In honor of the recent equinox, I’ve composed “Four Seasonal Sketches,” a set of four pieces that depict each season.
Yeah, Vivaldi, I know it doesn’t sound boldly original. However, I added an extra element: a video in which my surroundings change in accordance with each season. This includes pleasant seasonal phenomena as well as a wide variety of natural disasters. I’m not sure how my piano survived the elements.
This idea came to me while living in Japan, a country where walls are thin, insulation is lacking, and central heating and cooling systems are non-existent. Even indoors, one cannot escape the raw winter cold and merciless summer heat. This over-exposure to the seasonal flux inspired me to create this video.
While capturing the essence of each season, at the same time I tried to make the pieces as different from one another as possible. You’ll hear classical, jazz, 20th-century, and several genres I don’t know the names of. Sit back and enjoy the four seasons condensed into 3 minutes and 23 seconds.
Hey, random question for you–what’s your favorite song by Jacky Cheung? Here’s Grant’s:
It’s an exciting year for music. We’ve begun very well with some brilliance already reaching our airwaves, including some great offerings from Field Music, Air and Bombay Bicycle Club.
Sometimes such expectations come with huge disappointment, such as the much anticipated debut from the hugely promising Lana Del Rey. Born to Die was weak and predictable and was torn to shreds in most every media outlet.
While she is shy and nervous live, there is something endearing about her. Or was, before the album tanked and ruined all potential in the eyes of many.
Before we get started, please be warned that this list is of the Top 10 Cover Songs That Improve On The Original. Do not be mislead. This list will not contain All Saints covering “Under the Bridge,” The Corrs covering Fleetwood Mac or the latest X-Factor finalist miming whatever heartfelt love song they decide on this year.
So, to be clear, you will not see “These Boots Are Made For Walkin,” the mindless, over-sexified Jessica Simpson version.
Why the hell is there a sacrilegious salsa beat in the verse? Kill me.
I’m a musician who plays all the parts of the songs I record, and I decided I wanted to put one of my songs on youtube. So I figured I’d make a little artwork with the name of the song on it just so there would be a static image on the screen to go along with the song.
At the last minute, I remembered that I had some nature footage I’d shot in the summertime and I wondered if any of it would fit into the song. “I’ll just spend a few extra minutes,” I told myself. Nine days later, I was finished!
I ran out of my own footage quickly enough and then scanned the Internet for free or public domain footage that I could use in my video. As I searched and worked, a definite story unfolded and slowly revealed itself to me. Each and every one of the cuts in this video moves and changes in tandem with the music, which was no small feat! When I watch the video now, it’s hard to believe that my original intentions were so simple.
One of the youtube comments said that it reminded them of Koyaanisqatsi. I had no idea what this was, so I looked it up and watched it. I certainly wasn’t trying to be derivative, but I can see the connection.
Now if anyone enjoys this video and decides to check out any of the other 28 videos on my channel, expecting a bit of inspiration and intelligence, I will have to apologize in advance!
It’s pretty easy to get very tired of Christmas songs by the time Christmas rolls around. I mean, how many freaking times can one listen to Silent Night? Uh, no offense to Anyone who might be listening….
There is a reason why you hear Christmas songs endlessly in every store from mid-November until New Years: People spend more money when they hear them! It’s a proven fact. That is why you are going to continue to hear Christmas songs in every public place you visit for at least 6 weeks a year. Merry Christmas, I guess.
Below are the 10 funniest Christmas songs, in our humble opinion, anyway. These are ones you probably don’t hear every time you walk into a Walmart. Thank God.
#10. I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas!
This classic will be remembered by people in their 50s and older. It was written by John Rox and was sung by a 10 year-old named Gayla Peevey in 1953. It actually made it to #24 on Billboard’s pop charts in 1953.
Other people who sang a version of this amusing tune were the 3 Stooges, and also Dr. Demento.
What can go wrong with a Christmas song about massaging a ‘hippo hero’? Works for us.
