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So, not too much has changed since my original goals for the course. I haven't yet created an a capella piece, but I'd still like to do that. I've started one and I've been playing around with the idea, but nothing worth showing off just yet. The first piece that I presented this semester was a lot of fun to produce and I really loved the sounds. So, I'm thinking that I want to create more stuff like that....Interesting instrumentals with vocals on top. I like the idea of doing really simple lyrics but expanding more on harmonies. At the end of the semester, I'm hoping to have a collection of a dozen or so songs that I've recorded...some with the help of others...all, or at least most of them with vocals.

Current playlist:
Heaven - Angels & Airwaves
Starting Now - Ingrid Michaelson
Hometown Glory - Adele
Spinning - Jack's Mannequin

Comments.

First, I'd like to comment on Melissa's blog on The Dresden Dolls. About four years ago I went through a phase of being obsessed with their music and and listened to it non stop for about three months. (I do this with a lot of bands when I first hear about them and love what it is that's entering my ears) What I loved about this music was, as Melissa also mentioned, the untraditional use of vocals. If there is one thing that I love the most when I hear it in music, it's the voice being used in ways totally unexpected, or "abnormal"--whatever that entails. I find it innovative and...ballsy. I also enjoyed reading Melissa's blog because of the background information provided about the musicans and where they came from as well as their ideas. Typically, I don't do much research on artists and I hardly ever know anything about the personal lives of music makers. I'm not sure why, I've just always focused on the music, solely, because to me that is what matters. On the other hand though, I think that sometimes it can be beneficial to know the 411 about the musicians being listened to. It opens up a different perspective and can allow for the ears to hear something it wouldn't without this provided information.

Second, I'd like to comment on Joanna's blong on Lucky Dragons. I went to their myspace and found the sounds intriguing. It's not what I would typically include on a personal playlist, but, nonetheless, I appreciated the music for the genre it's within. After hearing Joanna's ea work in class today, I found that her vision and the vision of Lucky Dragons is similar. It gets me thinking a lot about influences and also about the reading from Sound Unbound about copyright and how we "reuse" sounds previously produced. I personally think that's the beauty in art...the way we can be influenced by others works and create something of our own from what we've entrapped in our minds. In Joanna's blog, I also enjoyed the segment about audience. I think its a gorgeous thing, when artists can be personable with their audiences and create a sort of relationship where there is no hierarchy and rather, just an equal level of humas enjoying sound.

Also, I'd like to add here that I haven't been doing the whole playlist thing....I suppose it's slipped my mind....so, here's a lengthy one. I hope that people take a listen at some of the songs/artists I'm listing in this blog. I'm kind of one of those people who when she finds a song/artist she likes, she craves to share the music and have people around her enjoy it as much as she does. Yupp, so, here it is:

"Silver Lining"- Rilo Kiley
"Sunburn"-Muse
"Free to Say"-Smoosh
"Wake the Sun"- The Matches
"Falling For You"-Ronnie Day
"Speeding Cars"-Imogen Heap
"Pumpkin Soup"-Kate Nash
"For Me This Is Heaven"-Jimmy Eat World
"Happy Ending"-Mika
"I Know, I Know, I Know"-Tegan and Sara
"Lullaby"-Cary Judd
"Take It From Me"-The Weepies
"Zwei Sreifen Im Blau"-Couch
"My Only Swerving"-El Ten Eleven

Angels & Airwaves

Angels & Airwaves (referred to sometimes as AVA) is a solo music project by former Blink-182 member, Tom Delonge. Also, in the group is guitarist, David Kennedy from the band Box Car Racer, former drummer from the Offspring Atom Willard, and former 30 Seconds to Mars bassist Matt Wachter. So far the band has released to albums: We Don't Need to Whisper (2006) and I-Empire (2007). They have also released a documentar entitled Start the Machine, which focuses on the break up of Blink-182, the creation of Angels & Airwaves and the making of We Don't Need to Whisper. They also plan to releasing a feature film, entitled I-Empire, that will feature their music.

With the hiatus of pop-punk superstars that make up the band, you would expect the sound of Angels and Airwaves to be much different than what it is. punk+punk+punk+punk=punk...right? NOPE. AVA is for sure characteristic of the Alternative-Rock genre, however, AVA achieves a certain uniqueness that is unprecedented in this certain music scene. This band creates a multimedia supergroup (all members were hand picked by DeLonge) that devotes their sound to providing a true musical experience for their fans. Having been to one of their live shows, I can truly say that listening to them and watching them paralleled any potential religious experience I would personally have. Their sounds are simple to get lost in and at the show I nearly felt as though it were an out of body experience...completely uninebriated.

When the band first started in the studio the would play 2001: A Space Odyssey in a dark room on a big-screen TV. World War II posters of battle scenes and destruction were hung up on the walls around them. This is where they found inspiration for recording. This band, unlike with Delonge's previous work, concentrated on the expression of personal emotion through metaphors to space and the conflicts involving love and war. If you listen to the music, this metaphore shines through...particularly the space theme.

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