The Universe is Made of Music

ntnchamp2:

a turtle must innocently circle
disapprovingly laugh a housemaid
the overfilled natural doorknob burst gloomily
cursed eel-mass lips the thought grew
rather they’re believing swim

intheammusic:

Somewhere in the midst of conceiving their latest record, Trouble Will Find Me, The National uncovered a very specific tone that they wanted to convey, one laced with soft synthesizers and repetitious, almost hypnotizing guitar lines. And while this may provide a baseline starting point, The National are somehow able to take this formula and spin it into 13 stellar tracks of moody, yet anthemic indie rock, each of which packs a distinct emotional punch.

The most immediate quality present in all of the songs on Trouble Will Find Me is the band’s ability to take their relatively simple constructs (i.e. the songs, themselves) and manage to make them feel rich and full of life, despite pretty much all of the tracks being moderately slow-paced and contemplative. Even the beginning of the opening track, “I Should Live in Salt,” which is nothing more than an acoustic guitar and an airy synthesizer, is able to fill your speakers or headphones and establish the album’s cold atmosphere and laid back, plodding tone.

Of course, what makes the album such an interesting experience is that through the distant electronic ambiance and subdued instrumentation, the band is still able to reach out and grab the listener at an innate emotional level. No surprise that this largely comes from the easy-to-follow, and yet still incredibly powerful vocal melodies of singer Matt Berninger, who is able to maneuver through these songs and connect directly with his audience.

Perhaps most interestingly is the fact that Trouble Will Find Me is primarily a cerebral, sort of introspective (although not quite navel-gazing) album, and even at the height of Berninger’s emotional vulnerability, such as on “I Need My Girl,” his delivery still remains that of someone who is just kind of working these thoughts out in his head, with a cool detachment that works well against the backdrop of a simple building guitar line and ambient keyboard sounds.

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intheammusic:

In case you somehow didn’t hear, the iconic and eccentric rapper Kanye West debuted the single for his upcoming sixth studio album, humbly titled Yeezus, by projecting it (along with visualizations) on the sides of 66 buildings in various major cities across the United States, including Wrigley Field, The Field Museum of Natural History, and other locations here in his hometown of Chicago.

This was followed by a performance on Saturday Night Live and the release details about Yeezus, which included a first glimpse of this interesting cover art:

Anyway, Yeezus is probably going to be one of the year’s best albums, so in order to get thoroughly pumped/prepared for it, we decided to compile this list of the 10 best (read: our favorite) Kanye West songs.

10. “Homecoming”
It seems only fitting to kick off a list of our favorite Kanye West songs with an ode to his - and our current - hometown of Chicago. The final single off of West’s third studio album, Graduation, “Homecoming” is a touching-albeit fairly obvious extended metaphor delivered over a poppy piano riff and featuring guest vocals from Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. Like other deeply personal tracks, (see: “Hey Mama”) West works well when playing up the nostalgia and setting his ego aside to honor his roots. - Amanda

9. “Niggas in Paris”
“Niggas in Paris” was practically inescapable in the fall of 2011. The fifth (!) single off the love-it-or-hate-it West/Jay-Z collaboration album, Watch the Throne, “Paris” is fueled by a bouncy electronic beat and the duo’s apparent obsession with endlessly repeating the song in live performances. It’s a made-for-the-club single that feeds itself on repetition, somehow sounding better on fifth listen than first. “That shit cray,” as they say. - Amanda

8. “Jesus Walks”
“Jesus Walks” is a standby Kanye West track, an early hit off his debut album The College Dropout, and still a crowd favorite today. Much like its title, the song marches on in military fashion over a chorus of vocal samples from the gospel song “Walk With Me,” and West’s stilted, precise delivery. It’s an early, perfect example of the forethought West puts into his tracks, with both religious and militaristic allusions, as well as metaphors layered one atop another, from introduction to beat to lyric to sample - it’s a completely packaged message. - Amanda

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This was a lot of fun to write.