Do I really need to say anymore? Even though I probably don't, I guess I should. What says fall/winter more than the cold, electronic sounds of Kid A? From the vocal modulations of "Everything in its Right Place" to the "film-scoreesque" "Motion Picture Soundtrack," Kid A
redefined the rock album eschewing conventional rock instruments and
using Thom's vocals as an instrument that coexists and blends in with
the instrumentation instead of overpowering it. I could go on and on for
while about Radiohead and their discography. Instead, I'll just leave
you with a video of "Idoteque," quite possibly the best Radiohead
song ever!
If you didn't see my video remix of "Lotus Flower" and Reservoir Dogs, enjoy!
The Gloria Record has to be my all time favorite fall/winter band. When I
first bought their eponymous ep, I would head over to Barnes and Noble
with a portable CD player (remember those) and listen to it while
looking at books and drinking Starbucks. The Gloria Record originated in
Austin, Texas and rose from theashes of the second wave "emo-band"
Mineral. The video below is from Mineral's last show, ironically enough, at Emo's in Autsin.
Their entire first album, The Power of Failing, took a hold of me
over the summer of 1997, and I could not get that tape out of my car.
Someone gave me Mineral's album backed with a Christie Front Drive
album. Anyways, the sincerity and truth behind Chris Simpson's lyrics
and the noisiness of the music made me fall in love with the band. About
a year after Mineral broke up, The Gloria Record released their
self-titled ep. A departure from Mineral, the ep relied heavily on
acoustic guitars and dreamy, sweeping arrangements. Part of the album's
allure for the fall/winter comes from some of the lyrics. For example,
growing up in the South, I always wonder when fall or winter will be
here. Simpson sums that up with "It's the middle of October and you'd
think there would be a nice cool breeze by now, but you'd be wrong." I
remember when I went to a show in Lake Charles to see another offshoot
from Mineral, Pop Unknown. At the show, some friends of mine were
talking to a guy who gushed over The Gloria Record; he told them that he
would roll his windows down in the winter and blast his air conditioner
while listening to them. Now that's emo? If you haven't checked out The Gloria Record or Mineral, do yourself a favor and do it soon. Their final album, Start Here,
is a masterpiece. For me though, their ep stands as my fall/winter
choice. If you listen to the end of "Grain Towers, Telephone Poles" you
will hear some of the influences on my guitar playing, specifically the
octaves and fast strumming. I'll leave you with a song from Start Here.
"Cinema Air" is a great song. It's about the encroachment of
civilization onto nature as well as the solitariness of modern life.
Yesterday, while driving Juliette to school and listening to the news, which Juliette hates to do, I heard a story on NPR about Indian Classical Music: "Another Reason Not To Sleep." The story talked about Indian music and the fact that there are different melodic scales for different times of day and different seasons. Of course, this reminded me of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons.Quickly, though, my thoughts went to the music I listen to in every season. Instead of thinking about it in relation to four seasons though, I usually think about the music I listen to in regards to spring/summer and fall/winter. Since fall is almost upon us, September 22, I decided to take the next few days to present my top ten albums for the fall/winter. I'm not ranking the albums in any particular order. I'm just presenting them as the ones I listen to when the weather starts to change.
Album 1: Hayden Everything I Long For (1995)
If you've never heard of Hayden Dresser, you don't know what you're missing. While I've never lived in an extremely cold environment during the winter, Hayden's music, and specifically his voice, makes me think about what it would be like to be snowed in with nothing to do but listen to music through long winter nights.
The first time I heard Hayden was on MTV's 120 Minutes, remember when they used to have good shows that actually played music. Anyways, the video for "Bad As They Seem" came on, and I immediately liked it. The song a detuned guitars and his low voice made him sound hypnotizing. "Bad as They Seem," in case you were wondering, is about a guy in Hayden's neighborhood who sat on his roof in a lawn chair all day. The song is Hayden thinking about what that guy was thinking while on the roof.
After getting Everything I Long For, the other songs started to stick out, especially to a sophomore/junior in high school. The standouts to me have always been "In September," "Stem," "Hardly," and "When This is Over" which is about Susan Smith. A few years ago, I used this song to show students what a ballad is, and it went over pretty well.
To conclude, if you listen to the whole album, not on Spotify, there is a great sandwich recipe at the end of the last song. Enjoy!
