Wednesday 30 July 2014

Timeless by Dwele and Tina Marie



You know it's funny, I was planning on writing about something completely different today. But see, I was watching some YouTube videos this morning and somebody in the video mentioned the word 'timeless' in passing. That made me think of this song, Timeless by Dwele and Tina Marie, and how I haven't heard it in ages, and how much it just... It's like my musical resting heart beat. Like what my heart beat would sound like, when I'm completely calm, if it was music.

I remember I had this song on repeat for a whole fortnight last November. And it's a perfect example of why I love Dwele. Next to Musiq Soulchild, he's my favourite male R&B artist. His groove, tone and overall vibe and approach just resonate with me. I pretty much spent six months, when I was seventeen, engrossed in his discography. I love him. But I don't think I'll ever forgive him for teasing me with the greatness found in these one and a half minutes of aural heaven. How you gonna do that Dwele? So yeah, this post is as short as the song but I just wanted to share.

Until next time.
And by next time, I mean next Wednesday.
So really...until next Wednesday

Rella x

Wednesday 23 July 2014

P!nk- Waiting For Love

I first heard this song a few months ago. During the time I spent studying for exams, I took the time to listen to a tonne of random albums. Whatever/whoever crossed my mind, I'd go and listen to it/them. One day in the middle of a study session I was like "I've never listened to a P!nk album before" so off I went and pulled up Try This on Grooveshark. See the thing is I love P!nk's voice, but I'm not the biggest fan of pop music. But since I was expanding my listening parameters during this study period, I pressed play and got back to studying.


So the album starts and I'm enjoying it because as I said, I love her voice. But nothing really made me pause and then this song starts. I don't think I was paying that close attention at first. About forty seconds in though, I pull up my Grooveshark tab so I can make note of the song and then go back to studying. And then the chorus happens and my head starts rocking and then my musical brain is whispering for me to indulge but my studying brain was maintaining dominance.

But see three minutes and thirty seconds ish starts to build up and then a minute later it calms right and then P!nk just rips the whole song up with her vocal so by this point my books are thrown across the room (metaphorically of course) and P!nk's got my full attention, and that song goes on repeat. After seven listens back to back, my musical brain was somewhat satiated, my studying brain was finally able to gain back some ground and thus back to studying I went.

x

Wednesday 16 July 2014

Outro, How I Love Thee...

I woke up hours ago.
Like as in before the sun rose. I got up and did stuff, so it wasn't fake awake, it was real: I'm-about-to-start-my-day awake. So you could imagine my surprise when a few minutes ago I found myself reopening my eyes! I feel groggy as heck, but I'm committed to blogging again now that uni is over (YAYYY!!!), and thus here I am with heavy eyelids, listening to Feist-The Reminder and devouring a frozen kiwi and pineapple smoothie in an effort to feel more awake.

I feels good to be back in this delicious musical space that was kept quiet while uni was controlling my life. Not as strange or foreign as I thought it might feel but that might have something to do with the soundtrack. Anywhosies before I get onto the topic at hand I just thought you'd like to know that every Wednesday, or every other Wednesday, you can expect a post from me. It all depends on which side of me, the procrastinating or the committed, is stronger/louder that day.

Ok outros. I have a special place in my heart for outros that are distinct from the rest of the song. This automatically increases the play-on-repeatability of the song which makes that obsessive habit that I have with a lot of music, much less boring.

I remember the first time I fell in love with an outro. In my early secondary school years I was obsessed with the Coldplay album A Rush Of Blood to the Head. I would play it on repeat and never get bored, ever. This obvs was helped by the fact that the first song is very different to the last track. So would that make it like a Macro-outro? I dunno, I just woke up. But the real outro I'm talking about can be found in A Warning Sign, one of my favourite songs to this day. I remember hearing it, falling in love and then falling even deeper when the outro hit... "I'll crawl back into your open arms" And then a few days later when the buzz wore of and I stopped listening to it on repeat, I noticed the outro on the song Amsterdam (another favourite) that pretty much is responsible for the whole Macro-outro-ness that I mentioned earlier. Now, over ten years later, this outro is my favourite on the album. As well as one of my favourite lyrics "Stood on an edge, tied to a noose, you came along, and you cut me loose".

There are different kinds of outros though. When I say I love something, you should know by now that the attachment is multifaceted. See there are outros that should be their own song like the one in Don't look Back by Miguel. I FREAKING LOVE THAT OUTRO. Miguel how you gonna tease us like that? With those 30 odd seconds of awesomeness?? That's just mean. But then also there are outros like the one in From the Mouth of Gabriel by Sufjan Stevens. Oh my gosh, when I first heard that song, I couldn't stand it. My brain just couldn't process it. At. All. But then the outro happened, and I liked the outro. I liked it so much that I would listen to the whole song just to hear the outro and how it bleed into the next song The Owl and the Tanager (a song I love), and now I like the whole song. All because of the outro. Finally there are outros that take a good song and make it an experience. You know who's good at that, Musiq Soulchild. He never disappoints on the outro front. I remember I was on a twenty minute bus ride one day and You Be Alright came on on my iPod, it was the first time I'd heard it. I was enjoying it but then the outro started and just took the whole experience of the song miles above what it was before. And of course, that song was played on repeat for the whole journey.

So that's it. I loves me some outros. Now my question to you is, are there any outros that really stick out in your mind? If so, why? Let me know!

Until next time x