Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Playlist for Tonight's Mosaic
Music that goes with the idea of tonight's service. Or not. But enjoy!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Today is epic
For your listening pleasure, some epic songs that have been bouncing around in my head this week.
Listening to epic music makes some of my mundane tasks seem more than just the boring, repetitive things they are. And I find I get them done faster if I feel like a superhero while I do it.
How do you get through those tasks that have to be done, but you'd rather do something else instead?
Listening to epic music makes some of my mundane tasks seem more than just the boring, repetitive things they are. And I find I get them done faster if I feel like a superhero while I do it.
How do you get through those tasks that have to be done, but you'd rather do something else instead?
Friday, August 21, 2009
The hour is getting late...
"All Along the Watchtower" is one of those songs that is rather special to me. Back when I first got started doing the band thing (gasp - that was really 10 years ago!!), "Watchtower" was the song that my bandmates chose to end the practice with.
It was a pretty easy song to rock out on - there are 3 chords in the song, and they are some of the easiest chords (for the keys anyway) out there - Am, G F (repeat until your hands hurt). At the time, it was really important that every instrument get their solo - which was fine for everyone else. I, however, had just ventured into the world of playing without pre-written music and I can remember just dreading my turn. Still, even with the dread, it was awesome to get to play around and really experiment and I have such fond memories of that time in my life.
Some of you will also know that I am a complete Battlestar Galactica (not the 1970s one) nut. If you haven't seen the show (unfortunately it's now canceled), add it to your must watch dvd queue now. Its an amazing show, and oh yeah, it happens to have spaceships and robots in it :) They did an excellent job of discussing/bringing up really deep questions about identity, violence, faith - really what does it mean to be "human". It wouldn't be a huge leap to think of the show as a rather relevant thought experiment. Ok, so lots of love here for BSG.
The awesomeness of that show increased by about 100-fold when "All Along the Watchtower" played a key role in the last episode of Season 3. And then they kept it as a theme during the Season 4. Its been somewhat my music theme this week - work seems so much easier when I imagine I'm on a spaceship :)
Click here to see a live recording (the video gets the whole song) of Bear McCreary (BSG composer) and Katee Sackhoff (played Starbuck) playing the most kick-ass version of this song yet. You've never heard 3 chords rock out so well :) And I highly recommend the rest of the soundtracks - they are awesome.
It was a pretty easy song to rock out on - there are 3 chords in the song, and they are some of the easiest chords (for the keys anyway) out there - Am, G F (repeat until your hands hurt). At the time, it was really important that every instrument get their solo - which was fine for everyone else. I, however, had just ventured into the world of playing without pre-written music and I can remember just dreading my turn. Still, even with the dread, it was awesome to get to play around and really experiment and I have such fond memories of that time in my life.
Some of you will also know that I am a complete Battlestar Galactica (not the 1970s one) nut. If you haven't seen the show (unfortunately it's now canceled), add it to your must watch dvd queue now. Its an amazing show, and oh yeah, it happens to have spaceships and robots in it :) They did an excellent job of discussing/bringing up really deep questions about identity, violence, faith - really what does it mean to be "human". It wouldn't be a huge leap to think of the show as a rather relevant thought experiment. Ok, so lots of love here for BSG.
The awesomeness of that show increased by about 100-fold when "All Along the Watchtower" played a key role in the last episode of Season 3. And then they kept it as a theme during the Season 4. Its been somewhat my music theme this week - work seems so much easier when I imagine I'm on a spaceship :)
Click here to see a live recording (the video gets the whole song) of Bear McCreary (BSG composer) and Katee Sackhoff (played Starbuck) playing the most kick-ass version of this song yet. You've never heard 3 chords rock out so well :) And I highly recommend the rest of the soundtracks - they are awesome.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Pandora and her box of goodies
So, coming up with a topic to blog on once a week is, well, rather difficult. I am in amazement that there are those out there who blog just about every day, or more than once a day - wow.
This week started off crazy, but ended well. I find myself with a glass of wine from a local vintner, hoping my daughter decides to fall asleep, listening to my Ulrich Schnauss station on Pandora. And let me say, this is a good way to end the week.
First, if you haven't had the pleasure of interacting with Pandora, then well, take a moment, check it out. Not only is it FREE (which is amazing in and of itself), but it is so intuitive and user friendly that it has drastically changed my radio/music listening habits. Pandora is the result of the Music Genome Project. And let me tell you, their database is amazingly complex and just wow.
I'll admit that I am an info junkie. It is after all, my number one strength (or in some cases weakness); but I am really excited about the fact that someone has created a database that compiles hundreds of characteristics for millions of songs.
What is incredible to me is that it learns my likes, so songs and/or styles that I've marked as yes show up on other stations - but not in an annoying way. Is it weird that my musical wants are so well understood by an algorithm? But seriously, you type in the name of an artist or song that you want to hear similar music to, and voila, you get endless hours of music.
If you are already a Pandora fan, share some of your favorite stations with me. Its like the new version of the mix tape!
Before I forget, you must needs watch Ira Glass's This American Life. This is one of my favorite radio shows, and the TV version is perfectly, wonderfully the same interesting stories, only visually.
This week started off crazy, but ended well. I find myself with a glass of wine from a local vintner, hoping my daughter decides to fall asleep, listening to my Ulrich Schnauss station on Pandora. And let me say, this is a good way to end the week.
First, if you haven't had the pleasure of interacting with Pandora, then well, take a moment, check it out. Not only is it FREE (which is amazing in and of itself), but it is so intuitive and user friendly that it has drastically changed my radio/music listening habits. Pandora is the result of the Music Genome Project. And let me tell you, their database is amazingly complex and just wow.
I'll admit that I am an info junkie. It is after all, my number one strength (or in some cases weakness); but I am really excited about the fact that someone has created a database that compiles hundreds of characteristics for millions of songs.
What is incredible to me is that it learns my likes, so songs and/or styles that I've marked as yes show up on other stations - but not in an annoying way. Is it weird that my musical wants are so well understood by an algorithm? But seriously, you type in the name of an artist or song that you want to hear similar music to, and voila, you get endless hours of music.
If you are already a Pandora fan, share some of your favorite stations with me. Its like the new version of the mix tape!
Before I forget, you must needs watch Ira Glass's This American Life. This is one of my favorite radio shows, and the TV version is perfectly, wonderfully the same interesting stories, only visually.
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