The winner of the first US season of the X Factor is Melanie Amaro
Good for her! I truly believed that it would be a close vote. While I ultimately thought that Chris Rene would take home the prize (and I eat crow on the prediction), Melanie totally deserved the prize. Her performance of “Listen” was the icing on the cake of a pretty flawless run. Congrats!
The poll results that were released earlier on the blog has Chris Rene winning by a slight margin. Slight is the key term. . Chris, in total, recieved 21 votes. Melanie came in second with 18 votes. Josh, third, with 16 votes. So the voting was pretty much all wrong (it was a small sample!). Thanks for voting and congratulations again to Melanie.
Ever realize that something that you had previously addressed quickly actually has deeper implications? Like a feeling you felt in the past actually has a name which only now you are coming to terms with, something you previously refused to acknowledge or were too ignorant to do so? A clear example may be the feeling you receive from an acquaintance that you always thought acted quite strangely. It felt strange then, but maybe now thinking back you are hit with a sudden realization that, that person simply may not have liked you. I am not specifically talking about this example, but of all of such occasions.
You left something simply as a feeling in your mind, failing to put any words behind it to back it up. Usually this happens out a lack of necessity. You leave it in your mind and talking about it isn’t something you have to worry about. But what brings you back to it? Maybe it was actually brought up in conversation, in which case you stumble and improvise. Sometimes however you revisit the topic in your own mind, and this time because you are wiser, you name the feelings or ideas. But what brings you back there in the first place?
My idea is this: We as people think in spirals. If you consider any idea which does not directly affect your future, you are bound to forget about it until you return to that thought naturally. There is inherently a plethora of such emotions which one encounters on a daily basis, but individual ideas pop into your head as if on cue. Surroundings and situations definitely help speed up this process, as does experience, but it is also necessary to notice it. Realizing why you are thinking something at a given time and place allows you address it on a deeper level and help you grow as a person.
What is my point? The thinking mind has a design different from the non-thinking mind. I actually have no point with this other than that. Just practicing some philosophical writing I guess.
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Never mind anything that I have just written though. Today, I have for you a UK electronic producer by the name of Bonobo. He has been described as a pioneer of down-tempo music and his chill, beat driven music has received the attention of many major labels. These words are definitely well justified. This is the music that I listen to when I just want to relax.
This first song, “Recurring”, starts out like a lullaby. The beat allows the song to progress beyond that title and becomes an entirely new song. The cello like instruments that enter just as the beat slows down create a great relaxing tension. The song continues on, growing softer and more bassy until it eventually dies out with some more cello and some tribal vocals.
This song is great to have playing while you do work or just want to sit back and relax. Also it is a great place to start if you usually do not indulge in machine-made music.
This is actually the songs “Prelude” and “Kiara” combined, but they might as well be the same song. “Prelude” is essentially a very nice sounding piano-driven string segment. It fades away at the end to darkness and a heavy hip hop beat that is “Kiara”. The vocal samples which he introduces combined with the synths sound amazing together. A quick stall at 2:09 re-emphasizes the beat and the perfect use of claps. It also never seems to end.
The song continues on in what seems like a blur, one that is very well produced and a pleasure to listen to.
“Noctuary” opens with an eerie harp loop. The beat wastes no time and picks it up and carries it along like a river supporting a boat. The sounds at 2:10 sound like the boat has arrived at some foreign land. The entire song is like some dark and lazy dream. I think it is a very good show of proper beat making and also a case for the idea that beats can make pretty much turn any collection of sounds into a song.
This last song, as well as the others, is amazing in the fact that it seems to slowly evolve, gaining new parts but losing others. You can never tell what is going to happen next, no matter how many times you have listened to it. It gives it this feeling of being alive with some sort of musical spirit. Some of his songs also feature singers, which can perpetuate that feeling even more so, I’d imagine.
-oko
P.S. Okay, as some of you might have suspected, here is a song with a singer. Be sure to notice the heavy bass, because it’s pretty much almost dubstep. And the attractive shaman woman. Please don’t fail to notice her either.
John Darnielle wrote the most prescient and topical song of the year. He totally predicted Occupy Wall Street. Those are two weighty comments. Don’t worry, I’ll explain this odd coincidence. I will also profile the number eight song on our countdown, “High Hawk Season,” which appears on The Mountain Goats’ like 400th album (13th studio album) All Eternals Deck which was released in late March.
I do seem to favor the work of John Darnielle and The Mountain Goats on this blog. I will not deny my bias. But can you blame me? Darnielle seems to release an album every month and every single album demonstrates musical maturity, lyrical precision, passion, and pure awesomeness. “High Hawk Season,” my favorite song on the new album, exemplifies all of these outlined attributes. Darnielle, as I’ve said many times before, is one of the greatest artists in the last 20 years. And while crowning a singer/songwriter with a cult-like following may seem baseless, well, why don’t you listen to his music.
These are what Mountain Goats look like when domesticated.
The Mountain Goats are John Darnielle, Peter Hughes (bass), and Jon Wurster (drums). Throughout the 90s, Darnielle released a lot of low-fi recordings and his music grew from there. Darnielle is consummate lyricist and this is his most noticeable strength. He also plays a mean acoustic guitar and has a distinctive nasally croon.
All Eternals Deck, was the Mountain Goats’ follow-up to one of their best albums (in my opinion) The Life of the World to Come, which featuredtwelve tracks, each one inspired by (and titled after) a single verse of the Christian bible. All Eternals Deck is a solid effort as a whole. It’s title refers to a set of fictional tarot cards (keep this in mind). But “High Hawk Season” elevates beyond its supporting tracks.
Now I say this prediction stuff in jest…mostly. The coincidence is pretty odd and humorous. “High Hawk Season,” as you will see by the lyrics, is a plea for a youth uprising. Darnielle beckons his listener to “rise if your sleeping” and “stay awake” because the “heat’s about to break.” As you know, the Occupy Wall Street movement didn’t begin until September. The album with the title referring to tarot cards was released in March. Okay, you say, so what. He didn’t mention New York, right? Actually, he did. This is the last verse of the song (in case you missed it):
Who will rise and who will sing? Who’s going to stand his ground and who’s going to blink? Surge forward from Van Cortlandt Park like frightened sheep Spirit throngs that hoist us high, three thousand warriors deep Spray our dreams on any surface where the paint will stick Try to time the rhythm, listen for the click
Van Cortlandt Park is a park in the Bronx. He was off by 16 miles. That’s not too shabby. Take a look at that powerful lyric as well. Darnielle talks of a “throng” of “warriors” standing their ground and “spray(ing)” dreams on surfaces that will stick. Now if I was going to over-analyze this like a good English major, I would say that the spraying of the dreams and paint represents the signs and words and ideas (because a painting truly is at first an idea like all things), and the sticky surface would be the media that lapped up the coverage like a thirsty dog. The lyric is humorously on target. And, yes, you can say he was inspired by the Middle Eastern civilian rebellions, but, come on, he mentions New York.
The song itself is also memorable. It features barbershop quartet/monk-like background singers that provide this religiously lachrymose backdrop. Darnielle sings the verse in a very observational tone, as if he is simply explaining what is going on. The call-and-response chorus is a treat. I feel as if I can imagine Darnielle singing this in some tenebrous dystopia where, I don’t know, “the heat’s about it break.” The song remains entertaining but somewhat complacent until after the two minute mark where a light shines on Darnielle and he belts out the chorus like a call to action.
“Rise if your sleeping, stay awake. We are young supernovas and the heat’s about to break.”
The Music Court 