Electic musical mix
So, as most of you know, music is a big part of my life. And I brought a quite large CD collection with me to Malawi, which is great. I put together a very random mix of mp3s before I left, and thought it might be amusing to list out the songs I’ve been listening to most frequently since I’ve been here. In random order, they are:
1) “I wanna rock” by Twisted Sister – what a great tune this is. Straight ahead rock and roll, good syncopation, nice 80s metal guitar solo. Solid.
2) Oceans by the Tea Party – a song off their last album, it’s a good song, inspired by the death of their former manager. Most of their harder, more complex songs are much better live, but this is the perfect album type song for them (a la Heaven Coming Down). Plus, now that they have split up, albums are all I have left, and my live show count with them will have to come to a halt around 15.
3) “Rebellion (Lies)” by Arcade Fire – this song just came out before I left in August, and has a very cool change of key in the middle of the song that just gets me every time. It’s the subtle nuance in a song that gets me, most of the time
4) Never Surrender by Corey Hart – Stop laughing. Honestly. There’s a good reason for this one. One of my friends from home (Julia) did a cover version of this song in one of her live sets, and so the song has some good associative memory vibes with it. Come to think of it, I miss live music (from large concerts like the Tea Party, to smaller acoustic sets of Julia Churchill, Leah Hunter, Dayna Manning, et al)
5) “Why can’t this be love” by Van Halen – on my mixed mp3 disc after the Corey Hart tune, I found this gem of 80s music that sounds like it belongs on the soundtrack to one of those classic 80s romantic comedies that I find amusing.
6) “Meant to Live”, “This is your life”, and others - Switchfoot – I really like this album for it’s lyrical content. Lines like “We were meant to live for so much more”, “this is your life, are you who you want to be/this is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be when the world was younger, and you hade everything to lose”, and “If we’re adding to the noise, turn off this song”. I especially like the thought behind that last line, which I interpret as “we have a good message to get across, but if we’re just more noise, than discard us”. Cool stuff.
7) “In the Meantime” by Dayna Manning – a song that she plans to release on her next album, she was kind enough to give me a demo copy of this and a few others to listen to while I’m away. She also did a benefit show to help raise funds to send some of my friends to India on a missions trip. I hope she really succeeds with this album. If you are into folk rock a la Jewel, you should check her out. Try www.myspace.com/daynamanning
8) Lost Together by Blue Rodeo – just wanted to throw this one on here to keep the Canadian content going (a surprisingly high percentage of the above list) Just a good ballad.
Actually, while I’m making plugs, I’m going to throw out another one for a friend from Toronto named Laila Biali, who is a brilliant jazz composer, pianist, and singer. She has played Carnegie Hall, the Montreal Jazz Festival, opened for Diana Krall, won National Jazz awards, and I’m sure done a bunch of other cool things. Last I heard from her, she was looking to put out her second album, so keep your eyes peeled for her. She does regular shows in the Toronto area when she’s in town, so if you’re the type to go out for some jazz, check her out.
So, I miss having good musical discussions, so if you want to mock me for this list, or have some current favourites of your own I should check out, drop me a line. Most of the people I meet here are locals or are from Europe, so most of our chats are just to discover what music has and has not crossed the ocean.
1) “I wanna rock” by Twisted Sister – what a great tune this is. Straight ahead rock and roll, good syncopation, nice 80s metal guitar solo. Solid.
2) Oceans by the Tea Party – a song off their last album, it’s a good song, inspired by the death of their former manager. Most of their harder, more complex songs are much better live, but this is the perfect album type song for them (a la Heaven Coming Down). Plus, now that they have split up, albums are all I have left, and my live show count with them will have to come to a halt around 15.
3) “Rebellion (Lies)” by Arcade Fire – this song just came out before I left in August, and has a very cool change of key in the middle of the song that just gets me every time. It’s the subtle nuance in a song that gets me, most of the time
4) Never Surrender by Corey Hart – Stop laughing. Honestly. There’s a good reason for this one. One of my friends from home (Julia) did a cover version of this song in one of her live sets, and so the song has some good associative memory vibes with it. Come to think of it, I miss live music (from large concerts like the Tea Party, to smaller acoustic sets of Julia Churchill, Leah Hunter, Dayna Manning, et al)
5) “Why can’t this be love” by Van Halen – on my mixed mp3 disc after the Corey Hart tune, I found this gem of 80s music that sounds like it belongs on the soundtrack to one of those classic 80s romantic comedies that I find amusing.
6) “Meant to Live”, “This is your life”, and others - Switchfoot – I really like this album for it’s lyrical content. Lines like “We were meant to live for so much more”, “this is your life, are you who you want to be/this is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be when the world was younger, and you hade everything to lose”, and “If we’re adding to the noise, turn off this song”. I especially like the thought behind that last line, which I interpret as “we have a good message to get across, but if we’re just more noise, than discard us”. Cool stuff.
7) “In the Meantime” by Dayna Manning – a song that she plans to release on her next album, she was kind enough to give me a demo copy of this and a few others to listen to while I’m away. She also did a benefit show to help raise funds to send some of my friends to India on a missions trip. I hope she really succeeds with this album. If you are into folk rock a la Jewel, you should check her out. Try www.myspace.com/daynamanning
8) Lost Together by Blue Rodeo – just wanted to throw this one on here to keep the Canadian content going (a surprisingly high percentage of the above list) Just a good ballad.
Actually, while I’m making plugs, I’m going to throw out another one for a friend from Toronto named Laila Biali, who is a brilliant jazz composer, pianist, and singer. She has played Carnegie Hall, the Montreal Jazz Festival, opened for Diana Krall, won National Jazz awards, and I’m sure done a bunch of other cool things. Last I heard from her, she was looking to put out her second album, so keep your eyes peeled for her. She does regular shows in the Toronto area when she’s in town, so if you’re the type to go out for some jazz, check her out.
So, I miss having good musical discussions, so if you want to mock me for this list, or have some current favourites of your own I should check out, drop me a line. Most of the people I meet here are locals or are from Europe, so most of our chats are just to discover what music has and has not crossed the ocean.
posted by Chuck @ 3:42 AM
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