Really.
It's also the thesis of the Phonogram comic series, which you ought to read, so here's my Kieron Gillen attempt.
When the imprecise and erratic alchemy of sound is mixed correctly, music does more than transport you. It reshapes you. It remolds you. For example: When I hear Nightlife by Kenickie, I grin and I want to get my boys together, head down to a club, drink and dance. (It looks silly, I admit.) When I hear Nothing Better by the Postal Service, I collapse inside and out. It is the serrated edge sliding between the armor, deftly navigating the contours of my ribs and it breaks into my clean, squishy chest. When I listen to Spring Divorce, a Planes Mistaken For Stars track, well, all I hear is the white noise of the crowd and all I smell is the fresh kill in the bloody sand.
This is a fraction, idly chosen, of music's remonstrative power. In our darkest places or in our brightest days we are not safe or we are never totally lost. Magic is something that alters reality without warning, without terrestrial accounting and music does just that. Music is not something that can be touched. You can touch the instruments. You can touch the players.. You can touch sheet music. You can sense the pages between your fingers, but that's just the driving directions to a feeling. It remains: You can't touch music.
There is a lot of poetry and fiction in this issue. That's okay. This is a literary magazine, so that's to be expected. Find a soundtrack that fits and see how that colors what you see and what you connect with. It might not surprise you to hear I have suggestions for artists to listen to.
For your consumption, two bands, divided into boys and girls. (Yes, there is more than dudes or ladies. I acknowledge, respect and celebrate this.)
For the women: Kenickie. It's music written by and for razor sharp girls who want to go out, dance, enjoy female camaraderie and maybe attract attention of boys. Maybe not. The track that will sell you on them is Come Out 2Nite. It's 1:58 long, from a record called At the Club. (Not that being a woman has to consist of getting dolled up, dancing and drinking, but it's an enjoyable pastime.)
For the men: Trap Them. It's a d-beat/thrash/sludgy band based around the concept of a zombie apocalypse. If you think Dragonforce is the greatest thing ever, Trap Them's going to blow your mind. Listen to Gutterbomb Heaven on the Grid or Guignol Serene from their 2008 full-length, Seizures In Barren Praise. Try not break things in your room. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_9Wo9C1a8k
Like magic, with music, the possibilities are infinite. Now turn the page, put your headphones on and start casting spells.
James Hepplewhite, written o
ver the Ides of March, 2010.
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dude, let us know what you're feeling.