#15

A Brief History Of Time...And Music

"Disorder increases with time because we measure time in the direction in which disorder increases." - Stephen Hawking

On the first day of the year 5SIAR was the furthest thing from my mind. I was more concerned with what would happen this year in terms of a personal nature than forming a game plan for this blog that you're reading right now. It was a poor choice. I figured I'd get to 5SIAR when I had the time which would eventually lead to it being put on the back burner which would lead to me forgetting and abandoning it. Maybe I was waiting for some kind of sign. Those signs came earlier than expected and that is why you're getting a new 5SIAR to start off the new year. I want the year to be good. I want my blog to be better than good. They will both undoubtedly take some work.

Sometimes I feel starting something new is like removing a band-aid. A very sticky one at that. The kind that tugs at your skin and rips several dozen hairs off while you're pulling. The trick has always been to rip it off as quickly as possible to reduce the amount of pain that you must endure. To get that sting out of the way and let the healing process come to an end. Yes, there is still pain, there always will be. But would you rather let that pain last longer than it needs to or get it over with in one quick gesture? I'm not here to judge your choice. I'm not here to tell you what's right and what's wrong. I'm just here for the music.

So, in true fast-ripping action I give you the first 5SIAR for 2010. And now that the band-aid is off I can see I have a little bit more healing to do. But it's better to have done it sooner than never. If you wait too long the moment disappears, and you're left with a blank sheet of paper. No one likes a blank canvas. It's intimidating.



"Big Man With A Gun" - Nine Inch Nails

Big Man With A Gun - Nine Inch...

We're starting the year off with a loud, ear-ringing bang. Reznor's period album The Downward Spiral was an industrial masterpiece when all the world wanted was more grunge and alternative. This album was the alternative. It was like when you first heard Nevermind, Dirt or Core or any other one word album back in the 90's. When you got done with it you flipped the tape back over and hit play on the boombox your parents gave you for Christmas and you listened to it again and again. I had bought the CD though. It was right around the time I had friends that could drive and one of the places we would always go is the record store. I'm proud to say that The Downward Spiral was one of the first CD's I bought with my own money (The other one was Siamese Dream). And no, I did not get carded because of the "Parental Advisory" sticker on the album. No clerk really gave a shit about it at the time. Did they ever?

This album represents a lot of the anger and animosity my generation went through during this period. The day-to-day headache known as high school - and pretty much everything surrounding it having to do with class wars - was the main reason behind so many youths becoming attached to what Trent was talking about. Now, I didn't know any heroin addicts during high school, but I did know many people trying to find some kind of group to belong to. Someplace safe. It wasn't with the Agriculture class (though Reznor did use a lot of pig references), and it wasn't with the popular kids either. We formed our own group of outcasts and headbangers to combat what the "normal" people stood for. Which, for that time, now that I think about it, remind me more and more of the conservative newscasters on Fox News - too clean cut for their own good. Everyone had skeletons in their closet, it's just that us metal kids weren't afraid to be honest and show that side to people. The ugliness. The issues everyone faces. Trent taught us that it's okay to feel like this.

The Downward Spiral came to us at the perfect point in time. I try to look back to my teenage years and it's hard to imagine them without this album. Sure, I had other outlets to immerse myself in to escape the fact I was an awkward, introverted teen. Tool and Tori Amos showed me the road, but Nine Inch Nails carried me down it. I could go on and on about what exactly the album is about and what Trent was feeling at the time - which was obviously lost - but again, this blog is more about the experience, not the artist themselves.

I used that Hawking quote in the beginning to acknowledge that like the universe we the people tend to measure our lives in relation to the amount of disorder we've racked up. We're proud of our accomplishments, but without the chaos and disorder, we would've never learned anything from it all. We would still be empty inside. Every time I listen to The Downward Spiral I am reminded of that. We're all a bit untidy and are constantly struggling for a clean cloth to wash ourselves off with.


"Capsize" - Karen O And The Kids

Capsize - Karen O and the Kids

I'm not a big soundtrack fan. I have a bad taste in my mouth from so many disappointments. The only ones that I enjoy are the ones that are able to stand on their own, such as Purple Rain, The Wall, or Ziggy Stardust. I know there are others that are great, but those are the first three that pop into my head. These albums are made up entirely of songs by the artist instead of being thrown together by a producer or director. We remember how far we fell into the depths of the Garden State soundtrack, right? Thankfully Spike Jonze chose someone to create the soundtrack to 2009's Where The Wild Things Are, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. She was chosen...wisely.

The song begins with hand claps and Karen O giving the listener a battle-cry chant outlining the movie's intro "running away to escape authority" theme. Soft chugging guitars, a marching drum beat that eventually leads into a stronger lead guitar, and Ms. O singing a few lines detail Max's reasons to take flight and leave his home. We've all felt that way at some point in our childhood as we try to come to terms with our parent's power over us. We are born with an instinct to not be ruled, but to do the ruling ourselves.

The movie takes its shape by showing us how negative emotions affect not just a child, but all of us. Feelings of abandonment, loneliness, egotism, depression, and self-loathing all make cameos. I know, it sounds like a commercial for Prozac, but it's a bit more entertaining when you see monsters become the manifestations of a little boy's melancholy world.

Some of us despise looking at ourselves in the mirror. The mask dissolves to show what we've hidden underneath. For some there is a lot of darkness hidden behind our eyes. Darkness that was never brought into the light. Time heals, but scars are always there as reminders of all the pain we've suffered. I say why not take a more laughable approach to the situation? There's something amusing about seeing imaginary characters going through the same process and handling it in a completely different way - like biting one another, or creating another world out of sticks and stones where nothing bad happens, or just hanging out with owls named Bob and Terry. Even now as adults we feel the need to run away every now and then.


"The Age Of The Understatement" - The Last Shadow Puppets

Before I speak about this song I feel it necessary for you the reader to watch the video for it to fully grasp its meaning or lack thereof. Whichever you prefer.



A lone ice skater with the entire rink all to herself. A few scattered people watching the band (Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and Miles Kane of The Rascals) perform while a boy indulges himself with sweets. The band braving a harsh Russian winter riding on tanks while Red Army officers bellow out a gut-vibrating baritone. A single old woman praying in church. What does it all mean you ask? Excess. Which is why the band or director probably chose Russia as the location. It's ironic though because I don't think of that country as being excessive. It makes me think of America. Hrmmm...

There is a lot of emptiness in the scenes. Vast landscapes taken up by one or very few people yet still being able to show the gluttony of power. The army, the church, the delicious pastry, the perfect skater, all of it has to do with an addiction to excess, but it's presented in the form of how hollow that excess really is. The scenes are the understatement. Small snippets of reality candy-coated with the exact opposite of what the scenes portrayed actually are.

The cold war never ended. It was just turned inward. We fight with ourselves to the point of madness and stalemate because we deny our body, mind, and spirit things we are made to think are excessive and should therefore be avoided. Everything in moderation I always say, but some people just can't help themselves. As time goes on fat cats get fatter and the rest of us are left to starve. This is the way it has been for a while now and it's sad to see it getting worse.

At least the song and video are cool.


"A Peak In Time" - Cut Chemist

A Peak In Time - Cut Chemist

Did any of you watch Scratch, the documentary explaining the history of the DJ and turntablism? If not, then you should. A lot of people have protested against the turntable being used as an instrument, calling what is created from it unoriginal and plagiarist. I, on the other hand, have the utmost respect for it. The music produced from turntablism is the only genre that I feel isn't being created for the sole purpose of evoking an emotional response. It's completely unbiased. The listener doesn't have a singer going on and on about his or her problems or rewards. When you listen to disc jockeys like Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Shadow, or in this case Cut Chemist, you are free to think and feel however you want. Which is why DJ's have never and will never make a soundtrack to a television show or movie. They don't have to tell you how you should feel at some moment in time.

When you listen to this track from Chemist how does it make you feel? Uplifted? Intoxicated? Pissed off? Can you even pinpoint the exact sentiment being conveyed? I can't, really, and that's what makes it great. It is in no way connected to emotion so none of it can be used to soundtrack visuals. This is another aspect of the DJ I admire. None of their music is telling me how to feel. I decide. I don't have a Chris Martin or some other sappy lead vocalist with a melodic band backing him/her up to remind me of that one girl that got away or how the government is fucking me in the ass. I can count on Cut Chemist mixes not showing up on American Idol while some newly crowned blond popper bounces up and down for the camera with a piece of yellow paper in their hand. I also won't hear DJ Shadow during the new Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson movie about being a tooth fairy. Turntablism doesn't belong there and it's what I detest about television or movie soundtracks. They are played during the key moments when the director is telling the audience how to feel. Sounds like a crutch for actors if you ask me. I go more for a subtle approach. Like the Amelie soundtrack. It stays in the background the entire time and let's you connect with the actors instead.

Turntablists are the graffiti artists of the music world - complete freedom with no constraints and all control. None of them need producers to mold and shape their sound to fit into a specific niche. I like that. It's what I strive for in my own life. Creating myself without the direct aid of others, but taking the past and transforming it into something usable and original.

"Red Right Ankle" - The Decemberists

Red Right Ankle - The December...

What songs from your past do you find stick with you over the years? Songs that you never forget and that catapulted you into a new way of thinking or being. "Red Right Ankle" is one of those songs on my list, but I'll be damned if I can figure out why. I become engrossed and engulfed in so many artists and their songs that it all starts to become one giant radio transmission being sent from a distant world. Can you imagine what all the songs ever played on the radio sound like from space? It's one stream of noise. I feel that way here on Earth. So many songs linked to so many thoughts and memories that it becomes a chore to sort them all out and make sense of it all. Like having to scrub the kitchen floor on your hands and knees. It takes extra work, but the payoff is being able to see yourself in that floor.

I attribute The Decemberists as being my doorway into indie music. Sure, there are other bands and solo artists, but whenever I think of that one moment where I started ingesting every band that was recommended to me I always go back to the beginning. Back to The Decemberists. Back to my friend Eva telling me, "You need to listen to this band." Now when I discover a new band I work backwards to find their influences and from that find older bands that I should've been listening to instead of Korn and Mudvayne. I've labeled that time in my life "The Dark Ages."

Working backwards seems to fit my personality according to the Myers-Briggs test. I solve my present problems by looking into the past and taking that information and applying it to the situation at hand. Instead of devising a new way to sort through it I just stick with what worked or didn't work from before. It seems to work, sometimes.

The last time The Decemberists appeared on 5SIAR I was bashing them. Well, not them, but the song. It was a song off of the Always A Bridesmaid series, a collection of six new songs released before their lackluster rock-opera opus The Hazards Of Love. I only enjoyed half of the songs on Always A Bridesmaid, the half that reminded me of The Decemberists of yore - The Decemberists from Picaresque, Her Majesty, and Castways and Cutouts that I love. Let that be a lesson to you, Colin Meloy. Never try to cover Velvet Underground ever again. But I forgive them. Time heals. It also creates more chaos.

I could use some peace, though.

#13

"Sometimes when you win, you lose." Or, A Cluster of Bad Timing

Does anyone remember that line from What Dreams May Come? I do. It's a constant reminder to stay grounded and to always be humble. Although sometimes that's easier said than done. I can be on top of the world and feel invincible, but I must always remember that below me lies the same shit I deal with day in and day out- My own personal demons. They are always there to keep me in check and to remind me that every day is to be treated as a gift, albeit a very subpar one. Almost like getting socks for Christmas. Sure, you're thankful, but at the same time you feel cheated. It's only my ego, and one day I'll learn to kick it to the curb.

I recently was a cast member in a production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The connections I made and the fun I had with all the cast and crew will be with me forever. However, if I have to watch that movie at all any time soon I could quite possibly commit suicide. The upside to it is I have memorized pretty much every character's part in the movie. So if I do it again I will be prepared.

Before the show there was a performance from the Florida Dance Theatre. The dancer's characters were everyone's preferred occult figure for this year- the vampire. Vampires are the new black what with all the buzz with Twilight and True Blood being big hits. If you are a fan of those I suggest to you the movie Let The Right One In. Great foreign vampire film and definitely worth your time to watch it.

The dance the FDT performed moved me, which is a rare thing. Dancing doesn't do much for me, but this one was different. The dancers were amazing and it was wonderfully choreographed. It wasn't just that though, it was the music they used that brought it all together. The songs they chose were a perfect fit and I realized that they would make a great addition to 5SIAR. The dance, the songs, and the mood they put me in (which was suffice it to say not a happy one) compelled me to want to write this. That, and, well, a skirmish with a friend. All of those things grabbed me by the arm, sat me down, put my fingers on the keyboard and said "tell us about it." You asked for it. So here it is.

"Us" - Regina Spektor

Us - Regina Spektor

Scene #1: Man and woman meet. Man and woman fall in love. Man and woman are happy.

The opening number to the performance was a track from Spektor's Soviet Kitsch but was also put on the soundtrack to this summer's indie feel good/feel sad movie 500 Days Of Summer. It's your typical grab your lady by the hand and fall in love kind of song. There does, however, seem to be some kind of underlying message of love costing more than what it is worth. Yes, I'm putting a price tag on the emotion because in the greater scheme of things love is the thing that dictates pretty much everything in the universe. Or, at least, something on par with it such as gravity or magnetism. Somehow, someway, attraction is our life's path and that was the center on this part of the dance performance. Two people meet and they fall in love, and it's grand. It's grand because it spreads to others. That wonderful feeling is truly contagious. So much that people will use "Us" as a blueprint for their love.

As lovers rise, in time they eventually fall. Like Icarus, the lover flies too close to the sun, is burned, and falls back down. This is the nearest approximation of falling in and out of love I can conjure. That is the way of things. The path of love is not without its pitfalls and hiccups. Giant sacrifices are made for the other person all for the sake of keeping the connection alive when it's already on life support. Some people sign a prenuptial before getting married, what they should be signing are DNR forms. Do Not Resuscitate.

We all have this hope and dream that love will conquer all and I honestly think that is our first mistake in love. We can't count on it to fix everything because sometimes it does more harm than good. You know that old saying that one man's trash is another's treasure? Well that can also be reversed when it comes to matters of the heart. One man's treasure is another's trash. The shine that was there becomes tarnished and rusted to the point of taking the easy way out and throwing it away instead of polishing it. The same analogy can be used with two people in love. The feeling becomes tarnished from wear and tear (countless fights and disagreements). It becomes so broken that it is thrown away with no chance of survival or revival. Yeah, we've heard it before, love is a battlefield, and we are the soldiers at arms. And yes, sometimes peace treaties can be made, but most of the time the two sides just lay down their weapons and walk away from each other.

OK, now that I've depressed all of you I will say that beyond all of the bullshit and excrement that goes along with falling for someone it really is a great feeling when it all works out. When all the little pieces fit into place perfectly (which is more rare than one might think) it becomes something more than your standard boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in and out of love kind of story. The explosion from this occurrence echoes across our visible and invisible universe dictating courses of action and ultimately becoming the pebble thrown into our pond.

"Emotion Sickness" - Sliverchair

Emotion Sickness - Silverchair

Scene #2: Woman runs away. Hides. Man is attacked. Dies.

Silverchair- A band that has struggled to escape the label of 90's grunge relic to become something of their own; Something a bit more than the dropped D tuning they stole from Helmet. Well, it took a few albums, and from the sound of their most recent release Young Modern, they have come into their own and finally have shed all the Frogstomp stigma left over from their teenage years. In between Frogstomp and Young Modern there was their third album Neon Ballroom- an album that saw a band trying to shed its skin by exploring new territory in a soon to be post-grunge world, yet still maintaining a kinship to their roots of Nirvana-esque antagonism.

The bands and their intentions aren't the point of this issue but the meaning behind the songs are instead. What the songs represent in the dance routine and what that means to me and what I feel and what I think the rest of the world feels. Simple, right? Wrong.

With love comes struggle to keep that love alive. People say, "If it's meant to be then it should be easy!" No, it's never easy. Because we are all so different from one another and complex no one couple in this world will ever have it easy. There are too many nuances to one's personality that prevents that. You're going to have bumps in the road. You're going to get emotionally sick which inevitably leads to being physically sick. Why do you think after one spouse passes away the other follows shortly after. People die from broken hearts, and it happens more often than not.

We can either heal or become ill from overdoses of feeling. How do you feel when you're falling for someone? Invincible, right? Like you could take on one hundred Osama Bin Ladens or Rush Limbaughs and take them all down with one swift gesture. You're on top of the world. Unstoppable, even, yet that is only one end of the string. If there's a positive, there's always a negative.

What happens when love dies? Not only does depression and heartache follow, but now and again a physical malady as well. For instance, what I stated before, someone dying from a broken heart. There is no medical reason why this happens, nor can we really explain it. It just...happens. It amazes me how well connected the mind and body are with one another. Our body has responses to a wide range of emotion. If we're nervous, we sweat. If we're happy, we seem to "glow". If we're angry or threatened, adrenaline kicks in. And if we're sad, we feel nauseous, drained, and unable to properly function. Trouble arises when we lose control of our bodies and let emotion become the pilot. We are rash and we do and say things we wouldn't normally consider doing or saying and it always gets us in trouble.

As for our lovers- the woman leaves the man to be free and experience more only to return to find him broken and expired. Drained of life from the separation.

"The Fragile" - Nine Inch Nails

The Fragile - Nine Inch Nails

Scene #3: Woman returns to find man deceased. Commences to repair him.

When we cannot mend ourselves from what we may consider to be irreparable damage, we have friends and loved ones there to help us along. We break and those close to us are there to sweep up the pieces and help put them back together in some kind of recognizable order. This, of course, is achieved by heavy boozing and late-night drunk dials to the breaker. Luckily I've never been on the receiving end of one of these notorious phone calls of liquored belligerence, nor have I ever had the reason to make one. My life is still young though. I'm sure at some point someone will do something to warrant me drunk dialing them to blast obscenities and curses at them all while my friends are carrying my near de-hydrated and collapsed body to the bathroom to vomit some more. Yes, heartbreak sucks and who better than to school us about it than King Heartbreak himself, Trent Reznor.

The first thing that sticks out in this song is the use of tambourine to sound like chains being dragged. The chains are the focus of the song as them being the object holding down the main character with Trent supposedly being the one making the promise of not letting her succumb to darkness. This of course is my literal translation of it and is more than likely wrong, or is it? Sometimes a song's literal meaning is more often than not the right one. I get so tired of songwriters beating around the bush with in regards to their lyrics. Sometimes they are so abstract and distant that it's difficult to identify with the song which becomes turn off. I understand some level of mystery and privacy for one's feelings, but don't jump the shark with what you're trying to say to sound cool in front of the kids!

Ahem...

Getting back to the subject at hand- Hearts get broken, and then they are mended. It is a process as natural as the sun rising and setting. We win some, we lose some and occasionally both happen at the same time. Love never really dies. It just gets transformed into something else. It evolves. We have to stick by this concept (me included) or else we're all destined to keep falling down until we aren't able to pick ourselves back up. Friends or no friends, it is ultimately up to us to oil the machine and make it all work. But it never hurts to have a little help from your mates.

"Let Go" - Frou Frou

Let Go - Frou Frou

Scene #4: Man is turned to vampire and is healed to spend eternity with woman.

Yet another one-hit indie soundtrack wonder for this issue. This one comes from the Garden State Soundtrack and in all honesty I haven't heard anything released from Frou Frou since. I'm OK with that, too. I've never heard any of her other songs and judging from this one I don't feel like I would be missing anything that's a masterpiece. In this case the music isn't the meaning, it's the message. I believe I've stated that once before, actually. A lot of what I've been doing lately feels like I've done it all before. There's a little bit of past in everything, I guess, or else now wouldn't be the future. That will make more sense later. I promise.

So yes, it's the message. The words, the lyrics, what is being said, which in all actuality can be summed up by the title "Let Go." Let life take over. Don't worry about what is going to happen because then you will spend all of your free time pining over the very worst that may or may not transpire. You will not get to enjoy conversations with friends or ice cream with your children. You will not have your first kiss with someone. You will not catch the 2009 Tampa Bay Buccaneers win their first game of the season. No, you won't experience any of these instances because you were too busy buried inside your own head conjuring up expectations in life that, again, may not happen. Let go. Let whatever will happen happen. It may be what you're looking for.

Sometimes it may seem that at every corner you find a brick wall. Something to impede your forward progress. You can't let that stop you. You are your own worst enemy in this situation. Don't succumb to failure. Stand back up, turn around, and just go another direction. And if that too has another brick wall, well, then, that's life. There's positive and negative, opportunity and brick walls, perfect timing and bad timing....bad timing. People call it fate, or at least some do. The others still believe that we create our own destiny. As for me, I've been leaning more toward the bad timing theory for quite a while now. Sometimes things aren't supposed to happen for a reason. It's tragic though when a person's life becomes nothing but bad timing. However it's sometimes comforting to know that your life has a hand in determining so many other outcomes in other people's lives as well. You almost can't be mad about it. If it was meant to happen that way, bad timing or not, then that's what it was supposed to be. A cluster of bad timing.

Was it fate that determined man and woman being together forever? I honestly don't know, but I know I had a part in it all. This is also why there isn't a fifth song. Whatever it will all be - Winning, losing, good or bad timing - we just don't know. The song hasn't played yet.

"Untitled" - Unknown

PRESS PLAY. Don't let life pass you by.

#8

The doctor will see you now.

"Over & Over" - Hot Chip

Sometimes I feel I run out of things to talk about on here. I have different songs each time but what I have to say is pretty much the same each time. With every issue I have some kind of loose theme to tie all the songs together. It makes the blog more interesting. This morning I realized that there is a constant theme surrounding all the issues and tying them together. Music is therapy. It's other things as well to other people, but for me it's therapy. When I put on an album on my record player and set the needle down for it to play it's the equivalent of walking into a shrink's office, sitting down, and he or she looking at me and asking how I'm feeling. Then, when the music plays, I let go. Whatever I have on my mind that happened or didn't happen in my life gets flushed down the pipes of a vocalist and drowned in a sea of guitar, bass, and drums. It's a catharsis.

I've had this on my mind for almost a week now. I was hoping to have songs that would fit what I have to say (something from Sea Change?), but the randomness of 5SIAR is what makes it challenging. This song from Hot Chip, for example, is a great song to dance to. In fact, pretty much all their songs give you that get up and move feeling. The question I ask is why? The answer: because not only does the music heal you, but dancing to it does as well. Since time began humans have incorporated dance with their religious rituals that are set to music. The two go hand in hand. It's easier for the music to move you mentally and emotionally if it's moving you physically. I know some of you don't like to dance, but really, it helps. OK, so you're white. Big deal. So your best friend makes fun of you while you're shaking your ass. It's all in good fun because she looks just as awkward trying to move away from some douche-nozzle trying to rub his crotch all over her back side.

The night's over. You're drunk. Very drunk, and very sweaty. Sweaty because you've been on the dance floor all night, unable to leave it because the DJ is actually spinning (or these days cuing from a laptop) decent shit. The friend you conned into getting your drinks for you the entire night insists on leaving. Fair enough. Your time is up. You've had your session for the evening. The wadded up tissues filled with tears have become the sweat, piss, and vomit you left in the toilet. You feel better. That is until the next time you don't. If this hasn't happened to you yet then eventually it will. I promise.

Over And Over - Hot Chip

"Natural Resources" - Dntel

(In a Jerry Seinfeld voice) What's with people naming themselves just letters? What do they mean? You've got MGMT (Management), MSTRKRFT (Mastercraft), and Jimmy Tamborello's Dntel (pronounced din-tel according to wikipedia). You may know this guy as being one half of The Postal Service. The other half being indie music's poster boy Ben Gibbard. Sorry Conor Oberst, you've been dethroned. Dumb Luck does however feature Oberst and a slew of other indie music voices like Jenny Lewis and Ed Droste from Grizzly Bear. The album isn't great, but it's not without a few moments. For me it's the pure fact that all the music is programmed, something I aspire to do one of these days when I get my hands on enough money to buy equipment.

Music itself is a therapy and so is creating it. I view programming beats and dialing in synth settings as surgery. Very delicate surgery. One slip of the scalpel and your song will flatline, or will it? With music, sometimes mistakes can be blessings. Obviously when a doctor is repairing an organ he doesn't want to slice an artery. When I'm retooling a preset on a synthesizer to make it sound different I may screw it up in the process, but I make sure to let myself try it out before scrapping it completely. I break it all down. I let it be something it's not. It's something every electronic musician does, which to me, is therapy. You have the ability to create your own sound out of noise. You are the composer and the conductor. You are also the doctor.

Now you're on the other side of things. You're the creator so you're the one providing the therapy. You're the one that's offering the means to a release. It doesn't have to just be music though, it can be the words as well, or a painting. It can be anything you create. It's there for a purpose. It helped you, now you can let it help others. It's a cycle that will always keep going as long as we're here.

Natural Resources - Dntel

"Cloche" - French Kicks

There's another thing that bothers me about some bands lately. Hell, I don't even know what to call it since I'm not a guitar player. I'll give it my best shot though. Strumming pattern? 32nds on one or two strings to give the guitar that, I don't know, Radiohead sound? I can't put my finger on it. Just listen to the song and you'll know what I'm talking about. Whatever its called the French Kicks use it, a lot. Almost too much. I don't really consider it a bad or a good thing though. It's just a thing. Overdone, yes, but at least it sounds cool, right? Well, just because it sounds cool doesn't mean you have to keep doing it.

I feel bands sometimes fall into a comfort zone. They find a sound and they stick with it. It works for some, like the French Kicks, others get bored and venture off into new territory. Experimentation is just another kind of release and catharsis. How does a person learn without taking those steps toward the unknown?

We have an aversion to the unknown. We're scared of it, actually. But progress has never been made without some kind of leap of faith by someone. A person willing to risk it all for the sake of whatever it is he or she believes in. Painful, yes, but needed. I don't think I, or anyone else, would be where they are today without that pain. You need it. How else do you learn? How else do you finally rid yourself of what ails you?

Cloche - French Kicks

"Come Together" - Spiritualized

We're nearing the nitty gritty now. We have a song from an artist that has created music laced with references to people being sad, people taking drugs because they are sad, and then being sad because they took the drugs. And then, of course, we listen to those songs. People use a song as a drug. Other people just go ahead and use a drug, but that's neither here nor there. It's kind of like the beginning of High Fidelity....

"What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"

It's a constant, unwavering cycle. It serves itself. The motion of sadness begetting sadness is an occurrence that, to me, is a paradox. It will never end. People will never stop feeling, so obviously people will never stop exploring that feeling through music which in turn will cause other people to explore the feeling. As I said before, it just goes on and on. It's another way we are all connected in this universe. A song is played for you and you attribute that song to that moment and the feeling you had at the moment. It'll break you, but it'll also fix you.

Come Together - The London Com...

"The Way Out Is Through" - Nine Inch Nails

What better way to end this issue than with the king of healing through misery, Trent Reznor. Even the song title sums up the theme. Yes, the way out is certainly through all the noise and clutter you are surrounded with. You can't go around it because you will learn nothing. Healing hurts sometimes, but that's why we have Nine Inch Nails, or at least I have NIN. Trent has more of a cult following lately. There aren't too many people just now getting into his music. Either you've been a fan since the days of Pretty Hate Machine and beyond, or you haven't. But the time spent being a fan doesn't play into the equation anymore in my opinion. It honestly doesn't matter if you've listened to an artist's music since their inception or just recently started listening.

So yes, personally, Reznor's music is my antiseptic and bandage. There was a time after some not too recent heartbreak that I listened to the album With Teeth on repeat for a very, very long time. When that album first came out I wasn't exactly the biggest fan of it. I have discovered, however, that most albums from the past are played more now than when they originally were released. I suppose an album can serve a certain purpose at a certain point in time. Before that time it doesn't make sense. It's not ready to be listened to until that one moment comes when you're listening to it and it all comes together. It suddenly becomes your best friend. Your lover. Matter to fill the hole until it can fill itself again.

Art is used for a lot of things, but it's greatest purpose is in healing. The rhythm can get you on the dance floor and make you feel free and forget your cares and worries. The beat can stimulate your brain as you're trying to write a sequence of drum patterns for a song. Even something as simple as wind passing through the holes of a flute can do wonders. A few little notes are all a person needs to feel at home and at peace with themselves and others.

The Way Out Is Through - Nine ...