Art is the music we make from the bewildered cry of being alive. ~Maria Popova
06 Mar 2013 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: backmasking, songs with hidden messages
(Source: BuzzFeed)
These classic songs have a bit more to them than meets the eye. The advent of recorded music also meant the ability to backmask — hiding an audio cue through recording tricks embedded within songs. If you’ve ever wondered what your favorite artist was actually saying, read on.
05 Mar 2013 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: california, delta spirit
Delta Spirit: “California” (2012)
From the self-titled third album, referred to by one Amazon.com customer as:
“a brassy, ambitious, euphoric, head spinning, toe tapping, nut busting, bra tossing, beer swilling, guitar smashing work of genius” and an “epic rollercoaster hayride under the big night sky”
Hmm, not sure if it’s all that for me. But I do find “California” to be one track that makes me want to toss a bra.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/01/02/songs-you-may-have-missed-271/
05 Mar 2013 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: abigail's ghost, monochrome
Abigail’s Ghost: “Monochrome” (2007)
Lush, spellbinding melodic rock from the Louisiana prog band’s 2007 debut, which captures some of the flavor of Steven Wilson’s Blackfield project. The band’s direction changed somewhat as they mostly did away with the beguiling synths on their less satisfying second LP.
05 Mar 2013 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: billy bragg, the world turned upside down
Billy Bragg: “The World Turned Upside Down” (1985)
Billy Bragg tells the story of the Diggers, a movement in mid-1600’s England to create a classless society by seizing land (which they felt had been unjustly taken through the Norman conquest) and holding it in the common good. They did so successfully and peacefully in areas of Kent and Northamptonshire, in defiance of laws and landlords, for over a year. They were eventually, and easily, suppressed by Cromwell and Fairfax.
Bragg sees lessons in the story for the powerful and dispossessed alike:
You poor take courage/You rich take care/This earth was made a common treasury for everyone to share
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/03/22/songs-you-may-have-missed-59/
05 Mar 2013 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: singing competition
(Excerpted from The New York Times)
By CORINNA da FONSECA-WOLLHEIM
A singing competition is no ideal biosphere for music to flourish.
That much was clear from the finals of this year’s George London Competition, which offered the unnatural spectacle of opera arias morphing into sales pitches in the hands of 24 young American and Canadian singers. In the presence of a jury including opera greats like Nedda Casei and George Shirley, contestants apparently felt compelled to force out top notes and sing very loudly — notwithstanding the aggressively amplifying acoustics of the Gilder Lehrman Hall at the Morgan Library & Museum…
(Read more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/05/arts/music/george-london-competition-at-the-morgan-library.html?ref=music )
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As we’ve previously ranted on this site, the current mania for competitive singing may be to the eventual detriment of pop music, if it hasn’t already. And the above excerpt suggests such effects may not be limited to pop, but have been seen in the classical music realm as well.
If young singers can be made to understand the difference between singing as conveyance of emotion and singing as a July 4th fireworks display (in shorthand, the difference between, say, Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion) maybe it’s not unthinkable we’ll see another Karen Carpenter or Roberta Flack on the charts again someday. But as long the prize-givers are in control, it’s unlikely.
02 Mar 2013 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: dzintars, latvian women's choir, where have you been brother
Dzintars: The Latvian Women’s Choir: “Where Have You Been, Brother?” (1983)
Another beautiful piece of Latvian choral music from the 76-member choir whose 1983 album was produced by Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/03/02/songs-you-may-have-missed-35/
Every Moment Has A Song 