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. 

Gnarls Barkley

Gnarls Barkley, the combination of Cee-lo Green and Dangermouse, are commonly known by their mega hit Crazy.

I think that most people really don't see whats behind it. I saw a cover of an Israeli band with one of the biggest stars in Israeli pop, Ninet, she was acting like a mental and the whole feel was like stressful and disturbed. To me that really shows people don't get the lyrics or the idea of this song. It's attitude is actually much more calm and enlightened, accepting we don't have control and it's crazy to dream and enjoy our lives in such reality, but we all do. Anyways, I really love this song, i think it's misunderstood. 

But the Gnarls Barkley experience doesn't stop there. 

They got awesome beats, cee-lo's very cool vocals, and the whole musical texture thats so fresh: 

 

Not to mention their style, it's just everywhere. 

And with all that, the most impressive thing about them is that they really know how to pinch your heart.

The pick for me is this amazing song called Who's gonna Save My Soul. 

Now, the video has a massive effect standing alone, the song is a beautiful background to this heart breaking scene...

But after a few times you can also watch this version, which might be even more touching.. Their whole session in abbey road is very interesting. 

In order to leave you with something humorous that lets down the emotions, this last song is just cute.. and so very catchy.

Pop industry gone mad

What the hack got into her?! What happened between this and the sweet and moving Fireworks?
(My guess, the next Lady Gaga groundbreaking hit):

Fuck.

Notice this song is really similar to Bad Romance - Same chords more or less, same structure, same textual idea, and it's more than musically quoted in the theme (ohohoh I'm in love with Judas - ohohohoh caught in a bad romance). It's nothing new. And yet its groundbreaking, Madonna style - Lady gaga is shoving it into your face, without really saying anything. Admirable.

It's nothing new, Lady gaga has been steering the pop industry for a while now, may i say - only in good ways. Go Gaga. 

Elliott Smith

It's this kind of music that you just don't know what to tell about it. Something about it is so plain and common that you couldn't imagine someone not relating to it, and on the other hand you can't explain what it is about it that makes you like it, despite the banal feeling. Or maybe you can, cause this songs are so small, humble and unpretentious, that they're nothing but true. Using such words makes me feel I'm doing wrong to these songs. they're just small. small and true. And I want to quote them, so badly, I want to write the feeling just like this music provokes, but the words become dust without the music, they are useless without it. Not because the music is more powerful. Its the virtue of these songs, their heart lies in between the combination of words and sounds. their small, beating, sentimental heart.

Those some who I related to the most, lately.


P.s.: I am very close to the job of my dreams as a radio musical editor. thats... still unbelievable. One step closer...

P.s. II: Another cute song I've been humming, great doorsy feel to it, sweet sound. veryyyy catchy.

Too Much of Not Enough

Silverchair - Too Much of Not Enough
This song is driving me crazy, its so good, its one of these songs that you can't stop listening to and hear in your head all day.. no version in YouTube, got no clue why, its such an awesome song.

I got no net in my apartment in Metulla and it's been causing me some problems, like feeling even less connected to my social life, a much bigger phone bill, and another one I've noticed is not having lyrics attached to my music. I'm used to get them just next to the song, as a winamp plug in, right in front of me. But this plug in uses internet so I can't get it to my pc now when I'm there, and I listen to this beautiful songs not having a clue what they're about. So frustrating...

And, David Grey has taken over my playlist. he's really awesome, and thats even before reading the lyrics, and I have a feeling wont fail.

 

All Times Singer-Songwriters

Lately I got into some old stuff.

Like my old love for Don Mclean - one really underestimated singer songwriter. Known for the sweet Vincent (Starry starry night) and the epic American Pie, yet his classic album American Pie has so much more to offer. he surely was one of the best.

Another essential singer songwriter which I just got to listen to is Joni Mitchell, and the oh so classic Blue. Its amazing how in these albums, like Mclean's American Pie and other classics like Buckley's Grace, each and every song makes you fall in love in different phases, each special enough. That's what makes an album unforgettable. In Blue I passed most songs, lately enjoying "River":

Now, this field in music came to me through my father, I took the albums from his cd collection and (dreadfully) heard him spoil American Pie after braggin he used to know all the words... His favourite is Neil Young, who strangely I got to hear (by choice) only nowadays. I was on a trip in the desert, my cellphone and charger died and i went crazy with no music (cause I cant fall asleep without it). So a guy who just came back from India and came to the trip as an esscort gave me his Ipod very generously, and let me have a nice night inside the little crater (makhtesh katan) with Eddie Vedder, and Neil Young's Harvest Moon. Somehow I get to listen to the most beautiful music at nights in the desert.

Not related in time means yet very much the same charming sound, I embraced Nirvana's Unplugged album, which is so much more mature than their other stuff, and so true. Though Alice In Chains Unplugged is much stronger and bare true.
And another interesting singer songwriter, of the small and simple yet so true type, is Elliott Smith, who is simply sweet.

Its empowering to see the simplicity of an acoustic guitar, sometimes a piano, a clean voice and lyrics that come straight from the heart, how deep they can go.


P.S.
Talking about old singer songwriters and not mentioning Nick Drake is just wrong. I searched for an Israeli band called Behind the Sun in Youtube and this is what it came up with, in my wildest dream I never thought Mars Volta would cover Nick Drake. haven't even heard the original. Check it out:

Expanding Musical Horizons

Remember this? Of course you do. Calling it 'classic' is underestimating. 

I listened to Deftones' "Knife Prty" and couldn't avoid comparing.

It's interesting, how using of  vocals in a very similar way could apply such different reactions affects. While in "The Great gig in the Sky" the vocals lets you feel totally blissful, floated and free, Deftones did the total opposite. "Knife Prty" holds terrified, trapped and sort of cataonic affects. Yet both vocals are oh so powerful. 

I've been away for awhile. Internet connection becomes more and more out of reach for me, now all I've got is a cellphone network, that enables rss feeds, facebook and google basics, and internet during my day work, though I don't really get to use it... So it's quite restricting. It might be a good thing, the earned time. 

Yet a whole lot has been happening. 

Lately my explorations have become a very centeric part in my life. I take the advantages of being at my parents home for borrowing lots of new music from their collection, also downloading stuff. I took some Classic albums, mainly Cielo pieces and concertos, Blues classics, and Neil Young, Pavement, Nirvana, Elliott Smith, George Harrison, REM and some more... Downloaded the new Radiohead one, David Grey's Discography, Unkle... In short, I've got a lot going. 

Last week I had an army classification for the local radio stations Galatz and Galgalatz, apparently for the part of Musical Editor. This is huge. they take one person in a year. At first they asked me to give certain lists of songs. Then they called me up for an interview. Let me say first that the station's building is a dream, really, posters everywhere, enormous archives, music buzz is in every corner. The interview was with 4 of the biggest editors in Israel. And the conversation was just awesome, they asked me about my musical taste and I nailed almost all of their knowledge questions. they seemed impressed, asked me if I could finish my service year two weeks early for the course. I'm on top on the world. Answers by May...

So, Besides the Pink Floyd / Deftones comparrison, I'll leave you guys with Catalyst by Oceansize. Their very high ranked album Effloresce has been lying in my library for over 5 years I believe. Got no idea how come some of the greatest bands get fit to my ears only after several years of pending in the back of my mind... Pain of Salvation was one of those and they became one of my top favorites. Guess musical taste is more about maturity and growth than I thought. 

Dredg - Triangle

This is absolutely great, fresh, clever... everything.
The whole album is. [Dredg - El Cielo.]
As a whole and song by song too.
The drums are beautiful, the variety of instruments makes the music so rich... and the divine-angelic vocals. Its like diving into a dream.
Close your eyes.
You notice how right after the first part there's this wonderful peaceful ring? its amazing. I could hear that for hours.

Deftones Stuff

Anyone noticed the new mini clips in vh1? They took some random songs (mostly rock and some metal, cool), cut them to 30 sc pieces and put them between promos. Didn't get it, but the songs are good, like Alice in Chains' amazing Would, RHCP's Zephyre Song, White Zombie (haha), and this Deftones one I haven't heard before, Be Quiet and Drive:

This led me to search on. "Bored" is good too -

Previously i've been hooked on their (relatively) new one, Diamond Eyes:

It took me really long to listen to Deftones, I couldn't ignore their new-metalish sound and the stereotype bothered me even more, till bout a year ago. I started with White pony, which is a classic. This is Feiticeira -

 

The thing I love about Deftones is that dispite the corish sound that at first makes you feel treated as the average frustrated teenager who wants to play it hardcore, they take it seriously. They are approaching the teenager, but at eye level. They honestly answer his desires respectfully, with sometimes surprisingly bright musical and lyrical material. Chino is a great singer and creator, he puts in such a unique environment, kinda like his signature.
To be straight (batachles as in hebrew), it just feels so good to enleash your teenager knowing this music was written by and for someone who gets it.

Another great surprise from Deftones is the way they get not only the teenage fury, but also the kitchy-sweet but true side. Unbelievebly they share my fetish to 80's electro bands like Duran Duran and this beautiful song originally by The Cars:

Though I like the original better.

A side project of Chino's is Team Sleep, a great love of mine, which are very different from Deftones and yet have that environment and overall feeling in common. More sophisticated and mature. I love the way you could close your eyes and dive deep into this dark dream..

Anyways, this went to way different places than I expected...
That'll be all.

Hi

So this is my music blog.
Thought it could be a good place for me to share my music, talk about it... it's a shame my thoughts just go in vein. I think.

Small introduction - I'm Noam, 18 years old girl (17 and 14 months actually), from Haifa (third biggest and most beautiful city in Israel). Right now I live in the most northern town in Israel, Metulla, for my volunteer year of community service.

My parents love music, good music, so I was both born with the right genes and nurtured to listen to the best music. hardcore baby.
I really love singing. think I'm pretty good at it. I've got an accurate musical ear.
Generally, you could talk to me about anything, don't think it'll be too arrogant to say that I am an interesting individual, and of course, you're invited. But this is not about me - this is about music.

Wouldn't survive without music, really. Sometimes after too long without listening, having songs stuck in my brains, I grind my teeth to the most horrible headache... can't sleep without it. can't stop talking about it, can't stop exploring it, can't stop singing, even writing lyrics down anywhere... Yap, I'm nothing without music.

So this is it. Hope this place will get to pleasure many of the right hands and ears.
Get ready for the musical revolution, it's gonna rock. and metal. and a whole bunce of other stuff.