Week 10 Listening Guide

Week 10

               This week I chose “Bitches Brew” by Miles Davis because I am a big fan of Miles Davis. He really has such a classic sound and he can tell he really inspired a lot of people. The strangest thing about this song is that it appears to be around twenty- nine minutes long. I think this is more of a fancy hotel lobby/ elevator song. It is definitely all improvised, which makes it never boring. I love how the instruments correspond so well with the percussion (both elements would change over time). That’s another thing about Miles Davis—the band members he had were so talented. You can tell they were just having a jam while recording this.

               The tempo seems to change nonstop in this song. I’d say it switches up every five minutes or so. I bet this was in a major scale but you can tell they’d break scale and use diminished chords to get that classic jazz-chord-change sound. It’s so satisfying when it goes out of scale for a split second then corrects back into the scale with the next chord. I also like the rhythm. It would go silent, then everything would come back and clash in a good way. I also like the mix of this song. The reverb is set just right to get that beautiful ambient sound of a jazz song. The main lead (sounded like maybe a trumpet) is persistently creating catchy harmonies and I love it. Overall it’s such an experience of a song.

Week 9 Listening Guide

Week 9

               I’ve heard Jimi Hendrix play one time before, and he was just playing the national anthem. That video alone made me have the most respect for Hendrix ever. You can just tell he was a star. He knew he was talented and seemed to always move and do things his own way. That alone makes me a fan of Hendrix. Now I don’t know much about guitar, but with that being said, I think it is safe to say he is an exceptional guitar player. I love how loud and crazy his whole vibe is. He seems to put a lot of energy into his music and I can respect it.

               One thing I loved about this track is the guitar is valued just as much as the vocals. Sometimes he’d bring the guitar down a little and start singing, but then for a pretty even amount of time, just goes ham on the strings. Nowadays in popular music, we don’t see that too often. People seemed to get bored if it is just the instrumental playing, it feels like somebody’s always singing nowadays. Jimi has such a perfect voice for the type of music he plays. He doesn’t have the most special voice ever, but he uses it in a way not a lot of people can relate. The outro is especially crazy in this song to me. The guitar screams many different notes and slides everywhere for the last 30 seconds. All in all this is such a solid track and I can see why Hendrix is held to the standard he is.

Week 8 Listening Guide

Week 8

               The song I chose was “With a Little Help From My Friends” by the Beatles. The song actually kind threw me off guard—it didn’t even feel like a Beatles song. Maybe I don’t listen to enough Beatles, but the sound was different me. One thing I like is the rhythm of the guitar and drums together. It’s such a simple bounce that still makes you want to head bob. It’s interesting how the simplest rhythms can have the most bounce. It just proves that creating a vibe and using the right sounds is just as important as patterns and melodies when crafting a hit song.

               One thing I really enjoys is the vocals. When they all sing it is layered and mixed so perfectly. I like vocal mixes with very spacy reverb, it just sets the vibe. Another thing about the vocals that is so capturing is the way they sing. They don’t necessarily have the most beautiful voices, but they have the right voice and cadence over the right instrumental. It’s actually crazy how many people it takes to make a super professional sounding tracks. If you can only sing, you need someone (usually multiple producers) for the instrumental, someone to mix the beat and vocals, probably a songwriter, and a label or other means of marketing. You can tell the Beatles ran much deeper than just the band.

               Overall the song is solid just not my style. The Beatles are so timeless it’s hard to say anything bad about them.

Week 7 Listening Guide

Week 7

Shame me all you want but I speak nothing but the truth on this blog. I did not know who the Beach Boys were until about ten minutes ago when I listened to “Good Vibrations”. One thing I have learned recently is I am completely oblivious to popular music before the year 2007-2008. There are so many artists I have heard of but have never heard their music.  After first listen, my impression is these guys are the kings of amusement park music. I swear every Hollywood scene involving a roller coaster has the Beach Boys playing, and if not, they have a bootleg Beach Boys playing. They really seemed to master that sound.

               Easily my favorite part of the Beach Boys is the mix. Honestly, it’s so loud and crazy and yet still fairly clean. The way the vocals are layered are amazing. I think that is the biggest trademark with the Beach Boys- their sound is just different. I like music like this because it gives that young-fun sounding vibe that not a lot of other records can emulate.

               If I had to draw a negative from this song, I would say it is simply not my taste. I can easily agree that the song itself is beautifully done- the melody, timbre, rhythm, mix, etc. are all fantastic. I genuinely just couldn’t get a feeling out of it. I gravitate more towards modern music for whatever reason, the retro sound isn’t for me. Overall the song is great, and I can see how the Beach Boys get the respect they do.

Week 6 Listening Guide

Week 6

This week I had to go with the Elvis song. Hearing any of his work is just so special to me, he's one of those artists that was just way ahead of his peers. The song is called "Sound Dog" and Elvis puts his whole soul into the song. His voice is just so energetic and the beat is super catchy; a beautiful combination for a hit song. The song is about some dude whose looking for a girl, apparently written by not Elvis, but Willie Thornton instead. Either way the song has a cool swing/ vibe and I can see why so many loved Elvis. His appeal was more than just his music, his showman personality really matches the vibe of his music.

I like how the guitar is live sounding, it's refreshing to hear live recorded music with all the modern computerized sounds we listen to today. Nothing wrong with either, the vibes are just different! I also like the timbre of everything together. The instruments, humming, clapping, and singing were all meshing so well sonically. I feel like I could walk into any old school burger joint and this song would be playing. I like how the song compares a man that can't find a women into a hound dog that sucks at hunting. It makes it so it's like a turn up song that also has a sad twist to it. Overall the song is super groovy and I love listening to Elvis. He definitely is a legend and won't be forgotten any time soon.

Week 5 Listening Guide

                                                                                                                                             

Week 5: "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)" by Frank Sinatra

        To be honest, I had never heard this song before this week. Of course I have heard of Frank Sinatra before, he's one of the most popular musicians in America ever; I just never really dove into his music. I sort of do the same with all of these super popular 1900's artist outside of hip-hop or R&B. I'll get a general understanding of them and their music and maybe a few songs, but I won't really check out the music.
        With that being said, I'm glad listened to this song. Frank's voice is so timeless. Not even necessarily the timbre of his voice (which is fantastic, obviously) but the way he uses pronunciation
to enhance his music is so cool. He holds out certain tones and emphasizes certain syllables to truly create his own sound. It is not a surprise to me that sometimes I'll come across songs where I hear flashes of Frank Sinatra; he definitely made a massive influence on music in America.
       But my favorite part about Frank is how smooth he was. He had this swagger not a lot of musicians moved with. It's like he was the coolest person ever without trying. He was super classy yet had every able women in the country swarming to all of his shows. Honestly, he created a culture and music that creates culture seems to always end up timeless.
       Another thing that shouldn't go unnoticed is the instrumental to this song. The string chords are absolutely beautiful and layered perfectly. I also enjoy the little snippets of the harp in the background, it really adds to the whole vibe of the track. Overall, the song is fantastic and it maintained the massive amount of respect I already have for Frank.

Week 4 Listening Guide

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Week 4: "Caravan" by Duke Ellington

        Browsing this weeks songs, Duke Ellington's name immediately caught my attention. I have actually sampled a few of his songs for beats before. I am an automatic Stan of any musician that can make melodies that can be implicated into a hip hop or r&b instrumental decades later. Those to me are the most talented artists. If you got one hundred producers to try to make a melody that would be relevant in several years, a few (if any) would get it right. Music is changing so rapidly that melodies I made two years ago would not sell well in the industry today. That is why Duke Ellington has my upmost respect. To me he is a visionary. Yeah he was already famous for his music in his time, but in my opinion he is one in a million due to his ability to make timeless musical ideas. 

        But I digress (as always). "Caravan" by Duke Ellington is a fantastic song. I actually really intros like these. The percussion slowly increases in volume, and then the main lead just hits you. The almost provocative melody just resonates perfectly with the timbre of the instruments. Duke's ear for melody was insane. Certain melodies bring out the instrument being played and vice-versa-- that's why sound selection is much more important than people think. In all of Duke's songs, the instruments all mesh well with the melodies being played, making the music seriously so pleasant to listen to. Duke really is one in a million and do expect more of him in later blogs.

Week 3 Musc 1020 Blog Post

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Week 3: "Cross Road Blues" by Robert Johnson

   
      I promised a more inclusive genre coverage in the last blog, but I already broke my promise and did another blues song called "Cross Road Blues" by Robert Johnson in this week's blog. Johnson's life was quite undocumented, which explains the many stories and legends about him (for example, it is said he sold his soul at a crossroad to the devil to make it in the music industry). However, one thing we do know about Robert Johnson is he was a very talented songwriter, guitar player, and musician. "Cross Road Blues" is the first song I ever heard from him. The backbone of the song is a very improvised sounding guitar lead that plays throughout the whole duration. For whatever reason, I am super interested in music that seems to sound made up as it goes. Even the vocals sound random over the guitar sometimes, like if he sang the song again and again the timing would be different every time.
      The song is great, but it throws me off because it's so different from today's popular music. Popular music today is much more memorable, probably due to the fact musicians try to make their songs as catchy as possible. I think my ear has been trained to hear a hook after every verse in every song; when "Cross Road Blues" ends it feels awkward to me, like he should start singing the refrain when the song is ending. I say this in a non- critical way, the song sucks now. I enjoy the song but have no interest in listening to it again-- same with most of the music made at the time. I guess what I am getting at is: this song made me realized how much the average listeners taste in music has changed in not even a century. With that being said, I'm sure I would have been bumping the song in 1936 and I have no regret of critiquing it this week.

Week 2 Music Blog Jesse Sine

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Week 2: "West End Blues" by Joe Oliver

        I did my post this week about this song because out of all the older, popular American genres, blues is easily my favorite (next to jazz). I think listening to a lot of R&B makes me appreciate it more because you can really hear the influence. The vibe you get from blues is just so different from most music today, and this unique timbre is really something I've always enjoyed. The song to me kind of comes out almost provocative and just smooth. When I think of mid to late 1900's music in America, this is the kind of music I think about. You could literally insert this song into any old classic movie and it would fit. I enjoy the rhythm of the piano and how the chords are always changing. I also like the improvisation vibe of what sounded like a cornet.
        Joe Oliver and the pianist were obviously very talented, but I actually enjoy Louis Armstrong's version more. It does help that Armstrong came after Oliver so the recording was at a much higher quality but I think Louis put his own sound to it, which really turned out. I like the unexpected vocal that comes out halfway through Armstrong's song, it really matches the sound/ rhythm of the track and overall just adds to that classic blues vibe. I still respect Oliver's version though, especially because he taught Louis Armstrong a lot of things musically. It will be hard in future blogs to try to switch up the genres because there are so many more talented blues artists that came up in the 1900's, but I'm glad to start my series of listening blogs on such a beautiful piece.

Week 1 MUSC 1020 Blog

My name is Jesse, and my favorite genres are hip-hop and R&B (I could never pick one). I actually make beats for singers and rappers so my love for those genres will always be paramount compared to others!