Funny how my taste in music keeps changing. Just 4 months ago, I was reeling over Jethro Tull and Crosby Stills & Nash. Let me rephrase that– my taste isn’t changing, rather its just that I am accepting a lot of new music, special thanks to the Rantinghuman. This new and very interesting music is in the world of indie-pop. You won’t find these on music channel repeats. The music channels are not worthy of beautiful music. To name the bands I am talking about, these are- The Decemberists, The Clientele, and Neutral Milk Hotel. My personal opinion of these bands is that they’re awesome. An acquired taste I must say. It took me a while to get used to the style, and now I am strumming and singing the tunes virtually everyday. These bands are similar only in the sense that the words are simple. If this interests you, you’d care to read further. Just some of my thoughts about them.
I think I’ll start with the Decemberists. Colin Meloy’s voice is just stunning. I get the feeling he’s flirting with the melody, well in control. The combination of guitar, double bass cello, accordion and keyboard, and a female voice in some songs is fresh sound. They seem to have some progressive rock inclination, a song titled “The Island…” comes to mind. Parts of which did remind me of Tull. The new album called “The Crane Wife” is my clear favorite, though I’ve not heard all the songs in the album. They’ve experimented with storytelling through song. I thought it marvelous.
Clientele are an emotional lot. They’ve hit milestones with a reverberating lead guitar and of course, Alasdair McLean’s vocals. Wikipedia tells me that he uses a microphone plugged into a guitar amplifier resulting in a sort of breathy voice. Innovation there. They make beautiful music that is all about love, nostalgia, detachment. They further corroborate my point that rock musicians make the best love-songs. These guys are British, so the words are pronounced the way George Harrison did.
It took a little more time for Neutral Milk Hotel to become part of my regular play-list. The approach to song-writing is pretty close to what the Decemberists do. Rhymes and alliteration with storytelling and strange melodies. I still don’t like all the songs in the album “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea”, but the title track and some few others are very unique.
I am also very impressed by Radiohead. From what I hear, their recent albums have been very electronic. The album I have taken to is called Pablo Honey. Save a couple of songs, I enjoyed the rest. With this I come to the end of a rare post. Its been a while since I typed about music. November’s last.
I wouldn’t say November had an interesting start. The aforementioned rain has the city on its knees(..and some very dirty pants!). Had a couple of days of college just so I could listen to 3 hours of design. Three-quarters of my class decided to give it a miss, but the more daring section of the class(..able swimmers et all) wanted to attend these lectures. Now its slogging time. Examinations not far away. A satisfying performance here will see the vacations off in beatitude.
Just a few days ago, my Uncle and I decided on pizza for dinner. Aunt was away. A few minutes passed since we sat down at the joint, when the table next to ours was clearing up; A family of about eight. The corner of my eye caught just the last person that left. A boy, perhaps eleven years old with a green T and black shorts, he made a most despicable face at me and in a flash, it turned into a gleeful smile. Must be a case of autism, I thought to myself.
For some reason, the next instant, I turned around; probably to see what was on at the other television set; only to be blinded by a large green cloth. It was the kid again, and he was hugging me, and reached out for my right cheek to kiss. I was speechless, totally caught in a stimulus I hadn’t reacted to before. After he was through, a relative came up from behind him to tell me that he(the kid) thought I was his cousin. I just managed a smile, at the same time wondering just what the hell my stars were up to. Heh!Quite an experience huh?
