Whenever someone refers me to a musician of any genre that they find “good,” I’m always hesitant to accept that what qualifies as “good” to them will be the same for me. Really, there are so many ways to connect with music and so many ways to judge it. Eminem for example can be perceived as a god of rap talent or as perpetuating the misogynistic theme of violence against women. When I first started expanding my appreciation of rap, I asked my friends what they liked about artists like 2Pac and Biggie because they didn’t quite fit into my understanding at the time of what constituted “good” rap. To me, good rap meant fast rap. Speed equated to talent, but I quickly found in these artists that a good understanding of rhythm and lyricism (both political and comedic) can often create a more profound effect than speed alone. I also realized that though Tech N9ne’s “Caribou Lou” was a great song to crank up and roll your windows down to, its lyrics contribute no substance whatsoever to the song. At the end of the day I was listening to a rapper list the recipe for a mixed drink over a really cool beat.

While different ways of evaluating value of music can open up many avenues for appreciating artistic talent, every person has their own taste and expectations. Something that has always been a crucial factor to me is lyricism. The more poetic and complex the lyrics, the more I get sucked in. I know I’ve talked about Marina and the Diamonds in the past, who began writing poetry and transferred her talents to songwriting and music production, but another master of lyric composition and one of my personal favorites is the band Say Anything. Judging solely from their sound, they fall right into the category of teen angst punk music. However, looking closely at the lyrics complicates their image by showing the band’s appreciation for poetry and profound understanding of the power of language. As a writer, I deeply admire the sentences they construct because many of them hit me on both an emotional and an intellectual level.

For example, from the song “Yellow Cat Slash Red Cat” off of their 2004 album …Is A Real Boy, lead singer Max Bemis spits the words rhythmically, almost as if to poetic meter:

Again, I watch my cousin Greg watch MTV inside his home.
He makes fun of the Hip-hop videos from the couch he rides alone.
Snug in the cushion of his cackling he forgets his looming doubts.
He has relied on this for years; you will not yank the carpet out.

The complexity of his sentence structures along with the obscured themes hidden deep beneath contemporary imagery emphasizes the complexity of adolescence and what it might really mean to be an “angsty teen.” By turning what could be crude or cliched imagery into poetics, he shows that this isn’t just some rant, rather it is a deeply thought out reflection on the grittier parts of life and how everyday scenarios (like an encounter between two cats or watching MTV) can factor into these issues that people think they understand.

Off of the same album (my personal favorite of their body of work), the song “The Futile” offers the same sort of combination of complicated language mingling with the raw emotion of the instrumentals and Bemis’ voice. In the opening of the song he starts:

Shit!
Nothing makes sense, so I won’t think about it. I’ll go with the ignorance.
Eat, sleep, fuck and flee; in four words, that’s me.
I am full of indifference.

I don’t want to clutter this post with direct quotation, but I think the lyrics often speak for themselves, reaching each listener on their own level of personal experience with the feelings that they are wrestling with throughout the song. The climactic moment of the song arguably comes to a head at a suicidal moment, though he never explicitly says he’s going to kill himself in explicit terms:

I’m eating rat poison for dinner.
Pull the cord from the phone. I am dining alone,
Tonight, rat poison for dinner.
Pull the cord from the phone. I am dining alone,
So goodnight.

Something about his use of totally non poetic words in these truly telling metaphorical and imagistic ways gives listeners a way of really rethinking and grappling with their own personal sense of these complex emotions. Everyone has felt anger, angst, frustration, maybe even suicidal at a point in their lives, but these tired and worn out adjectives are given fresh meaning by the syntactical feats of Say Anything. “So goodnight” can say so many other things than can a straightforward suicidal goodbye. Here, language is taking on the huge task of representing an arguably cliched theme for this genre of music and making it both personal and relatable at the same time.

This just scratches the surface of all of the things I love about this band. The way they use instrumentals to accompany these lyrics adds to the overall effect in a way that reading these lyrics on the web cannot convey.  At the end of the day, whatever way in which music speaks to you, finding ways of articulating and sharing this sense of “good” can open up a world of opportunities for others and yourself to experience music in a new way.

I have never been good at saying no. Whether it has been to a second helping of chocolate cake or to a role in a “low commitment” show, I always end up end up feigning remorse and replying with a resounding yes. My capacity for always saying yes has given me numerous exceptional opportunities but it has also resulted in 18 credit semesters while working 2 jobs, performing in 5 shows and 1 full length film. Somehow, with all the craziness of my schedule, I managed 8 hours of sleep (almost) every night and the illusion of a social life.

Lots of people think I am crazy for doing as much as I do, but every now and then, I meet someone who gets it. Someone who isn’t just impressed by my time management skills but understands that my quest to become a true Renaissance woman has a greater purpose than simply a check mark on my list of life goals. Last night I met one of those people.

Yesterday night I had a coaching (musical rehearsal with pianist trained to work in a collaborative role) with an extremely respected and experienced pianist to prepare for a concert that I am singing in tonight. As we worked, we came upon the subject of musicality and expression, and how so many young singers lack a connection to the text or the ability to express that connection, obscuring the true beauty of the piece with a pretty melodic line that holds no meaning for them or the audience.

Her frustration with the modern student of classical music was this: that we all too often fall into this little black box where Beethoven is king, our loyalty to our teacher is unquestionable and we never bother to look outside our classical world to see and experience things “that won’t help our careers”. What she said the students don’t realize is that those things that don’t directly help or hurt their career colors who they are as a person and as a musician; that the difference between someone who sings a pretty melodic line and someone who connects with the audience are the experiences that they have had outside that little black box. So perhaps my experience in an oil refinery or pageants won’t be my stepping stone to the MET, but they color who I am and the music that I make every day which is enough to keep me saying yes to each and every opportunity.

Whether through imperial propaganda

religious iconography,

consumer advertising,

or subversive graffiti,

 

societies have attempted to influence mass culture through images.

 

British Art Historian Norman Bryson writes about the two sides of a picture: its purely visual elements and its textual elements. In other words, pictures on one hand provide an immersive, pure experience, and on the other hand attempt to express specific meaning through the logical relationships they present.

Let’s look at the sprite ad more closely as an example:

The Sprite advertisement presents the experience members of our society recognize as a crispy can of Sprite – and also the blatant textual command “obey”. This example presents a very strong dichotomy between visual and textual elements. But maybe that’s the point of the ad.

By presenting an overt dichotomy, the ad creates a strategic sleight-of-hand that buries a subtler array of visual and textual codes within the frame.

For example, the refreshing and comforting cool colors, the iridescent flecks of liquid indicate soothing satisfaction. The onomatopoeic burst of color indicates energy upon cracking open a bottle.

The Sprite commercial plays on the interesting relationship between both word and image and the suspension of disbelief that occurs when a spectator focuses on either end of the visual-textual spectrum through implicit meaning.

On the other end is a subversive graffiti work:

Which focuses on textual strategy to convey a paradoxical statement. However, this is a highly medium-reflexive piece which recognizes the act of painting anything on a wall is spectacular in and of itself- the hidden visual meaning lies behind the pure text, and redefines the textual statement through self-conscious irony.

 

Hence, whether commercial or subversive, acts of persuasion begin at the margins of textual and visual communication, on the liminal ends of our cognitive capacities.

 

It’s too cold out to do much else but bury your head into your hat and hood and walk swiftly to class. But, if you’re like me, you might find yourself waiting for a bus or in the windowless rooms of the CCRB. If so, plug the headphones in and dance your way through the week.

This will be on repeat for weeks. So smooth. So original. So catchy. So much better than anything you’ve been listening to lately. Also, I have no idea who the f these dudes are, but they are doing it right.

 

numba two. Chances are everyone around you has been talking about the new D’angelo album. Confused on where to jump in? Sidestep the long process and take a look at this standout track.

 

time for a bit of a throwback. Nothing says long nights on the sidewalk waiting for a bus than this amazing beat and Snoop D O double G.

 

To add some contemporary female vocals to the mix, check out very much under-appreciated Lorine Chia and her latest work.

 

lastly, as the snow is falling and your room is finally feeling a bit warm, and your homework is finished enough to justify sleep, and your slippers feel great, let this amazing and one-of-a-kind voice take you off to sleep.