You know how sometimes, everything is clicking and you've just got it? Some people call it flow. On Thursday, I was in a quiping flow. You may have witnessed it on Twitter. I thought it would be fun to try and weave it into a coherent narrative, so here we go.
Sara Flemming started a new blog about digging into the technical mysteries she comes across as she works. It is, brilliantly, titled Visiting All The Turtles.
Upon seeing a press photo of Adele, I had an epiphany. As an SAT analogy, Achilles Heel is probably about like Adele's eyelashes. All of her singing powers come from those lashes.
There's not many ways to connect Brian Wilson and Axl Rose, except that they both worked on an album for more than a decade, managed to finish it, and missed the moment when it would have been a huge deal. That said, Brian Wilson's album Smile is way better and about as genius as you'd expect. It's better to be a follow-up to Pet Sounds than a follow-up to Use Your Illusion, even though that's my favorite Guns 'n Roses album (haters?).
It's easier to draw a connection between Igor Stravinsky and Brian Wilson. Listen to the former's ballets or the latter's albums (not the surf songs) and you'll always find something strange going on. A flute trill where it doesn't make sense, a honking bass clarinet, a bizarre harmony. It's fantastic.
As you can tell, Brian Wilson is a kind of my jam lately. It would be a shame if that guy doesn't have the opportunity to make all the music that is bouncing around in his head.
I've never actually been around someone “vaping”, but I'm pretty sure I don't like it based on the name alone. Because that word will never get mispronounced or misheard in a booze joint. Great job, tobacco industry!
On contemporary indie/rock music. No value judgement, just an observation of the way it is:
A one. A two. A one two three four.
hits play on drum machine
Semi-related: I am so glad 7-string guitars are (mostly) no longer a thing.
Tinkering with coffee plus condensed milk has brought my iced coffee game way up. I highly recommend it, if you have the means. Just be prepared to stir, a lot.
To wrap it up, on some other music I've enjoyed and thought a bit about lately:
Ben Folds taps into pathos. Bruce Springsteen taps into the American Dream. Dave Grohl taps into the part of us that just wants to turn it up.
Listen to suit.
