Inspirational Music
February 18th, 2008, 3:16 pm · Post a Comment · posted by yucarenow
This month’s Rolling Stone (the one with crying Britney on the front) featured an article on the upcoming Baltimore-based group Beach House, in which they were described as a more upbeat version of Mazzy Star.
Needless to say, I checked them out and wasn’t overwhelmingly pleased.
The good news is, my dissapointment inspired me to go on a musical splurge and download numerous musicians who I had never really listened to.
My first click was Rilo Kiley. As much as I had heard about their pop/accoustic sound, I had never once heard a song of their’s in its entirety. I can’t say I fell in love right away, but they did ignite enough harmonic flare to keep me entertained and thirsty for more.
After an hour of listening to Amy Winehouse on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I switched over to a playlist of about a half-dozen Rilo songs and didn’t stop playing them the rest of the evening. To me, they aren’t as temperamental as say a Fleetwood Mac or even a modern folk/rock band such as The Decemberists, but they hold a dream-pop acoustic melody that comes a bit closer to MS comparisons (At least talent wise).
The whole genre of acoustic/songwriter-pop has definitely become more popular in the past few years and I can definitely say I’m a part of the liking majority. A lot of young, female soloists like Feist, KT Tunstall and Regina Spektor(I don’t really even need to mention Ms. Rehab Winehouse) have come out of the post-Norah Jones/Alicia Keys movement to become superstars virtually overnight.
The progressive switch to more thoughtful lyrics, better vocals and fun melodies could be why more and more Death Cab-sounding bands like Rilo Kiley are fronting female singers. (Although, I still don’t know where Eisley fits)
To me, music is always exciting to explore. There’s nothing better than finding something that totally sucks and then soaking up the dissapointment with an artist(s) who makes you realize there is always something to listen to. No matter if its sappy dream pop or not, inspiration is still inspiration.
