. You know I like to keep my CD’s pristine on the shelf. Ken didn’t. Again, he had some really cool stuff that I was interested in checking out, just that most of them wouldn’t play anymore.
Like Grant and I, Ken and I share a pretty large overlapping segment of albums and musical styles. When he was in sales before I really knew him, he asked me to make him a mix CD for a business trip he was taking to a trade show. I think it was Las Vegas. I barely remember it but I guess I included a few things that interested him.
It has been several years since then and we have worked together in IT for over half a decade. In that time we have enjoyed music in our office. One of the really great things about what Ken brings to the Musical Evolution is that his interests are different enough that a lot of cool stuff that I wouldn’t want to sort through is managed by his Musical Evolution.
Bands like Muse, Daft Punk, Modest Mouse, The Bloodhound Gang, Chemical Brothers and Lionrock were made safely available for digestion. This works out great for me. I like a lot of this stuff but I’ve been exploring the edge of the galaxy for the obscure so long that I’ve lost contact with what is going on in more mainstream areas. Of course, Ken is no stranger to weird stuff too. That makes it work even better. He doesn’t like Agony….yet.
Ken was the first check out the soundtracks for The Social Network, Tron Legacy and Hanna. They all ended up being good additions. Ken also likes Dave Matthews. I’ve never been into Dave Matthews. At first it was just because his music didn’t connect to me in any way. It goes back to the question of what makes us like what we like? All I know is that I had no interest in Dave Matthews. The problem developed into more but not because of Dave Matthews but because of his fans. To me Dave Matthews is kind of like Apple. Some of their users, fans, zealots are so aggressive that I have no choice but to shun the product even more for fear of being included with those kinds of people. I actually had a girl say to me “You don’t like Dave Matthews? What is wrong with you?” I wonder what she’d think of Agony?
Just for clarification, Ken was never like that about Apple or Dave Matthews. Here are a few cool tracks that I have to thank Ken for bringing to the table. Eeeehhh!
Lionrock – Snapshot On Pollard Street – What a cool groove this is for driving or fishing.
Sometimes My Musical Evolution is affected by sheer random chance. Such is the case of B.o.B.. It was my daughters first semester away at college. I know that because of the second random chance of B.o.B.. A guy who worked in sales resigned and a few days after he left, I was tasked with reformatting his workstation in preparation for his replacement. Standard procedure.
After blowing out the accumulated dust with compressed air, I set up his old workstation on my desk to begin the procedure. I opened up his CD tray in order to insert the Windows XP Pro install disk and found that it was already occupied with B.O.B. The Adventures Of Bobby Ray.
Being musically curious, I played it in my machine while I worked on his. I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised. It goes to show you that we really need to fight our prejudices. I had never heard of this guy but if I had seen the cover. I probably would not have given it the chance.
This is not my fault though. It is instinctual. Millions of years of evolution has developed us to discriminate. Of course the word discrimination in this country has been erroneously associated with ethnic aspects but in reality, discrimination is an important tool for our survival. You know when you pull that half full jug of milk out of the fridge and take sniff before you drink? You are discriminating. You have learned that milk that has a particular odor is not good to drink. You have learned to discriminate to your advantage. When you see that snake that is red, yellow and black, you back away because of discrimination. You know that not all snakes are poisonous but the red, yellow and black ones are. Of course the animal kingdom discriminates too and in some cases they depend on us discriminating. That black, yellow and red snake really isn’t poisonous but is similarly marked to the Eastern Coral Snake which is!
OK so we got way off track with Snake Discrimination. The point that I was trying to make is that over the course of My Musical Evolution I have discovered that I’m not a big fan of Rap music. I have a dozen or more rap albums that I have accumulated over the years but I’ve been disappointed by rap music more often than not. Add to that the Parental Advisory label and my whiff says the milk is bad, don’t drink it.
It really is judging a book by it’s cover and as unpopular as that sentiment may be, it works in more cases than it doesn’t. If it didn’t we would not have evolved the way we have. However, like everything, there are exceptions and in this case, the album cover does not accurately reflect the contents of the Compact Disc. Yes there are some raps songs that do but the best stuff plays against that type.
The second piece of random chance was that my daughter had discovered this while she was away at college at the same time as me. She played Don’t Le Me Fall for me and I played Satellite for her. She and I have gotten into this routine of sharing music that we discover with each other. she plays stuff for me when she comes home. I burn mix CD’s and send them to here. We’ll discuss that in more detail a few posts from now.
Wow Part 400, another milestone. It is fitting for it to land here on what is the latest branch of My Musical Evolution, DubStep. Why do I love DubStep? Why do people like anything? I feel that my arrival here at DubStep was a natural progression. I think DubStep is first and foremost electronic dance music. As I sit here with My Musical Evolution leading up to this, I can see my fondness for Disco laying down the beat, my fondness for electronic music providing the melody, my fondness for arcade music, my fondness for industrial German metal laying down the mechanicals, my fondness for sound effects and sampling laying down the flourishes and my fondness for new age instrumental laying down the ambient atmosphere. It is almost as if DubStep is a musical stew engineered from all my favorite ingredients. Really, go back in My Musical Evolution and check out Agony, Donna Summer, Information Society, Jean Michel Jarre and Rammstein. Put them all in a blender until smooth and pour yourself a tall glass of DubStep.
There are many different dialects of DebStep as I perceive it. It is kind of like what would happen if there were musical Borg that assimilated our current musical landscape. If you listen you’ll hear Borg-Rap, Borg-Country, Borg-Rock, and my favorite, Borg-New Age. Yeah my favorite stuff is still the instrumental ones. I still believe that is an environmental thing. These days, when I listen to music it is usually while I am at a desk trying to concentrate on a project or developing solutions. In that mode, I find lyrics quite distracting.
So to return to the Zork analogy, about 2 years ago now, I unlocked a puzzle and discovered an entire new cavern filled with DubStep treasure. I haven’t gone crazy and bought a ton of new CD’s. I have a few but really I’m still exploring. DubStep is kind of like New Age was 25 years ago. There are a few mainstream acts but the landscape is largely composed of little independent efforts. To add to the confusion is that it is a very recursive league where tracks get recycled and remixed and reissued at ridiculous rates. It is a very Bazaar like atmosphere.
Once again, my concern is being able to find the samples that I want to share with you here. Check some cool stuff at DubStep.net It really is a good resource for sampling new tracks. Unfortunately, it seem like their site has gotten a little busy and not quite as easy to navigate as it was a year ago.
Deadmau5 – Strobe (Klaypex Remix)
I’m so glad this song was on YouTube. This is my favorite DubStep track. Can you hear all my favorite ingredients mixed in here? I can listen to this all day. It makes me want to take a road trip and just crank it up until I get where I’m going.
Chris Hurst – Ashes
Skrillex – Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites
Flux Pavillion – Bass Cannon (iNexus Remix)
1UP – Arabian Nightz
I really could go on here for hours but I am pressed for time. I’m on a deadline to wrap this all up be the end of the year.
The 21st Century also brings us to our latest round of technological advancements. I now have a few personal media playing devices where I used to rely on cassettes then Compact Discs. My media players automatically sync with my media library and it is easy to load them up with hundreds or thousands of songs to take with me on the road or to our cultural fishing trips. When used in conjunction with an FM transmitter, I use them in the car. I also have a portable sound system that allows me to bring my music to share while my media player stays safe and dry inside a water resistant housing. Aric’s truck has the Sync system which allows him to load up a ton of music for his drive to Strawberry. Our media players have become great tools for playing the music we have.
Amazon is a great tool for buying music. In many cases, you can play some samples of the songs and the vastness of Amazon means that they have just about anything you are looking for. The nature of the sales model also meant that you’ll be able to find Compact Discs for incredibly low prices. I’ve purchased CD’s for a penny. Sure by the time you tack on shipping it comes out to 2 or 5 bucks but still. Remember when CD’s first hit the scene, they were $18.99. We’ve come a long way. Amazon makes it easy too search, sample, ship.
Yeah but how do I find music? We’ll applications like Shazam allow you use your smart phone to record a segment of a song. The segment is compared to a database of billions of songs and it can find the match and fill you in on the details. Where I used to have to search for a lyric that I remembered or the commercial where I heard a song, now I sample, submit and see the results. These kinds of music identification services have resulted in a few of the CD’s I’ve purchased this year. I’d be in a store and something is playing on the overhead speakers. I use Shazam to find out what it is and then pick it up on Amazon.
I’ve used YouTube more this year than I ever have before. I knew about YouTube but never really spent much time there. By doing this project, I’ve discovered that YouTube is a huge resource for music research. It is not quite as informative as the old news groups were but they cool thing is that if you search for a video by an artist you like, YouTube will recommend other things that are more or less related. This can lead to some cool musical discoveries. I’ve picked up more than a few artists simple by clicking those related videos and checking stuff out.
Antoine Dodson – Bed Intruder Song – This is a clever adaptation of a news interview that is sampled and turned into music. I appreciate the skill and cleverness required to pull this off.
Before
After
Rebecca Black – Friday – I like it! Who know why? I can’t help it
The O Zone – Dragostea Din Tei
Serebro – Mama Lover – Totally fell into this by accident but what a cool beat.
Eduard Khil – I Am Glad, ‘Cause I’m Finally Returning Back Home – I can’t look away
I debated about whether or not to post something about The Beatles. I never went through a Beatles Phase where I was mad about them. For the longest time, my only Beatles CD was Sgt Pepper. I can’t quite define my relationship with The Beatles. I think that they made some really good music but it is a very rare occasion when I actively listen to any of it.
Somewhere around 2004, I acquired a large number of Beatles albums. I listened to them but they remain dormant. It is a strange thing. When I listen to them, I remark to myself how amazing it is that they were able to not only produce so many great songs but in so many different styles. Listen to I Want To Hold Your Hand then jump to Norwegian Wood or Let It Be. Are these the same guys?
They really are incredible both collectively as well as individually. That makes think of something. I listen to the Beatles more after they broke up. I like George Harrison stuff, I love Paul McCartney, John Lennon is good and I have Caveman on VHS.
I just looked, I have 15 Beatles albums including a few Greatest Hits arrangements and they are incredible musical, achievements. so why don’t I listen to them more?
All My Loving
Here Comes The Sun
Norwegian Wood
Eleanor Rigby
Let It Be
I’ll Follow The Sun
Yesterday
Just putting together thse few samples reminds me just how amazing this band is. The music is so good, Why don’t I listen to them more?
My friend Keith is a French & Indian War enthusiast. He participates in those historical reenactments. In doing so he has appeared in a few historical programs on the history channel and in Mel Gibson’s movie The Patriot. If you watch that last battle scene where Mel rides his horse to the ridge of the battle with a line of infantrymen. That guy standing right next to him, wiping something from his eyes is Keith.
He also plays trumpet and participates in marching band activities and is the same age as me. So now you can get an idea of why he likes some of the music he likes. you also now know why I have some Maynard Ferguson in my collection as well as some Itinerant Band as well as other local talent and period acts.
Keith always seems to dig up unusual stuff and seems to know lots of people who are in bands and so forth. The Itinerant Band is one of my favorites that Keith has shown me. They play traditional music from the 1770’s era using authentic instruments.
In summary, Keith has been a good source for stuff that lies off the side of the path. Here are a few samples of the Keith influence.
Vashti Bunyan , no relation to Paul apparently, was another of those songs that came via a commercial on the NFL Network. It might have been under armor or something. I’m having difficulty trying to explain what it was about the song that was so attractive. Vashti’s voice had this sort of soft purity about it. The guitar accompaniment continued that feeling. There is something sad and haunting about it.
The Train Song wasn’t the only song that came to me as part of an advertisement. Most people associate Mad World with Donnie Darko in my mind it belongs with a video game. Gears Of War I Think. Something about that song seemed familiar. I searched my media library and found that I had the original version on a Tears For Fears CD that I had owned for decades. Different but stii good. It seems that most people saw Donnie Darko then looked for the song. I heard the song in a completely different context then watched Donnie Darko because of it.
I bought Tomita’s Snowflakes Are Dancing because it contained the song Arabesque which was the theme for Star Hustler / Star Gazer which I had been watching on PBS for decades. Yeah, I miss Jack Horkheimer. I wouldn’t have know what song it was had I not stopped by the Star Gazer website one day and stumbled upon What is that song in the FAQ section. When I found out it was Tomita, it was a no brainer to add another Tomita CD to my Eclectic Collection.
Of course, even through the Aughts the traditional influences remained in play.
Vashti Bunyan – The Train Song
Tears For Fears – Mad World
Michael Andrews & Gary Jules – Mad World
Tomita – Arabesque – The music in this video isn’t the real Tomita, the version used for the show but I decided to use it anyway because of the Star Gazer references and it is similar in feel.
It was just over two years ago that I heard the term Dubstep for the first time. I happened to follow a link to a video that was labeled Sketchy Santa. What waited for there was a little homemade looking video for a song about Santa and a Dirty Bass Line. The video was meant to be funny and that instantly appealed to the Humor In Music side of me but it was the electro-industrial sounds of the Dubstep that really captured my imagination.
I had heard similar sounding music but never did the term Dubstep come into play. Since that time I’ve been introduced to Deadmau5, Skrillex, Klaypex and a host of other Dubstep artists. If you are just getting into Dubstep or want to check out some samples I recommend going to Dubstep.net. They seem to add new tracks all the time.
In the two years after seeing Dubstep Santa, Dubstep music has become a favorite of mine. If you’ve been following My Musical Evolution, it should be rather obvious why. It usually has great beats and plenty of industrial electronic aspects.
There are many flavors of Dubstep. Some seem to feature rap artists some rely heavily on sampled material. My favorite is the more melodic stuff that sounds like it might have started out as electronic New Age music before it got jammed into the blender.
Here is where it all began. I guess I should have posted this on Christmas, yesterday.
It had been several years since The Division Bell, Pink Floyd’s last studio album. Along the way, I had picked up David Gilmour’s solo stuff. It was his solo work in combination that totally convinced me that when it came to the Pink Floyd split up, I was firmly with Team Gilmour. When they broke up in the early 1980’s I initially believed that I was with Team Waters. While I still appreciate Roger Waters and his contributions to popular music and Pink Floyd in particular, it really was what Gilmour added that made me love Pink Floyd so much.
Sure Waters has drive, ambition, imagination and a knack for putting pieces together but Gilmour has the ability to give music a soul and qualities that connect to me in ways that science can’t explain. It makes me want to conduct an experiment. I’d like to find a person who is just beginning to explore Pink Floyd music. Perhaps that have Dark Side Of The Moon but don’t know anything else about Pink Floyd. I’d play them samples of other Pink Floyd albums. Then I’d play some samples from both David Gilmour’s and Roger Waters’ solo stuff and see if they recognized either of them as being or not being Pink Floyd. I supposed the context could influence them. I think Roger’s solo stuff reminds me of The Final Cut and sections of The Wall. Gilmour’s solo stuff reminds me of Wish You Were Here and Momentary Lapse Of Reason. I don’t dislike Roger Waters, it is just that his music seems cold.
A couple years ago David Gilmour appeared on a New Age-ish album called Metallic Spheres. Basically a two track CD that is mostly ambient with Gilmour guitars popping up now and again.
