This is the link to the song i produced for my music project.
Music Project Song
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Find Your Howl
Find Your Howl
the link above is a link to an article called find your howl. It is about finding what is is about you that makes you, you. The story is about the red wolf who is becoming extinct. Environmentalists take this endangered species out of the wild and into a controlled space to make sure they don't become extinct. When the wolves produce offspring they send a wolf, Mumon, out into the wild to see what he can do. In the story Mumon meets a deer that explains to him that he knows what is howl is but he is just trying to hard to find it. Mumon eats the deer but then feels remorse. Ravens then come and pick the deer clean of any meet and then talks to Mumon telling him that he needs to not feel ashamed for what he did by killing the deer. He needed the deer in order to live and because of that Mumon should not feel remorse. finally Mumom is travelling along and seems to fall into a dream where he is at the center of the earth. Here he finds a tribe celebrating around a fire dressed in the red fox costume at this moment mumon walks into the fire, hears the beat of the drum and howls. After he is finished he is no longer in a fire and around a tribe but he is surrounded by other red wolves and they are all howling at the moon.
WIth this story Flaum is trying to explain to the audience that in order to find who you really are you need to put all bias aside and let go of the past. You need to see with new eyes and instead of thinking about who you are, you need to learn to just know who you are.
Id like to think that i have found my howl. As an aspiring musician my whole life the only thing that has ever really made sense to me was music, and being able to express myself through it. Although i grew up listening to metal i have a love for hip hop and the idea of a rhymic poem over a beat. When i was young i was always obsessed with lyrics. ever CD i have ever owned i have read the lyrics, even the band member thank you's in the jacket of the cd. I am obsessed with lyricism and my howl is a few verses that i wrote for the song family business by Kanye West.
HOWL
the link above is a link to an article called find your howl. It is about finding what is is about you that makes you, you. The story is about the red wolf who is becoming extinct. Environmentalists take this endangered species out of the wild and into a controlled space to make sure they don't become extinct. When the wolves produce offspring they send a wolf, Mumon, out into the wild to see what he can do. In the story Mumon meets a deer that explains to him that he knows what is howl is but he is just trying to hard to find it. Mumon eats the deer but then feels remorse. Ravens then come and pick the deer clean of any meet and then talks to Mumon telling him that he needs to not feel ashamed for what he did by killing the deer. He needed the deer in order to live and because of that Mumon should not feel remorse. finally Mumom is travelling along and seems to fall into a dream where he is at the center of the earth. Here he finds a tribe celebrating around a fire dressed in the red fox costume at this moment mumon walks into the fire, hears the beat of the drum and howls. After he is finished he is no longer in a fire and around a tribe but he is surrounded by other red wolves and they are all howling at the moon.
WIth this story Flaum is trying to explain to the audience that in order to find who you really are you need to put all bias aside and let go of the past. You need to see with new eyes and instead of thinking about who you are, you need to learn to just know who you are.
Id like to think that i have found my howl. As an aspiring musician my whole life the only thing that has ever really made sense to me was music, and being able to express myself through it. Although i grew up listening to metal i have a love for hip hop and the idea of a rhymic poem over a beat. When i was young i was always obsessed with lyrics. ever CD i have ever owned i have read the lyrics, even the band member thank you's in the jacket of the cd. I am obsessed with lyricism and my howl is a few verses that i wrote for the song family business by Kanye West.
HOWL
Ways to get ideas.
14 ways to get new ideas
Above is an article by Mitch Ditkoff who writes about ways one can generate new creative ideas. They are sort of helpful hints more than they are ways to get ideas, like guidelines. The article goes through fourteen different ways from brianstorming to becoming social and meeting new people to create new connections. MItch talks alot about honing in on ones craft and to not get too antsy or excited because that could kill the idea or stress you out too much where you don't even want to think about it anymore. I dont necessarily agree with all of the ways the he puts forth mainly because all people are different and have a different way of doing things, however that is just my opinion. The next person who reads his article may completely agree with a certain idea of Mitch's that i completely disagree with. I think this article is very versatile in which every person could find at least a few ideas of Mitch's that they like. I dont want to go too in depth because my bias could affect the next persons bias but here are a few examples of ideas that i liked of Mitch's.
Idea number five "Fantasize"
I have always been a big advocate of stick to your dreams. If you really want to do something and i mean really truly, deep down want something with your life, you can do it. However, i must say that you should be able to take a look at yourself from an outside point of view and see what your strengths and weaknesses are. After you can judje yourself and believe that you can do something then go do it. And when you are doing it dream about it, make it something that when you do get to do it you are excited about it. Maybe you are a film student and you want to one day be a writer for a big production company and write for feature films or maybe a sitcom. If that is you "dream," your aspiration for life, where you believe nothing would make you happier than you should dream that one day you will make it to where you want to be, but for now you are just at the beginning of the ride. I think that having a dream and not letting that dream slip away because society tells you that you should just fall into the flow and become another drone to the world, is what makes America so great. We all have one life and one opportunity to do what we want with it. Why not dream? why not motivate yourself to get to where you want to be and become a successful person on your own terms. Dream Big, Be Humble.
Idea numer 9 "Notice and challenge existing patterns and trends"
This idea is great. It explains that we should begin to look at markets and notice what is trending and what is not. Find what is popular and and maybe use that as a staring point. However dont try to just make a remix, or redo an idea. Build from the idea, take it for what it is and then morph it into something that is your own. Start to become analytical, see things for what they are and not for what your bias says or what his bias says or what anybody's bias says because most likely his or her bias is only a bias because someone else had that bias before. Learn to become analytical of the market and see what it flourishes in and what it is devoid of, try to find something missing as if the market were a puzzle piece and you are the enthusiast. Trust me there are going to be a lot of puzzle pieces to choose from and you might try endless amounts of pieces to fit in the spot, but never stop because when you do find the right piece the reward will be bittersweet.
Idea number 12 " Look for happy accidents"
Mitch tries to explain here that instead of dwelling on trying to find the next creative idea or forcing it to come, to let it just happen and let the idea evolve. If we dwell on just finding the solution to the problem and never step away from it we may never get to see if from a different angle. By stepping away from it and letting the idea marinate in your oven like brain, when you come back to it, it might look different to you, and you might think of what could make it even more perfect but in a different way that you didnt think of before. Also by letting the idea in your head just sit you arent just forgetting about it, it will be present and it might even come out in conversation you have with friends or new acquaintences. For instance you could bring up an idea you have been messing with in conversation and someone might say something that you didnt expect them to say or say something of a different aspect and that could help your idea. Its important to remember that many good ideas become better ideas if you bounce them off of another person. By not expecting something to happen or by not trying to make something happen it just may.
FInal Prompt Number 9
WHat trends in the marketplace most intrigue you?
As an aspiring musician i am always following what is going on in the music scene, for me specifically the Hip Hop Scene and the Metal Scene. What most intrigues me in the marketplace is the variety of artists that there is out there. But at the same time there are so many artists who are doing the same thing and making the same music. This intrigues me because i feel that i have an edge. And to be an artist i want to have that Vibe like Underoath has or like Lil Wayne has, No one else sounds like them and they cannot be mistaken. They are the actual artists within the scene amongst all the posers and wannabes.
In what ways might these trends shift in the coming years?
I think that people are beginning to realize that many artists do not have that much talent and have just been pushed by a label to make pop songs that will sell. People are beginning to see past all of the Celebrity gimmick and are starting to demand artists who are real and dont follow a crowd or say something because its popular to say. People are starting to demand individuality.
And how might your most inspired idea be in sync with this imagined shift.
If i know anything after 20 years of being alive in American and on Planet Earth is that i am very different than a lot of people and that i have a different way of thinking than other people. Basically i know who i am, what i value, what i want, and where i am headed, and even if my ideas are not completely in sync with this imagined idea, i dont care. I only have one life, i'm going to do what i want.
Above is an article by Mitch Ditkoff who writes about ways one can generate new creative ideas. They are sort of helpful hints more than they are ways to get ideas, like guidelines. The article goes through fourteen different ways from brianstorming to becoming social and meeting new people to create new connections. MItch talks alot about honing in on ones craft and to not get too antsy or excited because that could kill the idea or stress you out too much where you don't even want to think about it anymore. I dont necessarily agree with all of the ways the he puts forth mainly because all people are different and have a different way of doing things, however that is just my opinion. The next person who reads his article may completely agree with a certain idea of Mitch's that i completely disagree with. I think this article is very versatile in which every person could find at least a few ideas of Mitch's that they like. I dont want to go too in depth because my bias could affect the next persons bias but here are a few examples of ideas that i liked of Mitch's.
Idea number five "Fantasize"
I have always been a big advocate of stick to your dreams. If you really want to do something and i mean really truly, deep down want something with your life, you can do it. However, i must say that you should be able to take a look at yourself from an outside point of view and see what your strengths and weaknesses are. After you can judje yourself and believe that you can do something then go do it. And when you are doing it dream about it, make it something that when you do get to do it you are excited about it. Maybe you are a film student and you want to one day be a writer for a big production company and write for feature films or maybe a sitcom. If that is you "dream," your aspiration for life, where you believe nothing would make you happier than you should dream that one day you will make it to where you want to be, but for now you are just at the beginning of the ride. I think that having a dream and not letting that dream slip away because society tells you that you should just fall into the flow and become another drone to the world, is what makes America so great. We all have one life and one opportunity to do what we want with it. Why not dream? why not motivate yourself to get to where you want to be and become a successful person on your own terms. Dream Big, Be Humble.
Idea numer 9 "Notice and challenge existing patterns and trends"
This idea is great. It explains that we should begin to look at markets and notice what is trending and what is not. Find what is popular and and maybe use that as a staring point. However dont try to just make a remix, or redo an idea. Build from the idea, take it for what it is and then morph it into something that is your own. Start to become analytical, see things for what they are and not for what your bias says or what his bias says or what anybody's bias says because most likely his or her bias is only a bias because someone else had that bias before. Learn to become analytical of the market and see what it flourishes in and what it is devoid of, try to find something missing as if the market were a puzzle piece and you are the enthusiast. Trust me there are going to be a lot of puzzle pieces to choose from and you might try endless amounts of pieces to fit in the spot, but never stop because when you do find the right piece the reward will be bittersweet.
Idea number 12 " Look for happy accidents"
Mitch tries to explain here that instead of dwelling on trying to find the next creative idea or forcing it to come, to let it just happen and let the idea evolve. If we dwell on just finding the solution to the problem and never step away from it we may never get to see if from a different angle. By stepping away from it and letting the idea marinate in your oven like brain, when you come back to it, it might look different to you, and you might think of what could make it even more perfect but in a different way that you didnt think of before. Also by letting the idea in your head just sit you arent just forgetting about it, it will be present and it might even come out in conversation you have with friends or new acquaintences. For instance you could bring up an idea you have been messing with in conversation and someone might say something that you didnt expect them to say or say something of a different aspect and that could help your idea. Its important to remember that many good ideas become better ideas if you bounce them off of another person. By not expecting something to happen or by not trying to make something happen it just may.
FInal Prompt Number 9
WHat trends in the marketplace most intrigue you?
As an aspiring musician i am always following what is going on in the music scene, for me specifically the Hip Hop Scene and the Metal Scene. What most intrigues me in the marketplace is the variety of artists that there is out there. But at the same time there are so many artists who are doing the same thing and making the same music. This intrigues me because i feel that i have an edge. And to be an artist i want to have that Vibe like Underoath has or like Lil Wayne has, No one else sounds like them and they cannot be mistaken. They are the actual artists within the scene amongst all the posers and wannabes.
In what ways might these trends shift in the coming years?
I think that people are beginning to realize that many artists do not have that much talent and have just been pushed by a label to make pop songs that will sell. People are beginning to see past all of the Celebrity gimmick and are starting to demand artists who are real and dont follow a crowd or say something because its popular to say. People are starting to demand individuality.
And how might your most inspired idea be in sync with this imagined shift.
If i know anything after 20 years of being alive in American and on Planet Earth is that i am very different than a lot of people and that i have a different way of thinking than other people. Basically i know who i am, what i value, what i want, and where i am headed, and even if my ideas are not completely in sync with this imagined idea, i dont care. I only have one life, i'm going to do what i want.
Who influences me as a creative person (Blog 1A entry)
Being a musician myself there are so many artists that inspire my work. I feel that there is not a definitive genre of creative person that i fit into. If i had to name it i would consider myself a creative perfectionist. i can be creative in many ways but whenever i create i have a need to perfect it and even when i complete a work i am never fully satisfied with it, there is always more i could do, or something i could change, nevertheless living in a society built on schedules and deadlines, its hard to be the perfectionist.
I listen to many different types of music and respect all genres and varieties. I grew up on heavy metal and hip hop so most of my favorite artists are members of the respective genres. The artists that i will analyze are, the metal band Underoath, Rap's rebel Emcee Lil' Wayne.
Too Bright To See, Too Loud To Hear - Underoath
The Link contains a song by the band who's songs are usually driven by heavy guitars and screaming, however this shows a softer side of the band. The song is undoubtedly about God, however, the quality and musicianship of the song transcend religion and it is a good song regardless of ones beliefs. The band really embraces the concept of Tension and Release. not only in the posted song but also throughout all of the band's released work. In the posted song there is a constant build of tension with slight release thoughout the song, until the end when all of the tension is released and Underoath's true emotions are released. What i truly love about this band is that they have a unique style that no other band on the scene can mimic or in my opinion outdo Underoath. With seven album releases the band has truly evolved over time while still staying true to the roots of who they are. Contrast and Affinity, is evident in all of Underoath's music. Many bands focus on either screaming and or singing, whereas Underoath does not really focus on either, when i listen to Underoath i don't hear what they are trying to do, i hear what they are doing, and if there is screaming it sounds like it should be there, the same goes for singing. In many Underoath songs the band will have a fast paced, heavy guitar, scream saturated part followed by an extremely mellow, almost acoustic sound, with the poppy voice of Aaron Gillespie the former drummer and singer of Underoath. Underoath is truly a very interesting band to listen to even if Metal is not your forte.
Underoath - Salmarnir
Underoath's music also uses Conscious and Unconscious sounds and ideas which makes their music more personal to the listener. For example in an interlude song on the band's fifth release, Define The Great Line, there is a prayer said in Russian in the background behind the leading guitars and steadily slow drum line. Since Underoath is a Christian band they always promote prayer and worship of Jesus Christ, However the theme of religion is more an unconscious thought when analyzing the lyrics of the band, making it easier for a non believer to enjoy and listen to Underoath. This song is attributed more to the unconscious side of the mind of an Underoath Listener. It is a moment of bliss among a cacophony of screams, shrieks, and heavily distorted guitars. The last three albums that the band has released all have this same quality of complete versatility while keeping their sound but pushing the boundaries of the sound to make it a fuller and more defined sound.
Lastly one of the the things about Underoath that i love is that for their most recent release the drummer Aaron Gillespie, the bands only remaining original member left the band due to differences. Aaron has a very powerful voice and was always exciting to listen to on the mic but with the last release its like Underoath did not even skip a beat when making the newest installment, Disambiguation. This is what i love about Underoath, Its not about the people, its all about the music.
Next i will briefly analyze the Rap artist Lil' Wayne.
Lil wayne is an interesting person. His lyrics are pretty straightforward but he has a lyrical form of using metaphors and crafty wordplay to make his lyrics entertaining, funny, and even making one think outside the box.
Birdman ft. Lil' Wayne - Fire Flame (remix)
The above video is a regular run of the mill hip hop video but my focus is more on the lyrics than the vibe of the song and the idea for the video. In particular i want to talk about a lyric that Wayne spits in his first verse in the song. He states, "Im so relaxed my gucci flats aint got a scratch, and if you got problems wit I, well I will fix them cataracts." This Lyric expresses the idea of Double entendre where he is saying one thing but he also says another thing. At first It makes sense that he would say if you got problems with your eye then he can fix your cataracts, not that i actually believe that he is an optometrist but in the world of wordplay anything pretty much goes. With a second ear listening to the same lyric one can also hear Wayne saying If you got problems with I, as in Wayne himself. Some people may not catch this however being a avid lil wayne fan for a long time you being to get what he is talking about just by his vocal inflection and just by the persona he displays.
I listen to many different types of music and respect all genres and varieties. I grew up on heavy metal and hip hop so most of my favorite artists are members of the respective genres. The artists that i will analyze are, the metal band Underoath, Rap's rebel Emcee Lil' Wayne.
Too Bright To See, Too Loud To Hear - Underoath
The Link contains a song by the band who's songs are usually driven by heavy guitars and screaming, however this shows a softer side of the band. The song is undoubtedly about God, however, the quality and musicianship of the song transcend religion and it is a good song regardless of ones beliefs. The band really embraces the concept of Tension and Release. not only in the posted song but also throughout all of the band's released work. In the posted song there is a constant build of tension with slight release thoughout the song, until the end when all of the tension is released and Underoath's true emotions are released. What i truly love about this band is that they have a unique style that no other band on the scene can mimic or in my opinion outdo Underoath. With seven album releases the band has truly evolved over time while still staying true to the roots of who they are. Contrast and Affinity, is evident in all of Underoath's music. Many bands focus on either screaming and or singing, whereas Underoath does not really focus on either, when i listen to Underoath i don't hear what they are trying to do, i hear what they are doing, and if there is screaming it sounds like it should be there, the same goes for singing. In many Underoath songs the band will have a fast paced, heavy guitar, scream saturated part followed by an extremely mellow, almost acoustic sound, with the poppy voice of Aaron Gillespie the former drummer and singer of Underoath. Underoath is truly a very interesting band to listen to even if Metal is not your forte.
Underoath - Salmarnir
Underoath's music also uses Conscious and Unconscious sounds and ideas which makes their music more personal to the listener. For example in an interlude song on the band's fifth release, Define The Great Line, there is a prayer said in Russian in the background behind the leading guitars and steadily slow drum line. Since Underoath is a Christian band they always promote prayer and worship of Jesus Christ, However the theme of religion is more an unconscious thought when analyzing the lyrics of the band, making it easier for a non believer to enjoy and listen to Underoath. This song is attributed more to the unconscious side of the mind of an Underoath Listener. It is a moment of bliss among a cacophony of screams, shrieks, and heavily distorted guitars. The last three albums that the band has released all have this same quality of complete versatility while keeping their sound but pushing the boundaries of the sound to make it a fuller and more defined sound.
Lastly one of the the things about Underoath that i love is that for their most recent release the drummer Aaron Gillespie, the bands only remaining original member left the band due to differences. Aaron has a very powerful voice and was always exciting to listen to on the mic but with the last release its like Underoath did not even skip a beat when making the newest installment, Disambiguation. This is what i love about Underoath, Its not about the people, its all about the music.
Next i will briefly analyze the Rap artist Lil' Wayne.
Lil wayne is an interesting person. His lyrics are pretty straightforward but he has a lyrical form of using metaphors and crafty wordplay to make his lyrics entertaining, funny, and even making one think outside the box.
Birdman ft. Lil' Wayne - Fire Flame (remix)
The above video is a regular run of the mill hip hop video but my focus is more on the lyrics than the vibe of the song and the idea for the video. In particular i want to talk about a lyric that Wayne spits in his first verse in the song. He states, "Im so relaxed my gucci flats aint got a scratch, and if you got problems wit I, well I will fix them cataracts." This Lyric expresses the idea of Double entendre where he is saying one thing but he also says another thing. At first It makes sense that he would say if you got problems with your eye then he can fix your cataracts, not that i actually believe that he is an optometrist but in the world of wordplay anything pretty much goes. With a second ear listening to the same lyric one can also hear Wayne saying If you got problems with I, as in Wayne himself. Some people may not catch this however being a avid lil wayne fan for a long time you being to get what he is talking about just by his vocal inflection and just by the persona he displays.
Friday, January 7, 2011
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