Music It Will Set You Free

Music My Saviour

It has been a long time. I have been busy working so I never got the chance to write a new blog in a while. But I have been thinking about writing this one for a while now. I think it came to me while I was being subjected to the worst radio station anyone could hope to never want to listen to. It was the same playlist every hour. I swear you would hear the same songs at least five times a day. And get to hear it all again the next day. Luckily we were allowed to listen to our own iPods or phones (how much music can you fit on a phone? I've been through this before) or any music box you might have.

Play this Playlist as you read:

It was this juxtaposition of my own awesome music compared to the drivel on the radio that gave me the idea to write this blog about music in general. Now I know everyone has different tastes in music and not everyone can be as enlightened as me but since this is my blog I can write what I want. If you don't like it then you can write your own blog and I won't read it.

I came up with some very insightful stuff and amazing analogies to describe music but I forgot to write them down because I thought my enormous brain could store it all but I think it's all gone now. Oh well. If it comes back to me I'll put it in here.

I believe that music can make you feel something. Shit music can make you feel hatred or pity towards the people "singing" it. But REAL music by actual talented artists can make you feel something more within than without. Does that make sense?

One of the things I love to do is to walk through town listening to Amon Amarth. I am alone and an outsider to the people in town but I don't feel alone because I am in my own world. It's the best place to be. To some, music is an outlet or it has helped them through hard times. While I have never really had a hard time to get through I have found that certain music by certain bands have made me feel... INVINCIBLE.

Of course Ash went to the guy with a bigger beard than mine.

Walking through town listening to Amon Amarth I feel this way. Songs about Vikings and their battles makes me feel like one of them. I have no problem singing along as I walk and to hell with anyone who notices. They can't stop me. Lamb of God do it for me too. I think it's because of the emotion and aggression that their songs exude. Take their song "Overlord" for example, You would never think it was Randy Blythe singing but it just shows the talent the man has. After years of growling vocals he comes out with some clean singing. This also gives the heaviness, that the song veers into, even more impact.

But metal doesn't always need to be aggressive. It can be fun. It can have a groove to make you move. Check out "Bricks and Mortar" by Cancer Bats. A song that also has the message to save the record stores. But I guess they've never tried looking for anything decent in a record shop in Ireland. It's no wonder HMV went under. The fucking shit they sell. And they have fun with their videos. "Sabotage" for example has the band looking for The Beastie Boys to be in their video.

Music doesn't have to be serious either. There are so many different genres of metal and they all have their own style which makes it easy to take the piss out of them. Evil Scarecrow are a metal band but they write songs about robots, mutant crabs and going crazy in space. If a pop act tried to satirize metal they would get their ass handed to them. But because Evil Scarecrow are a metal band formed by metal fans they can get away with it and we respect that and we're all in on the joke because it's our lifestyle to make fun of.

Red Fang have some of the best videos. "Prehistoric Dog" is one of my favourite songs and videos from them. And in "Wires" they just drive their car into a bunch of stuff. We are serious about our music but we know how to have fun with it too.

"Darkness Within" by Machine Head is a love song. Not a typical "I miss you and I think you left our love child in my heart" kind of love song. But a love song to music itself. You may lose your faith in a god but music will always be there for you.

"Because god is in these clef and tone
Salvation is found alone
Haunted by its melody
Music it will set you free"


It's all these feelings that music gives us that has made it one of the most shared and argued about forms of art. I do respect other people's taste in music. I mean, I probably would never have listened to Tom Waits if it wasn't for Aishling. But then she may never have gone on a musical journey with Mastodon if it wasn't for me. And this is what music is about. Showing people that there are more forms of this art out there. Giving people another way to feel things. It may not be the same as what we feel but then that is what makes us individuals.

"Yeah, He knows who's drivin'"

I will not, however, acknowledge pop music as an art form. Some may argue that some acts are real "artists" but that's your retarded view to live with. Pop music is just like McDonalds. It's mass produced with nothing of value in it just to be consumed and shit out ready for the next sad excuse of a meal. There's no point in arguing that with me because I am too stubborn to listen. Plus, it's just scientific fact.

If you listened to the playlist I left at the top, and if you read slow enough, then you should be onto Down as I finish this now. I decided to end on Down because out of all the bands I love and listen to only Down has ever made me feel something no other band has been able to do. Or not made me feel. Whenever I am upset, angry, annoyed or whatever, I can listen to Down and I always feel better. I find it impossible to be sad when listening to them. I guess they centre me. Don't ask me why but that's how it is.

I like to ask people that if they could only ever listen to one song for the rest of their lives what would it be? No matter what music you heard anywhere, in a shop, on a radio, you would only ever hear that one song. Stone the Crow by Down is mine. If you want you can comment what yours would be. Maybe you will introduce me to new music in the way that I may have done for you.

"Come on. Leave a comment"

We're the Guardians... Guardians of the Galaxy

Kiss My Ashes Goodbye

"Curse all those who were so vain..."

I wasn't planning on doing a review of the Guardians of the Galaxy film but Aishling said I should. Also if anyone is having doubts about going to see it I hope this will help make up your mind. Because you really need to see it. At least twice. I hope to go see it for a third time next week. And when it finally comes out on blu-ray I will buy it and watch it many more times.

When was the last time you watched a film over and over? I asked Ash that question the other day. She said Jurassic Park and Aladdin. Myself? I can't remember. That's what happens when you turn 26. And I'll be turning 26 again in a couple of weeks. The problem with growing up/the internet is that there is too much stuff available to you. It even makes it hard to listen to an album. Damn iPod shuffle. But the youth are keeping the joy alive. A few weeks ago my sister told me how her friend's kid watched our DVD of My Neighbour Totoro so much that the disc wore out. That's dedication. And the perfect film to wear out. And my DVD. Will I get a replacement, Michelle?

He needs a rest after all that.

Enough about my lost youth. It only reminds me of all the awesome toys I used to have and was too young to realise how much I'd want them now. I was watching Toy Story 3 today and I was just thinking that even though Andy didn't want to play with his toys any more because he was going to college, in another 10 years he'd wish he still had them. I don't know how a film review ended up as a pathos of childhood.

"Who felt entitled to hold a place on the earth..."

A bit of background on the comic from what I can remember reading from Wikipedia and for those who just want a Cliff-notes version:
The Guardians in the film are not the original Guardians from the comic. Yondu, played by Michael rooker who is never bad in anything or in real life, was one of the original members of the 1969 Guardians. He did have a bigger mohawk in the comics and a bow to go with his arrow but he did also whistle to control the arrow. The Guardians in the film are based on the 2008 reboot cast. If you've seen the film you know Rocket's background but in the comics he was actually genetically modified, along with other animals, to look after the mentally ill people of the planet.

Chris would be a helpful Rocket Raccoon.

If you're one of the people who have a problem with Marvel movies you need to know that just because this is from Marvel it doesn't exactly feel like one. There are links to the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe, with a couple of characters appearing, but because this was more of a test James Gunn was able to have Funn with it (you like that?). And he had a tremendous amount of fun making it. If Captain America was too serious and Thor 2 was too lovey for you then this has the balance of neither.

It's like when the singer of a band you love goes and does a side project. They have fun doing something different and that is what inevitably makes the side project better. Just like when Phil Anselmo formed Down. Now that I've gotten onto music (how did that happen?) I will talk about the soundtrack for the film. It is the greatest soundtrack ever. Myself and others have been listening to it constantly. I'm listening to it now while writing this. It just proves how much better music was until record companies/indie bands/emos/pretentious-cunts-with-full-stops-in-their-name got involved and eventually ruined everything magical about music. Tarantino knows how to use a song to make a scene better. The end of The Devil's Rejects was infinitely better for having Skynyrd's Free Bird. But then Free Bird would make anything better. Except Transformers. That shit is a lost cause.

 "As a grave for their remains"

Just like the other Marvel films the casting for Guardians was spot on. Although I do think Odin should have been played by Brian Blessed but at least Anthony Hopkins tried harder in Thor 2. As a wrestling fan I never really liked Dave Bautista's Batista character. Especially when he returned this year after going Hollywood and was just a skinny jean wearing douche character of himself. But in Guardians he was one of the best characters being that he was literal about everything that was said. I was pleasantly surprised. Lee Pace was unrecognisable as Ronan the Accuser. It was a real change of character for him. Who knew a pie maker could be so evil? For anyone who has seen Parks & Recreation you will know just how good Chris Pratt is. The man writes his own songs in the show. Just listen to his song about the Jean-Claude van Damme film Sudden Death:

http://youtu.be/2aVbW-bnnEA

I couldn't get the embed code for it and NBC are asses for not allowing outsiders to watch their videos. But watch it. You will not be disappointed. It's as if the Star-Lord character was created for him. Or he was created for it. Either way we deserved it. The only other person I could think of playing Star-Lord would be Nathon Fillion (did you spot him in the film?) but maybe he could be Star-Lord's dad?

Andy likes that idea too.

I won't say any more about it now. Just go and watch it. Again and again. It also has the single best dance sequence of any film. Yes, even better than Hot Rod's. When I do get the Guardians on blu-ray I think I will have to have a double bill screening of it and Pacific Rim back-to-back. Now that is what life is about.

"But no monument for me, please... I am not one of them..."

If you were astute enough to notice the name of this post you might have figured out that it's paraphrasing Amon Amarth whom myself and Aishling got to meet last week. It was a really awkward time but one that I enjoyed because I got to meet one of my favourite bands. I even got the first album of theirs I ever bought signed by them. With Oden On Our Side. No matter how awkward it was I still wouldn't change it. Thanks for winning the competition, Ash. Now win me one so we can meet Mastodon.

"I didn't need it in life, I won't need it in death"

That will be it for now. You'll have to absorb this blog slowly to tide you over until the next one. And watch Parks & Recreation in the meantime. You'll need more Chris Pratt until the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel comes out in 2017.

Recommendation: Zodiac
David Fincher's very tense and very true to life story of the Zodiac killer(s).

Now go away. And remember, if you're doing the ice bucket challenge, no one gives a fuck. Certainly not these awesome badasses: