Monday, March 30, 2009

Silent Conquest of Ourselves

The recent rash of musical oriented posts on some of the blogs I read has left me feeling out of the loop. Left alone in a wilderness where silence reigns supreme and lyrical notes do not exist. Randal posted about six cover tunes that he felt were worthy of or more so than the originals. Trukin Dog just posted a Molly Hatchet album image that promised to rock my socks if I entered it. And Utah, well Utah has recently discovered Jeff Beck. And naturally she has turned this new infatuation into a discography of sorts about the hot tempered Brit.

I visit other blogs and the same thing is happening. It is as if everyone has been bitten by the "I must post about music now" bug. Why have I not felt this need? What failing deep inside my soul causes me to resist this urge to write about music? But it is not even a question of me resisting. It is near impossible to resist that which does not exist.

I should not be surprised though. I have a lifetime behind me of instances just like this. Well meaning people who go about the flow of their days without even so much as a nod in my direction. It is as if I do not exist when the topic is music. Is it because I am tone deaf? Or maybe going deaf? Is it my fault I cannot easily discern the hidden meanings so artfully crafted into lyrics like "I wanna Hold Your Hand" or "Wild Thing, you make my heart sing"?

I exist as a barbarian among a cultured and enlightened society. A musical heathen who has never completely understood that double time is not four/four time cut in half. I have to be reminded of this on a regular basis. Okay so I am a white guy who can't dance, can't sing, can't rip it up on whatever instrument you might mention. Still, I think I am pretty fly for a white guy. No matter what the sophisticated audiophiling bloggers think.

In order to prove my sophistication is at least the equal of the Bubba living down the road, I have taken it upon myself to expand my musical horizons and take them into the future of music that is not yet. Music so cutting edge, it will be here long after we are all dust filling the stomachs of maggots.

The album, "Silent Conquest of Ourselves" at the top is what I am talking about. Looking at the cover, one almost need not put needle to waxen grooves to know this group has transcended all previous lyrical efforts that came before it. It's subtle tones and quiet harmonies emphasis the futility of Life and tell us where it all ends. Listen attentively or you might miss it. Let the quiet hush of nothing fill your mind and core as you are silently carried to Music's irrevocable final flourish. Even the silent breaks between the soundless riffs shout out to incredible voids tucked inside the deafening stillness. The experience will leave you speechless.

As Peace Rueben, the headman of the group says, "Silence is golden, Silence speaks volumes. Silence is the ultimate melody".

Word.
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This review of new music invented by me was inspired by yet another blogger blogging about music. Well sorta, kinda, maybe a little. It is obviously the result of a blogger who has spent entirely too much time in front of the screen. briwei over to It's Bri Wise World turned me onto it. And given the current rage of musical posts, I thought it would dovetail in nicely.

It goes like this

1 - Go to Wikipedia’s “random” page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Quotations Page’s "random quotations":
http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3

The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your album.

3 - Go to Flickr and click “explore last seven days”
http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
It's nice to credit the photo source.

4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it together.

5 - Post your photo to your FB page with this text in the "caption" or "comment" and tag friends you’d like to join in.

And then to add my own twist or mod as the gamers call it I think -

6. Do a musical review on the album. Lying is not only encouraged, it is the only alternative.

I am not going to tag anyone. I recently did that. Besides, I think it was just cool to do it. Hell, I came up with a whole long winded post about it. What's not to like?

Thanks to John Wilkie in Flickr for the use of the image

Keep it 'tween the ditches..................

(763 / 13,199)

5 comments:

Utah Savage said...

Well, despite my recent "discovery" of Jeff Beck, I'm still a jazz woman at heart. I credit Darkblack for this introduction to the fabulous Jeff Beck. But my third husband hated my musical tastes. He loved the Rolling Stones and Blondie and that was about it. So baring The Stones or Blondie, he lived in a silent world, musically speaking.

If I had the slightest idea of how to photoshop anything, I would be tempted to play along. But I am clueless. And as for Randal and his headbanger "music" I'd no doubt be dead by now if that was the only "music" ringing in my ears.

I think our musical tastes are to a great extent about our generation's musical tastes. I did pay some attention to my generation's tastes, but Jazz always seemed preferable to The Beatles, who had talent, but seemed childish to me in my late teens and early twenties. Even acid trips were better when accompanied by Eric Dolphy than The Jefferson Airplane.

Gary ("Old Dude") said...

I guess like yourself, I am not all that music centered, and when it comes time to do things like play with photoshop, fliker, my head starts to hurt, not even sure I know how to whip up wikipedia now that I think about that---but have to say I admire your spirit, and inventiveness however. You will no doubt see some interesting responses to your challenge.

Chef Cthulhu said...

Hey cool, you found my old high school buddy Briwei! I've known the guy for about 26 years now.

I did this one back at the end of February. You can find "Neither Useful nor Enjoyable" by The End of Medicine here.

Randal Graves said...

If it's too loud, you're too old, Utah. Unless it's the faux hillbilly stuff my grease monkey neighbor blares when working on yet another junkmobile. I wish the young kids would fly down my street, not with rap basslines crumbling around but Silent Conquest of Ourselves instead.

MRMacrum said...

Utah - I have decided that with the exception of a few Genres, there is good music to be found in almost every one of them. What I have also decided though is what is passed off as Pop or is played over and over on any station is not the best representive of any genre. I still discover new music all the time. You have turned me onto some.

Old Dude - It is not hard. As evidenced by my meager ability to do it. Several efforts I have seen are much more inventive. Such as Chef's effort.

Chef Cthulhu - I did indeed find him. Can't remember where. And your effort was way better than mine.

Randal - One of my fondest memories of hearing and feeling the bass of a punk car was the time a friends son's car caught fire after he installed a new pre-amp incorrectly. Burned that car up. Set the back seat on fire.