Reading majic's journal

I've been thinking alot lately and just realized that there is a truely magical thing in this life that I had not fully comprehended until now. That is music and it's glorious properties... It has the power to heal, change mood, battle depression, conquer inhabitions and lighten life.

Music paints the soundtrack of our life, it can be a mechanism to describe our mood, our personality, our goals, our loves, our lives, our misfortunes and our successes. Music is powerful, emotional, unequalled and unparalled by most aspects of humanism with exception to religion.

Music is deeply part of my life and cannot be separated for if it was I'd fall into deep depression and dispair. I have different music for different moods, I have music to lift me up and music to exercise my frustration. I have music to pull out emotions that I have buried inside, I have music that relaxes me and I also have music that takes me from this material world and lets me escape into a religious sanctum. I have music for when I'm happy and for when I'm sad. I have music that puts me in a frame of mind suitable for doing things that I am nervous and apprehensive to do.

Music is a drug that helps me get through this hard and frustrating life. Music is a habit, an obsession and something I am not scared to say is an important part of my life. I shudder to think of what I'd become without the joy and incomprehensible beauty of music.

I often do as well.

I have similar taste in music to you (which has proven to be a blessing to us both) and I know just how amazing some peices can be. For example, 4 Strings - Revelation is probably my all time favourite, for my own reasons, I guess. I've also started to become quite taken with robert miles.

But yes, I know just how you feel. MY computer plays music damn near 24/7, and I wouldn't have it any other way. (as an audigy 2 ZS platinum owner, of course)

I should be ashamed of myself.

This post was edited by Aynjell on Sep 09, 2005.

If you think about it, our physiology is created through sound. Those little strings at the core of the universe vibrate and resonate together. Sound heals. Sound can hurt as well.

I feel a change whenever I play the Tibetan bowls.

I wonder if you have ever read Joceyln Godwin's Harmonies of Heaven and Earth? He is professor of music at, I forget where, and he is a music esotericist. It might not be up your alley, but then again, you might find it highly enlightening and fascinating, while listening to your chosen music of the hour. I'm glad I read this after being so pissed off at the apartment staff today. Maybe I'll just go listen to some "Wild Colonials", or some Yo-Yo Ma with Bobby McFerrin. By the way, I love Robert Miles too...I've liked him for a long time.

If mountain goats like living at high elevations, why do none live in high rise apartment buildings?

I wonder if you have ever read Joceyln Godwin's Harmonies of Heaven and Earth?

No I haven't but I will keep this in mind... =)

By the way, I love Robert Miles too...I've liked him for a long time.

There we go, now we can talk! There is just something about trance that I can't find in any other genre.

People used to warn me against listening to 'trance', because they said it would make me want to do drugs... I countered that it just made me want to drop the ragtop on my convertible, get someone else to drive the car, and lean back and look at the sky at sunset, with trance blaring on the radio. I feel 'high' listening to trance by itself.

I used to groove to that at work all of the time, it just gave me so much energy, which I passed onto the customers, and they gave back to me... and the music kept feeding in energy. I loved it! One big, happy family circle in the midst of trance, which feels more like the song of life to me than almost any other type of music, except classical.

As a side note, I just wanna say, that I rewatched The Red Violin last night. Joshua Bell, does the solo violin parts. Just exquisite. And I kinda feel like parts of the music are like rivers running over pebbles, and eddying around them, or sometimes a rushing waterfall, and it definitely has that climactic sexual experience going on. That sense of pent-up tension and release. Whereas, trance feels like pure openness from the get-go to me. I think I like both alot. As well as jazz, blues, and folk.

I do like some heavy metal, but a lot of it has a tendency to make me angry about stuff. It is right for certain moments, and not others. It all seems to be like a pharmacopia of medecine for the soul. As if your CD shelf where a pharmacy of sorts. Don't cha think?

If mountain goats like living at high elevations, why do none live in high rise apartment buildings?

This post was edited by rosyxxx on Sep 10, 2005.

I countered that it just made me want to drop the ragtop on my convertible, get someone else to drive the car, and lean back and look at the sky at sunset, with trance blaring on the radio. I feel 'high' listening to trance by itself.

Bless your heart Rosy!

Trance energizes me, lifts my mood and puts me in a place that I have not found in any other genre. Is there an urge to do drugs? No, but if life keeps kicking my ass there might be... Haha.. Just kidding.

Bless your heart Rosy!

Thanks majic! That's sweet and kind.

Trance energizes me, lifts my mood and puts me in a place that I have not found in any other genre.

I think I shall be listening to some of that as I drift off too sleep...I need my mood lifted a tad today. Unlike my boobs, which are perfectly fine. Heh. Anyway, today would be the perfect day for some Sasha, Kaistar, FSOL, amorphous androgyneous...Robert Miles, atb, Tipsy...

Tomorrow I think I am putting Tipsy's CD with the songs "Papaya Freeway", and "XXXmas" in the CD player, and still driving with the convertible top down, all the way through Forest Park. Or maybe I'll listen to the compilation CD she. It couldn't hurt, and it might help.

If mountain goats like living at high elevations, why do none live in high rise apartment buildings?

There we go, now we can talk! There is just something about trance that I can't find in any other genre.

Try doom metal. That one does it, too. :D
No, but what I'd really suggest is listening to some good tracks done by Summoning, the sound we'd all wanted to hear as the soundtrack for LOTR, but instead they chose some rather conservative way, using standard orchestra music X-(

Summoning is forming a very own sub-genre of Metal music called 'Tolkien Metal'. Yesterday I uploaded some selected songs of this band onto my mp3 player and, although it's turned off now, can still hear playing in my head, every part of it (right now, the song called 'Rhazad Dum'.

And if you're into heavier stuff, give Wintersun a try. Something in between Power and Black Metal mixed in unique ways with a different styles of (ab)using your voice (clean singing, high pitchted, growling, grunting, etc.) which all simply has this feeling of 'fitting'.

If you'd like to hear some 'black metal trance', then hear into some older stuff of Darkthrone. They (them music journalists) always call their sound 'trance-like' because the intruments blend and fade into each other just like it is done in Trance music tracks. Of course, I've get used to it ;)

For the experimental ones, I'd suggest Aborym - a bizarre, wicked cross-over jump-around of metal, industrial (NOT the idiotic sub-genre of pop-rock known in the US, but the one known in the rest of the world!), rave, trance and avantgarde music.

Just my .02 cent to this ;)
cu, w0lf.

Multiple exclamation marks are a sure sign for a diseased mind!

I tried some d00m metal before but I can't understand anything they say and the music is usually so fast that I can't keep up.

Thanks for the links...

I tried some d00m metal before but I can't understand anything they say and the music is usually so fast that I can't keep up.

You're sure you're talking about Doom Metal, eh? Doom is SLOW and STICKY, like tar. Like Candlemass or Pentagram or St. Vitus or early albums of Abruptum (the current one actually is avantgarde / dark ambient). It's a wall of sound that'll drag you down, smash your surroundings just by being played very slow - and if it's good stuff, it'll help you back on your feet as well. ;)

Sometimes Black Sabbath are counted to this metal sub-genre, too. At least they're on of its ancestors/pre-creators.

You probably confuse it with Speed or Power Metal. First one is played extremely fast and sometimes putting in as many technical shit as possibly can fit in some 3-minutes-song , last one is mainly known because of the singers who mainly sound as if they've been castrated recently (e.g. Judas Priest, Blind Guardian or Iron Maiden).

cu, w0lf.

Multiple exclamation marks are a sure sign for a diseased mind!

This post was edited by ginsterbusch on Sep 11, 2005.

Maybe I'm mistaken about doom metal. The question I have is what genre am I thinking of? I know some of the bands I sampled were from Norwegian and Sweden. I can't remember the names of them though.

You may be right in that they are speed or power metal but at the present time I'm not sure.

I know some of the bands I sampled were from Norwegian and Sweden. I can't remember the names of them though.

Sounds more like Black Metal. And that can be a heavy bite to swallow. My beloved one started into it by listening to Gorgoroth and was amazed by this sound at once. I got slowly into it, because I've started with Hard Rock (like Guns'N'Roses, AC/DC or Alice Cooper) and good ole Heavy Metal (like Judas Priest, Metallica, Pantera, etc.) when I was about 12 - 13 years old. I've been listening to Death and Thrash Metal since about 1996/1997, but the harsh nordic voices I started to like around 2001, 2002 or so. Before that, it was stuff like Cradle of Filth or Dimmu Borgir, which aint considered as Black Metal at all, at least not from purists. But you have to begin with something, and those bands helped me a lot. ;)

Of course, there are lots of other sub-genres of Metal, like Pagan/Viking/Folk Metal (eg. Equilibrium, Thyrfing or Finntroll) or IDM (Industrial Death Metal, eg. like Six Feet Under or Fear Factory).

cu, w0lf.

Multiple exclamation marks are a sure sign for a diseased mind!

Maybe I'm mistaken about doom metal. The question I have is what genre am I thinking of? I know some of the bands I sampled were from Norwegian and Sweden. I can't remember the names of them though.

What you really should try out is the music Aborym is creating. On the one hand, they're making 'classic' Black/Death Metal, but then, they mix it perfectly together with 90s techno, electro and industrial. Sometimes they sound more like Velvet Acid Christ than some rather weird Metal project.

Also a good choice is ...And Oceans, which started as a standard Metal band but mutated during their next few albums into a pure electro group - finding back to their roots with their last album entitled 'Cypher'. I've been on their website just a few minutes ago and it looks like as if they're going to produce a new album (the mentioned and last one has been out since 2002), which is great. When listening to the album, you may notice it's shifting from Metal over to techno and industrial, which culminates in the last track, which is harsh noise sound.

BTW: They've got an awesome website! ;)

cu, w0lf.

Multiple exclamation marks are a sure sign for a diseased mind!

This post was edited by ginsterbusch on Oct 03, 2005.

I just have to say that last night, when the evening was really painful because I was worrying about so much, and so vulnerable...the DJ asked me what I would really like to hear. We don't usually get to pick. I drew a blank. I said,"Well you've already played the Bjork song...how about some Robert Miles? You know music that makes me feel like I am smoking a joint, since I can't smoke one until I get home?" He said he knew exactly what I meant, and said he'd play Robert Miles and some Chemical Brothers (not 'Galvanize', but the popular one that came before that...you know the one with the video of the train speeding up and slowing down). I hear that, and I am on the pole spinning like a kid, upside down, watching the lights overhead, not noticing the people. I feel so alive...

If mountain goats like living at high elevations, why do none live in high rise apartment buildings?

Comment 1:

Robert Miles is amazing. Landscape, In The Dawn and Princess of Light are absolutely euphoric. I like to listen to it at work (not exactly the place you listen to dance music, as co-workers call it "Gay Bar Music(TM)"), and it makes the day go by so much faster.

Comment 2:

Galvanize is the first song I heard from Chemical Brothers, and I decided I wouldn't want to hear anymore.

Comment 3:

All of you guys need to take a very long look at artists like ATB, BT (Holder of Second Favourite Song: Communicate), 4 Strings (Holder of Favourite Song: Revelation), Ayla, Ferry Corsten, and Tiesto (Holder of Third Favourite Song: Flight 643). Also worth noting, while not exactly in that euphoric trance category, are Chicane (one of my all time favourites), Oakenfold (Nixon's Spirit rocks yer' sox!), Telepopmusik, Massive Attack, and Moby.

I should be ashamed of myself.

Galvanize is the first song I heard from Chemical Brothers, and I decided I wouldn't want to hear anymore.

Mind you, their style has changed considerably from the song I was thinking of...the change could be compared to the level of change that U2 made back in the 80s...they sound nothing like the original. I sort of liked Galvanize, and the video to it highlights 'clownin' and 'crunkin', which were popular for a minute...but I love the old song. That was classic, and goes well with Robert Miles. Trust me...very, very different compositions.

I love ATB! I love BT...as a matter of fact, I think they originally composed one of my favorite Paul van Dyk remixes: 'Flaming June'. I looove that song...and 'Remember Me'...I've never listened to Ayla, Ferry Corsten, Tiesto, or Chicane...but Oakenfold, Telepopmusik, Massive Attack and Moby, I have. I also like Rabbit in the Moon...the stuff from five years ago...still love it. And Sasha and Kaistar.

I will give the others a 'listen to'...Thanks.

If mountain goats like living at high elevations, why do none live in high rise apartment buildings?

Oo!

I can't wait to try some of these artists you spoke of. I love hearing new and different EDM. Anyway, nice to see ya, chic. :D

I should be ashamed of myself.

I think they originally composed one of my favorite Paul van Dyk remixes: 'Flaming June'.

I just got Paul Van Dyk's latest double cd entitled "The Politics of Dancing 2". What a great album! His work has grown on me in the last month or so because I got to hear a live set he did at Energy 2003. That set was quite possibly the best trance live set I've ever heard.

A very good drug indeed. :)

I completely agree with your observations and understanding of what music is.

I tend to see it this way, music is a type of food. With our ears we eat this food, and as the saying goes, you are what you eat.
The food then as it's digested, feeds and nourishes or has the same effect as junk food.

My favorite ear food is classical music. :)
I love several different venus of music, among the indigenous music of different cultures, especially aborginal music, it's like really exquisit perfectly ripened oranges and stawberries and other tasty juicy fruits.
I love jazz, it's kind of like eating really great soul food that you can melt into while your mouth does the cha cha cha.

My recient exploration of metal, heavy metal, punk, grunge and pop is a bit harder to define.
Alot of it is harder to digest, simply due to the volume of certian instruments that drown out others, making it sound more like chaos rather than a blend of sound.
My reaction to the music tells me whether or not it's good for me.
And I'm sure, that with your understanding of what music is, that will make sense.
I've listened to several bands, and what they produce makes me angry, and if I keep listening I find myself going from that to livid and after that I find all I want to do is damage.
Not so good.

With this same thought in mind, have you ever noticed what sounds in nature your drawn to?
What rythems of nature bring rest and peace to you?
It's all sound waves.

Sound waves and light waves have been proven to affect humans at the cellular level.

I believe when a person listens to something that sooths them over and over, it's because they are experieincing a deficit and it's the body's way of filling the need.

Just a few thoughts.

It only looks that way because your standing on your head.

With this same thought in mind, have you ever noticed what sounds in nature your drawn to?
What rythems of nature bring rest and peace to you?
It's all sound waves.

Yes running water, not out of a tap but in a river and not anything like the Mississippi but small creeks that have rapids and rocks to break up the sound and make it audible.

The rolling and constant sound of ocean waves is another soothing and relaxing sound.

Another question, the music that hits "home" the most, giving you that yes inside, are the rythems and the music similar to that of the ocean and the streams you've discribed?

The reason I ask this question is some music seems come from the same place as the ocean, streams and rivers with rapids.
I don't know if that makes any sense at all, but it's the best way I can discribe it.

It only looks that way because your standing on your head.

I totally agree with you majic, music is a powerful tool, and important to me.
I like so many different genres, it depends what mood im in to what goes on, i can have a cd lay unopened for months if the mood hasn’t came along where i feel like listening to it, so i guess i have to agree somewhat with political views in regards to gangster rap being a bad influence on kids if that’s all they listen to 24/7, that must be there state of mind to a certain degree, but whatever, as long as there liking it i guess.

Ive dissed a soppy pop tune before saying what crap it is, only to really feel it and enjoy it after a split with a girl hearing on my car radio, some tunes make me feel good inside, and energetic. This is a drug im defiantly addicted too, as i get older, im appreciating it more, i would of laughed at the idea of me busting out a classical piece of music a few years ago, but if you ever get a chance to listen to Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D, Opus 35 - Allegro Moderato (first movement) about 8 mins into the first movement the violin goes into an accompanied cadensa... its an incredible sound. But like i say, it’s not something you want on if you’re about to head out for the night, more Sunday morning than Saturday night, music unites. I love Prodigy, Steve Vai, Native Indian sounds, the list is endless, but nothings at the top of my list, they all take turns in there own little way.

I love those tunes which maybe you only like so much because of where you first heard it and who you was with, certain tunes i hear instantly remind me of people, places, or associate me back to some event.

Yeh... Music’s great. Id love to know what the Tibetan Bowls sounds like :-)

themoreyouknowthemoreyouknowyoudontknowwhatyouknow

I love those tunes which maybe you only like so much because of where you first heard it and who you was with, certain tunes i hear instantly remind me of people, places, or associate me back to some event.

You hit the nail right on the head! This one of the best traits music has.

We as humans are metronmes. We have the rhythm of our heart and systems, the frequency of our brain waves, the very real element of the cyclical nature of life, and the universe. Music, rhythm, melody, harmony, and the dissonent humm of chaos around us is what our mortal lives are comprised of.

We, of this planet, probably everywhere in the universe, is created by rhythm, and music. Therefore, the musical creations and compositions that we create are emulations of the real "music of the spheres."

I don't believe that we can exist without music.

I'll bet that just took 5 years off my life--but GODDAMM if it wasn't worth every second