So, it’s been March for over a week
now. It still hasn’t really sunk in for me that it’s March. We have the Spring Equinox
coming up soon. I’ll be doing a write-up on the Armenian God Vahagn in honor of
his birthday on the 21st, time permitting. I’m also going to
continue posting my Years in Music mixes for however many months it’s going to
take me to get through them all, and at some point, I want to start reviewing
the Oz books. I’ve started re-reading the first book already, and it’s my first
time going back and rereading it since I binged the sequels so it is an
interesting experience. Starting in April I’ll be periodically blogging about
my time in Armenia in 2015, delving into my old journal entries and such. Stay
tuned for whatever else strikes my fancy as well, anything goes on this blog I
suppose.
Anyway, this month I haven’t
actually been listening to a whole lot of new music. But, I have been
continuing through Lebanon Hanover’s discography, gradually, and I’ve come
across some SYZYGYX and Boy Harsher I hadn’t previously heard. Here’s the Top 3
this month, and the honorable mention.
SYZYGYX
– Dangerous Creature
"Scissor Kicks” makes it to the top 3 for a second month in a row, because I’ve been in the mood for dark music with female vocals for the past several months (which all of these songs have in common). This track, “Dangerous Creature”, is off their album Fading Bodies which came out last October and I only now have been able to listen to. As with other songs from this band, like “Blood Moon”, I’ve found that the lyrics are more minimalistic than they seem. The band says on the Bandcamp page for Fading Bodies “We’ve kept the lyrics minimal, because we believe in the power of sound and the power of it to make you feel.” This band is really good at doing that. You don’t necessarily need lyrics to guide your thoughts for every song. Let your brain do the work. The music takes my brain somewhere else every time I hear it.
Lebanon
Hanover – Northern Lights
While SYZYGYX doesn’t need lyrics to get their point across, I often find that the lyrics are my favorite part of a Lebanon Hanover song. This comes from their 2012 album Why Not Just Be Solo. Which I’ll definitely have to remember when it comes time to do my 2012 in Music mix; although I hadn’t heard of them yet back then. I was too busy being obsessed with And One and Ayria. The opening lyrics are “Perhaps an ideal way of life leads to an ideal way of death, it’d be good to be you but I’d rather be dead.” It makes me think of those type of narcissistic people who give you unwanted advice, disapproving of your life choices and acting as if their way of life is “ideal”. Know-it-alls. I’ve known a few people like that. We’re all going to die in the end, no matter how “well” we live. The rest of the song expresses a desire to get away from people with “fashionable minds” and move somewhere where one can see the northern lights. I want to get away from the fashionable minds myself. It would be nice to see the northern lights in person someday. I bet it’s amazing. I’m not sure when that would ever happen. If I leave the US for a trip I’ll likely either go to England or Armenia, too far south to see them. I should go to Norway one day.
Boy
Harsher – R.O.V.
I don’t think I’ve discussed Boy Harsher yet on this blog, have I? Anyway,I first heard them back in 2018 when I came across their song “Pain”, which was one that slowly grew on me, I wasn’t that into it at first. Then last April I think it was, I heard that they were doing a concert in Ybor City near Tampa, and I went to the show with my wife. It was a fun night out. When I was at the concert I bought their album Careful on cassette, because I have a thing for cassettes. What I didn’t know was that there were bonus tracks on the deluxe vinyl version that I was missing out on! It always irks me a little when bands do that. But, I guess if you’re going to pay more for a vinyl version you’d need some extra incentive to not just get it on MP3. R.O.V. was a song that didn’t make it onto my cassette. Kind of a rare track in that regard, at the moment deluxe editions are sold out so there’s not really a way to legally pay for this track right now. Hm, pity. Although YouTube has it. I need to get a turntable one of these days. But, I’m more of a cassette and CD person really.
Honorable
Mention: Lebanon Hanover – Sadness is Rebellion
“Northern Lights” beat this track out for the music, but I like this one best for the lyrics. “Sadness is rebellion”. I think it is rebellion, at least within American culture, where we’re all expected to be happy, productive workers providing excellent customer service while licking the boots of the wealthy class. When we do become sad about our bleak, meaningless existence, the doctors throw pills at us and tell us to get back to work. Sadness is looked at as weakness, and mental illness. I think it’s a sign of self-awareness and intelligence to be depressed. The happy people are the insane ones. The song makes another good point. “You say popular music is contamination. It won’t stop if the public is too blind.” My thoughts exactly. I don’t want to sound like a snobby elitist, but, I do believe that the music pushed by the corporations is less thought-provoking, and less musically complex, than independently released music or music released on small album labels. Because music that promotes happiness and doesn’t make you think is better to keep the masses obedient; that’s why it gets played in all the grocery stores and such. But, I’m going on a tangent.
Expect 1982 in Music to be posted
tomorrow, or the next day at the latest, depending on what comes up.
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