“Oh it was gorgeousness and gorgeosity made flesh. The trombones crunched redgold under my bed, and behind my gulliver the trumpets three-wise silverflamed, and there by the door the timps rolling through my guts and out again crunched like candy thunder. Oh, it was wonder of wonders.”
The Moldau River, it cuts, divides and segregates Czechoslovakia while, I’m enveloped by the vision of Bedrich Semanta. Like Beethoven’s ninth, my blood is dictated all good and proper by a plethora of undefined emotion dictated by the changes in movement of the depicted river, pure feeling. The theater remains dark; my mind present. Terence Malick’s Tree of Life on display but not in focus, as I remain attentive, eyes shut, seeing clear the nonexistent river. How could it exist, it’s as real as the Czechoslovakia. It was conceived in a time of pre-Wilhelm nationalism. It was made tribute to the shared Western idea of the perfect nation. When I hear Beethoven Clockwork floods my mind; when I hear the Blue Danube, I see a space Odyssey; But as Malick presents his mythic depiction of the war between grace and brutality the only thing that comes to mind is Semanta’s river.
Music is the universal language. It doesn't matter what language you speak or where you are from, every single person from every single culture appreciates music in some form. Wether Katy Perry is encouraging you to roar or a string quartet is brightening a gloomy monday morning music is meaningful to each of us in our own way.
INFATUATION DEL REY: I don’t think people adequately understand my fascination with Elizabeth Woolridge Grant aka Lana del Rey. This bothers me sometimes, when people say “Oh yeah I love Lana del Rey!”.... But do you really? Do you REALLY... really LOVE her? Because I do. My relationship with Lana del Rey is a prime example of infatuation.In fact, it’s a great shock to me that I haven’t written this sooner. But, I digress. Onwards. I first discovered my love for Lana del Rey when I heard the song “Off to the Races” for the first time. It was March first, and her album had been out for about a month. Before then, I heard people talk about her, but never really paid her any mind. I bought Born to Die on March 7, 2012, my fifteenth birthday. After a short period, I started a blog about Lana with my friend Veronica. The rest, as they say, is history. What draws me into Lana so much is her INTRIGUE. I believe that she is one of the very few artists in music who has honest intrigue, as opposed to a façade of attention-seeking pop music. She is so disconnected. She seems to exist in a different world, a different dimension; a separate reality from the one most people perceive. Her motions are so carefully controlled and her voice is so soft— and in fact her presence is so remarkably gentle that it’s scary, I keep waiting for this shock of ... something- but it never comes. For instance she’ll be talking in an interview in her light airy way, and then pause- and in that instant she is so infinitely gentle and tortured that I get scared that some sort of crazy monster is going to jump out like one of those prank emails or videos. It’s almost terrifying. She is paralyzingly gentle. And I think that’s what draws me to her, that spark that keeps me wanting more to see if that monster will ever pop out. Really; she is the ultimate tease. She keeps you wanting something you’ll never get. And that’s what’s so intriguing both sonically and visually to her entire essence.
At my synagogue there used to be a Rabbi whose voice seemed like the only good thing in the world. Her somber, yet sweet notes left tears streaming down my face at the conclusion of services. Sometimes I like to think that if God had a voice, it would sound like her, and if God could talk, it would be in the language of songs that Rabbi Alice knew so well. But that Rabbi is gone now, and although the squeaky 30 something guy who took her place tries his best, I am no longer left wet eyed and speechless after services. It's incredible how one voice touched me on such a spiritual level.
I have always found it incredible how music can evoke such feelings in a short amount of time. These feelings may go unnoticed at times, but they can also be extraordinarily powerful. I myself frequently trying to relate my own life to the songs I listen to, and if I can't, that song is discarded and I move on. If I can, though, I become emotionally attached to it. It is playing from every device I own. And when the event that I relate the song to becomes irrelevant, the song still brings out memories years later.
This is really good Avelena! Very relatable, I think everyone has associated a song with a particular life event at least once in their life. You do a good job of explaining your thought process when connecting with a song, and I particularly like your last sentence. Straight to the point, but sweet I think
I feel such nostalgia listening to older music, music from before the day of my birth. It is not what one might call a literal nostalgia, a recounting of events personally experienced by me that, when recounted (through a golden tinge, of course), make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but rather a collective nostalgia that I've been exposed to through today's pop culture reverence for the 1970s and 80s. Listening to the bumping bass lines of Holland Oates (It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia reference, anyone?) makes me feel like I'm livin' in the 80s, rocking some neon wayfarers and nike air max as I stroll down the street... Or how about some Earth, Wind & Fire to get my blood pumping and my head bumping? The groovy melodies and rich voices get me every time.
"Word's are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup, they slither wildly as they slip away, across the universe." Those words to me are enlightenment, like a chocolate ball with an inner core of caramel. I remember in my saddest days, I would listen to this, and just think on the words, and thank god that was enough. They spoke to me in their own way too. "Don't worry about the future, it'll all come and go and in the end, nothing really changes you."
I love this song, and it speaks to me as well. I love the way you describe it with food, as it is something any reader can relate to. Very nicely done.
really like music. There are so many different kinds music in the world I often find it funny that they can all be put under one umbrella. How can the same human race have created Frank Sinatra, The Velvet Underground, Eminem and Ornette Coleman? On any given day you could find me listening to any of these artists. When people ask me what kind of music I like, I can only say “I like all kinds of music.” “Everybody says that!” they say, “That's such a cop-out.” But have you seen my records? This Heat, Pere Ubu, Outsiders, Nation of Ulysses, Mars, The Trojans, The Black Dice, Todd Terry, The Germs, Section 25, Althea and Donna, Sexual Harrassment, a-ha, Pere Ubu, Dorothy Ashby, PIL, The Fania All-Stars, The Bar-Kays, The Human League, The Normal, Lou Reed, Scott Walker, Monks, Niagra, Joy Division, Lower 48, The Association, Sun Ra Scientists, Royal Trux, 10cc, Rammellzee, Eric B. and Rakim, Index, Basic Channel, Soulsonic Force, Juan Atkins, David Axelrod, Electric Prunes, Gil Scott Heron, The Slits, Faust, Mantronix, Pharaoh Sanders and The Fire Engines, The Swans, the Soft Cell, The Sonics.
Music is really cool. I really like when you can see similarities between really different pieces of music and really draw connections even though they're from two really different parts of the world or two really different genres. There was this one really cool time when I listened to this really old fugue that was played on this really big organ and it was really old and the first bars really sounded a lot like "the final countdown."
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete“Oh it was gorgeousness and gorgeosity made flesh. The trombones crunched redgold under my bed, and behind my gulliver the trumpets three-wise silverflamed, and there by the door the timps rolling through my guts and out again crunched like candy thunder. Oh, it was wonder of wonders.”
ReplyDeleteThe Moldau River, it cuts, divides and segregates Czechoslovakia while, I’m enveloped by the vision of Bedrich Semanta. Like Beethoven’s ninth, my blood is dictated all good and proper by a plethora of undefined emotion dictated by the changes in movement of the depicted river, pure feeling. The theater remains dark; my mind present. Terence Malick’s Tree of Life on display but not in focus, as I remain attentive, eyes shut, seeing clear the nonexistent river. How could it exist, it’s as real as the Czechoslovakia. It was conceived in a time of pre-Wilhelm nationalism. It was made tribute to the shared Western idea of the perfect nation. When I hear Beethoven Clockwork floods my mind; when I hear the Blue Danube, I see a space Odyssey; But as Malick presents his mythic depiction of the war between grace and brutality the only thing that comes to mind is Semanta’s river.
Music is the universal language. It doesn't matter what language you speak or where you are from, every single person from every single culture appreciates music in some form. Wether Katy Perry is encouraging you to roar or a string quartet is brightening a gloomy monday morning music is meaningful to each of us in our own way.
ReplyDeleteINFATUATION DEL REY:
ReplyDeleteI don’t think people adequately understand my fascination with Elizabeth Woolridge Grant aka Lana del Rey. This bothers me sometimes, when people say “Oh yeah I love Lana del Rey!”.... But do you really? Do you REALLY... really LOVE her? Because I do. My relationship with Lana del Rey is a prime example of infatuation.In fact, it’s a great shock to me that I haven’t written this sooner. But, I digress. Onwards. I first discovered my love for Lana del Rey when I heard the song “Off to the Races” for the first time. It was March first, and her album had been out for about a month. Before then, I heard people talk about her, but never really paid her any mind. I bought Born to Die on March 7, 2012, my fifteenth birthday. After a short period, I started a blog about Lana with my friend Veronica. The rest, as they say, is history.
What draws me into Lana so much is her INTRIGUE. I believe that she is one of the very few artists in music who has honest intrigue, as opposed to a façade of attention-seeking pop music.
She is so disconnected. She seems to exist in a different world, a different dimension; a separate reality from the one most people perceive. Her motions are so carefully controlled and her voice is so soft— and in fact her presence is so remarkably gentle that it’s scary, I keep waiting for this shock of ... something- but it never comes.
For instance she’ll be talking in an interview in her light airy way, and then pause- and in that instant she is so infinitely gentle and tortured that I get scared that some sort of crazy monster is going to jump out like one of those prank emails or videos. It’s almost terrifying. She is paralyzingly gentle.
And I think that’s what draws me to her, that spark that keeps me wanting more to see if that monster will ever pop out. Really; she is the ultimate tease. She keeps you wanting something you’ll never get. And that’s what’s so intriguing both sonically and visually to her entire essence.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAt my synagogue there used to be a Rabbi whose voice seemed like the only good thing in the world. Her somber, yet sweet notes left tears streaming down my face at the conclusion of services. Sometimes I like to think that if God had a voice, it would sound like her, and if God could talk, it would be in the language of songs that Rabbi Alice knew so well. But that Rabbi is gone now, and although the squeaky 30 something guy who took her place tries his best, I am no longer left wet eyed and speechless after services. It's incredible how one voice touched me on such a spiritual level.
ReplyDeleteI have always found it incredible how music can evoke such feelings in a short amount of time. These feelings may go unnoticed at times, but they can also be extraordinarily powerful. I myself frequently trying to relate my own life to the songs I listen to, and if I can't, that song is discarded and I move on. If I can, though, I become emotionally attached to it. It is playing from every device I own. And when the event that I relate the song to becomes irrelevant, the song still brings out memories years later.
ReplyDeleteThis is really good Avelena! Very relatable, I think everyone has associated a song with a particular life event at least once in their life. You do a good job of explaining your thought process when connecting with a song, and I particularly like your last sentence. Straight to the point, but sweet I think
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI feel such nostalgia listening to older music, music from before the day of my birth. It is not what one might call a literal nostalgia, a recounting of events personally experienced by me that, when recounted (through a golden tinge, of course), make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but rather a collective nostalgia that I've been exposed to through today's pop culture reverence for the 1970s and 80s. Listening to the bumping bass lines of Holland Oates (It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia reference, anyone?) makes me feel like I'm livin' in the 80s, rocking some neon wayfarers and nike air max as I stroll down the street... Or how about some Earth, Wind & Fire to get my blood pumping and my head bumping? The groovy melodies and rich voices get me every time.
ReplyDelete"Word's are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup, they slither wildly as they slip away, across the universe." Those words to me are enlightenment, like a chocolate ball with an inner core of caramel. I remember in my saddest days, I would listen to this, and just think on the words, and thank god that was enough. They spoke to me in their own way too. "Don't worry about the future, it'll all come and go and in the end, nothing really changes you."
ReplyDeleteI love this song, and it speaks to me as well. I love the way you describe it with food, as it is something any reader can relate to. Very nicely done.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletereally like music. There are so many different kinds music in the world I often find it funny that they can all be put under one umbrella. How can the same human race have created Frank Sinatra, The Velvet Underground, Eminem and Ornette Coleman? On any given day you could find me listening to any of these artists. When people ask me what kind of music I like, I can only say “I like all kinds of music.”
ReplyDelete“Everybody says that!” they say, “That's such a cop-out.”
But have you seen my records? This Heat, Pere Ubu, Outsiders, Nation of Ulysses, Mars, The Trojans, The Black Dice, Todd Terry, The Germs, Section 25, Althea and Donna, Sexual Harrassment, a-ha, Pere Ubu, Dorothy Ashby, PIL, The Fania All-Stars, The Bar-Kays, The Human League, The Normal, Lou Reed, Scott Walker, Monks, Niagra, Joy Division, Lower 48, The Association, Sun Ra
Scientists, Royal Trux, 10cc, Rammellzee, Eric B. and Rakim, Index, Basic Channel, Soulsonic Force, Juan Atkins, David Axelrod, Electric Prunes, Gil Scott Heron, The Slits, Faust, Mantronix, Pharaoh Sanders and The Fire Engines, The Swans, the Soft Cell, The Sonics.
Music is really cool. I really like when you can see similarities between really different pieces of music and really draw connections even though they're from two really different parts of the world or two really different genres. There was this one really cool time when I listened to this really old fugue that was played on this really big organ and it was really old and the first bars really sounded a lot like "the final countdown."
ReplyDelete