Automatic Accompaniment

A little over a year ago, when I dressed up as Bono for Halloween, someone asked me if I could sing a couple chords for him, thereby proving either a lack of musical knowledge, or a misunderstanding of the limitations of human vocal cords. For those who, like him, do not know what a chord is, it is simply any combination of three or more tones played together.

What kind of hit me today, though, (and I find it rather funny), is that whenever we sing, we always imagine a bunch of harmony going on in the background. When you sing your favorite guitar or keyboard part to a song, you can only sing one note at a time, so for any part that has chords or harmonies, you can't actually sing it as it is. This is one reason why when people, like my dad and Jack Black, try to rock out air-guitar style and sing, it's embarrassing.

This leads me to an interesting pondering--when we hear someone singing a song, how much do we fill in the background for people? Does our brain naturally fill in the harmonies? Will we automatically like someone singing a song we know a cappella more than someone else singing a song we don't know a cappella, simply because we can let our brain be the backing band, regardless of whether we really actually like the song? Hmm...

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to sing your own harmonies, though? I mean without a studio. I'm talking to you, Brandon Flowers. You still sound great, though.

Going Along With Intelligent Music Technology...

I just thought of something pretty cool that's kind of from the same vein as my last post.

I'm the kind of person who really likes to sing wherever I go--particularly in big spaces with good, echoing acoustics.

What if there was a room where you could go and when you sang, the walls, which had giant screens on them, just lit up with stuff based on what you sang? What if they could even understand the words you sang and even displayed them back (or even did something like what happens when Squidward's time machine breaks and he says the word "Alone"? If you watch SpongeBob, you know what I'm talking about).

This technology shouldn't really be that far off, right? I know they already have something similar to this for the images that are displayed when you play music in Windows Media Player.

It would be cool if you could tweak the room or have different settings for it, like different amounts of reverb and stuff.

Also, I would definitely like it being able to respond to me randomly, so that I didn't know what it was going to do. For example, I might sing a line or something and it would start producing a guitar sound to go along with it, and then the guitar line would keep going for a little bit after. Or it might just be random in its alteration of my voice--it might have some reverb one time, then it might have some drastic processing effects so that I sound like I'm coming through a radio or a TV, or like I'm a computer, or it might auto-tune my voice, or use an octave effect, or whatever. And what if it absorbed my voice so well that all I heard back was my altered voice? I didn't even hear my regular voice at all--it's like I actually sound like what I'm hearing?!? That would be so cool! If you had a harmonizer setting, you could sound just like Imogen Heap in "Hide And Seek" (for the unacquainted, this is the song that is sampled in the chorus of "Whatcha Say" by Jason Derulo.)

Maybe someday I'll have to design this room.

If iTunes Were Really Smart...

I just got to thinking what would really make me impressed with Apple...

What if this heralded program iTunes didn't just randomly play your playlist, but had an option to arrange songs in an order that made sense according to style and tempo and mood and all that, so that you didn't have super awkward transitions between songs? What if iTunes knew what good artists know--how to tastefully put songs in sequence: not necessarily so that all songs that are alike are together, but just so that the contrasts are pleasant, and breathe more meaning into each of the songs.

Now that I'm on the topic, may I point out the fact that I think the art of producing an album and not just a collection of songs is something I admire a great deal in artists. My favorite artists all, generally, are those who have a sense that an album is a work in itself, and can be more than the sum of its parts if done correctly. The most thematically cohesive album in my opinion? Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends by Coldplay. It is a sparkling gem of an album, with many of its songs having to do with cycles (of monarchs, of war, of revenge, of despair, etc). Beautiful.

When Videos and Music Don't Match Up

I find it very funny when there is a large discrepancy between a music video depicting people playing music and the actual music that is playing. For example, a song that features an electric guitar but only shows someone playing an acoustic one!

I was reminded of this when I looked up the video for "The Space Between" by Dave Mattews Band, as I am performing it tomorrow night at an open mic night. Here is the video:




This video definitely has the electric/acoustic mixup I just mentioned (pretty sure there's not a single note played on an acoustic on this song), but what's more glaring here is that the most prominent instrument in the chorus--the glossy piano--is not shown at all. We see the rest of the band jammin--a sax, a violin, Dave on guitar--but you can't really hear any of those things in the song! The thing you hear is the piano, and it's not shown. Funny. I can forgive DMB, though, because they are amazing musicians, and aren't some whatever-band that isn't actually good and has tracks recorded for them.

Another video that I found very funny in depicting an acoustic guitar with the implication that it is producing an electric guitar sound (and I'm quite certain the humor in this is intentional, but I'm curious as to how many people notice it) is, well, I'll just let you watch:




Does anyone else think about this stuff?

Like Indecision To Call You...

In the past couple of days I remembered how much I like the song "I Miss You" by blink-182. It's really pretty hard to believe that such an amazing song can be developed from such simple components. The bass only plays 4 notes in the verse, and the guitar (which is acoustic and therefore understated) is, I believe, during the verse, always only playing one of two notes, one note at a time (the same note on two different strings). The music of the chorus is just a stepwise scale. The piano, too, is very linear rather than broad and colorful, usually only playing one note at a time.

And yet I can't really think of many songs whose melodies make me feel better than that of this song. Whenever I hear the piano in the beginning I get the sense of someone calming me, getting ready to tell a story that I've heard before, a love story, and they sense that I don't want to hear it, but they know without a doubt that they way they will tell it this time will captivate me. The song is just so personal with its confessional lyrics, and yet it testifies to the beauty of very very deep emotional intimacy, of two people who have each other and that is more than enough ("and we'll have Halloween on Christmas, and in the night we'll wish this never ends...")--it testifies to this so assuredly and confidently for any ears to hear.

The second verse and the chorus pretty tragic in content. I feel like I can relate as of late...but I'm starting to appreciate these things more for their beauty than for their pain. Or for the beauty in the pain. It sounds so strange, but when you can feel it, don't question it, I suspect is the way to go.

Even the strange intonation on the vowels ("stop this pain to-NOIGHT") can't even come close to ruining this song for me.

I feel pretty good right now.

Methinks I'm going to listen to it as I fall asleep tonight.

Brandon Flowers Is The Man!

Yesterday was my birthday, and one of the gifts I got was Brandon Flowers' (The Killers lead singer) new solo album, Flamingo.

I had heard the single "Crossfire" before and it's grown on me, but I was a bit nervous that the rest of the album was going to sound kind of poppy and hooky like the single (which is, however, better than basically any other hooky-sounding pop song out there). Let's just say my fears were wiped away within a few minutes.

Brandon and his collaboraters put together a masterpiece. I'm quite surprised at how much flexibility Brandon shows on the album--for a while he sounds like regular old, long, open-voweled Brandon Flowers, but the further you get in, the more you hear him sounding like--something very different, something edgy, something country in some cases--my roomate likened one of the songs to Johnny Cash's voice. It really is quite remarkable to me how Flowers is capable of using his voice as something so compelling. We're so used to singers that are just singing a melody; Flowers' voice is like an electric guitar--technically, we've heard it many many times before, but the effects applied to the performance make it something different each time. I love the moaning he does in the background of "Crossfire."

I intend to talk more about this later, but for now it's time for bed.

Ukulele

I borrowed a ukulele from a friend as part of my Jason Mraz costume. I've been learning some chords and trying to play some songs, which is kind of cool. The only thing is that it kind of sucks to have a ukulele when all you feel like playing is really depressing, sad songs.

The Coolest Mix of Folk and Techno Ever

How can you not think this is cool?

A Rock Symphony With A Weird Moment

So, one other thing from my night that I kind of left out: a few months ago I discovered a song called "New Morning" by a band called Alpha Rev. I heard it again tonight on the radio, which leads me to believe that it's becoming more popular, which is pretty cool. In my opinion, this is a song that actually makes worthy use of all of the strings and wailing guitars that, in many songs, just sounds trite and makes the song's delivery overstated. I think I would like to hear this song performed by a full orchestra. There are just two weird things about this song to me--particularly weird things, actually:

• The words, as a whole don't really make sense. This usually bothers me. In this case it doesn't. I really do like many individual lines, though, like "all the gold that we could eat." Kind of makes you think about how some people try to fill themselves up with money.
• The music is perfect except for that weird piano that comes in about 40 seconds in to the link above. It takes away from this whole grand symphony sound the song has going for it with the strings just before it. It sounds very folky, almost country-ish. It's also a very boring, staccato arpeggio. I just find it kind of lame because it sounds exactly like what I played on my electric guitar one time to avoid just strumming a D chord--I just played the top three notes that way. Just kind of weird how it's placed.

Anyway, this song's merits and faults both make it extremely interesting, more so than any other song that has something that normally really gets on my nerves.

Just An Overall Strange Experience...With A Few Musical Observations

I have resolved, in my lack of diligence and preparedness, to be Jason Mraz for Halloween. It is, make no doubt, out of admiration for the man's vocal and lyrical abilities, but it's also because I'm pretty sure all I have to really do is stick a fedora on and carry some sort of stringed instrument and *BAM* I've got a sweet costume that everyone recognizes.

Even for all of my costume's simplicity, it still required me to mount a bus and kick it down to the mall and--whoa-ho-ho, was that ever fun. It was a very strange experience for me for a few reasons: it was the first time I've been to the mall while "at college," so it was a strange reminder that suburbia and shopping malls and that whole world still exists so close to college-land. It was also very strange because there were so few people there and I was alone. The only other time I ever go to department stores or that sort of thing is with my mother, because that's the only time I have a reason to. But there I was. On my own. I was ashamed enough being in those places when I was dragged there, let alone of my own volition.

And yet being there on my own without distraction allowed me to make some musical observations. First of all, the music playing in Sears was actually very interesting and stimulating; as I recall, it had a sort of hip-hop beat and sounded kind of Latino, almost too cool and apart from the mainstream for a department store. It almost made me want to stay there longer than I had to.

But aside from Sears, other stores proved to be completely predictable. I was in such a hurry, not having much time to find my precious fedora, that I was rushing in and out of stores, tasting their environments and playlists rapid-fire. It's like having a shot of milk, then a shot of Mountain Dew, then a shot of grape juice. Each sip is so distinctive and irreverant of your confused taste buds that each drink seems silly, self-indulgent, and useless for your satisfaction. I walk into American Eagle and what do they have playing? A song that says the words "girls," "boys," and "like" about five times each per second. I don't think there's a song out there that's more fitting for a teen clothing outlet. I would have forgiven this absurd frivolity if they would have had a fedora for me to purchase, which I thought they would, being a store that's played Mr. A-Z's music before, but no such luck. Other teen clothing stores were more of the same, and the gothic stores played gothic music, and on, and on. There is nothing new under the sun.

Finally, after going through several stores selling fedoras for $30-$40, I got a nice, well-fitting white one for $7.50 from H&M. On my way out, I passed by a juice bar and caught wind of some quick-hitting poppy guitar riffs paired with a voice I recognized.

Me: Hey, what radio--err...is this a radio station playing, or, uh, what is this?
Juice Bar Lady: Yeah.
Me: What station is it?
Juice Bar Lady: 107.1.
Me: Oh. Ok. Is this the new Steven Page single? I was just wondering because it sounds like Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what it is. Sorry. You're probably wondering what this guy is doing talking to you right now. [Departs].

And so I came back and looked up the new Steven Page single, "Indecision." It basically sounded like an upbeat Barenaked Ladies song. Except not as innovative and quirky musically. And I didn't know whether I was supposed to take Steven Page seriously now, now that he's grown up or whatever and has moved on from BNL, presumably because he's got some important stuff to say that he couldn't before with that jokester Ed Robertson and the whole comedic reputation of his old band.

Writing Off Lifetimes of Work In One Line...

One of the things I like to do is think of phrases to describe a band's style, to pinpoint their place in the whole scheme of musical chaos. I realize that this can be nearly demeaning to the diversity of a band's catalogue, but I think it's a fun and interesting thing to do. I like doing the same things for individual songs, too. For example, I consider "Grace" by U2 from the album All That You Can't Leave Behind to be "new millenium ambient 12-bar blues."

Some tags I've come up with for bands/performers:

The Doors - psychedelic keyboard blues
Red Hot Chili Peppers - gimme-some-mo-bass punk-funk
O.A.R. - sugary pop-rock goodness
Pat Monahan of Train - the last castrati
David Gray - piano popmaster
Goo Goo Dolls - acoustic hardcore

These are all I can think of right now, but I expect more to come to my mind soon.

The Musings of an Amateur Modern Musicologist...

My name is Brad, and one of my biggest passions is music. Music captivates me so much that I somehow find myself, at times, learning quite a bit about various bands when I am supposed to be doing physics homework, listening through a boisterous conversation in a packed car to pick out the lyrics to a song I've never heard, or randomly sputtering out the words to a song just by hearing its bassline from afar. I've decided to try to create some sort of dumping grounds for all of the quirky musical thoughts or reflections that cross my mind.

This is not supposed to be a music review blog. This is just me commenting about music in general, and about bands, musicians, the music they make, and how it all comes together. That last part is something I'm particularly interested in--how one band influences another, how certain elements of music or musical genres relate. That's why this is The Music Tree.