The album Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vilet) and His Magic Band is a masterpiece of free jazz, blues, rock and roll, and avant-garde; encompassing elements from those genres and combining them into a twenty-eight song album. This album is highly regarded in the world of rock and popular music, and is universally believed to be his greatest musical works ever. Although it failed to chart in the United States, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album 60th in their list of the 500 greatest albums of all-time. The line-up of musicians in the Magic Band is different from the albums that were previously released. The original line-up in 1964 (which eventually landed a record contract with A&M Records in 1966) consisted of two …show more content…
Although there are some tracks that are more bearable than others, there are also tracks that are difficult for the listener. The track Dali’s Car is one of the easier pieces to listen to, and it was the first song composed for the album. “Two guitars lock together in almost Baroque formality but the tone is unremittingly harsh” describes the guitar lines in this instrumental track. The track also shares similarities to the Stravinsky piece Symphonies of Wind Instruments, the piece pivots around a few notes, within an odd time signature. Although still atonal and not rhythmically straight forward, the track does have some tonality and after a few listens it becomes familiar. Immediately when I listened to this track it reminded me of Cliff Burton, Metallica’s original bassist, he demonstrated a similar playing style on bass (specifically in the song Orion). Another track found in the tonal area is China Pig, which remains tonal for the majority of the piece. It sounds like the remnant of an old blues, just with a guitar (played by former Magic Band member Doug Moon) playing and Van Vilet singing over top, in time-- for the most part. Those are the easiest pieces to listen to on this entire album, in my opinion. Although the majority of the tracks are very challenging to listen to, it makes the listener want to listen more: “Their impact on the listener is fresh and shocking because they don’t quench a thirst, they build an appetite”. I found that this quote is the best way to describe my experience of this album. There were a few standout tracks on the album, and they gained my attention for various reasons. The first acapella track The Dust Blows Forward n’ the Dust Blows Back grabbed my attention, comparatively to the musical barrage that is Frownland, the lack of instruments intrigued me. The clipping of the track is
album contains an amazing combination of poetic lyrics and edgy music that make it an
Many scenes involved ironic contrasts between the tone and the surroundings. On several occasions the background music was cheerful and upbeat while the physical settings and scenery were terribly dark, dreary and depressing. One good example of this is the scene where Andy was helping the guards with their taxes. There was upbeat and cheerful music but the room and the surroundings were dark and gloomy. This hint of happiness represents how Andy’s hope ...
The genre of this album can be described as pop and rock. Yet the album has the musical styles of Alternative Pop/Rock, Punk Rock, and somewhat Indie/Underground. When I first heard this album I already had some knowledge about the songs, but I never took the time to notice how the music sounded. The introduction seems faster than the rest of the album and has a more upbeat sound to it. Although it is not completely rock because they do not seem to be rocking out like some of the other past rockers in the class. Many of the s...
When listening to the song both reflectively and analytically did put a dapper on the initial meaning behind listening to the song, however, the song’s influence and history with my Child Hood prevented this assignment from completely taking my enjoyment and engagement of the song. Through this assignment I have found a new respect for the song and its simplicity and overall appeal with the vocaloid culture that I am involved in both as a listener and an artist. Through this assignment I have also been given a deeper insight into Deco*27 as an artist and how he effectively conveys his music as an art through both the vocaloid system and, in this case, through his own talents as a singer.
Listening then, I just thought it sounded nice, but analyzing it today I can truly appreciate the care that went into their work. There aren’t many songs that give me chills, but every time I hear their rendition of Landslide (written by Stevie Nicks), I can feel it head to toe. The pacing of the instrumentation and harmony coming in is simply perfect.
Graphic novels are something that requires a lot of deliberate thought and dedication to create a novel that affects the reader in the way authors want them to. Everything within a graphic novel is conscious decision to enable the tones, story, characters, and messages to get through as best as they can. Due to this it is difficult to create an adaption based on someone else’s work, as you want to portray their messages and tones accurately, but also how the creator interoperates the original authors work. This is a problem I had in the creation of my mini graphic adaption of The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews. The Flying Troutmans is about a family going on a trip in America in search of the father of the kids Hattie is in charge of after
title Too Much Too Soon, it left a lot to be desired but each song is
Naturally when a song explores themes like these it seems explore depressing and dark themes, this is seen through the tone throughout the song. The first example of tone in the song is in the lines “The Smell , The Taste it’s all just fake, the truth is what I lack’ (19-20), these lines show that the writer is feeling like the whole account of addiction and the situation that he is in feel almost fake because of how surreal it all feels. The second example of tone is that found right before one of sets that portray imagery, “But it’s all so fake” (34) these line prove as a warning for the listener of the lies of the passage that follows, again showing that the writer is omitting his addiction as some that is fake and cannot not be real. A third and final example of tone in the Classic Crime’s God and Drugs is in the line “of the things I need to face” (52) this line tells the listener that the writer has the sense that he needs to face his problems and cannot escape them on a daily basis; this shows that the song has a regretful, self-apologetic tone and describes that the writer of the song feels almost like that his addiction is something that he has to face and cannot turn around from his old ways. These examples prove that the song has a depressing tone of regret and
Today I’d like to talk to you about this genre of music that was created in reaction to other forms of music, and hopefully influence you to check it out and maybe even buy a CD.
It is also the piece that had enough of an effect to make the evil man go away, in the film, Fantasia. My strongest reaction to this piece, is the warm and chilled feeling I get hearing it. The idea of developing “chilled” bones from music is amazing. I arrived at this certain place, by truly diving into the song. I really listened to it, and could hear the seriousness in the singer’s voice. I could hear and understand the passion that the musicians felt when they pressed the piano’s keyboards. The singing, along with the instruments complimenting, is astonishing. I caught myself listening to this piece during the interview, and I could imagine even an evil monster falling in love with this tune enough to turn good. I felt the drama and power in the singing, and the seriousness in the playing of the
The first song played was from a genre that I had previously taken a test on, Sonata. The musicians played the song by the book. There were three movements and polyphonic texture. It was even fast and jerky. Nonetheless, this is the part where my rollercoaster was going down. In my opinion it was boring. Although very well played, the song itself did not interest me. I did not like the roadrunner, coyote essence of the song. The piano accompaniment would sometimes play the melody and let the clarinet follow and then they would switch. This to me seemed force instead of like the Sonatas that I listened to in class. However, apart from the musical aspect of the first piece there was a certain intensity expressed by the performers. I had never seen a
These travails point to an underlying critical malaise, namely the comprehensive prejudice that reason and cognition are inherently discursive: to understand is plainly the ability to describe what one has understood. Therefore his failure to nail down musical profundity amounts to a tacit acknowledgement of the ‘ineffability’ of instrumental masterpieces — resulting in musical ‘truths’ being consigned to its sensory modality or else to a demand for marshalling verbal paraphrase for explicit decoding.
Of the five minutes, I believe that the most interesting segments are the first solo and the last minute or so; I will be analyzing these particular portions in depth. From the very start, this song is hot and fast. To open, the entire band plays a fast phrase that follows the 12 bar blues scale and this phrase remains central throughout the entirety of the song. The bass and piano hold this phrase while the horns transition into a separate rhythm to compliment it. These two phrases are repeated until the beginning of the first saxophone solo at :56. During this solo the bass transitions to a shuffle line while the piano compliments. The other horns join in with riffs after the first two choruses of the solo. The solo continues for another two choruses with the whole band playing before it is rounded off. The final minute of the song begins with a repeat of the third, fourth, and fifth choruses. In the final 20 seconds, things begin to get very interesting. The horns hold the last note of the chorus as the rhythms comes to a sharp halt. The horns engage in a brief agglomeration of notes that exhibits a strong use of polyphony and could be described as somewhat hectic. The drummer begins to shine with a solo of his own which he continues for the final seconds of the song, before resolving the entire song with a final
The film has many redemptive moments and looks and feels a little creepy because of some of the songs they sang. Some of the memorable songs such as ‘’I smell children” and ‘’Come out my children’’ reveal the objectionable content of this movie. The movie includes very mild scares, and occasional rude language. The thematic content affects the experience and interpretation because it is similar to a theme and this is very important in a movie. If the theme is not well written then it will cause people to dislike the movie. Formal techniques do forward the thematic content by carrying out a specific task for the
arrangements. I tend to mainly listen for dynamics more than anything else of a song. Another