Daniel Johns

I can't get enough of this album. Every damn song provides a different touch in another right place burning the heart in pieces... pleasuring the ears with surprises, pure voice, great texture and such romance...

Daniel Johns, their composer, song writer and lead singer, he's everything. I mean, to be able to write such complex and unexpected melodies, include a romantic touch and a sense for drama, all this with great talent, a sharp musical ear and a beautifully soothing velvet voice, with the matching pretty face and deep sea blue eyes... ahhh....
So wait, I was saying... yes. I think this is what makes a good musician. You have to be everything, to have everything in you - the ear and the voice, the heart, soul and brains, stable ideas, sharp senses and strong emotions, to be able to actually create music that is whole. I could say this about a few musical artists, which are also the ones I admire most, that their creation stems from their nature, that the person is part of the whole act - the music. I mean this as a whole. There are a few artists who's music really makes me feel i know who they are, that I feel their loves and pains throughout the art, and furthermore - I feel they know me, better than anyone else. It's rare, and I believe it's music's greatest power. 

Now Daniel Johns has officially been added to the list of my musical love affairs, to his honor, he is now placed together with: 

Daniel Gildenlow. He would be the greatest music-love. Undertow is the song that was there for me in the worst times, the all-time lows, one of the songs that makes me prefer music over people. Daniel's awareness to the world's pain, his full volumed emotions, the way he sees the world and himself, all combined with his amazing music and his expressive abilities.. and he also looks great. 

In difficult parts I really do feel like he is the only one who knows how I feel. 

A Perfect Circle's Maynard James Keenan. The face he shows on tool doesn't have the same effect on me. A perfect circle have some songs that also make me feel like that. By now I feel a bit like I've outgrown them, but their respect lies in it's place, and there are times that remind me how much I could relate. 3 Libras especially. No song can describe it better.

Rishloo, quite an anonymous and very underrated band from Seattle. They are such a powerful band, yet very dramatic and so deep. In this case I have actually conversed with the band's head on facebook...

And you could sort of count Jeff Buckley. But he will stay that myth. 

Yeah now I'm totally in love with that pretty face, velvet voice, pure talent, fragile soul.. 

 

Connections, Some New Ones and Some Old Ones

I love seeing how things connect, how everything connects. That's how my brain works. That's why I love cover works.

My latest Elliott Smith loved song:

Led me to the origin:

That linked to a cover by Wilco. I find it disapointing though:

And this last cover by Garbage. It's all Garbage-styled,  is cute but redundant..:

My favourite version is the Elliott Smith one... surprisingly.

My Elliott Smith temporary obsession almost makes my other obsession go unnoticed. Silverchair. They disbanded this week. Their album Diorama (2002) is one of those album that each song captures you, gets to you hard. They have a sense for drama, even theatrical sense, and i really appreciate that. Reminds me a little of Pain Of Salvation. The music is smart, refreshing and beautifully melodic, and the vocals are excellent. The sort of songs i can't stop singing all day.

And this song is extremely cool, well done everything:

Of what I've heard by now, Incubus' new album If Not Now, When? sounds maturer, as prompted, but keeps the band's forever-young style. There are some surprises there, and some promising hits, like Isadore:

Some groovy 60's band to finish, Blind Faith. So fine!

all music playlist

Yesterday I cleaned my apartment for over 4 hours, really thorough, getting to corners I never revealed before.
The best thing about cleaning time is having the time to put on the music i have on my pc and playing the list on shuffle mode, no skipping. Got 6622 songs, 500+ hours of music, boo yah (H).
The songs that come up are really varied. never the same band, different genres, jumping from a concerto for cello by Vivaldi to Audioslave Muddy Waters to Orphaned Land. music that bring up many periods of my past, and even better, music that i still didn't get to (lazy...), all new revelations.
So I had a great time. My back is cramped but my apartment is as clean as it ever gets, and i got both fresh musical memoirs and new stuff to catch up with. More than anything I got 4 hours of good varied music to wander in my head and fertilize my taste.

I was surprised when the beautiful distinct notes of the blues guitar came to my ears, forgot I have it on my computer for a coupke of seconds. Never thought this simplicity would get to me in this phase of my life but I gave it a chance, luckily.

I gave The Postal Service a listen a year and a half ago hearing Such Great Hights on Grey's Anatomy first OST. One of those band that I listened to a couple of their songs but only one or two sticked. This wasn't one, but I rememberd it as one of the cooler songs.

Pain of Salvation is one of my favourite bands, I love so many things about them, their emotional and phillosophic ideas the most. Truly love Daniel Gildenlow. And yet I still didn't find my way to relate to their new musical attitude they provide on their new album. I like some songs (mainly from the Linoleum EP) but it's hard for me to digest and accept.
A friend sent me this song's video (which is rather gorish and grotesque yet aesthetic). The video catched my eye and i played it over for some time.
Yesterday I fell asleep with my pc on me during passing music to my cellphone, and when I woke up this was on. Makes me think I'm about ready to start really digesting this album.

Now I'm waiting for all the songs registered on my last fm (no net at my apartment) to get to my page... Last.fm-oholic I am. :P

Random Good Shit

Felt like sharing. 

Good lyrics. and vocals. 

This is awesome, complex rhythm. 

I heard this song as a background to a good ending scene of a investigation series (Detroit 1-8-7). Searched it all over youtube and finally found it. Beautiful vocals. 

I love them, can't believe I found them only recently. Beautiful melody.

Oh I love Karen Elson's style, sweet vintage soothing music.  

I've been listening to this one a lot, it hits the right spot, and its just so Steven Wilson. (and a bit of Aviv Geffen's good part... thats about the biggest complement he ever got from me).

And of course, I keep finding more and more great songs of Elliott Smith.

Some Hebrew rock to top all of this. This is the best ringtone ever :P and an awesome powerful song, I absolutely love the lead singer Hemi Rodner.

Just a holy fool

I know I have written about this song here before, but you know, Gaga's videos give the song a new level, and this one takes it so further, it's a whole different kind of art. Complicated, stylized, provocative, dramatic and so emotional. Lady gaga puts on every mask you could possibly imagine and much beyond, and yet, she is bare naked. She is known for saying that the only thing she hates more than money is the truth, and that she'd rather have bullshit fed to her. And yeah, her performance, her fashion, her music, she's all about the bullshit, the stardust, but I don't believe her - cause with all that, Lady Gaga is the one star that shoves truth to our face.
So can you spot the tear? not the crystal one. She is real.

By the way, remember what I said about this song's similarity to Bad Romance? Remember this? -

Good Morning with Nick Drake

What a nice way to start my day.

Sweet video:

Got a smile on my face :)

inflatable

had a revelation. sort of. or maybe i just came across the right words. 

music is the art of feeling. it's pure feel. 

yes, you could analyze it. you don't if you don't connect to the feel immediately, and you would anyways after the first impression, the emotional blow, fades out. good music would pass that test too. 

but what i mean is that the first thing about a good song is what it does to you. the way it plays in your head while you're thinking that this song is exactly how you feel. and how nothing else describes it better, nothing else understands you better in that instance. 

me, i could travel through numerous feelings a day, and if i stick to the mood of letting my heart rule my playlist for a whole day, it could be like a bunch of totally different songs. I've had hours in which beethoven, tool, depeche mode, mika and the red hots squized into the same hour.

but in longer terms, i think that there's always a song that stays me for a longer time. like some of elliott smith and silverchair lately. somehow very similar to my inner state. 

my point being... its a great art. its not just about writing great words, having a nice groove, create inspiring melodies, playing it all the best. when music fits your heart and provokes your emotions, when you feel like that song was written just for you, thats the very best music gets. and putting that in your music demands a different kind of gift, and it demands a sensitive and open heart. it demands your own soul.