Weekend Listening_Kamzik_3/19/17

Weekend Listening 3/19/17

Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit:
I am biased about this week's choice of listening. I grew up in the early 90's, so naturally you couldnt escape these songs. This was in no way a bad thing. Nirvana has always been one of my most favorite bands and songs like this are why. The high energy thrash guitar licks, punky drums and over all angsty feel of the song perfectly reflect Cobain's cryptic lyrics about being a teenager. From the sound of this track, to the imagery it congers up, it all fits very well. I have excellent memories attached to both this song and the music of Nirvana (which I wont get into here). There's not much I can say outside of this being an all around killer ballad about the light and dark of being a teen.

So Whatcha Want, The Beastie Boys:
I have an appreciation for the Beastie Boys. Once again, their music brings back memories of inlining and skateboarding during the summers of my youth. Looking back on it, I suppose that the style of writing and devil may care delivery of Beastie Boys songs reflected the way I felt as a youth to a tee. The Beastie Boys never really cared too much about being in tune or harmonizing, but rather wanted to bring the audience a hip-hop meets rock and roll feel. Very loose off the collar and punchy lyrics. Their music was and remains beat-centric and funny enough, most Beastie Boys songs deliver a clear lyrical message that the listener can both understand and get behind; we relate to it. This track in particular doesnt focus on message, but rather on style. The beat is heavy and distinct, and every sound has been engineered even down to the vocals. The Beastie Boys were one of the first bands to really bring popular culture into their songs to make the lyrics relateable to the audience through references rather than message or meaning, although many of their songs do just that. Also worth noting, their beats are really unique. Case and point they made this song's beat out of drums, disk scratches, organ, tambourine and electric guitar. To fill any empty space they echo their voices in an interesting way.

Dont believe the Hype, Public Enemies:
I love hip-hop. What cool and simple style. Take a nice drum beat, a guitar backing track and start laying lyrics over it. Throw in a strange outside sound in musical time to add some more oratory interest and you get some cool stuff. Like most hip hop, the music focuses on equal parts beats and lyrics. Rhyme is obviously important, but thats nothing new to music. The new element brought into this particular genre of music is diction. Diction is important in any rap or hip hop because the lead singer is not actually singing; they are rhyming. This means that you don't have to worry so much about pitch, sustaining notes or clarity, but rather on annunciation and timing. Each word must be delivered in musical time with the correct inflection or the impact is easily diminished. That said, Public Enemy kills it.