Tuesday, February 20, 2007

"My Favorite Music" as asked by Blogger

Below is a short essay on my understanding of music, as asked by Blogger to write in my profile. Unfortunately, I wrote too much, so it now posts here!

The origins of my understanding of (dissection and synthesis) and obsession with music stems from Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. I was vividly documented by my father as to be “happily bouncing up and down on my butt” upon listening the tumultuous drum sections of the piece at the age of one. Despite my lack of memory during this occasion, and the lack of trust of my father’s observations, I proceeded to watch Disney’s Fantasia at the age of 11, and was completely and utterly “sold” upon watching the “Origins of the Universe and Life on Earth” cartoon, which was coupled again with… Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. I intensely played piano from age 10-15, learning several classical pieces (in addition to my grumbling about going through long pages of piano theory homework, which I ironically found out a decade later this information to be incredibly useful). A few years ago, based on the Rite of Spring, I formulated the four elements of music that makes a piece or a song mentally addictive and transcendent upon all other forms of “white noise" (well, at least to me): the unique combinations of (1) beat, (2) melody, (3) drama, and (4) it tells a story. I won’t go to anymore nuance detail. In terms of modern artists, I partially-to-marginally affiliate with several artists, with a limited list presented here: Nick Drake, Alexi Murdoch, White Stripes, Enya, Coldplay, Moby, Madonna, Chere, Bjork, and among several others I can’t think of at the moment. When I first started creating my own music, I most affiliated myself with Nick Drake and White Stripes: simple melody, simple sounds, simple messages—fundamentally beautiful. By the time I finished my first three songs, I realized that I have the greatest appreciation of Bjork, and I think I’m rapidly heading toward her direction of style: extremely experimental, classically melodic, but also very mystically tribal. When I first heard Bjork’s work, I thought “what in the hxll is this?” But after undergoing the process of creating music, I can’t help being in awe that I would relate to her music and messages the most. My mental evolution with music is currently very rapid, so I’m sure my tastes and flavors will change by the week. At this moment in space and time, my style of music is classical mixed with tribalism at the core of organization, with frothy sprits of jazz, RnB, and hip hop sounds—all of this combines to form songs that could pass off most appropriately for movie sound tracks. Oh well for spontaneous musical organization in my brain! Stay tuned in my evolution! (By the way, my currently one-chic band name is called Stokastika. One day, I will tell you the story of how all this came about. In short, the word is a term found in statistics textbooks. In short, the word "stokastika" to me means the seeking of order from chaos.)