Mad World
Every so often you find that one song that seems to define your style - the song you plug into Pandora and it single-handedly gives you a playlist of favorites with nothing to skip or thumbs down.
Apparently Gary Jules' Mad World is such a song for me. My Mad World station has been gold for over ten days - three skips and one thumbs down in 6 hours of music. Quite the accomplishment. And so we continue.
A few of the highlights:
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Train - all of them (...especially 50 Ways to Say Goodbye, but I'll adore Train specifically in a later post)
Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World
Simon and Garfunkel - Sound of Silence
Plain White T's - Hey There Delilah
Ben E King - Stand By Me
The Beetles - Hey Jude
Otis Redding - Sitting on the Dock of a Bay
The Fray - How to Stay Alive
Mmmmmm..... All I need is rain and my porch couch, a cup of cocoa and a fuzzy blanket.
Train - all of them (...especially 50 Ways to Say Goodbye, but I'll adore Train specifically in a later post)
Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World
Simon and Garfunkel - Sound of Silence
Plain White T's - Hey There Delilah
Ben E King - Stand By Me
The Beetles - Hey Jude
Otis Redding - Sitting on the Dock of a Bay
The Fray - How to Stay Alive
Mmmmmm..... All I need is rain and my porch couch, a cup of cocoa and a fuzzy blanket.
YouTube Playlist: Mad World
Mad World is one of my favorite songs that I rarely listen to.
ReplyDeleteI find my new bands usually through YouTube. I'm always amazed with the random album click that I follow through with and stumble into a brand new world of music. Like this Ryo Fukui album "A letter from Slowboat" released shortly before he passed away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVV_z1lBNLo
I've been introduced to Kelly Joe Phelps (which I'll get into soon), Doc Watson, Milk Carton Kids, Takuya Kuroda, Paul Desmond, Seasick Steve, uyama hiroto and many more through YouTube's recommendations.
The music video for "50 ways to say goodbye" was hilarious, I had only heard the radio cut until now.
And rabbit trail (but not really), you said you've never heard Fleet Foxes before? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT-dxG4WWf4
I have an artist progression post coming up for them.
It took me by surprise that Mad World was my central song... for all of about three seconds. I also don't listen to it very often, but my heart aches every time I hear it. Sometimes the things that call you home are unexpected.
DeleteI like the Ryo Fukui album - I really like his sounds and I'll be looking for more. Are you familiar with The Silk Road Project (youtube.com/user/silkroadproject)? Listening to Yellow Pacer and seeing the artists you're finding on youtube, I think you would really enjoy the music. The first album from the collaboration is still one of my favorites. AND I know they were making a documentary about it, though I haven't seen that one.
Hmmmm... if you liked 50 Ways to Say Goodbye but had never seen it before, I think I just figured out my next post, lol.
I still don't recognize the name Fleet Foxes, but I totally recognize the music. Looking forward to the artist progression - could you also note any other media where their music may have been used? Movies or TV shows, for instance? I recognize it, but don't know why. And I was delighted by the video for Mykonos you linked!
Fun fact - heard Mad World from the Gears of War commerical. Brendan might even recognize that...
DeleteSadly I believe there are only 4-5 Ryo albums around... I haven't gotten into them as much as this one. I have a friend in Japan that I'm going to pay him to buy the vinyl for me and ship it here! lol.
Yes! I know Silk Road, do you know Yo Yo Ma's other bluegrass/folk group? The album is called "The Goat Rodeo Sessions" I don't think they have a real ensemble name.
I couldn't tell ya what you might know Fleet Foxed from. I thought you'd like that one as an intro. I'm still working on ideas... No energy to sit and write thoughts as of now... Replies are one thing, original thought is another lol!
Not sure where I first heard Mad World - probably on some late night radio station in Chicago. That will probably become a post in and of itself at some point - "Songs I Heard" as Harry Connick Jr put it years ago (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAaQ2sMxsXqPSX3kjOcsSlGsOjZo1lX0M).
DeleteDon't suppose your friend could acquire a second album? Let me know cost if so.
I heard about the Goat Rodeo collaboration, but didn't find it nearly as interesting, personally. If you write about it, I'll expand. Otherwise the short version is that east-west fusion is fascinating to me because everything about the music is so different, even down to the instruments and tuning. Bluegrass and classical has been done, a lot, and I don't personally hear a significant difference in their group to others, or improvement to either style in the fusion. Kind of like watching classically trained dancers dance hip hop, or hip hop dancers learning steps. Some of them make a solid transition, and you get movies like Step Up 1-...5? But are those really any better or more interesting than the best of each type doing their thing separately?
Random fact: the Goat Rodeo Sessions were recorded 6 years to the day prior to the writing of the main post.
DeleteUnfortunately the album is sold out now, which blows. I found another rarer album on Youtube with more live performances which I'll share eventually.
DeleteI probably won't post about that, because I only like 2-3 cuts from it. I haven't listened to all of them proper, but if it doesn't catch my attention it's hard to focus on it solely. I liked watching them on TinyDesk, Yo-Yo Ma was messing with the bass player for half the set! Chris Thile however, is amazing. But I agree with your view point, musicians of separate schools of thought have a hard time crossing genres - check this out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEbUNDW9bDA youtuber Adam Neely goes into this idea a little better than I can
Yes! You see it also in dancers. The male lead in this dance is a classically trained ballet/contemporary dancer: https://youtu.be/k-VG27HCecQ
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, but compare to this couple (admittedly world champions, but the technicality isn't the point): https://youtu.be/HtNGdcz9Tto
The first guy's dance is technically very precise, and lacks emotion. He dances, but doesn't tell a story.