Musical Seasons

One of the things I love to death about music is the way that just listening to a song can be such a memorable experience that it transports you to where you were when it first really struck you. You can see everything playing out in your mind's eye. This can, of course, be for good or ill. Just as much as that one uproarious song can take you back to an awesome concert experience or a night out with friends, the depressing stuff can just as easily take you back to a failed relationship or a death in the family. It's powerful stuff. When I was studying Philosophy at Boston University as an undergrad, I immediately became enamored with Friedrich Nietzsche, mostly because of what he said about music in The Birth of Tragedy. He talked about how music is the most immediate art form. If you're reading a book or a poem or looking at a painting or sculpture, you can always simply close your eyes and it all goes away. You can't do that with music. You can't close your ears. Sure, things like earplugs exist, but music is persistent, and at the right volume can penetrate even the staunchest of earplugs. And this is why I love music. It's inescapable.

I wanted to throw something out here, which I was reminded of when I put my iPod on shuffle the other day at work. A certain song came on, and it immediately made me think of Winter. Not just the moment that the song first affected me in the winter months, but the actual notion of Winter itself. As an idea. A thing in itself. I started to think about how there are definitely songs or albums I own that immediately evoke the various seasons of the year. And I thought I would share them with everyone.


Fall: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads
Specifically the song "Lovely Creature." There's a detachment to this song. It features a constant, almost galloping series of snare drum rolls backed up by a walking bass line and otherworldly choir. Every now and then, a sharp intrusion by Blixa Bargeld's electric guitar punctures the trancelike rhythm section. This song has always made me think of those chilly fall nights in late October that signal the coming of Halloween. And this isn't even a case of hearing it for the first time in the fall. I bought that album in the summer. A sample lyric: "Oh through the night, through the night/The wind lashed and it whipped me/When I got home, my creature was no longer with me"


Winter: The Knife - Silent Shout
Specifically the title track, "Silent Shout." My brother bought me this album for Christmas two years ago, and I can't help but notice how much of a quintessential winter record this really is. I mean, coming from a duo of Swedish techno artists, you're not surprised that they can make music that chills, but I can't really explain more strongly how much I think of ice when I hear the title track. I just get a picture in my mind of a camera tracking over a large, blank, chilly frozen meadow. It's a song and an album that gets a lot of play for me during the winter months, especially when it snows. Sample lyric: "In a dream I lost my teeth again/Calling me woman and half man/Yes, in a dream all my teeth fell out/A cracked smile and a silent shout"


Spring: The Dresden Dolls - Yes, Virginia
Specifically the song "Backstabber". I always think about those days in March and April where the temperature finally breaks and gets up into that high 50's to mid 60's range. That's my wheelhouse right there. And when it's that temperature and a bright, sunny day, there's nothing nicer than taking a drive with all the windows down. That's made even better if the Dolls are blasting their percussion heavy, bouncy music through the stereo. Their second album is a lot lighter than their first, and it definitely shows. Great spring record for those days where you step outside and just become invigorated. Sample lyric: "You always struck me as the type to take it lightly/But now you're going to have to shut your mouth or fight me"


Summer: Firewater - The Man on the Burning Tightrope
Specifically the song "Dark Days Indeed." I don't think it's possible for me to write a post about music and not bring up Firewater in some fashion. Even still, "Dark Days" is arguably of my college years. The album came out in the summer, and while we didn't adopt it as the anthem of our quad Sophomore year until a different season, it was always a fixture when I would make trips up to Boston over the summers to relax with the crew, have some drinks and dance and sing like idiots to "Dark Days." It's the ultimate drinking song. A chorus that demands sing alongs, great lyrics throughout, a ripping sax solo right in the middle. It's all good. I think for the rest of my life, I'm always going to think about those summer trips whenever "Dark Days" comes up. It's such a defining moment for my social life. And that'll never change. Sample lyric: "We don't know who put this cup/Of life into our hands/But when we go our bones will bake/Upon the burning sands/Cause we walk but once among the living/So no regrets and no forgiving/Hard to dance when you're down upon your knees/And these are Dark Days Indeed"

That felt good. I should write about music more often. But we'll be getting back to VS in the next few days with some new thoughts about my Red Skull preview card from last week in light of Acts of Vengeance, as well as a hopeful tournament report on Bring Your Own Set Modern.