Beth by Kiss

I understand. You see the word Kiss, and you automatically think that this song is going to be a hard, obnoxious rock tune. But if you dig deeper, however, you will find that this song is the one slow, emotional song of Kiss's repertoire. This song explains the emotions felt by the drummer, Peter Criss, when he is away from his home and his wife. Criss is not the best singer known to mankind, but his soul and emotions flow through the song, making this an unusual yet favorable song. Criss explains how being on the road with the band leaves him wanting to be with her. Throughout the song, he repeats "just a few more hours" until he is with her again. This song was actually written when he was with the band Chelsea before he joined Kiss, but Kiss performed it.

Song: All Fall Down

Lost till you're found. Swim till you drown. Love till you hate. Strong till you brake. These words can be found in the song "All Fall Down" by Onerepublic (BTW they're my favorite band). Now I want to shine the spot light on this song for a moment. I want to take a deeper look at this song, to dive into the world of a song, much as you would a book. First, I want you to listen to the song, maybe leave the window or tab open to go back and listen. Next, I want you to set everything aside for a moment and give this your full attention. Now, after you've listened to this song, continue reading.

The first part I want to talk about is in the chorus: "If ever your world starts crashin down, whenever your world starts crashin down, whenever your world starts crashin down, thats where you'll find me." To start out with, I would like to point out how he (Ryan Tedder) first says IF, then on the second and third times, he switches to WHENEVER. I believe he puts this in here not only to point out that it is a when, not an if, but that there will be more than one time in your life when your feel like your world is crashing down. Now when he says, that's where you'll find me, I think that part is based more on personal opinion. For me, I like to remember that I found this band when I was at a low point in my life.

Second, I want to go back to the beginning of the song, before he begins singing the chorus: "Step out the door, and it feels like rain. That's the sound, that's the sound on your window pane. Take to the streets, but you can't ignore, that's the sound, that's the sound, you waited for." I get a little confused at this part. Apparently, you have been waiting for rain, and we later find out that's when you're world falls down. Okay, so maybe he wants to start the song in a solemn mood. Here's the feeling i get: I am so sad, something has happened to make me very sad or angry; with the arrival of rain, I feel like i can appropriately express my feelings. With the expression of my feelings comes the realization something big and important, such as life, isn't what it is made out to be. And then your world falls apart.

"Take a breath, take a step, meet me down below." I see this part and I think of someone jumping off a bridge. Imagine yourself, standing there, contemplating life, and then you decide to do it. You take one last breath. You take one step, and your falling, falling, falling..... Now instead of a bridge, think of this as a pit, your standing on the edge, looking down and you see someone down there. He tells you to come on down, so you walk right of the edge as if you were a cat knowing you're going to land on your feet. This might symbolize people after their world falls out on them. They get depressed, then they're vulnerable for a period. He could be referring to the devil tempting you, or peer pressure to do drugs or smoke.

That concludes my article for today. I want to hear what think about this song and this article. Please leave your comments below.

By Mr. Awesome

Album Review: Give up by the Postal Service

Low syn organs open the first track of this one hit wonder duo.  This entire album was the working of two electronic music geniuses sending tracks back and forth through the mail (Hence the name Postal Service), they disbanded after 2003.

The first track use extensive use of music layering. Each verse builds on the last become increasingly more complex before they all fall out to let a strings solo finish out the song. The song has a very introspective feel to, an eerie chorus of modulated female voices in the background generating the mood. An excellent percussive part also attributes to an ambient pop music feel. The song switches back and forth between the complex very busy style of electronic to very mellow instrumentals filling the space between. This is one of the most popular electronaic songs out, you are sure to enjoy it.

The second track is a very cute romance centered on the lyrics of “I’m thinking it’s a sign that the freckles in our eyes are mirror images, and when we kiss they perfectly aligned”. What an adorable lyric! Ben Gibbard, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Gibbard) the lead singer tends to put very odd lyrics on his songs to describe his emotions. This is a recurring tendency through his songs. The same layering tactics are used his. The classic beep generate ambiance is used here to great effect in this song.

This next song is almost comical the presentation but deals with serious issue. The central theme of this track is the general cover up of information.  It talks about a dream he had where truth was available to all. It also expresses this desire for this to be a reality. I love the opening lyrics; the rhythm structure is excellent. The guitar/bass part in this song is very nice accent. A simple very pleasant song.

On the forth track we find another romance, also filled with extensive ambient electronics, the sound of wind escaping but all syn and such. The cool part of this song is the duet between Ben and Jenny Lewis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Lewis). I love how straightforward Ben displays his emotions, and how this sound plays out the common thoughts that run through people’s heads during relationship. The song says it very cleanly. As typical with The Postal Service, the background electronic percussion is soothing, beautiful, and ambient.

This song too opens with the syn sounds of air, extremely fitting to the title “recycled air”. This song is very slow and melancholy. The syn layer building is lacking in this song, as is well of vocal contrast making it to be a very forgettable song. Like nothing happens.

Clark gable, their sixth track is also discusses typical problems of modern day ideas of romance. It is all about how we got through so much to deliver  what we believe to be real love. However forcing one idea of this broad concept as the ideal, is destructive. It uses analogies from the film industry to show how fake and forced out idea of love is. This song has a heavy focus on the lyrics as the sound scheme is only mild. A solid song.

The opening cords remind me a lot of creed, it also scares me to think that a creed song found its way on to my ipod. “Silhouettes” is the next song. This song is pretty cool, it’s lyrics are a little silly but have important meaning, satiring the advancement of chemical sciences and their threat to the world. The vocal contrast is lacking, but it’s ambiance is pretty cool. Postal Service knows how to lay a good pop beat. This song is a tad too long.

“This place is a prison. These people are your friends” has become my new favorite greeting to people at school. This song is super good, but super melancholy. For being a generally happy guy, I love me some emo music. This song is so sad that I almost cry at time, but it also one of my favorites, I wish it was longer. The first 2:20 minutes of this song have extremely minimal sound support, and then a guitar and trap set start up and backup singers change the song to a much richer version of this same tragedy that drifts through the first two minutes of suppressed bass drum, bells, and Ben’s weird voice. This sound induces a feeling of emptiness and calm, clammy cold calm. Part of what makes an artist so talented is his/her ability to induce an emotion, this song does it extremely well. I’m left wanting more.

The happy fast paced techo tune that follows is really cool. The opening lyrics involve him saying very odd pick lines, for example “I’ll be your platform shoes, and undo what heredity’s done to you so you won’t have to stretch to look into my eyes.” How awesome is that? Now ladies, if someone came up to you and said that, you would fall right into love wouldn’t you? This is the classic “I’ll do anything for you, we can escape from the misery of this world together”, but all electronic and such. I very much like this song

Finally we end with a rich complex and fast paced instrumental. It feels a lot like revving a car. The sound grows in layers as it goes on until it becomes a blur of sounds and effects before suddenly stopping for a short vocal solo. I don’t partically like this one, I would prefer if there we no lyrics at all, and it was shorter, but alas it not that way. I do like this lyric thou “I hope you don’t mind, because all the names and place are taken from your life, so please don’t be upset at this portrait that I paint, it will be a little biased but at least I spelt your name” before the layers fade out, to the end. The ending sounds create a wonderful way to end this album.

I enjoyed this album a lot, containing quite a few quality songs. The electronic pop beats are masterful. They sound a lot like passion pit except for the fact their lyrics have real word meanings. The district sleep alone tonight is the best song on the album, and I would recommend buy the whole thing. Even though I didn’t like two of the songs that doesn’t mean you won’t. Let me know what you think in the comments.