The Music Court

   I am home. The long semester that saw endless reading and a strenuous internships cause me stress is finished and with its end came my annual trip home for the holidays. It feels just like yesterday when I was telling you readers that the content on the blog may shorten because of the semester’s beginning in August. Well, I can say confidently that Anthony, Josh, Amanda, and myself trucked through our busy schedules to provide you musical content because it is just what we love to do. And, after school ends for them in the next few days (I finished first…haha) I can promise you that posting will become more frequent and some new sections may even be added. But, for now we will stay with our regular monday schedule and I will provide you with some links of interest

    The Kinks. Anybody who is a fan of Ray Davies knows that his brand of rock n’ roll is both enjoyable and definitely skilled. Yet, what he has lacked for the last 13 years was the presence of his brother Dave (who suffered a stroke in 2004). But, now, after the long hiatus there are talks of a small reunion between the brothers. Read about it here: http://www.nme.com/news/the-kinks/48860

CD Release Tuesday, December 15

Fall Be Kind [EP] – Animal Collective

    Animal Collective, the odd psychedelic band hailing from Baltimore, Maryland, is releasing five tracks on their new EP. The band is certainly quirky but their interesting blend of psychedelia has elevated them to cult status and this has led them to receive a ton of attention from countless college students. Check them out!

As the year comes to a close, inevitably music magazines start making various lists of the top everything of that particular year. Yet, special cases call for special polls. As 2009 comes to a close, the end of a decade where we saw tragedy and, well, more tragedy and lots of stupidity, will also wrap up. 10 years which saw me turn from an immature 11-year-old to an immature 20-year-old. A lot has changed!

Anyway, I thought I would put together a bit of a different poll to start our round-up of the decade. The next three polls (eventually ending on new years eve) will also ask various questions about the decade that was. One-Hit Wonders are always the accepted term in music when talking about artists who had the hint of fire in their minds but over-exerted on the first song and then triumphantly fell off the face of the Earth. There are a lot of them. You know their songs, and since you lived in this decade you probably know who sang them, but, if I ask you in 50 years I doubt you will know. For example, “Ballroom Blitz.” Exactly. (It’s The Sweet by the way). Vote for who you think takes the cake to the record company, eats it all, and then cannot afford more cake. That was a miserable representation.

Links to all 7 songs!

“Who Let the Dogs Out” : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He82NBjJqf8

“Butterfly”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl6BiileOrg

“Bad Day”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk_9sEhV3vM

“Blue”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68ugkg9RePc

“Heaven”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuBmiu68ECU

“This is Why I’m Hot”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKV2981agEI

“You’re Beautiful”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjUaWiy_QXc

After several days of voting, 11 votes have produced John Williams’ epic “Star Wars” soundtrack as the clear winner in the minds of readers. I cannot say I disagree with the way that the voting went because the soundtrack is a staple in movie music. That being said, I still believe that the music in “The Godfather” is slightly better and less artificial. The “Star Wars” soundtrack has some great original pieces but I believe that Williams’ best work lies in a sampling of pieces from different movies (not just one movie).

Nino Rota, the prolific Italian composer who has written scores for over 150 Italian and American including “The Godfather,” wrote a tremendous score for the film that is currently rated as the second best film, behind Citizen Kane, on the American Film Institutes list of 100 films. The reason I believe Rota’s score trumps all other film scores is because “The Godfather” music satiates listeners with its extraordinarily real Italian sound and dripping classical beauty. The soundtrack is drenched with music that alludes to the rustic Italian sound but retains its stunning  originality.

This is expressed best in the “Godfather Waltz” which is one of the most known piece that repeats throughout the movie. Coppola, ‘, uses this song in perfect scenes and creates a musical and visual tapestry of the Italian-American struggle and mob scene. The music played in the songs first few seconds will forever be implanted in the minds of people who view the movie. They are simple,  but emit the feeling of almost being ensconced in the movie. And, how about the love theme. The strings are just beautiful. The song works in two ways. It is unquestionably melodic as heck but, it also gives off a bit of an odd unsettling feelings that portrays a perplexing juxtaposition. It works and, in my opinion, it does so better than any other movie soundtrack.

The Love Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hQAO8QTnG8

The Godfather Waltz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQvc7Ne5mok&feature=related

As the holidays fast approach, I, and many other people, will begin to inevitably frequent the movie theaters to pay an exorbitant amount of money (the price of your house for a ticket and some popcorn, soda costs the furniture) and hopefully enjoy the moving images on the big  screen. I have already visited the movie theater twice during my Thanksgiving break where I watched The Road and 2012 and consequently started thinking that the apocalypse fast approaches. Movie soundtracks (unless of course you are The Road which should not have had a soundtrack) usually are a fundamental part to the picture. The perfect song can make you cry during some scenes (see Titanic which my mother is still crying from) and can make you cringe and anticipate scary moments in horror flicks. It is the narration for the film and can often give a film the extra life it needs. Hey, if the movie is bad but the soundtrack is good you often do not think your taking out a second mortgage to see the movie in the movie theaters was in vain.

So, let us ponder what the best movie soundtrack is of all time. In this poll I am going to not put movies that were made specifically for the music provided (i.e. “A Hard Day’s Night” and “The Sound of Music”). While these may be some of the best movie sountracks of all time I would like to focus on films that were not made specifically for the music.

What do you think? If you have another movie that you really think is the best leave a comment and let us know what you think. I had trouble limiting my choices so, yeah, you have a nice amount to choose from.

Ah. the monday of the week of Thanksgiving, so close to going home for the holiday, yet, quite literally so far away. Looking at the several hours of driving I will be partaking in over the next couple of days would usually make me cringe, but heck I got music and I will be driving with my brother and girlfriend so it should be virtually painless.

But, do you know what is painful? “Christmas on Death Row,” my choice for the worst and most utterly hilarious Christmas album ever recorded ever. The vote was a tie at one between only three of the potential albums, which I will admit are also quite terrible. Yes, something about this miserable album of the most cheery and happy songs of all time being recorded by musicians with names like Bad Azz and 6 Feet Deep just leaves me wondering, was this needed.

How can a Christmas music album have a Parental Advisory warning. Well, I guess one should listen to "Baby, it's Cold Outside," which may need a warning. Yes, it's rape!

You see I am confused. Besides the tremendous first track, “Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto,” put together by Snoop Doggy Dog, because that is what Snoop does, most other songs are normal Christmas tracks. We have “Silent Night,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and even the most beautiful Christmas melody, “Party 4 Da Homies.” I feel like I am Wayne Brady on “Whose Line is it Anyway,” being instructed by the pleasantly plump new Price is Right host to make up crafty lyrics to a made up song. But, these songs exist and they were cut, put together and made into an album. An album that sold 200,000 copies. 200,000! Well, it was for charity, but come on let us do the charity and yourself a favor and just donate the money straight to the charity, so nobody has to hear 6 Feet Deep sing “Frosty The Snowman.” Well, actually, if one looks at this song it may be just quite crafty. Frosty does inevitably seep into the ground in a post-Christmas melt.

The fact is, these musicians may be talented, but recording “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” under an artist title that suggests death is just funny. Funny to the point that, however painful the music is, you find yourself hysterically laughing at the absolute absurdity of the music being played and the artist’s titles. Heck, if it was for a good joke then it is well taken, but, please, if this was at all serious, leave the Christmas music to musicians like Bing Crosby, Johnny Marks, Irving Berlin, Nat King Cole, and, of course, The Brady Bunch (joke on the last one).