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.