Music Exposure (part 1)

So, about all that good music…

Please give all of these a listen. You can’t judge any of them by what the others sound like. And don’t judge the videos. Many of them don’t have official videos. Some may be fan made, or not exist at all. And some may just be plain bad. I’m also linking to the artists’ official sites when I can. I was going to only do one song per artist, but I found myself “having” to include two for many of these, so I just decided to increase the default number of songs to include.

AfroCelt Sound System

First up is “Lagan” by the AfroCelt Sound System, from their album Volume 3: Further in Time. ACSS began as a project at a Recording Week at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios. These Recording Weeks took advantage of the large population of musicians from all over the world around the time of the annual WOMAD festival, and led to some very interesting musical pairings. ACSS is a fine example, as Simon Emmerson had the idea of merging traditional music from the British Isles with that of western Africa. This first song is followed by “Riding the Waves,” which is from the same album, but showcases an entirely different feel.

[Be sure to continue reading after the break below the videos!]

Speak Geek: Music, or “Tear Down the Wall!”

Since my new iPod arrived this morning, I figure I’ll contribute to the Speak Out With Your Geek Out movement today by talking about my love of music. For more about the Speak Geek campaign, see their website or my previous post about it.

Unlike many music aficionados, I did not grow up with a strong musical background. My parents listened to music sparingly, and usually only as background noise on the few occasions when it would play. I don’t remember now whether I disliked radio because I didn’t like most of the music, or because of the endless commercials (both are reasons I still despise radio for the most part). My older brother was more into music than I was, but I was still generally unimpressed.

At one point, probably in 2nd or 3rd grade, my mother signed my brother and myself up for the Columbia Record Club. I could pick a few cassettes (remember those?) out of their catalog, and have them delivered by mail. This was an awesome prospect for me! I get to pick my own music, and get mail? What kid doesn’t like getting mail? The problem was apparent as I looked through the pages of album covers. I had no idea what any of these albums were, who the artists were. I remember selecting a Night Ranger album because I liked the band name, and a Billy Joel album because I recognized his name (I don’t think I had any idea of his music beyond the name). I don’t remember if it was in my first order or a subsequent one, but eventually I stumbled on “Weird Al” Yankovic.