Rage Against the Secret Machines

My favorite band, as of late, has been The Secret Machines. I listen to them far more often than any other CD I have. Their heavy beats that sound a bit like Pink Floyd is often higher energy than the rest of the CDs I own, which seem to be mostly folk music, and some indie stuff here and there. I have a few Radioheads too.

Recently, The Secret Machines released Ten Silver Drops, their latest effort. It's quite good as well, and I've already listened to it five times today. I'm in repeated loop listening to it.

When I listen to music, I typically block out lyrics. I don't pay attention to it. They could be as inane as "The Final Countdown" by Europe or maybe something as thoughtful as Leonard Cohen. Doesn't matter. I'm not listening to it. I'll make out some words here or there, but for the most part, I just listen to the music, so I like The Secret Machines for the music.

My favorite song, so far, on the new album is I Hate Pretending. I just happen to like the way it sounds. I have no idea what the song is about.

I'm planning to watch The Concretes at the 9:30 Club tomorrow night. They're a Swedish band I just heard of on NPR's All Songs Considered. Prior to Friday, I had never heard of them. I went to look at the upcoming performancs at the 9:30 Club. I was hoping that Sufjan might be touring. Low and behold, I found they were performing tomorrow. We'll see how they are. Live performances have a tendency to be loud, loud, loud.

It's been a while since I've been to the 9:30 Club, and this is the first time I've gone by myself. I suppose I'd rather go with someone. In fact, I did invite a friend who does go to concerts a fair bit, but he was busy tomorrow.

I want to close by commenting on something interesting. Have you ever recommended music or a movie to someone? It's funny. Most people can make recommendations, but you can tell if someone is interested in those recommendations or not if they counter-recommend. If I recommend that you should listen to X, and you counter by recommending Y, then I have to wonder if either of us will try to listen to the other person's suggestion? We're both in the same boat of trying to convince one another to try something new.

But what one person likes in music, another may dislike or hate. My tastes run to indie music, but I find there's only some music I can listen to over and over again. I've stopped listening to Sufjan, for the most part, after listening to him for a while. I like Sufjan, but at times, I want something faster paced, which is why I like Secret Machines.

Some people prefer their music to be a relentless beat, so they have rap, or techno, or heavy metal. I suppose others prefer something more mellow. One of my coworkers is that way. He likes folk and stuff that seems relaxing. I can go either way honestly, though I started to listen to music far more recently, when about 9 months ago, someone suggested I try listening more often. It helped keep me awake, so I've listened to far more music.

However, unlike many folks, I get all my music legally, meaning I pay for it all. Thus, my collection is far smaller than others, and far less varied. The advantage of downloading all the music you can is that you're willing to try more stuff. Why not? If you have the disk space. Thus, my coworkers list of songs often cover the gamut from pop to rap to music from the 60s and even the occasional classical song.

What I've noticed is that the people around 30 or younger have embraced some form of rap as part of their listening experience. Admittedly, even the indie music scene, which is stereotypically angst-ridden white guys looking for new stuff post-grunge can often find folks like Kanye West or Gorillaz or a few other groups that go beyond the misogynistic lyrics that typify rap.

Those older than that who aren't African American seem to think of this music as black and no-talented. I remember back in college, I knew a suitemate who'd listen to bands like Led Zeppelin, Kansas, Yes, and Pink Floyd. He didn't particularly care for rap, and even saw Beastie Boys as something of white guys making fun of rap. If white guys can make stuff just as good, then it must not be any good.

Much like reality tv shows, hip hop isn't going away, and shows signs that it's being far more widely embraced.

I'm still not sure where I fall in the range of music out there. I just listen and see what I like.