Welcome to the seventh episode of Stuff You Should experience.
I've been away for a very very long time. Poor prioritization and procrastination are some of the few things that I can rest the blame on. To be honest, my frequency of listening to new songs or reading something has diminished over the last few months. So, I had good reasons for not continuing to write this. Arguably, the condition hasn’t improved to a great deal but there was a small (big) trigger that made me write this episode (more on that later).
I think this long break has helped me understand how my music taste has changed, particularly during the pandemic. There was a time when music with lyrics would be the best option from the lot and instrumentals would not appeal me as much. Lone time in the pandemic has changed that view completely. I think much of the credit (or probably blame) goes to meditation. Instrumentals, be it classic or EDM (more like trance), have helped me calm and focus more during completing certain tasks. As a matter of fact, I am listening to one right now. It just clears the mind like anything. More than that, I think instrumentals are the blank canvas of music. Hear me out.
The analogy that I used to make it more relatable to me is this: consider background music in a normal song as the base and the lyrics as the actual filling. Similarly, the blank canvas or the instrumental music is just that. Its more free flowing. The music becomes what you think it is, and this does not happen with the songs that have lyrics. For eg, I’ve meditated with certain songs, had an amazing experience and have played them while partying as well to have another experience altogether. This convergence was really shocking to me.
Are there any such songs in your playlist that are occasion-agnostic (that’s probably not a term)?
Well, it would be cruel if I didn’t share the music that I’ve been yapping about in the last few paragraphs. Let’s get to it right away.
I think the French are the pioneers when it comes to the kind of music that I am talking about. I have come across many French artists who have just blew my mind. It’s a whole new world what artists from that geographical area can do with electronic music.
The first name that features the list is N’to. I know the name sounds a bit different but the music he produces is equally surreal.
Most often I listened to his 2012 album Every Wall Is a Door / The Gloomies. It’s called Every Wall is a Door (is it not? huh)
For the YT link, click here
One of his latest hits is a visual marvel. It’s not only an amazing piece of music but also one of the best music videos I’ve ever watched. It’s called Invisible.
I would highly recommend tuning in to YT and checking this amazing video out.
There’s one more version of the song. You can check it out here. It’s a visual treat as well.
Speaking of visual treats, there are not many videos that make me feel very raw. In the mid 2020, I came across this only music video that managed to win Film Craft Grand Prix at the 2017 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Funnily, I got to know about the award after googling a bit about the video. I just couldn’t believe that a 5 min video could hit me that hard. It had to be spectacular and I could not be the only one who felt that way. It was a very abstract video, it made me feel very raw and primal; something I had not felt in a very very long time. It was as if I was watching the truest animal emotions and it was breathtaking. I just could not not watch it for 1000 more times.
I am talking about the French musical duo, The Blaze. I told you, there’s something about these French artists.
The song I am talking about is none other than their 2017 album, Territory.
The music does not do justice to the masterpiece that its video is. Do check it out here.
If in the future there’s a music category that goes by the name mood enhancer, I think the next song should make that list.
For the YT link, click here.
Something interesting that I read recently
Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator is a great essayist apart from being good at probably 100 other things. I read his essay titled “A Project of One’s Own” recently and I reflected on my past projects that I have started with zeal and abandoned them for not so good or even satisfactory reasons. The list is endless, and the farther back I go, longer the list (of regrets even) becomes. So, this essay triggered me to rekindle this small newsletter with a reader base of 36 people (mostly friends). I don’t think I really cared about the number of people who’d read it. The reason I restarted it is that I didn’t want the inertia to take a bigger room and win, yet again. The essay reminded me of a summer back when I was in 4/5th. A summer, when, just for fun I broke out of work toys and got the motor out to play with. It was a fascination among a few of my friends and I. We would do some stupid things with it like connect it with a pencil cell or with a battery and see how fast we can make it go without FUBARing it. This was at least 4 years before we actually read about motors in our science text books. In the essay, Paul rightly mentions:
It's a bit sad to think of all the high school kids turning their backs on building treehouses and sitting in class dutifully learning about Darwin or Newton to pass some exam, when the work that made Darwin and Newton famous was actually closer in spirit to building treehouses than studying for exams.
There have been many such small side projects that I started for fun and abandoned for no good reason at all. The newsletter was one such “fun” thing. But this time, I decided to do things a bit differently.
If you want to read the essay, it’s available at: http://www.paulgraham.com/own.html
I am not sure how regular I will be with this, but I am surely gonna try.
Have a really nice weekend… :)
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