Music Class Assignment

My first memory of music involves the Beatles. When I was young, I grew up in Washington State, where we had a big house and our living room was in the shape of a square. The furniture was inset a little from the wall, making for a perfect running track of sorts. This meant that whenever my brother or I were chasing the other one, we would run around the furniture as fast as we could over and over until we were too tired or we ran somewhere else. My earliest memory involves this house and this chase. I remember The Beatles’s CD Anthology being played, specifically the song “She Loves You”. I loved the fast rythmn of the song and the happiness in the timbre of Paul and John’s voices. I loved the Beatles from a young age and still do, but my taste has evolved a lot since then,

I could list lots of time I listened to radically different CDs in my life but if I have to pick a life changing one, I would pick Avenged Sevenfold’s Waking the Fallen in freshman year of high school, which was given to me by my good friend Nik Burns. He said that I would like it because I liked the song “Unholy Confessions” when he had played it on youtube for me. It became my absolutely favorite CD. At this time in my life, I had heard mostly upbeat and happy music. All of the vocals were sung or spoken. Avenged Sevenfold changed that. It was dark and the music was violent. They screamed, the guitars were intricate, and the double bass pounded hard and fast across all the tracks. I had the impression I was listening to the music of heathens. It was everything my parents would not like or approve of. It was not because I wanted to defy my parents that I listened to it but because I wanted to venture into the darkness and see what I returned with. It also gave me a way to relate to Nik and his group of friends. Wilson calls it “cultural capital”. When I hung out with his friends, it was as if I had a secret: that I liked the same music they did. Somehow that made me cooler, even if I didn’t say I liked it.

Now, my taste in music is very broad. When Wilson said that “high culture” people are omnivores, I put myself into that category. If I had to choose one CD that is my favorite, I would choose Circle Takes the Square’s As the Roots Undo. The genre would be classified as experimental screamo. The vocals fit the tone of the CD perfectly, the lyrics are almost Miltonian, and the instruments are amazing, shifting from lighting fast complex patterns to slow and melodic experimental breakdowns. And in the sake of saving space, I’ll just list genres to which I listen to: hardcore, screamo, post-hardcore, deathcore, metalcore, mathcore, progressive metal, metal, pop, pop-punk, punk, ska, hip-hop, rap, hyphy, gangsta rap, electronica, dubstep, techno, indie, folk, classic rock, post-rock and soundtracks. A lot of these overlap, but I could name a band in each genre that I adore

New Music. One Sentence Each.

I'm so excited this came out and it's really good.
I can't believe this came out and it's great.
I really like "...Then I Defy You, Stars" and that's probably just because of the name and its good
I think this CD is the farthest metalcore can go and it's brutal and terrible and amazing.
Sometimes, I can't believe how great fucking amazing this CD really is and I can't believe how it's almost funny how much more I like this CD than any other CD ever and no one said I can't have run on sentences and how I don't think they can follow up to this.

It's Just One of Those Moments

And I wish I could be seeing this sign. Forwhateverreason, whenever I'm at a show, I can never appreciate this sight because I'm always apprehensive my ticket won't work or something. But God I want to see Circle Takes the Square. I also would like another album. I want to see how screamo can get better than As the Roots Undo.

Summer

Well summer in San Francisco is drawing to a close and I would feel amiss if I didn't at least nominate some CDs and songs for awards that I feel they deserve. I listened to a lot of music this Summer and it will probably be remembered as such.

Song that Will Represent Summer 2009
If It Means A Lot to You - A Day to Remember

Simply the actions that happened when I was listening to this song and the things that it means will memorialize this song for me.

Runner up: A Crater to Cough In- Circle Takes the Square.
Best Hardcore Song
A Crater to Cough In- Circle Takes the Square.

This Song is one the greatest songs I have ever heard. The musicianship that went in to this song is astounding. It builds slowly, with a four minute instrumental that lulls you into some sense of peace. Then it builds into the vocals. The music shifts perfectly from slow to fast in about 5 seconds. The double bass pedal is used perfectly in this song, highlights the most intense parts in the song. It rides like a roller coaster, with the song ending in a crescendo of sound and music, perfectly concentrating everything that Circle Takes the Square is into 30 seconds of perfect music. This song kicks ass.

Runner up: When The Sun Sleeps- Underoath

Best Indie Song
In a Tree- Priscilla Ahn

The song's sweetness and tenderness really is amazing. It came at a perfect time and refused to get out of my head for the longest time. Plus, she preformed it perfectly live.

Runner up: Titus Andronicus- Titus Andronicus

Best Rap Song
Stuntin' Like My Daddy- Lil Wayne and Birdman

Bitch I'm paid, that's all I gotta say.

Runner up- A Milli- Lil Wayne

Best Punk Song
Patient Ferris Wheel- The Gaslight Anthem

This song is a good song. It moves quickly and almost everything in the chorus can be a catch phrase. Fun Song.

Runner up: Incomplete- Bad Religion.

Best Out of Place Song
Meet Me At Fantasy Island- Super Mash Bros

This song's mash up is one the most perfect I've heard in the realm of mash ups. It blends Creed perfectly with Nelly and then Blink 182 and Nelly. Then brings in A Milli at the right time. It works very very well.

Runner Up: Paparazzi- Lady Gaga.

Artist that Will Represent Summer 2009
A Day to Remember

Simply the amount that I listened to Homesick this summer will make ADTR the artist that I think of when I think of this summer.

Runner up: Underoath

Best Hardcore Artist
Circle Takes the Square
How could this not be the winner? As the Roots Undo is such an amazing CD that I would be hard pressed to really give this to anyone else.
Runner up: Underoath
Best Indie Artist
Titus Andronicus

This band was introduced to me mid way through summer and I really enjoyed their CD. It's chalk full of literary references (Titus Andronicus. Cmon) and fun puns (Arms Against Atrophy). It makes for a good time and a fun artist.

Runner Up: Animal Collective.
Best Rap Artist
Lil Wayne

This dude sucks, but he makes some catchy songs that do make you feel much cooler than you are. To me, that's what rap is suppose to do.

Runner up: MikeyWhiskeyHands
Best Punk Artist
Gaslight Anthem

No question about it, these guys rock. They are like if Jack Kerouac played music.

Runner up: Bad Religion
Best Out of Place Artist
Super Mash Bros

These guys rule the mash up scene. They are up there with Girl Talk, though Girl Talk still manages to be better. But this is about new artists, not old ones.

Runner up: Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Best New Artist
Circle Takes the Square
Surprised?

Runner up: The Gaslight Anthem

Best Old Artist
A Skylit Drive
Somehow, these guys stay relevant to me. They make catchy music that somehow still has meaning after all this time.

Runner up: Underoath
CD that will represent Summer 2009
A Day to Remember- Homesick
Again, surprised at all?

Runner up: As the Roots Undo- Circle Takes the Square
Best Indie CD
The Airing of Grievances- Titus Andronicus

If you didn't see this coming, I feel bad for you.

Runner up: Hospice- The Antlers

Best Hardcore CD
Besides As the Roots Undo:
Lost in the Sound of Separation- Underoath

This CD is an amazing CD. It's instrumentals wind around the vocals and help it deal a real blow to the listener. It swirls in and out of desperation, hopelessness and then finally redemption. This is Underoath at their finest.

Runner up: A Skylit Drive- Adelphia
Best Rap CD
Tha Carter III- Lil Wayne

This CD has some solid singles on it, but nothing to much else. Supposedly it's really good, but I haven't listened to enough of it to judge that. Rap doesn't strike me as the kind of music with entire CDs.
Best Punk CD
The '59 Sound- The Gaslight Anthem

I'm rather boring, actually.

Runner Up: Document 8- Pg.99
Best Out of Place CD
Merriweather Post Pavilion- Animal Collective

Now, this CD is hipster garbage. But it's good and interesting hipster garbage that seems to keep being good somehow.

Runner Up: Fuck Bitches, Get Euros- Super Mash Brothers

Best CD of the Summer
As The Roots Undo- Circle Takes the Square

Was their really any doubt? This CD is the best CD I have ever heard and the amount of praise that I heap upon this so regularly is absurd. I've said everything that I can about this CD so I'm going to say anymore.

Runners Up:
The '59 Sound- The Gaslight Anthem
Eingya- Helios
Lost in the Sound of Separation- Underoath
Adelphia- A Skylit Drive

Crowquill

Nothing's so lucid as the promise of dreams, but these pills we found just make me sleep.
The promise of dreaming is a quite an alluring one, however, this man can only sleep. He can't dream and he wishes he could.
There's nothing quite so pure as the written word my dear, so lets have ourselves a little poem.
Written word has finality and authority. This line is pretty self explanitory anyway.
Until the will to speak loses urgency.
He's writing to put his thoughts on paper and doesn't think he'll write until after he's got all them out.
Our animal indecency in print is so blase.
When written down, who we are isn't so bad.
Its about the bell tower, at the golden hour.
He's looking at the high point of the town, at mid day
Angel of the spires climbs here steel cage staircase spine, angle of desire.
It's a beautiful building. There's again this imagery of heights and jetting off into the sky.
Ascend the wrought iron, one by one, wrung by wrung.
He climbs up and up.
Is it the rising roof line that makes me feel so swallowed whole,
He's completely committed to killin himself. He's just engrossed with the action right now.
or the way my body barely pricks the sky,
He's feeling small
the same as a century's worth of virgin's blood that's passed through my longing veins,
? Maybe he's saying that this need is pure and wholesole. This is unclear
scheming to convince my aching mind that pleasure's got nothing on the miracle of need.
He's trying to convince himself that killing himself is the only right answer, and that staying alive is pleasurable but not what he needs to do
Nothing's so purile as meter and rhyme when you can't see the ground from that ledge and this perch is so far, far from the nest.
Things like literature and music are so inconsequential when death is upon you.
Gravity doesn't grant me the privilege of failure my bough never breaks
If he jumps, there's no turning back. His bough (a large tree branch) may be referring to his large moral convictions.
I don't stumble into anything
He is surefootted in his life and has a plan
so I climb and I carve my initials in the bark with that feather I found but its all so contrived.
He's signing his suicide note. The bark is an Synecdoche (when one uses a part to represent the whole) for paper. He doesn't like this whole concept of the note though.
My genes didn't bless me with the foresight of a sage but I know how this will end, in apologies and ink on the page.
He's no wise man but he knows where this is headed.
A slowly constructed crow quilled confession of my spirit to all of you,
His suicide note
black waterproof ink scars the board, so hot-pressed, pristine and pure.
Vivid imagery of this note.
A slowly constructed manifestation of "to tremble",
How he carefully contructed his argument of why he's ending it.
as base as a bridge in a song and less like the poem that I promised you.
He's saying his note is much more lyrical than a poem, like it has intrinsic beauty in it much more so than written word
Nothing's so lurid as haiku-detat on sidewalks in white outlined chalk,
This is a juxtaposition of the first set of lines. Notice how lurid is very close to lucid. This line means something like "nothing is so horrifying as the outline of the jumper"
all I've got is this ink smeared lines.
All that's real to him is this note.
With our voices in harmony, the offering, of a crow quilled threnody.
This suicide note is his own eulogy.

This song is pretty obviously about suicide. The perverse theme of heights and notes in this song make it pretty clear that this man is about to take his own life. However, the overlying theme here seems to be that his death was inevitable. He planned this whole thing out and he needed to do it. He almost has a notion that this suicide was noble and tragic. His note was a thing of beauty and purity. So, he jumps.

More CTTS

New CDs!

I got some CDs sunday. Here they are.



Since Circle Takes the Square is the best screamo CD ever, I don't need to get any other ones.
I also bought some CDs from Ameobia.

Simply Because This Was Just So Good.

this was too good not to take. http://www.amazon.com/Roots-Undo-Circle-Takes-Square/dp/B0000A4G83
Guess what guys?

I'm pretty sure this is a concept album, though I may have just listened to it a bit too much and over-analyzed everything. But it makes sense! Take my metaphorical hand: I'm going to walk you through this.

Intro: A song about the birth of a thought in the head of a man.
Same Shade as Concrete: Our man begins to question Religion and the validity of god. in this process, a new idea is sparked...
Crowquill: Man (let's just call him Jerry for the lovely sake of reference) decides that he will kill himself. He will end his own life to find out if god exists. He writes a note (Or a crow-quilled threnody) and plans for his departure.
In The Nervous Light: Jerry goes down a path of recollection before his death. He silences himself, closes his eyes, takes a breath and jumps out the window. But our friend Jerry didn't think the whole thing through. He regrets his decision on the way down, but it's too late.
Interview at the Ruins: Jerry is no more. The living public is temporarily alive with excitement over the recent suicide, since it gives them something to talk about. Jerry is buried.
Non-Objective Portrait of Karma: The entire opening is to signify ascension. Jerry was successful, and he is indeed rising to heaven above. But when he arrives, he doesn't like what he sees. You see, heaven isn't all its cracked up to be. It is full of terrible things, angels who feast upon your energy because God is corrupt, and that's how he runs the place.
Kill the Switch: Longest song on the album for a reason. This song is about the murder of God. Jerry forms a mutiny. Everyone in heaven takes down the corruption that is God to try and acheive a true utopia, a perfect society. But they forget that perfection cannot really exist, since the definition of something so abstract varies. Heaven had always needed a leader. So they appointed our friend Jerry to take the place of God.
A Crater to Cough In: Notice the similarities between this track and the first? Of course you do. Thats because its a form of rebirth. Jerry is God. But over time, he becomes just as corrupt with power. It becomes cyclical. The angels stage a mutiny against Jerry at the end, and he is, in turn, killed again in the search for perfection. As jerry is dying for the second time, he is again full of regret. But there is nothing he can do but accept what he had become and fade into memory.

DAMN that was a lot of typing. Okay. So thats my theory. Maybe i'm crazy, maybe not. But lyrically, this album exceeds anything. And Musically....it's so difficult to capture the beauty and violence this album portrays. There are only three people in this band. TALENT. This is definately the greatest, most powerful album i have ever heard. EVER. it is impossible to describe, but you will NEVER forget it. Buy it. Do it. Now.

Same Shade as Concrete

Rejoice, rejoice a noble birth, a prince is born.
Behold the birth of violence, beasts of fang and feather cry for our concrete rapture,
and if we beg to be put down, unto us the most inspired storm.
A princess ravaged by her prince behold; the birth of sex and distance, two frail corpses both were they, his eyes were the first to stray... every tree held fast the earth to sky.
Concrete replaces every branch and twig as they were frayed upon the birth of ambition. The heavens filled our gilded vessel with poison tears, before we drink, I propose a toast, a final prayer.
Here's to the watchers in the wood, here's to the last days, unto us a most inspired song.
Shaper, stop the music.
Halt the harp strings whose chords confuse our histories with textures.
With the disheartened chorus of a hymnal whose choir is the conviction of the starving, artless, tempted by the feast of proof that this body of work has worth.
Uncertain as the fingering of a chord torn prematurely from a piano's womb.
As we fill our precious lungs with concrete, that faithful shade, a shaper's song is stopped short- a dying breath a singing shore.
Then the only movement and the last remains of grace:
Pollen falling off the simple hinge joint leg upon the final breath of a dragonfly.
A cardinal, lost but headstrong in mid flight cries for our concrete rapture, wade...
in the water, wade. Let the flood swell, thank the storm for her tears.
The faithful say its beautiful, its god's will
but the fool knows what the prophets have seen, no salvation's impending.
The faithful say its beautiful, its god's will let the flood swell and the bodies that break we'll just float down the river. Stay tame, soft river, while we weigh our faith, stay sweet, run softly, sweet river, the fool who wades in doubt will float like concrete.
Come and fill your lungs. Come and fill your lungs.
There's so much hope buried underneath tragedy, its the same shade as concrete.
The faithful say its beautiful, its god's will, let the flood swell
on the loudspeaker sermons and a parish descending.
There's so much hope buried underneath tragedy, its the same shade as concrete.
Let the flood swell.

Let's take this step by step. I am keeping in mind that Drew said that this CD is about self-discovery and realization.

Rejoice, rejoice a noble birth, a prince is born
This is the birth of our subject. This shares similarities with Jesus, whether intentional or not.

Behold the birth of violence, beasts of fang and feather cry for our concrete rapture,
This prince is going to be violent and nature knows it. It cries for the end, the unyielding rapture.

and if we beg to be put down, unto us the most inspired storm.
If we want to die, we will be given an enlightening action?

A princess ravaged by her prince behold; the birth of sex and distance, two frail corpses both were they, his eyes were the first to stray... every tree held fast the earth to sky.
The prince has raped purity, which the princess is a symbol of. Born was evil and discomfort. They were both frail and decrepit. They were not literally dead though, just emotionally. He was the first the look off the beaten path of righteousness. It appeared as though the trees held the earth to the sky. This may be nature anchoring us to reality and being in tough with ourselves.

Concrete replaces every branch and twig as they were frayed upon the birth of ambition.
Industry and civilization are replacing nature.

The heavens filled our gilded vessel with poison tears, before we drink, I propose a toast, a final prayer.
Nature is sad about this destruction and is fighting back. The destroyer, whether that be humans or this prince, are aware that nature will win, yet doesn't turn back. It just accepts it's fate.

Here's to the watchers in the wood, here's to the last days, unto us a most inspired song.
This is the prayer that is said. Giving thanks to the people of the forest and to the of it. He is also declaring the prayer a most inspired one.

Shaper, stop the music.
Halt the harp strings whose chords confuse our histories with textures.
Shaper could be either God or the destroyer. We are begging for the destruction to stop.
The line confuse our histories with textures is a odd one. Maybe it's saying the music is confusing emotions with facts.

With the disheartened chorus of a hymnal whose choir is the conviction of the starving, artless, tempted by the feast of proof that this body of work has worth.
This goes with the music. The choir is a symbol for desperate people who are supporting this naive point of view. They look at a body of work and think that it must be correct. These are the people supporting the destruction of nature for "the greater good"

Uncertain as the fingering of a chord torn prematurely from a piano's womb.
Unsure like an unfinished musical note.

As we fill our precious lungs with concrete, that faithful shade, a shaper's song is stopped short- a dying breath a singing shore.
We kill ourselves slowly, surely. We praise and sing songs of hope until we can sing no more.

Then the only movement and the last remains of grace:
Pollen falling off the simple hinge joint leg upon the final breath of a dragonfly.
The earth is cleansed; desolate. A wasteland is what remains.

A cardinal, lost but headstrong in mid flight cries for our concrete rapture,
Nature again see the coming doom.

wade...
in the water, wade. Let the flood swell, thank the storm for her tears.
Nature is cleaning itself. Rain is the most destructive and cleansing thing.

The faithful say its beautiful, its god's will
but the fool knows what the prophets have seen, no salvation's impending.
A section are saying it will be beautiful but the foolish ones are saying this is the end. But who is the real fool?

The faithful say its beautiful, its god's will let the flood swell and the bodies that break we'll just float down the river.
repetition for emphasis. all the people who can't handle this cleansing, we will ship down the river.

Stay tame, soft river, while we weigh our faith, stay sweet, run softly, sweet river, the fool who wades in doubt will float like concrete.
We want nature to stay still and tame while we decide what we want. The one who doubts will surely perish. This is an odd turn in direction. The one who is skeptical will die while the fateful will survive on a calm river? Maybe this is sarcasm

Come and fill your lungs. Come and fill your lungs.
Join the believers.

There's so much hope buried underneath tragedy, its the same shade as concrete.
There is no right or wrong. Tragedy is not black and white, but rather a shade of gray.


I think this song is about nature versus man. Some of us want to industrialize the world and make it more for us. But others want to stay that way. We are caught in a divide and a decision. Neither way is clearly defined and we have to choose a side. We can either be the fool and drown or the smart one and suffocate. Concrete is used interestingly here, because at first it's used in a negative descriptive way. Then it's used as a good thing. Either way, this song is an interesting expose in the way we make decisions and the duality of the real world.

As The Roots Undo

So, this CD, I am rapidly discovering is one of the greatest pieces of music I've listened to. It has emotion and passion practically escaping through every pore of this body of sound. It's vocals are this tortuous scraping, haunting you, bestowing you with a sense of the anguish that this man lives with. The haunting echos of instrumentals in between punishing vocal sections throw the listener into despair and reflection.

Needless to say, it's amazing. One of the parts I feel I am missing out with this CD with the lyrics. They are intricate and well woven tapestry of words. So, I've decided to better understand these lyrics, I'm going to analyze every song on here. I'm going to go song by song, starting with Same Shade as Concrete.

CD's to Burn

A Crater to Cough in

This path that we walk upon is the collection of points that the rain has drawn.
The rhythm section of the storm.
By the moonlight to the gateposts of the forest,
in the snow light, we are bound for the portal of the pines.
Grey as famine, on this path against our will by our main sails we're bound to the tempest until the sea is still.
Which compulsion with this miniature death tributize?
From behind the walls of my broken coughing tent, a formal vision,
but I allude to my helpless passion for the obtuse
When will this night end?
When the lightening finally tears through the mast of our sinking ship.
All the hopes of the slaves are betrayed by the grates.
On this coffin of a vessel every note's another breaking wave.
Revel in this vision, a formal visitation, on the night with the light from above.
Famished dogs follow slowly as my own paws drag me to a dock,
to the last plank where I struggle to deny myself the path that every Pisces craves,
just above the water in the middle of that man-made lake.
On that pier I turn my eyes from the water like a mirror of myself in the moonlight,
and I cough for every crater that I could see,
on the surface of that coffin we've come to call the moon.
Now I wonder if all those judgments that you made were true.
And the trapdoor of the solstice is thrown wide, wide open.
Let them all sink, let them all sink through.
The talking, the spinning of a web- its all just formal ritual.
The burning.
The burning question "what do you deserve?"
The gazing at a candle to find calm, but we all know its at the center of the storm.
Oh moon, though pluckest me out, oh moon-
I who have sat by Thebes below the wall and walked among the lowest of the dead
(to Carthage then I came).
Only the most sacred crater will suit my burial,
only the most sacred choir performs this ritual dirge.
Perfectly imperfect, like a storm.
By our mane dragged and bound to our grave by our mane,
to the grave dragged and bound to the tomb by the scavenger's tooth.