Sibi and I (the two writers of this here blog) made this for the most recent Herman Miller student video competition. Sibi was on the camera, and I did the score (thank you Garageband). No we didn’t win (sad day, I know), but it was so much fun making the music for this that I was really rethinking my decision to shy away from a music career.
Staring Vincent Ribeiro. Enjoy
A couple weeks ago I put up a Donald Glover interview done by HardKnock TV (https://wedontbelongg.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/i-love-a-good-interview/ ). I was pleasantly surprised when I went looking for more of his interviews and saw that it was only one video of a four part interview. So here are the 2nd and 3rd parts to it. When the next one comes out in the next couple days I’ll probably post that too.
I love listening to him because he gives insight into a world that is speedily changing. It started at a place where everyone who wanted to make music had to be a gangster with street credentials, which it has been for so long (and to a point still is), to a world where its now acceptable for people to talk about their personal struggles in the songs, past the point of “I used to sell drugs because I grew up poor, and now I’m living the good life”. He references Kanye as one of the main originators, if you will, behind the uprising of this new culture of hip-hop. When he proceeds to talk about the artists that he respects all have that “do it yourself” attitude (in the 3rd part) it gave me some ideas and motivation for me to try and put something out. But for now its all concepts, so we’ll see how that turns out.
Part 2:
Part 3:
When I was at BYU, I had to really motivate myself to go to class. Or anywhere that forced me to leave my crappy college bed with ridiculously comfortable sheets covering me. Once I was out of bed, however, I needed a playlist that kept me going to wherever I was headed, be it class, soccer game…whatever. Unfortunately for me that playlist is 17 songs long and after trying, and failing, I’ve realized that I needed to start from scratch to make this top 5 (although I might cheat and take songs from that playlist, cause it was so perfect). So this playlist will be made of the best songs to play in the morning. However, since monday is the start of the week (and because I’m still riding the High Fidelity top 5 list theme), a bigger boost is needed to get yourself out of bed and into a state of productivity.
“The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don’t wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules”
A warning before we start: I need beats to pump me up, so you’ll see this list is a little bias towards the hip-hop genre…and I just really love hip-hop and rap in the mornings. And the afternoon and evenings for that matter.
Top 5 Songs to Play on a Monday Morning:
1. “Hey Ma” Camron – “And I know what ladies like, Need a man that’s polite, listens and takes advice
I could be all three, plus I can lay the pipe…Get in the Car, And don’t touch nothing Sit in the car”. CAMRON THIS DOESNT MAKE ANY SENSE!
2. “Sex, Love and Money” Mos Def – I have indeed been caught, by a van full of laughing people, dalking (walking and dancing…definitely coining it) across the street to this song. Between the tambourine and whatever kind of flute that is in the background, I’m not sure how anyone can resist the urge to, at the very least, bob your head back and forth to the rhythm.
3. “Me and Mrs. Jones” Billy Paul – This song is SO SMOOTH!
4. “Le Disko” Shiny Toy Guns – Lets bring it back up a notch. This song fits in nicely here with its upbeat tempo and its slow part in the second half of the song.
5. “Young’n (Holla Back)” Fabolous – A chill song to finish off the playlist. This beat is up there on my favorites list with “Still D.R.E” – Dr. Dre , “Lex” – Ratatat, “Everyday Struggle” – Notorious B.I.G. and “Heart of the City” – Jay-Z.
“Liking both Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel is like supporting both the Israelis and the Palestinians.”
“No, it’s really not, Rob. You know why? Because Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel make pop records.”
“Made. Made. Marvin Gaye is dead. His father shot him.”
I usually am pretty faithful with the Nate-Seb-Nate-Seb posts…but as a huge Office fan this was a must…this is hysterical. Enjoy!!
As we continue with the theme (borrowed from High Fidelity) of Top 5 Lists, we come to the list of Top 5 Recording Artists. This was brought up in High Fidelity when Rob talks about his second worst breakup of all time, in chronological order, with Penny Hardwick (Her favorite recording artists: Carly Simon, Carole King, James Taylor, Cat Stevens and Elton John).
I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll reiterate it again because of its relevancy in this next list. I listen to a lot of music. After beginning to research for this article I realized that putting 5 people/bands at the top of a list that is full of artists, who in my mind are legends, is impossible with no parameters. So to start this off lets set some guidelines. The Artist(s) have to
1) have at least 3 or more albums (not counting re-released albums, compilations or “best of’s”)
2) have at least 2 albums that I can listen to from beginning to end
3) be involved in 1 of the first 2-3 conversations I have with someone I just met. If you’re not gonna bring them up when trying to find out similarities between you and a new acquaintance, they don’t belong on this list
This list will go from 5-1, but depending on the day the order changes. So as of right now, without further ado, here are my Top 5 Recording Artists of All Time
5) Daft Punk – Started out as a 3 man punk band called “Darlin”. It went nowhere (it’s hard to listen to more than 30 seconds of any of their songs), but after a bad review described them as “a bunch of daft punk”, the French duo dropped the guitarist (who went on to play in Phoenix) and began making house music. Unfortunately I got into them 3 months after they did their legendary Alive 2007 tour (they played in Coney Island…not at all bitter about that). Albums I can listen to straight through: Alive 2007, Discovery, Homework. “High life. Possibly my favorite Daft Punk song. Who DOESN’T wanna go do cocaine at a roller disco with this song playing?”
4) Jay-Z – I first heard about Jay-Z when I was a freshman in high school, still trying to shorten my musical learning curve after spending 3 years in Germany where I knew nothing about what was going on in the world around me. I heard The Black Album and liked the singles, but hadn’t ever looked into him more. Then I met Tim from french class. He always had his CD player with him and the only CD’s he had in his case were from yours truly. He was a true fanatic, border-lining obsessed. I got the full Black Album from David my junior year and from then on it was gravy. I fell in love with the album (one of my top 5 all-time) and after I downloaded all of his discography, mostly online in less than legal ways, he had my heart. Albums I can listen to straight through: The Black Album, Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint
3) Guns N’ Roses – Another band that David put me on to (thanks again). This is one band that I actually don’t bring up in those first couple conversations. My reason being; after doing it so many times and getting “oh yea I love playing Sweet Child of Mine on guitar hero” in response, I got sick of it and subconsciously decided to let them all suffer in their own ignorance. Albums I can listen to straight through: Appetite For Destruction, G N’ R Lies, Use Your Illusions 1,2 (everything up until The “Spaghetti Incident?”, which only called my iTunes home for about a week and before I deleted it).
2) Pink Floyd – It’s late at night and you’re going for a walk (or in my case, sitting back on my balcony in Provo, UT). 27’s in one pocket, an iPod in the other and the only thing on your mind is what should I listen to to help me get away from my day for 5 minutes. Most of the time for me, that choice is “The Wall”, and those 5 minutes turn into 45 after I get sucked into the story during the first song. Since then I’ve been able to stop smoking (win) and I’ve moved away from Provo (major win) but just as they were there for me before I moved to Utah, Pink Floyd has stayed with me as I’ve moved on to bigger and better things. A big reason for that is the fact that they write their albums based on concepts and I’m able to get lost in them. Albums I can listen to straight through: Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, Wish You Were Here
1) Eminem – I posted an interview with Donald Glover (Childish Gambino) a week and a half ago where he’s talking about the first time he listened to Eminem and Biggie. He liked, and this is exactly how I felt when I first heard Mr. Mathers, how this music scared him. It didn’t really hit me when “The Real Slim Shady” came out cause I was in the 4th grade and even though I knew all the words I had no idea what it was talking about. When I picked it up again in high school (and this is again borrowing words from that interview) it was so new to me. I didn’t realize that this kind of material could be put on a beat and be delivered with such ease. Albums I can listen to straight through: Infinite, The Slim Shady LP, Marshall Mathers LP (Only if I’m in the mood for “Kim”), The Eminem Show
…Now, years later, I still get scared when I listen to Eminem.
And I love it
In relation to our previous article with homage in music, this video (done in stop-motion) shows our love of images and movies. Using characters from Batman, Star Wars as homages, and using the effects of the computer and toys to create homages of filmmaking. Its beautifully shot and great for any movie lover
As I watched High Fidelity again the other day, I was thinking to myself, I wanna work in a record store (but I realized none of them were making money so that thought left me quickly). Then I noticed I was 10 minutes into the movie and top 5 lists had already been mentioned at least 3 times. Which brings us to todays topic:
Top 5 Lists
I was thinking about doing all the Top 5 Lists from the movie all in one post but I realized a) that would take so long to research, write, and read and b) sebastian has been bugging me about not posting in the last couple days so I’ve been thinking about doing a one-a-day thing where I do a Top 5 from the movie everyday (duh) until I’ve done them all. In addition to that, in order to spice up my own life, I’d throw in other posts so that its not too monotonous. Last thought before this starts: If you have seen the movie, you’ll realize that I am not going to do every single Top 5 that they talk about. Mostly because I don’t know how to answer them (if you actually realize that I don’t do all of them, you know this movie too well).
Top 5 Side 1 Track 1’s (In no particular order) :
1) Song: Sunshine Album: Sad Clown Bad Summer Artist: Atmosphere – “Every woman looks better in a sundress” This song is just so feel good and up-beat. And its Atmosphere, who I might be a little bias towards.
2) Song: Planet Rock Album: Planet Rock: The Album Artist: Afrika Bambaata & Soulsonic Force – I’d drop an “Ali G, Indahouse” quote to flaunt my vast knowledge of movies but that wouldn’t do anything to support this song, so just listen and enjoy one great song by a founding member of the genre I love so dearly.
3) Song: Welcome to the Jungle Artist: Guns N’ Roses Album: Appetite for Destruction – First heard this song freshman year of high school when David burned me a bunch of music (GNR, STP, Offspring, Jay-Z, RHCP). This album then changed my life. Senior year of high school when I was on the year book committee (video yearbook mostly, none of the mistakes in the book were my fault) I had an idea for the beginning of the video that was shot in first person (does that mean the same thing as first person shooter? cause thats what I was going for…). What you saw was the view of me getting off the bus, turning around to the school, and as the bus drove away this song started. A couple months later I finally saw the music video for this song and realized I had, without any knowledge, done a pretty good homage. Cheers.
4) Song: Baba O’Riley Artist: The Who Album: Who’s Next – “So what if I don’t know all the lyrics to Teenage Wasteland?” “Its Baba O’Riley. The song’s called Baba O’Riley!”
5) Song: You Should be Dancing Album: Children of the World Artist: Bee Gees – While going through my music to find songs to fit this category, I stumbled upon theses guys for the first time in years (I have 14000 songs, its easy to have things get forgotten for long periods of time) and remembered how awesome they are. I gotta stop letting new genres make me forget about the classics.
Honorable Mentions:
Song: Brown Eyed Girl Artist: Van Morrison Album: Blowin’ Your Mind!
Song: Battle Cry Artist: Army of the Pharaohs Album: The Torture Papers – I’ve been really into these guys recently. Celph Titled’s voice and delivery are so filthy
Song: Black Dog Album: Led Zeppelin IV Artist: Led Zeppelin – “When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV.”
I haven’t decided which one I’ll do for tomorrow…so we’ll see what I’m in the mood for when that time comes.
What are you thankful for today? Off the top of my head I can think of my friends, family, delicious food (gained 5.6 pounds at dinner today), beautiful parks, the cure for hiccups, and the button that lets you mute 12 year olds on x-box live.
Love you guys.
“Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?”
15. SUPERMAN!!!
14. Pulp Fiction
13. The Shining
12. Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas
11. Reservoir Dogs
10. This Is England
9. V For Vendetta
8. Pi
7. American Psycho
6. Inception
5. The Matrix
4. Requiem For A Dream
3. Clockwork Orange
2. OldBoy
1. 2001 A Space Odyssey
This is probably the closest i can get to doing my top 15…if you havnt watched one of these…please go rent, buy, illegally download, whatever it is that you do go do it and watch.
Hope you enjoy =)
In relation to the previous article, Music has a way to make you feel a certain way. Reasons were already given as to the different possibilities of why a piece of music might affect you. Whats also interesting is the mixture of Images and Music to create an even stronger feeling. Whether it’s a photo slide show of an individuals graduation with the cliché Green Day song (Time of you Life), or a brilliant Movie Trailer that sells you, not through the images, but the music mixed into it, its mostly through the music that your emotions come out in a climatic form
This trailer, in my opinion one of the best trailers ever made, successfully sells itself through both the beautiful images and the music. Classical Music is hit or miss with me, but this movie made me love classical music. The movie last about 3 hours, with roughly only 30 minutes of dialogue, and an incoherent story. And this may or may not be apparent, however, this film is not for everyone. I loved this movie for the photography, its obscure storytelling, but most of all its music. And this trailer proves it. Watching this trailer you can’t really tell what the movie will be about, but you are blown away with the images and the music. And the movie is also successful in showing the viewer the psychological struggles of life, without dialogue, through only the storytelling of images and music….its beautiful
This an example of how music can sell something really average. Watching this trailer, you FEEL for the characters, you UNDERSTAND what they are going through, even if you never went through the premise of the movie in your life, the music puts you in a familiar state of your life where you may have felt loved and sadness, a feeling bittersweet. The film however is bland, and average. Neither bad nor good, and it’s the perfect example of how a trailer can be extremely good at selling the movie but when you watch the movie, 1. the song isn’t even in it 2. the movie is not as good as the trailer and 3. you don’t really feel anything for the characters.
The you have the ROBBERS!!! The STEALERS!!! The trailers that use the original score of a movie and try to sell it with their movie. But why would a movie like the Lord Of The Rings need to steal the song of REQUIEM FOR A DREAM. REQUIEM is a great film with a strong story. You get lost in the script and dialogue that everytime the song pops up, it climaxes your emotions, making you feel sad, hyped, scared, all at the same time. The song gets played during the strongest parts of the movie, not to mention the ending which is one of the most jaw-dropping endings in modern day films. As a result, the song begins to carry those emotions with it, you play it on your ipod, you will get those same feelings you got when you watched the scene that came along with it. Almost the same way an album will make you reminisce moments during the time it first came out. So imagine putting that song in an action/thriller/fantasy trailer, all those emotions will come up again subconsciously and the film/trailer you will be watching will win your interest. A film student can make a 2 minute short, add that song, and it will automatically have a sense of suspense and epic-ness to it.
I sometimes grab all the scores of films, soundtracks, and trailer music, grab it ALL and make a playlist, and play a game with family or friends where they have to guess where the song is from, and if they need a hint, you have to act it out or say the dialogue that matches the scene with the music. This is obviously just a brief summary as to different ways where music can sell something and be part of your memory in accordance to certain images, and there are thousands of other great films and scores that weren’t mentioned. Every now and then ill post some great trailers that sell, as for now, I hope this gives an appreciation of music used in other ways to enter the subconscious minds to SELL
And only because this whole blog was created based on a daft punk theory I will of course add this
What better way to make a trailer, let alone film, but with daft punk composing the music…..GENIUS
WeDontBelongg 