Music

I saw this over at kottke.org, and couldn’t resist sharing it.

I think anyone in America who occasionally listens to the radio has heard a song or two by Nickelback. However, if you’ve heard two of their songs, “How You Remind Me” and “Someday”, you may have actually heard only one song. Why? Because besides the lyrics, they’re pretty much the same song. You can listen to them, side by side (one in the left speaker, one in the right), right here.

I checked out the article on Wikipedia about Nickelback, and sure enough, there was a section about this little issue. The bassist of the band responded:

“I think that’s remarkable for someone to notice that there is a hit quality. If all hits sound the same, then sorry. When you are a band that has a distinct style such as us or AC/DC, that happens. When you have a distinct style, you run the risk of sounding similar.”

You run the risk of sounding similar? Similar?! It’s the same damn song! The drum line is identical throughout the whole thing, and a lot of the guitar / bass lines line up exactly, too!

I think what the bassist was trying to say was that if you take one song, copy it, change a few things, and then release the song again, you’ll get caught.

In browsing around various medieval history sites, I came across one in particular that made me quite happy: lots (and lots) of medieval music in MP3 form. A fellow named Jon Sayles, along with some other musicians, basically recorded a ton of early music from the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. Musical selections include stuff from England, Spain, Germany, Italy, and France.

Furthermore, all of the music is totally free. You can download it as well as distribute it.

All of the music (that I’ve thus far listened to, anyway) has been totally instrumental, so if you’re looking for some new music to write / study to, here you go.

I saw over at Cas’ site that she just recently found a new voice that she loves. I did the same thing a couple days ago, sort of. I didn’t discover a new voice, but instead, rediscovered one. While browsing my music in iTunes, I noticed a band I’d not listened to in a really long time: The Cranberries. Wow. How I’ve missed this band, and in particular, Dolores O’Riordan’s voice.

I used to listen to The Cranberries all the time. Their CD No Need to Argue was actually the first CD I ever purchased, on a whim after getting my first CD player as a kid. (In hindsight, my parents actually bought it, seeing as I didn’t have a job and thus no money, but I digress.)

Her voice is really amazing. It has qualities that I’ve never heard in any other voice. Unfortunately, I can’t really describe them because my music lingo is pretty much non-existent. (I will include a video of them at the end of this post though, so if you’ve not heard them before, you can have a listen.)

Another awesome thing about her singing is that she retains her wonderful accent. A lot of singers seem to lose their native accent when singing in English, often sounding like they’re American. She never does this. She always sounds blatantly Irish, and I love it. It may just be her beautiful accent that makes her singing so unique, instead of innate vocal quirks. I just don’t know. All I know is, her voice is probably one of my favorites of all time when it comes to music. It’s right up there with Hansi Kürsch’s of Blind Guardian.

Here’s a couple of videos to watch / listen to, if you’ve not heard the Cranberries before (or if you just want to hear them again ).

Dreams:
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=Hjav5ReExm8]

Promises:
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=YYtT3TujD7o]

There’s some more over at YouTube if you want to check them out.
Technorati Tags: cranberries, irish

Ah, hell. I posted The Bard’s Song, and then came across this one, which is also another one of my favorite songs of theirs.

Oh, and if you didn’t notice from the beginning.. they’re Germans.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=XqlmJ3iucNw]

Tags: blind_guardian

I came across these guys years ago when a friend recommended them to me. They’ve been one of my favorite bands ever since. Hansi Kürsch’s vocals are just great.

And hey - you can’t argue with music that often deals with hobbits, dwarves, and wizards. (Well, you can, but why would you want to do that?)

Anyway… here’s the video. Enjoy!

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=sEsyNgO7kmw]

Tags: blind_guardian