A New/Old City, A New Perspective

I have to say that this is yet another attempt at trying to update this blog on a regular basis. Moving back to Los Angeles from Seattle was a big deal for me and I plan on making the most of it. Focusing on things that I find interesting and trying to find a way to make them work in my life (i.e. Making some sort of living out of it)

SO here it is... attempt 3 or 4, I believe at writing in this blog.

Los Angeles, California: my birthplace and childhood stomping ground. Well I couldn't say the whole city. In fact, I don't think I have really ever experienced all of the places in this monstrous entity encompassing about 500 square miles that is home to over 15 million people from all different backgrounds, ethnicities and cultures has to offer.

Growing up in a little neighborhood in the southeast corner of the San Fernando valley, I never became aware of what this metropolis had to offer.  In fact, my high school days consisted me of attempting to get out of LA to find 'greener pastures'.  I ended up moving to the evergreen state.  A color palette of blues, greens, and browns delighted my eyes while the rain helped moisturize them.

After 5 years the rain and grey skies started to get to me and I decided to move back to a sunnier climate.  I've got fresh eyes and a fresh appetite to rediscover the city that, I admit, I don't know very well.  

Digging into the old catalogue

Going back into my catalogue of music I have collected over the years, I have found some treasure that I still enjoy today. My iTunes library has about 22 days worth of music and while I don’t want to listen through all 22 days, I am trying to comb through and rediscover some tracks that I connected with when I was young.

AFI – Sing the Sorrow

This album I think started my fascination with the punk and emo scenes in LA. I remember going over to my friend’s house after school and he put this album on while we played the new Metroid game (the Metroid series will forever be at the top of the best video game series in existence). Stuck in a lush 3D environment, the music seemed to take over our perception of reality and were got sucked into the mixture of visual stimuli and an overwhelming sense of drowning in the music. The epic opening drums to album, reminiscent of the Terminator 2 theme bring in Davy Havok’s voice in a melodic chant followed by the rest of the band. The growing wave of chanting even engulfs us as we sang along to it. This albums grabs you by the shoulder with a firm but engulfing grip and takes you through rumbling and melodramatic punk pieces with dips and turns into industrial electronic beats or just all out chaos. The album ends with the increasingly epic “…but home is nowhere” That brings a satisfying end to their experience.

While most purists consider Sing the Sorrow AFI turn for the worst and the subsequent albums bringing them into the mainstream and sugar coated singles, I believe that this album was a successful experiment in exploring new ways of writing and producing music with the help of areas outside of the punk and emo genre.

I’m gonna keep digging.

A little bit of the ultra-violence... then some shut eye

So lets start with it. I have been lazy. In fact, I have been so lazy that my procrastination was due to my initial procrastination. I’m not sure if that makes sense but I’m leaving it in this blog post anyway. So lets recap…what have I been doing for the past week?

I’ve been working. My bartending job keeps me up late so I enjoy sleeping in during the mornings (which is when I am the most productive). To keep my time occupied without as much stress on my body or brain, I have resorted to my Xbox 360 for addiction satisfaction. I went and bought Modern Warfare 2. That game and also Oblivion has kept me away from any social interaction for quite a bit and while writing on a blog doesn’t help my social interaction, I feel accomplished when I post something. So here I am, forcing myself to write and to tell you the truth… it sucks; completely blows when you have nothing really exciting to talk about.

A little old Ludwig van to lighten up the mood is something I need. Yeah, that’s it! A glass of wine and some piano sonata no. 14 in c-sharp minor to put my head in the right place, that’s the ticket. I mean, the idea that if you put some music on, you can start to talk about sounds like it would work, but in the end, I want to think about a different medium, one that has to do with music. I’m talking about films of course.

The one that comes to mind is actually Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange”. The film that turns old favorites like singing in the rain, and the beautifully composed pieces of the one and only Beethoven into correspondents to, what Alex would define as “A little bit of the ultra violence”. I started to think about the way music affects us. A while ago I attempted to write my thoughts on the concept of punk. Not the scene, but the actual music and what is represents. I feel that there are many misconstrued ideas surrounding certain genres of music. Punk and post-punk are what I happened to be influenced by in my middle and high school years. My grandparents still consider it “devil worshipping” music and while the mind of someone in their seventies are somewhat rooted in culture they grew up with, I found with a little explanation of how one should listen and interpret the music, acceptance and even exploration of the genre starts to happen.

Thought ended…..ah shit. Well, until next time.

50 most important albums

So I’ve decided to get a bit more cultured. I started to download NPR podcasts, particularly “all songs considered”. They just released the 50 most important records of the decade. I started to listen through it, recollecting some of the albums that I would have picked to be on the list. Some of them made it, some of them didn’t. You can check out the full list here.

This podcast got me thinking; if I put together a list of the most important albums of the decade to me, what would go on it? What does it take to be an important record? Do I just have to like it? Do I think it pushes the boundaries of the genre or music itself? The fact is, the importance of a record is not measured by any definite means or formulas; it’s measured by the personal experience of the reviewer. The people at NPR even stress in the podcast that the list they have is by all means not a definitive word in what was important in the last decade. So now I present to you a part of my list of important albums of the decade for me:

Bierut: The Flying Cup Club

Ben Folds: Presents: University A Capella

Buck 65: Secret House Against the World

The Cinematic Orchestra: Ma Fleur

Coldplay: Viva la Vida (Prospekt’s March Edition)

Danger Mouse: The Grey Album

Deadelus: Love to Make Music to

Death Cab For Cutie: Plans

The Early November: The Mother, the Mechanic, and The Path

Enter Shikari: Take to the Skies

Fall Out Boy: Infinity on High

Forgive Durden: Razia’s Shadow

Girl Talk: Feed the Animals

Ida Maria: Fortress Around My Heart

Islands: Arm’s Way

Justice: “cross”

The Kooks: Inside in/Inside Out

M.I.A: Kala

The Matches: Decomposer

Mika: Life in Cartoon Motion

Muse: Absolution

Postal Service: Give Up

Radiohead: Kid A, In Rainbows

Ratatat: LP 3

Sondre Lerche: Phantom Punch

There are so many more.

Let me know what you think. Argue, agree, comment.

and it settles in

I was searching through the internet for ways to get this blog promoted. I started at the most obvious places, music blogs, and blog I already follow. The thing is, I’m not quite sure how to go about promoting my own writings amongst these blogging veterans. To be honest, the idea of blogging never really seemed that exciting. I understand the appeal of it. I mean who wouldn’t want their voice to be heard. The problem now is that everyone has an opinion about everything… so what makes my opinion unique? What makes my words stand out from millions of other peoples’? The dilemma gets even worse when you factor in my rookie status. I look at bloggers that I follow like italktosnakes, the vlog brothers, and Phillip De Franco; the confidence that exudes from their videos and blogs; this “I don’t give a shit if people follow me or not” attitude. How can I attain that focus, that determination?

Look at this! One post in and I’m feeling I should give up!

This feels like it should go on to livejournal! (does anyone use livejournal anymore?)

Ok, off with that idea’s head.

Lets get on with it… Music

Ah yes, music.

Be back with you soon.

The New News: a new attitude and a new focus

I’ve spent the past four years of my life at Seattle University studying books, and reading analysis on modernism and post-modernism in music, art and literature. But really, I mostly drank, partied, experimented with drugs, and went to an enormous amount of concerts in and around Seattle (sometimes simultaneously) but some would say that the experience I acquired through those activites would provide much better skills than what any classroom would provide; and those people would be correct. Yes, the classroom is important and imperative in terms gaining tools to use in life, but it’s the real experience that one has outside of the classroom that provides the content in which those tools can be applied. So in the spirit of using both academic and real world experience, I have decided to waste more post-graduate time and start up a blog about the thing I enjoy most: music. Not just reviews and thoughts on the newest pop sensation but also why I think people react to music in certain ways. This has always been a question I wanted to dive into ever since I started to play in a punk band in high school. Parents would cringe at our shows, mostly because we played our instruments horribly but also because they didn’t understand it.

“Why are they so angry?”

“What’s with the screaming?”

“Why do their friends jump up and down, throwing fists at each other?”

And then a question came back at me: “Why do I do it?”

“What makes screaming lyrics more attractive than singing them?”

“Why do we write about loneliness and anger with smiles on our faces?”

I still write music but now in softer more folk like context than my teenage years and the same questions come back to me: “Why do I do it?” “What makes singing lyrics more attractive than screaming them?” “Why do I write about love, and relationships with a melancholy look on my face?” The motive to explore these questions and others is innate and yet unknown to myself.

I guess it’s time to figure it out.

Can't Love

For the times we meant, we leave it there

Scratching our head, it tells you what we know: The price is our heart

And we say, "she's just a fling in the best sense of the word"

And we say, "She don't mean a thing, only love can be felt by her"

Yet we know her own perfume and favorite flowers

We discount our hearts just to give her more power

and they say we can't love, that it's only the assets we're thinking of

Well I fell in love today

It knocked me out and spun me in circles

I can't figure out what to say

Because every line is cheap and they don't work anyway

I guess I'll play dumb and just swallow my tongue

Honestly honesty doesn't work in this dump

I guess I can't love

For the times we meant, we wanted more

Figuring out the games and what not

They say all is fair in love and war

when soldiers are fighting for medals instead of

Hearts that are breakable, men are so tamable

Why can't we fight for the ones we would die for 

And they say we can't love, It's all tits and ass and the mirrors above

Well I fell in love today

It knocked me out and spun me in circles

I can't figure out what to say

Because every line is cheap and they don't seem to work anyway

I guess I'll play dumb and swallow my tongue

Honestly Honesty doesn't run in this dump

I guess I can't love

Copyright 2008 Corey Claxton