Friday, May 3, 2013

New music can be comforting, too

In Nablopomo for May: Comfort, I quoted the email from Nablopomo, which mentioned compiling "an enormous, crowd-sourced playlist of the best songs to bring comfort."  I'll get to the song later.  Right now, I present a video from Discovery News on YouTube, Why New Music Feels Amazing, explaining why new music can give comfort, too.

Ever heard a song for the first time and fallen in love? As Trace tells us, there's a biological reason for why new music feels so good.
For an example of a new song that fits an already existing and comfortable template, I offer "The United States of Eurasia" by Muse, in which Muse does a really great Queen impression.


This is the second time I've posted a Muse song.  The first was Blackout.  I'm beginning to like the band's music, even if I think their subject matter is suspect.

4 comments:

  1. I find I enjoy Muse as well. It definitely has the occasional Queen feel, but it's definitely much darker.

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    1. First, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! When I get more paleontology material, I'll post it.

      Second, they are indeed darker, and that's because of what I call their 'suspect subject matter.' The song titles refer to conspiracy theories. MK Ultra comes to mind; that's about an alleged attempt at mind control. Knights of Cydonia refers to the location of the Face on Mars. The songwriter is a bit kooky!

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  2. Narb had never heard this before, but the wailing guitar over block vocal chords is trademark Queen. It has to be a deliberate homage.

    Narb prefers the Knights Templar to the Knights Cydonian.

    No synthesizers!

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    1. You may not have heard this version of it before, but you may have heard another arrangement of this song. The UCLA Marching Band played it along with MK Ultra, Resistance, and Knights of Cydonia in a Muse halftime show in 2010. That's how I discovered Muse.

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