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I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music… I get most joy in life out of music.” – Albert Einstein

Personal musings, writings, and reflections about music.

Tergiversate: El Ten Eleven self-titled debut

Tergiversate: El Ten Eleven self-titled debut

2020 September 20 / / 0 Comments

This El Ten Eleven article is part of my Tervigersate column on my blog, where I review albums by musicians spanning multiple genres. Articles introduce an album and give my interpretation of their meaning.

El Ten Eleven is a duo consisting of Kristian Dunn on strings and Tim Fogarty and drums. Plus several loop pedals! El Ten Eleven’s debut self-titled album released on September 20th, 2005 (even though Dunn says the album released in late 2004). This makes 2020 the 16th anniversary of their debut album in the twenty-first century post-rock scene.

This entry in Tergiversate reviews the history and background of the album and offers a personal perspective on one of my favorite music albums. Let’s take a look at El Ten Eleven!

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How five Queen songs went mainstream in totally different ways

How five Queen songs went mainstream in totally different ways

2018 October 16 / / 0 Comments

Originally published on the MusicBrainz blog.

Making graphs is easy. Making intuitive, easy-to-understand graphs? It’s harder than most people think. At the Rochester Institute of Technology, the ISTE-260 (Designing the User Experience) course teaches the language of design to IT students. For an introductory exercise in the class, students are tasked to visualize any set of data they desire. Students David Kim, Jathan Anandham, Justin W. Flory, and Scott Tinker used the MusicBrainz database to look at how five different Queen songs went mainstream in different ways.

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Tergiversate: Abysma by Geotic

Tergiversate: Abysma by Geotic

2018 March 19 / / 0 Comments

This article is part of my Tervigersate column on my blog, where I review albums by musicians spanning multiple genres. Articles introduce an album and give my interpretation of their meaning.

The next album to spotlight in Tergiversate is Abysma by Los Angeles-based Geotic, a.k.a. Will Wiesenfeld. Abysma is the ninth studio album released by Geotic. It debuted on March 31, 2017. The album could be described as a cross between an electronica and indie pop. For Wiesenfeld’s first début on a record label with his side project Geotic, he makes a bold and eccentric presence with Abysma.

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Tergiversate: Demon Days by Gorillaz

Tergiversate: Demon Days by Gorillaz

2018 January 16 / / 0 Comments

The first album to début in my Tergiversate music column isn’t a new album, but it’s an album with a meaning that evolves and changes over time into something new. Demon Days is the second studio album released by Gorillaz in 2005. Demon Days is officially classified as alternative hip hop, but it’s better described as a fusion of styles and genres, rolled together. Some tracks hang true to the underground hip hop sounds from the first album, others to a pop-ish sound found in their third album, and others are completely unique to Demon Days.

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Tergiversate: Introducing music review column

Tergiversate: Introducing music review column

2017 December 27 / / 0 Comments

Music is a key part of my life. I spend a lot of time listening and analyzing music. However, music is as much a personal experience as it is a social one too. In music, an artist shares their perspective and experience with the listener. The listener, in turn, shares music with others. In my experience, some of the best music recommendations have come from friends or from other music fans. Thus, I’m happy to announce Tergiversate, a new column on my blog that celebrates great music and the role it plays in documenting culture and society.

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All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone (2007) by Explosions in the Sky

Converting sounds into words: All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone

2016 October 20 / / 2 Comments

The dancer gracefully glides across the stage, with a slow but determined gait radiant with purpose. The movement is not her own, but neither is it forced. The sound uncoils itself as a rope and instructs the dancer forward, synchronizing her movement with the delicate pressure of the pianist’s fingers. There is no consciousness, no concept of time. The moment is forever captured in the combination of auditory and visual perception. Without a single spoken word, an emotion is tearing at the seams of the casual observer.

Converting the sounds of music into words is a difficult task. It is more difficult task when the sounds of the music lack lyrics. It is possible, but a difficult task even for the most skilled linguist. Yet the embedded meaning, value, and transmission of emotion present in the music speaks a thousand words in the human heart. What makes this so difficult to describe? I am still searching for an answer to this question, but Explosions in the Sky makes it easier for me by providing All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, their fourth album. Originally released in 2007, the Texas-based band shares an irreplaceable part of human psyche and emotional strength through their six-track escapade. More solemn than my previous musical tribute, I take my own interpretation of this timeless album.

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Halo 3: ODST Original Soundtrack review and recommendation

Tribute to the Halo 3: ODST soundtrack

2016 May 2 / / 0 Comments

The time is nearing 2:00am on a Wednesday morning. Outside is dark, a swirling mist of rain and blurred lights. As I stare out the window, the white light from my laptop illuminates my face. Around me, a room that is as quiet as the deserted roads and parking lots I see from my window. This is the scene that surrounds me as I listen to the 2009 Halo 3: ODST Original Soundtrack. Anyone who knows me well knows that I love the Halo series, especially the music that surrounds it.

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