Art is the music we make from the bewildered cry of being alive. ~Maria Popova
02 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: all she wants, mika
Mika: “All She Wants” (2015)
Mika has clearly assimilated the work of the masters when it comes to crafting unapologetically infectious pop music. Here he displays ABBA-esque aptitude for stitching a rather sad lyric into a tapestry of bright, bouncy handclap-punctuated and harmony-drenched ear candy.
You may have trouble getting this one out of your head. In a good way.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2017/02/24/songs-you-may-have-missed-611/
02 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: keren ann, not going anywhere
Keren Ann: “Not Going Anywhere” (2003)
Though it’s easy to discern something in Keren Ann’s delivery to identify her as a non-American, it’s more difficult to pin down just where in the world the singer hails from.
Perhaps it’s because her father is Russian-Israeli, her mother is Japanese-Dutch, while she herself was raised in Paris and speaks French as a first language.
02 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: eric hutchinson, forget about joni
Eric Hutchinson: “Forget About Joni” (2014)
Eric Hutchinson is irresistibly attracted to a girl who finds him totally resistible, and he weaves the tale of his frustrated infatuation around the type of melody that hooks you on first listen. Fun stuff.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/07/06/songs-you-may-have-missed-441/
02 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: muses, women who inspired songs
(via Purple Clover)
“Crazy Love,” Van Morrison
28 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: avery molek, tom sawyer
24 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: prog rock
by Jose Luis Carballo
As a Prog-rock kid in the early and mid-70’s, I got used to this kind of abuse. Rolling Stone, Cream and all the other big rock journalists at the time hated Prog rock that includes Yes, Genesis, ELP, King Crimson and all other practitioners. The complaints were the same: It ain’t rock&roll. Well, duh. Of course not. For starters, Prog has no sexual energy. It doesn’t build a “groove.” It doesn’t funk, it doesn’t make you wanna dance. It’s not the music of rebellion, the music of throwing out the old masters and starting from zero.
Prog had no “zeitgeist.” It wasn’t imbued with the spirit of it’s day. Prog was not the music of abandon. It’s rather cerebral. Prog is intricate, sculpted, fussy and frilly and a bit in love with itself. The composers of Selling England By The Pound, Close To the Edge, and Brain Salad Surgery knew that decades later, we’d still be discovering new melodies hidden in each Opus (they were right, we are). They knew they were writing music closer in spirit to Vivaldi than Bob Dylan, and they were OK with that.
Prog is the music created by the best musicians of their day (the early to late 1970’s), and the fact that you could name all worthwhile Prog bands on two hands – tells you how singular those players and composers were. Prog music lived in a kind of Alternate Universe, a bit disconnected with The Vietnam War and The Civil Rights Movement.
Prog is still a refuge for those of us who “get it”; we can carve out our own moment and still enjoy our brainy, pretentious music long after the 70’s had come and gone.
Every Moment Has A Song 