Varuna

Right off the bat I have to tell you that when I first heard this song I was like “yeah okay, not impressed” but with most music out there I have to give myself a chance to warm up to it. I don’t just drop songs on my playlist if I’m not impressed by it, it doesn’t need to bowl me over but it has to make an impression. That being said, the more I gave myself a chance to warm up to this piece by E.S. Posthumus entitled “Varuna” the more I loved it (and of course it made the playlist). I was already a fan of previous works by them like “Cuzco” and “Nara” which is theme to the CBS show “Cold Case” off of their album Unearthed. So when I heard they were working on something knew I couldn’t wait to hear it.

E. S. Posthumus was comprised of two brothers, Helmut and Franz Vonlichten until Franz passed away earlier this year but along with his brother they’ve left behind some amazing music. Their sound is taking classical influences and fusing it with modern day percussion and a perfect example of that was their remix of Jay-Z’s “Run This Town” feat Rihanna. I purchased Makara unheard based on their earlier works and I wasn’t disappointed. The previous works could almost be described as gentle. Lush movements and beautiful melodies was what would come to expect from E. S. but Makara was a complete shift in sound from that. It was an album full of powerful and aggressive tracks and in my opinion the one that exemplifies that the most is Varuna.

Makara had other tracks that stood out to me like "Unstoppable" which was used in the Sherlock Holmes movie trailer and "Arise" which was used by CBS Sports as the intro to the AFC Championship game earlier this year. And like I said earlier it took a few listens for me to come around but the more I listened the more I grew to love this track above all the others. Varuna is fire from the start and it plows on unforgiving. It doesn’t open gently at all, the beat and the orchestra both come in all at once and it stays that way straight through the song. The music builds, rises, and falls and all the while never giving the listener a real chance to catch a breath. And just when you think it’s going to sound the same for the entire 4:17 the voices comes in and adds an extra dramatic effect. This is a great song to work out to, walk to, run to, and even clean to and with this song propelling you, you’ll be done before you know it.

Bloodstone

For me to say that I was NOT a fan of this song when I first heard it and you would be hard pressed to find truer words ever written or spoken. I’ve heard some of Amon Tobin’s stuff before and I thought it interesting in a good way, his stuff usually hits you right away and you know almost instantly if you like it or hate it. “Bloodstone” took quite a few listens, okay honestly it took more than a few listens but one day I gave it a shot to make the playlist one more time and it did not let me down. This song is discordant and seemingly all over the place but really that’s what adds to the charm of this song and if there’s one thing you can say about this song, it damn sure has its own personality.

Hailing from Brazil, Amon Tobin moved around a lot as a child and eventually settled in Brighton, England and you can’t help but think that all that moving played a major hand in his musical development. He’s a world class DJ and even did the score to the popular video game “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell” and “Sucker Punch” as well as contributing music to such popular films as “The Italian Job” and “21”. He’s released a number of albums and his last release, 2007’s Foley Room included the track “Bloodstone”. Sounding like something out of a twisted and dark carnival, “Bloodstone” doesn’t so much play for you as it churns for you. Again this is a big boy speaker song so don’t cheapen the experience of listening to this song or some ear buds because you’ll miss out. Trust me.

Initially this song sounds like it seriously lacks structure but as it churns on for you, you can hear it start to take shape and the best thing to focus on is the deepest melody that kicks in when the drums do (I can’t really call it a bassline). Everything plays off that long deep note and you can finally see the song take shape. Once I figured out what to pay attention to in this song I became a real fan of it and what I once thought was aural nonsense became intense aural fun for my ears. Take a listen (on the big boy speakers mind you) and see if you agree with me.

Parks on Fire

This is a song by a group that I discovered completely by accident. No one put me on to them, no one had it playing and I heard it by accident, and I had never heard the group mentioned in passing…EVER! It was one of those nights where I was home alone, up late, and trolling the internet for music and I stumbled upon Trifonic and their song “Parks on Fire”. It grabbed me from the second I heard it. Trifonic is comprised of two guys, brothers Brian and Lawrence Trifon based out of San Francisco and they have a way with tying sounds and melodies together that comes across almost cinematic. I’m surprised they haven’t been pegged to score a movie or two yet. Growing up Brian wanted to be a heavy metal star and mastered the guitar in the process while his older brother Lawrence was all about hip hop and wrote his first rap at the age of five. Somewhere along the way they bothers failed at their individual musical goals and decided to meld their talents and I for one am happy they did.

Their debut album Emergence which dropped in 2008 had 11 songs that each had their own personality like “Broken” and it's heartbreaking lilting lyrics or “Infiltration” and it's haunting groove. The song that spoke to me the loudest though was “Parks”. It starts off pretty mysterious and ominous, you can hear a match being lit and then bass line comes roaring in followed by a cacophony of sounds, noises, and percussion. The rhythm catches almost immediately and then the most interesting instrumentation I have ever heard comes in. It sounds like someone figured out how to play a stretched out rubber band. Then the song settles into a really sweet melodic period losing all it’s angst and aggression. Before you worry that the song is going to fade out all nice and melodic the tension re-emerges towards the end where the plucking and stretching sounds come back in (how did they make THAT sound?). The song rumbles along like a flight dealing with bad turbulence. It rolls along with the bassline and the beat playing off of each other and other intruments sounding as if they're in distress as they build and clash into each other. All this until it comes in for the soft landing settling into that beautiful melody again and taxiing to the gate.

This is a song to be played and be heard on your big boy speakers. I say that so you can hear the range, the depths, and all the interesting sounds as they were meant to be heard. I think this song rocks, let me know if you agree. And if you do, friend them on facebook cause they're really cool.

If I Should Fall Behind (Wait for me)

Now I don’t know if there are many Springsteen fans reading my blog and I can’t really call myself one. However, I can and will call myself a fan of this song. It’s called “If I Should Fall Behind (Wait for Me)” and it’s an absolutely beautiful song. Bruce has been the kind of artist that has always been enigmatic to me. He’ll have a huge hit with the most obnoxious songs that I could care less about only to turn around and record something this lovely and poignant. Lyrically he’s always been more on the simple side but he is one of the best if not the best storytellers in song still around. “Wait” has a country feel to it but that’s not really a bad thing. As Duke Ellington once said, “there are only two kinds of music…good music and bad music and darling I make good music”. No truer words have ever been spoken and this song, this is damn good music.

Relationships aren’t easy (I know, I’ve failed at all of mine), they take work, skill, and devotion. This song encompasses all of those attributes. When Bruce sings “Now everyone dreams of / love lasting and true / but you and I know what this world can do / so let’s make our steps clear / that the other may see / and I’ll wait for you and if I should fall behind / wait for me” I think says it all. This is the kind of song that details the right kind of relationship, not perfect and sometimes you don’t see eye to eye or walk side by side but its that love that makes you wait for each other.

It’s simply beautiful and that’s coming from the world’s smallest Springsteen fan.

All Is Full of Love

First time I heard this song I was blown away and thought this song was absolutely amazing. It’s called “All Is Full of Love” and it’s by the Icelandic born, swan dress wearing impish artist Bjork. Now I’ve heard other songs from her like her classic hip hop beat heavy “Army of Me” and instantly became a fan. I went out and bought a good amount of her stuff and the remixes and I always kept my ear open for anything new coming from her. Her lyrics were usually quirky and funny and her vocals a bit off but her musicianship was always new and inventive and that combination kept me listening and kept me a fan. Then she dropped this song and I thought she had exceeded even herself.

“All” is simple and yet beautiful song. It’s lush and bass heavy with a beautiful melody and sentiment. It starts off slow and methodically, never in a rush and never giving anything away. Bjork comes in with “You’ll be given love / You’ll be taken care of / You’ll be given…love / You have to trust it”, simple yet powerful. Once the front lady for the successful band known as the Sugarcubes, Bjork found her own identity and massive success after the Cubes broke up in 1992 by copying no one. She is a completely original artist that’s pretty much spawned Bjork wannabees but none of them could have ever dreamt having a song like “All is full of love” in their collections.

What’s more, the beauty and elegance of this song is captured perfectly in the video for the song and outside of a few exceptions in my opinion this is one of the best blends of image and song. It was edited and even banned in some countries and when you watch the vidoe I think you'll see why. Still I think it is amazing so watch and listen and let me know if you agree with me.

Don't Be Shy

This is the cool damn tune that I had to post because not only musically does it rock but Goapele tells a little story in her lyrics and songs like that always get me. The song is “Don’t Be Shy” and the beat quite frankly is banging and the track is the perfect bed for Goapele’s lyrics to lay in. The keyboards and bassline work in true harmony and while Goapele certainly isn’t the strongest vocalist out there, she’s carved out her little niche in the industry with these kinds of cool out songs. She isn’t the girl that is going to blow you away with her range or the girl who sang in her granddaddy’s church when she was five. What she is however is a young lady with runway model looks with a decent voice. That decent voice is used to perfection on this song.

It starts off cool enough with the keyboard patches and then the beat and her vocal kick in. Her story begins with her meeting a nice young man on a sunny day. he explains to her not to be shy and speak her mind but her insecurities get the best of her. At this point this songs got you. You're bopping your head and snapping your fingers....grooving! You may not even pay attention to the part of the song where she and that young man meet up again as they try to get into a club months later. Why might you not hear that part? Because you are....grooving!

There isn’t much else to say about this song except to take her advice, sometimes shyness is cool but it could also cost you. When the moment arises take advantage of it because it may never come around again. Released in August of 08 as an EP, you were given the accapella version and the instrumental version as well. While I like the song and think it’s groovy I don’t think all the other stuff is necessary. Take a listen and let me know what you think.

Closer

I guess it’s as good a time as any to talk about this song. It’s that kind of song that every group or singer lusts for, the kind of song that puts you on the map. The kind of song that generates publicity be it good or bad because as everyone knows there’s no such thing as bad publicity. You know the old adage right? “Say whatever you want, just spell my name right”. This was the song for Nine Inch Nails that put them on everyone’s map the second it hit and it sent the album “Downward Spiral” through the roof and made Trent Reznor a star. The song is “Closer” and while musically I feel Trent has done better, lyrically he outdid himself.

It’s starts off unassuming with a scruffy beat and then he comes in with lyrics that set off every woman’s group you can imagine but when he gets to the chorus all hell breaks loose. “I wanna fuck you like an animal / I wanna feel you from the inside / I wanna fuck you like you an animal / My whole existence is flawed / You get me closer to God”. From there the song builds in angst. More instrumentation, the lyrics that once started off as almost a whisper are now screamed at you and it’s like someone is losing control. The music becomes like the psyche of the person behind the lyrics and suddenly the name of the album “Downward Spiral” comes vividly into play. This person is descending into madness.

This song was a mega hit and while NIN had a dedicated following before it, it eventually pulled everyone into its web and even hip hop heads knew who NIN was. It was so big that David Fincher the director of “the social network” had Trent Reznor help score that movie and even used the instrumental version of this song as the opening credits to his movie “Seven” starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt. I loved this song from the first moment I heard it and I still do. The music pulls you in and doesn’t let you go, it’s got a serious undeniable groove that eventually makes you nod your head to it. Ah who am I kidding, it’s all about those damn lyrics.