Music is very important to me.
I can't play an instruments and I've been reliably informed that I can't sing either. That doesn't matter.
I can't honestly say I appreciate music in any kind of intellectual sense. Talk of things like time signatures and key changes might as well be in French for all I know. I'm aware that something is being discussed but I can't seem to make the Concepts fit into what I'm listening to. That doesn't matter either.
To me music is a lot more basic, maybe even instinctive. Me hear, me like or me don't like.
I am convinced that if you're listening to a song and thinking "Hmm. Nice use of polyrthythms" then somebody is doing something wrong. Or to put it another way, a good song should hit you somewhere behind the eyes and go all the way down your spine to your toes.
Sometimes a song manages to make an impact that even manages to surprise me. It's not just making my toes tap but elbows its way into my brain and hogs the sofa. "Comfortably Numb" is a great example. I can't listen to those bass notes before the solo without feeling something soar inside me. "Send her my love" by Journey makes me well up. "Metal Gods" make me want to kick a wall over.
You get the idea.
The last year or so I've been broadening my musical horizons beyond Rock &Metal and dabbling in Synthwave, a music genre that gets misty eyed about a 1980s where the sun shone, everybody was beautiful and synths were the way forward. That's where I found this particular track.
The song itself is a synthy, atmospheric instrumental that would have sounded perfect on the soundtrack to a 1983 drama and somebody has paired it up with clips from the 1984 movie L'Annee Des Meduses, starring the magnetic Valerie Kaprisky as a sexually adventurous teenager looking for her next romance. It works so well, you'd think the song was created for the movie. And for some reason, the combination hit me hard.
I honestly can't explain it.
I am up at 4am making a blog post about the song though so you can tell I am impressed.
I am up at 4am making a blog post about the song though so you can tell I am impressed.
Anyway, enough rambling. Here's the video I've been wibbling on about.
Hopefully you don't mind the censored nipples. This was a 1980s French film after all.
Band site here: https://soundcloud.com/thefirstcontact
Video created by Neros77
I haven't seen L'Annee Des Meduses but just from what I have seen it's NSFW.
Let me know if you like the song and if there's anything that gets under your skin.
That#'s all folks.
Hi Big D,
ReplyDeleteI discovered, about 20 years ago, that I like ambient electropop (bands like Air) which is a shock to folks who think I only like rock and metal.
The truth is, like you, I like what I like. The missus has dreadful taste in music but even then, occasionally, she is shocked that I like one or two of the golden nuggets nestling in the ocean of bilge.
I did play a musical instrument as a kid - a trombone - so I do understand the time signatures and key changes etc. but I try not to let the technicalities sway my judgement of a song.
I also really like prog and if you want to get technical about it - that is the genre to listen to. Having said that, I have heard people talk about how technically brilliant Dream Theater are, say - I just like their music - even the self-indulgent wankery. But not because they are technically brilliant.
The song is good by the way - but then again I have a massive soft spot for late-70's early 80's synth music.
:o)
Cheers
PM
I find that metalheads tend to have broader tastes than people think. In my case i have always had a fondness for synth music because I was listening to much of it in the 80s.
ReplyDeleteAn excellent find. Recently someone pointed out to me the newretrowave channel on youtube which has a similar feel.
ReplyDelete