Archive for March, 2007
so here’s the news:
+++ Popular music producer Timbaland’s new album, Shock Value, is a really good project. In fact, it’s a beautifully composed album including a probably carefully selected hodgepodge of artists from many different mainstream mediums (”Something for everyone”, eh?), and the production is nothing short of brilliant. The two things that surprised me were his usage and manipulation of Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman” in his opening “Oh Timbaland” and a very understated, but effective, remix of One Republic’s emotional “Apologize.” I don’t think that the track should have been labeled “featuring One Republic”, though, when the song had been released at least a year and half now. As for sampling Simone, the action is both tributary and trivializing. One must wonder if Timbaland intends to recycle in order to puff up his credentials or just because the hook is one of the most amazing in Twentieth Century American music.
While I did admire the aspects of the album that I previously listed, overall, I wasn’t particularly impressed with the music itself. Hubris-filled music doesn’t appeal to me, which is probably why I’ve never been particularly taken with hip-hop. The lyrics on the album are moreoften unattractive and uncreative than not. Some beats and transitions are loose and weak. But then, I have weird standards. So don’t even bother listening to me on that particular line of thinking.
Due to this, and because the version I listened to is the rather illegal leaked version, I’m deleting the album and am quite sure I won’t miss it. But I do recommend that people give it a listen anyway. The work is worth hearing. And I don’t doubt that it’s going to garner rave reviews when it is officially released.
- Shock Value tracks that stuck with me (which means they’re the ones no one will care about hah):
- “Oh Timbaland” - posthumously ft. Nina Simone (don’t deny it!)
- “Give It to Me” - ft. Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake
- “Time” - ft. She Wants Revenge (I really honestly have no idea what to make of She Wants Revenge. I’ve heard a decent amount of their music and it appeals, attracts, and disturbs me- in the bad way - all at the same time.)
+++ Today in Battlestar Galactica world, the series decided to kick back into awesome gear just as the season ended. And so I am compelled to write:
Dear Mr. Moore and Mr. Eick,
Thanks ever so much for a great season finale that did not reflect on the preceding string of considerably bland episodes. Thanks ever so much for getting the amazing production ideas and gears you had running in seasons 1 and 2 back running smoothly.
No thanks whatsoever for reveling in the sadistic pleasure you receive from fraking with your fanbase so much that you’re making us speculate ourselves weary until 2008. Because you all know darn well sure that we’re going to do it.
Sincerely,
a fan
p.s. No thanks for turning Gaeta into a jerk. Please reconsider his character direction. Thanks.
March 26 2007 | BSG (and such) and music | 1 Comment »
Perhaps one of the worst feelings in the world is to be afraid of your own home. Last night, around 1AM, while sitting in my usual spot of my living room sofa, just doing the usual work, I hear this knock come from the patio window/door. A knock at the patio is not unusual as oftentimes one of my roommates will run outside without a key and then need a way back in.
However, when I turned to look, it was not one of my roommates or anyone that I knew, but a guy, covering his face with his lifted shirt, and trousers dropped, wagging his penis at me through the window. I turned away and ignored him while he stayed there for at least., just wagging away, another minute before walking away. I was too scared to pick up the phone to call the police or wake up my very burly roommate. I didn’t want to move lest I provoke him to do anything.
But the image in the corner of my eye of a guy standing right up against my window and waving his appendage at me was enough to rattle me for the entire night and still into today. I couldn’t move from that spot on the sofa or look towards the window for at least fifteen minutes after he walked away, and didn’t even walk towards that same wall where my computer was plugged into to unplug it for fear that he was still lurking nearby. Instead, I yanked the cord from where I sat.
I couldn’t sleep, but must have dozed off at some point because I woke up late for my class. As I walked out my front door and towards the apartment complex office to report the incident, any male that I saw whether or not they resembled the - erm- “attacker” (I guess), I felt a small tremor of nervousness. The guy could be almost anyone I run into today or tomorrow or the day after that.
These kinds of people make me so negative about humanity. I am comforted by the thought that I have kind and caring male friends with whom I feel so utterly and completely safe around. But if they can’t keep the fear from striking, still, when the incident happens and they aren’t there.  When something like this happens to you alone, the feeling of alone-ness is so strongly prevalent that, as a friend of mine who has gone through something similiar said, “…you feel embarrassed almost.”
Despite the overwhelming support I’ve gotten from people that I’ve told about this, and the strangely humourous reactions some people have suggested to me, I still feel this odd fear of going home. It it more than possible that this incident was purely random, there’s also that possibility that the person will come back. What kind of sick person does something like this?
Well, even though pretty much all of you that read this blog are guys, I think that it’s important that everyone is aware that there ARE people out there that do fracked up things like this and that they have to be stopped. Tell your friends: it’s not funny - it’s sick and full grounds for getting your precious package stamped on by the entire female population of this planet.
March 19 2007 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
I have too much music on my computer. Much of it is completely empty-calorie, but kept for novelty.
I must start burning some onto storage disks.
I used to think that an interesting goal would be to listen to all the music that existed be it good, bad, or somewhere in between. Now, I just feel like my ears would hate me if I did that, and instead, I should just play everything.
No thoughts for today. Just some music. The theme kind of “people I have seen or will see or will miss seeing perform” but is only slightly inapplicable because I have never had the slightest chance of seeing Shiina Ringo perform. Though I do hope to someday…Anyways, I have to practice for my recital…*goes for coffee*
[all songs listed on savefile.com. ]
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[MUSIC]
Please support the artists and buy their CDs!!
+ [Carnival] - Shiina Ringo
- Shiina Ringo’s aforementioned unconventional cover of the song “Manha de Carnaval” from the last post. Ringo is by far one of the most talented and flexible “rock” musicians I have ever heard and I adore her fearlessness. Granted, her pronunciation’s not the best in the world so when she’s singing in Portugese, it’s odd. Ignore it. Imagine she’s singing in a language all her own. It’s all part of the music. And then, when she transitions to a slightly more natural English, experience the sepia-tinted longing and magic.
+ [B Minor] - Leahy
- As I’m quite enthralled by good Celtic fusion, when I first heard of Leahy, I was curious to see what they were all about. Leahy didn’t introduce to me anything I hadn’t heard previously off a Natalie MacMaster album, and they teeter dangerously sometimes on the boundary of cheese. But Leahy is extraordinarily talented Irish/Celtic fusion. “B Minor” was by far the most impressive track, for me, off their The Call to Dance album. I am quite sad that I will have to miss seeing them perform live later this week because of a gig…but there’ll hopefully be other chances too.
+ [Preludes Op. 34, No. 24] - D. Shostakovich, performed by Midori
- Turn this one up. I have worshipped Midori’s virtuosity and artistry for as long as I can remember. This particular piece, while short, displays to some length the extent of her musicality. There are so many subtleties in this performance that you might not entirely catch, but the thrilling structure of Shostakovich’s intricacies certainly shine through regardless. I’m so excited that I’ll finally get to witness her amazingness later this week when I get back from my gig. *squeee* This particular recording, which I have owned since at least elementary school, inspired me so much that I’m attempting to play it on my recital in the coming weeks. May I do it justice…
+ [Spain] - Chick Corea
- So this piece is a backtrack to the previous post as well as here again I get to mention Chick Corea. A live recording of “Spain” was one of the two or three jazz pieces which made me realize just how intensely beautiful and moving jazz could be. This song is not considered a Corea signature for no reason. It’s amazing, if not just a really nice listen.
March 13 2007 | music | 2 Comments »
There’s a particular joy in rediscovering. Over a year ago, I was blessed with the opportunity to see TRIO!, the amazing ensemble of Bela Fleck, Stanley Clarke, and Jean-Luc Ponty, tear up the stage. Their display of musicianship combined with genius was astounding, and I left the performance feeling mostly enlightened.
Less than a week ago, I went to see Fleck play again, but this time in collaboration with Chick Corea. If the two names in the same sentence don’t strike the “amazing” chord within you, then you should hear how unique the sound they’ve chiseled out of the strange idea of a banjo and a piano truly is. Sadly the album isn’t out yet for me to put up some samples.
I haven’t been familiar with Fleck’s work long enough to recognize what he’s done with the Flecktones and Vic Wooten, but a few days after the Fleck/Corea performance, I got to downloading a few Flecktones albums. Though relatively old, the tunes are no less effective. I never imagined that I could like bluegrass music in the least, but there’s this integrity in Fleck and Wooten’s sound that sets it in a genre of its own.
In a bit different spectrum, I’d been intrigued by Rachael Yamagata’s vocal artistry since she sang the duet “Did You Get My Message?” with Jason Mraz years back. Her voice, both physical and musical, is uniquely abstract and sometimes deeply haunting. I went back in time a bit this past week and dug up one of the early Bumpus albums, and was sad to discover that Yamagata didn’t enjoy her versatility.
Recently, I’ve been learning a lot about funk music from various friends and bands (see Funkology), and coming to accept that it’s a touchy, complex genre. You either got the funk or you don’t. Yamagata’s voice, while so appropriate in her current indie-rock road, gave the tight grooves of Bumpus an element of elegance that isn’t often associated with funk. People may feel that “elegance” isn’t a term to be associated with “funk” but I, personally, like the idea. Elegant funk sounds so strangely transcendental, slightly uncomfortable, but not impossible.
Are these thoughts all unbelievable? Perhaps. Here’s some music.
[all songs listed on savefile.com. ]
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[MUSIC]
Please support the artists and buy their CDs!!
+ [A Celtic Medley] - Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
- I want to cover this tune with…oh anyone. I’d have to find some kickass musicians and practice a hell of a whole lot first…Vic Wooten is particularly amazing on this tune. Just listen to how he handles those fast lines on the bass as if there’s just nothing to it….T_T
+ [Oceanic] - Bumpus
- Just some tight funk music with interesting lyrics. This is pretty standard funk, I’m guessing from my very small knowledge of funk, but it’s got groove and dance, so why not?
+ [Heizan Moyu] (Burning Mt. Hiei) (from Nobunaga II)- Yoko Kanno (from the KOEI Game Music Works Yoko Kanno Collection)
- I’ll be darned - it’s another genius composition of Kanno’s which has gotten lost in all her new and equally brilliant work. My first thought when I heard this piece was that I wanted to play it for my senior recital in the spring of next year. I figured I’d transcribe it. Then after listening to those piano lines again, I figured I’d probably kill myself doing so. Thus, I am now in the process of either finding someone who can transcribe this properly…or possibly asking Mrs. Kanno herself for the music? heh…
+ [Manha De Carnaval] - Antonio Carlos Jobim & Luis Bonfa
- I can’t give too much background on this piece other than I first heard the Shiina Ringo cover of this song before I heard the song itself. This song is from some movie that I can’t recall the name of. But both versions are quite strange and beautiful in a very melancholy, wistful way.
March 10 2007 | music | 3 Comments »
