Snowflake-Hurricane

31 days of Music

Day 30

Well, I am sliding into homebase. I am now on day 30 of my thirty-one day posts of music. I have to admit that I am a little sad that this portion is coming to an end, but also a little relieved that I won’t have to keep up this frenetic pace of listening and writing posts at midnight to fit them in a 24 hour period. Whew!

I can’t let this moment pass without sharing some of my thoughts on music. So, here goes….

I was following a radio show yesterday, and the station was in full “raising money” mode. In a weak moment, the DJ threatened to play bad music, until a listener called in to donate a little money. Then, she “came to” and questioned, “Is there such thing as ‘bad’ music? Could she ever play a song and label it as bad? What if the band was listening?” It is a good question that I think we all ask at one time or another. Yet, we continually watch the American Idol outtakes of hideous singers butchering beautiful songs. Yes, beauty can be marred, but I think music is just like beauty, it is in the eye of the beholder.

Awhile back, I chuckled to myself when I found out a friend kept a crazy nonsensical song on their playlist from years ago. They were signed up for a mail-order song club, where you would get new songs all the time for just a penny. Yep, there was a good deal of hideousness buried in the music you actually ordered, wanted, and liked. Are those songs bad? This particular song was one I recommended that they never toss. I bet it was skipped over and over. I kind of want to hear that crazy song again and remember it, just for fun.  I venture to think that sometimes music can be connected to a certain time or event and therefore weave a notable place in your brain. When you hear it, you may be suddenly transported to that moment. The sad song when our heart is broken, the jam tune when we are going out, the sweet love song that reminds us of our first kiss, and the horrid song that we suffer to listen to because a friend loves it, all represent that transported moment. Perhaps our ears actually might be able to morph and appreciate even marred music connected with a pivotal memory.

I am story-telling rambling, but I would like to suggest that music should have no haters. Each listener should carefully consider the effort and the vulnerability of putting someone’s work and dreams out in front of others. It only takes one person to appreciate it, a fan is born, and again “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. There are so many talented musicians out there. In fact, I recently heard an interview where an artist quoted another source (darn, wish I remembered the credible source) that if you were to listen to every published piece of music from the beginning of time till now, you wouldn’t be able to finish listening in 2013 years. It started me thinking about all of the music we have and all of the kids playing guitar or drums in their rooms right now, I can’t help but smile. I won’t EVER be able to hear it all, appreciate it all, and there will always be an abundance of new music to forever warm my heart and soul.

My hope is, on this little blog ( sort of a blip in the universe), you might have learned about some new artists, music that is interesting or cool, and maybe even what a music geek I am. Please, I beg you, support the artists by listening, buying their music, and going to their shows. It is a tough world out there for musicians and creatives so we should all do our part to encourage and keep the art flowing. I hope you will stick with me as I continue playing cool music and visit often. Please tell me what you like, share a song or a story, but most of all take the time to listen.

photo by lesieg photography

Now about today’s song…..”Hurricane” by Snowflake

Snowflake is the work of renowned producer/mixer D. James Goodwin. In the promo material there was this statement,

“In 2012, after a decade of innovative work with artists like Kaki King, Murder by Death, Bobby, Norah Jones,The Bravery and Devo, Goodwin began work on his own project—a collection of songs that grew from a seed to a forest, from a spot of rain into a hurricane; a project of grand vision and atmosphere.”

The new EP, We All Grow Toward The Sea, will be released in early December. After listening to this early release tune, “Hurricane”, I believe the album is going to be crazy smart and wonderfully good. I think this is a sad song, but so lovely in it’s simplicity and tone. Perhaps, it mirrors my own sadness at this moment and that is why I have come to appreciate it so much as a definite connection to my soul. The Facebook page for Snowflake describes them as left/brain/art/rock. What could you not love about that?  I hope you will give it a serious listen.