Big Yellow Taxi for Mitchell

 

Joni Mitchell has to be one of the most inspiring and talented musicians of all time. Some of you may not have heard of her or her music but I recommend you pick up whatever laptop, Iphone, Ipad or device you have sitting next to you and search it. You will never look back.  Producing nineteen albums in her successfull career has lead her legacy to be one to remember, and one that proves that even though these generations have past, her music still stayed as gripping as ever. Being described as 'a powerful influence on all artists who embrace diversity, imagination and integrity' won her over ten awards over the years and to say the least she deserves them.  

 

 

Mitchell's  hypnotic and beautiful  song writing has influenced numerous artists all around the word, some of these being the legendary Led Zeppelin, Morrissey and Prince.  The Rolling Stones magazine even labeled her as 'one of the greatest songwriters of all time'.  Her pure voice is one that sticks in your memory and one that sticks in your head after just one listen.  Her music drifts between folk -rock and folk-jazz and each song reflects its own individual genre in a talented and quirky way. The gritty yet soothing tone of her voice is one can put you in a trance and leaves you just open to the beauty of the song. Even though this music might be  the opposite to what you normally listen to or  isn't your cup of tea, Mitchell  needs appreciating. So for the sake of reading this blog or just out of curiosity, have a cheeky listen!

Beau x 

                                 Watch, Listen and Tell

There are over 120,000,00 videos on YouTube, about 200,000 uploaded each day, over 10,000,000 YouTube videos watched daily and over 300,000,000 accounts exist. Watch,Listen and Tell are a YouTube channel dedicated to acoustic and live music. They have over 30 videos of amazing mixed genre bands playing their songs acoustically in different areas around England. 

       The magic of Watch, Listen and Tell is that the videos are filmed with a warm tone and with just the sound of the instrument, the voice and the nature behind. The videos show the raw talent of many known and unknown artists and it gives them opportunity to really show off the pure voices they have and create the platform for success in the future. WLT provides musical enchantment for everyone's ears and what made me  love and divulge in WLT was that I found that with every video I listened to  it made me want to listen to more of the band playing. I found numerous new bands that I liked and discovered that the genre I may have thought I didn't like appealed more to me. If WLT doesn't appeal to you now , I highly recommend listening to all the videos and you will be sure to find something you love. This YouTube channel really helps you to relax and explore the musical world. You may even find a band you love that's been right in front of you all along.

The video below is when WLT visited a village called Hambale in Zambia to help build pit toilets that help fight the number of people dying of diarrhea. They found that one of the builders had built his own handmade guitar and wanted to play for WLT as the sun was setting. This video will captivate you in a way you wouldn't believe. If your Sunday is not so bright , listen to this.
          
        Watch, Listen and Tell. Happy Sunday!

 Beau x

Take a Trip to San Cisco

San Cisco ,a  Australian four-piece Indie Pop group who have recently been brought to fame in the UK . Their techno vibrant sound cultivated me within seconds and persuaded me to listen on and find out what other quirky songs they have created. And luckily enough I was drawn to them, and to their individual unique addition to music. They definitely have a vintage feel to them and their song,  Beach  certainly proves this as it has an 80s deep base and the  60s out of this world intoxicating vocals that send your mind into many segments of fascination. They released their first EP, Golden Revolver in 2011  and from then on have grown into an even bigger success releasing four other songs and awaiting an album to be released. For anyone with a music taste that dabbles into multiple genres like myself, I highly recommend this new exciting four piece. And even to people who normally see indie pop as another kettle of fish to their usual genre, I would still recommend these to anyone. This band in my eyes is categorized as many different styles and tickles the taste buds of all my musical needs.  So listen, enjoy, and look deeper into the sounds you may not like as you will probably find something you wouldn't think you'd like but seem to adore. 

Beau x

A Bugg You Can't Shake Off

Jake Bugg, an 18 year old from Nottingham. Influenced by Oasis, Bob Dylan  and The Beatles, he is an unmissable new star in the music industry. With rustic sounds and a voice that sounds like its from the 60's Bugg has certainly grown on us all. His sounds may not appeal to all 'music fanatics' but the songs he's written himself show a true talent in themselves aside from the way he presents them.

His quirky and unique talent hit me straight away, I was engaged with the tone style and era of his voice as he's not the typical new release you hear in our 'charty tarty top forty' every week, Bugg has blown away the music industry, even Lana Del Rey , Example and Michael Kiwanuka have had him supporting their tours.  Unlike his friends who supported the hip hop culture ,Bugg ventured away and decided to turn to Rock.He received an acoustic guitar from his Uncle when he was younger he decided to turn on his first Dylan album and practice along and if that doesn't make you fall in love with him, I don't know what will. From reading an article about his up and coming fame he was asked whether he'd enter a show such as Britains Got Talent or X Factor, the musician however described that ordeal as 'not feeling natural or genuine'. At least he's got some sense. The 18 year old even dropped out of studying Music Technology in his local college when he found some old Beatles song books in the library and decided he'd rather learn songs then go to classes. His somewhat outgoing  and confident characteristics have led him to this success and one big one at it. Nick Grimshaw has already listed his first Lightening Bolt song of the week and his first released hit of Troubled Town took to the industry a storm. The success he has gained so quickly is astonishing. I can't wait to see what else he has to offer the music industry and I hope he sticks to his deliciously new and individual sounds. 

Beau x 

 A Taste for the Older Tune..

A  stereotypical parents job is to be there to look after you, nurture you, and most of the time pay for you. But in my family and most families another job they have taken on is giving us the basis to our music taste from when we were young. From my own experience of  lying  in the back seat of the car  on the way back from numerous tedious journeys with my mum and being forced to listen to Queen over and over again on our ancient cassette player. I can say , after a while of being tortured by this , I began to like it and then found myself suggesting a favourite (Bicycle at the time, god knows why). This blog is to share and possibly get feedback on whether your parents have influenced your music taste or not and how they have made an impact on it. As well as Queen  I begun to get into David Bowie , still at only the age of around ten, how very rock and roll, and  although I  wasn't quite his number one fan as I thought 'Jean Genie' was 'Chinchilla' and bellowed it around  up until the age of 15 and when I was finally corrected , I started to actually listen to his music properly showing the influence my mum had playing it around me had.

       Even to those whose taste revolves around the latest in the charts and up to date music you are most certain to have a band you like that was influenced by a parent. Its just a fact. I like to think. A criticism of parents sharing music can be to say that they are living in the past and  their idea of no present music living up to the pop and rock legendary era they lived in. To us, we are living in our own era of developed pop and rock. This however is a load of rubbish in many ways. Of course new and important music is being created and we are experiencing something of our own that we can share. This does not mean however we can not enjoy music from the past. To this day some of my favourite artists include The Beatles , Fleetwood Mac and The Police, but also I'm a big fan of  Mumford and Sons, David Guetta and Example, showing the diversity and blend of different musical cultures. I enjoy music through the eras and I think it is important to experience and indulge yourself in music from what you hear when you are younger to when you are older and this is  to give you an opportunity to enjoying the many different genres in the future and to let you share even more music with generations to come. Music from the past is shared just as well in the present and future.




Beau x

Villagers pleasing Villagers


     Villagers are an Irish band fronted by Conor J. O'Brien. I decided to do my belated new blog on them as I think they deserve more praise. Their first an only album at present is called Becoming a Jackal and for me it was one of the most amazing albums I've ever heard. The twist and array of cultured sounds bring together eleven different and individual tracks on this album , all of which have different meanings and don't consist of the stereotypical 'samey' sound in each one. The band hit fame in Ireland quite quickly as the Irish Times named them to be in the top 10 bands Ireland has ever created, from then on they did a few festivals  here and there and then appeared on Later With Jools Holland.  Their quirky sound has not yet hit the whole of the UK with a storm, but I only give it a matter of time before they appear all over the show. Not to say they aren't popular already or it takes them being popular to succeed but they deserved credit to say the least.  The performances given by O'Brien and his fellow band members always seem to be intimate and automatically draw the listener in. I believe any negative criticism would not exist when it comes to them and I'm not just saying this because i like them myself. I even tested this on people who wouldn't usually listen to this genre or style of music and even those who didn't could not fault the beautiful voice and music of this band.  I agree with The Irish Times ,they are certainly one of Ireland's best creations to this day.

    Although this music probably doesn't appeal to some of you reading this, I still believe that they are something special. Their new album will be released by the end of this year and I would recommend it already.  Even if you're not a fan, I would listen more closely to them. Their sounds are hypnotic and beautiful.  I hope this short but sweet blog didn't just sound like me ranting and raving and i hope it makes you listen just that little bit more. Listen on. 


Beau x

 Stereo-moods that mirror

Music is all around everyone everyday and night. It is an inescapable part of our culture. In the car people listen to the radio, cds or their iPods. In almost every shop and restaurant music surrounds us. For most people music plays from their mobiles or even when people are exercising they are found engaged or attached to their iPods.  In clubs, bars, music is a vital key to the perfect atmosphere. For me it can enhance or shift any mood i am in or want to be in or find myself in and for others it can be the cause of their moods or trigger a specific moods. Stereo-moods are and have been a common factor in determining what we like within music and they are what we feel or  begin to feel when specific music is played.  But why does it happen? Research has shown and proven through music therapy experiments that music has the ability to affect both the left and right side of the brain which as a result of this music affects our moods wholly rather then most other stimuli.
 Music firstly affects our brain waves and the beat or tempo listened to has the ability to regulate upwards or downwards which has an affect on our bodily functions. The higher the tempo, the more heightened our senses become and vice versa. 


   Secondly music seems to get our breathing and heart rate beating. We all have that music that gets our hearts pumping and our blood racing.  Its no coincidence as it is a scientific fact that songs and music do have these affects on us. Alternatively you find that while listening to more mellow music and slow music you yourself start to mirror the music by mellowing and calming down. All these are the music psychology effects that songs and music have in altering and affecting out moods. Our bodies are wired in such a way that they respond and react to whatever our minds say. If the mind is happy and feeling good, the body follows suddenly, alternatively when your mood goes to the dumps and the mind is depressed our body and bodily functions will follow. We rely on music to help up with our moods. An example being when i'm happy I find myself listening to reggae Sean Paul (a guilty pleasure) to keep me and my mind in this mood. However some people find that their mood can be altered when they are feeling sad for example and their favourite song comes on the radio therefore being able to shift a persons mood and make you feel so much better.


You find yourself feeling miserable and you turn to your ipod to help you through it music can either make you feel better or mirror and comfort the mood you are already in. In affect music performs many roles in our emotions whether it being your saviour of feeling sad or your complimenting of feeling happy. In the words of  Berthold Auerbach 'music washes away from the soul and dust of everyday life'. Without music our moods would be inescapable , a Stereo-mood is ultimately a pleasure we are known to enjoy and even if you didn't know it yourself there are reasons behind them. Stereo-moods mirror. 


And on that note, lets hope you're feeling happy! If not , here's something to help.  Beau x