Monthly Archives: April 2011

Can you see yourself at 50 willingly listening to a Soulja Boy song? I hope not.

They don’t make ’em like they used to – music, that is.  I grew up sitting in the backseat of my mother’s Buick singing along to The O’Jays, The Delfonics, and Earth, Wind, and Fire – all which currently reside on my ipod.

I’ve always wondered if there was an exact formula to determine how much time must go by in order for something to be considered an ‘oldie’. I wondered what those oldies might be. Will I want to listen to 50 Cent or Spice Girls twenty years down the line? (The answer is only “In Da Club” and yes, any Spice Girls song.)

However, I can’t help but grimace when I hear the music that my 14 year old sister listens to – Justin Bieber, Big Time Rush, or…well, I can’t even think of a third act, which proves how forgettable they all are. Today’s musicians are more caught up with catchy beats and superficial lyrics. Everyone was in an uproar over Rebecca Black’s simple minded lyrics, but this trend has been going on for years.

The quality of songwriting has decreased tremendously and music lovers are the ones who suffer. Music artists should strive to be memorable and create songs that are not only catchy, but meaningful as well.

All hope is not lost, though. Artists like Aloe Blacc and Miguel seem to still know the value of selecting crafted songs.

We’re all entitled to listen to a song with uninspired lyrics for the sole purpose of enjoying the rhythm, but for musicians, this should never be the norm.  Anyone can be a one hit wonder, but isn’t it worth more to be remembered 50 years later?

Unless one is listening to music with half an ear, it has become quite apparent that the tunes migrating from Canada are bordering on greatness.

The country that developed ice hockey in the 19^th century has now developed a nonpareil artist in three major genres of music.

Son of Dennis Graham, one of Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Jerry Lee Lewis’s drummers, is Toronto’s Drake who has carved his name into rap’s glitterati via a blackberry Smart-phone. His august record So Far Gone preluded his unforgettable, debut album Thank Me Later, which went platinum a little over a month after releasing. The adeptness he possesses to be able to both rap and sing well makes him an intercontinental, sui generis musician, and his success has helped lay the foundations for other ambitious, undiscovered artists from the second largest country in the world.

House of Balloons Featured in Drake's Blog

The Weeknd, also from the capital of Ontario, roared to the flower of imminent, rhythm and blues lions, a short time ago. The singer, who is still months away from being legally allowed to drink, supplied a resounding recording, House of Balloons, this past March. It is the majority of people’s first peek into his uncanny vision for music, and it has left all staring at its splendor. In spite of the fact that the record has a mere nine tracks, as one listens to it, nothing but brilliance echoes.

Both artists have achieved the few and far between feat of producing an album that has a track or two that one skips each time one listens to the record; Drake has a remarkable two to his credit, So Far Gone and Thank Me Later, and The Weeknd has one, House of Balloons.

As Drake continues to exercise control over rap and The Weeknd adjusts to having mastery over rhythm and blues, fellow Canadian Justin Bieber, for all one knows, commands the genre of pop. The Twitter sensation has two platinum albums and is going to have another, in all probability. I have yet to listen to more than a single minute of his music, yet it would have been foolhardy for me not to acknowledge the boy’s ascendancy.

As the trio continues to home in on impressive music, the borderline that once separated great musicians from Canada to outshine those from the United States has all but dematerialized.

Autotune has slowly become the bane of my musical experience. The original purpose of the audio processor was to correct pitches in vocal and instrumental works. But, music, and art in general,  for me, is finding beauty in the imperfections. The musicians may not be perfectly in tune, but that gave them a human quality, knowing that those were their real voices and the amount of emotion they put into their songs.

Auto-tune Program

I will admit when I first heard auto-tuned, I found it appealing. Actually, I did not even know it was auto-tuned. Remember, Cher’s 1998 song, “Believe?” That song was one of my favorites from the ’90s. The auto-tune craze, however, did not catch on until T-Pain released his first single, I’m Sprung, in 2005.

Immediately when I heard T-pain’s nasally, electronic voice, I thought of the Zapp Band, a soul and funk band from the ’80s who were known for their use of the talk box vocal distortion device. If you are not familiar with who they are, listen to “Computer Love,” “I Want To Be Your Man” or Tupac and Dr. Dre’s “California Love”.

However, what separated singers like Roger Troutman (the Zapp Band), Cher, and even T-pain, from some “singers” of today is that they did not use vocal effects as a crutch. They can sing without it; for example, listen to T-pain without the auto-tune. Auto-tune is only used as a tool, for a vocal effect that sounds interesting.

Several of today’s most popular musicians do not have great voices and use auto-tune often to disguise them, or to hide their voices in order to jump on the bandwagon. Do I need to remind you of the Rebecca Black catastrophe? In addition to that, there are rappers who use it to pretend to be singers when they should obviously stick to rapping. Yes, I am looking at you, Drake!

Seriously, I would prefer someone singing in their natural voice over singing with auto-tune, even if they did not have the most stunning voice. Using technology is not wrong, but if there is no artistry to back it up, what is the point?

The crowded 6 train on any given day.

Cramming into a subway car full of tired commuters during the bleak rush hours to and from school or work, the last thing I want is to be disturbed. Unless engaged in conversation, I like my quiet down time during the ride, whether by curling up with a book or the New York Times app or dozing to my current favorite playlist. Either way, I like to drown out the noise and try to relax. That’s next to impossible when the rider beside me thinks I’m just itching to hear whatever he or she’s listening to these days. I don’t know about you but as far as I know, the subway isn’t about blasting your musical tastes.

It’s downright frustrating when I’m forced to hear scratchy rock or hip-hop second hand from somebody else’s too loud mp3 player.  How difficult is it to keep the volume low? Just high enough so that only one person can hear it–the one who’s wearing the headphones?

Do you like Florence and the Machine? Yes? No? Maybe so? Ah, well, I'll keep the volume to a minimum anyway.

I have a personal rule for this: If you can still hear the whir of the train and the announcements fairly clearly, you’re not unreasonably loud. Double check the decibel level by removing the headphones for a moment to make sure you can only hear it from close contact. It’s not an exact science but it’s simple enough.

I’m not the only one complaining; there’s even an online forum on the topic with other advice. Its users’ odd solution: earplugs. Their most sensible one: better quality IEM headphones. Not a bad investment. Think about it, you hear your music with better sound quality, and I don’t hear it at all.

Trying to catch a nap on the way home at a quarter to 11 pm is a little difficult when some guy a few feet away is blaring Spanish music from somewhere on his person. I don't even see the device but I assume it's coming from a phone tucked safely in his pocket. (I couldn't inconspicuously take a photo of him without giving away my cover of playing a very serious game on my phone.)

But, again, therein lies the rub. There are those who forgo the headphones entirely. Ah, the kind and selfless individuals who are generous enough to play the music straight off of their android phones at an unruly volume that I’ve never seen a good Samaritan argue against.

Why, when the spaghetti debacle a few weeks ago seemed to stir up so much debate about subway etiquette, does this go ignored?

True, the subway is a public place. But unless you’re performing live, I really don’t mind if you keep your music to yourself. It’s not your private bedroom, so turn the volume down, please!