14 September, 2008

Prodigal Daughter

Life has been wild for the last few weeks, but no less stuffed with musical discoveries, and I am taking this opportunity to apologize for my lapses as a blog writer. I have allowed this blog to sleep for far too long, and now it's time to vent.

Music defines generations, and often that music is applied to one or more subsets and subcultural movements of future generations. You'll find people in your life who know the words to every song by Bob Dylan; and then, there are those whose passion lies with the spirit of the Grateful Dead on misty mountains in New York. There are people here who own the entire Beatles' collection (in fact, multiple people, who I at once admire and fear).

The thing is, there's a point where obsession becomes less about the object, than about the consumer. There's a point where self-definition is impossible without resorting to listing brand names (band names) and singing the lyrics to other people's songs. In my major life transition, I was subconsciously afraid of resorting to these tactics. I was afraid of realizing myself through music, instead of recognizing the music in myself, so I pulled back.

What have I discovered? One thing is that I am strong enough to sleep without any music. I don't have to self-medicate. At the same time, if I'm trying to wind down after a long night, there's nothing like the Juno and Marie Antoinette soundtracks as lullabies for life. The only lullaby I've heard that made me sleepier faster was being sung the other day in the shower. It was a Hebrew lullaby, and I almost fell asleep while shaving my legs.

Gogol Bordello makes amazing party music and attracts all kinds of people. Ska-P, NOFX, and Sublime are not appropriate studying music. Alanis Morisette makes you feel better when people fuck with you, and Jimi Hendrix can lighten any mood. Rancid is a surprising point of connection for people of all backgrounds, while Apollo Sunshine devotees are almost always local. Focusing on weighty texts is best done while sitting in the beautiful tree outside of the media Yurt, as live jazz is broadcast across the campus. Stringed instruments are my greatest downfall. Live cello and violin hypnotize me like nothing else (although a heavy bass-line can be pretty magical). I love classical music, and though I am illiterate when it comes to its complexity, I cannot concentrate on another thing while I am listening. It consumes my brain.

Until very soon, my lovely blog readers, this is all I have to say. I promise my next post will be filled with musical goodies.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yeah.

Know what you mean about music and moods. Nothing like music to transport you or paradoxically to anchor you, to free your soul or bind your heart, to purely transcend the physical

http://tinyurl.com/5j7sz5

And these guys just purely loved what they did:

http://tinyurl.com/5h4brh