Tag: Music

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Random Cultural Observations

Some things I’ve noticed in my first month or so in Spain:

  • I didn’t realize how much of a fixed routine Americans seem to require. Everyone seems to talk about how Spaniards are good about mixing work with leisure, but I didn’t realize how subconscious it all would be. I don’t notice it so much in how Spaniards act as I do in how I act differently from them. I keep trying to establish some kind of fixed daily routine here, and I find such routines to be less helpful here than they are in the US. Aside from school, I’m pretty free to improvise on most days. Going out for tapas isn’t restricted to the weekend, and loafing around can happen whenever. Plenty of hard work can happen too, it’s not “lazier” here really, it’s just approached with a different mindset.
  • Linguistically, Spaniards exaggerate much less. (Rather, they exaggerate less.) When I speak in English, I tend to say something is very easy, very fun, much faster, etc. Here, modifiers like “much,” “more” and “very” are reserved for descriptions of truly exceptional qualities.
  • Since Spain only emerged from its nationalist dictatorship about thirty years ago, there’s a huge generational gap in attitudes here. The older set is generally more politically and socially conservative, no longer influenced by Franco but more than anything influenced by the still state-funded Catholic church. Younger generations (I’d say under 40 to 50) seem to vary more in their views; some keep their traditional values, and many others have quickly moved to a more “European” lifestyle.
    Overall, there seems to be a big cultural separation here between “traditional” and “modern” lives, and while they coexist, they seem to be pretty scared of each other as well. I haven’t been here long enough to really appreciate the nuances of it, but I’ve definitely noticed some similar deficiencies in understanding in the States as well.
  • If my professors are to believed, the 1980s were a sort of “golden age” for Spanish pop music. While I can understand the claim (huge artistic outpouring after the downfall of authoritarian dictatorship), I simply cannot accept that the 1980s was a good decade for music, anywhere. I’m a pretty understanding guy, but drum machines and cheesy synths are where I have to draw the line.
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Second NIN Album in 2 Months- This one’s free

I wrote about Ghosts I-IV a couple of months ago. Nine Inch Nails made the first 25% of their new double album available for free on P2P and BitTorrent, and offered the rest for just $5.

Today Nine Inch Nails have released yet another album. This time, payment isn’t even an option. It’s all free, in everything from MP3 to 24-bit/96 KHz WAV files (higher quality than Audio CDs).

I’m surprised by the speed of production here. There are a few things that make it a bit less than amazing in my eyes:

  • Trent Reznor is free of almost all institutional/corporate ties. Very few steps lie between his studio and getting the album everywhere online.
  • Nine Inch Nails became popular in the old music industry. Ghosts I-IV pulled in lots of cash because it marketed itself and tons of people bought it. This wouldn’t happen similarly for a new band, since they need both income and promotion without sacrificing one over the other.
  • If there is minimal monetary risk involved in the recording process, I wonder if less caution is thrown towards the quality of the composition / performance / recording. Or maybe the lack of that stress helps artists loosen up more and be creative. I haven’t listened enough to the new album to make a judgment one way or another on this, but regardless of the artist, it’s something that deserves some scrutiny.

In any case, anything that proves to consumers and music executives that new distribution methods are indeed possible is a good thing in my book.

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Free EP: The Autumn Film

My friend Aaron turned me on to these guys, and I’m already hooked one hour later….

The Autumn Film photo

The Autumn Film is a band from Boulder, Colorado with music from the same vein of artists such as The Fray and Coldplay – piano-centered rock with introspective lyrics floating over the top. Pianist/vocalist Tifah Al-Attas has an obviously close and deep connection to her lyrics.

And, as a fellow independent musician, I really like how they are promoting themselves:
a free EP download online for anyone, as long as they share it with three other people. The effect multiplies exponentially as it gets shared more and more, which is the exact opposite of the dying record industry’s business model.

A lot stands out to me on the four tracks from the So Loved EP: the fullness yet sheer simplicity of the drums on “Because We Are” makes me want to go back to my own drumming and learn how to do more with less. “Enough” dynamically flows between simple patterns and energetic drives. But the
topping on the cake is “Holding Place”, a leftover track from previous recordings. This piano-only love song showcases all of the idiosyncrasies hidden within Tifah’s great voice, which exhibits an impressive range and strength in all registers.
Oh, and “Holding Place” has lyrics which tug at the heart, possibly the inspiration for the
band’s usage (logo?) of a heart bound in ropes.

So check them out,  download their free EP here. If you like that, get their new full-length album here.