In this Discussion
- agentnumone July 2007
- nerverise9 July 2007
- rain7look July 2007
- target35ghost July 2007
- tune1shade October 2007
Architecture in Helsinki
Ken and I were talking about how we feel music in different places in our body depending on the artist. It varies from person to person, unique as the music. Gogol Bordello's rock settles in between my shoulder blades. I feel a pull in the upper part of my spine when I listen to Arcade Fire. Kimya Dawson makes me feel light in an area right under my stomach. April March is my cheekbones. OK Go was a pull in my knee.
Maybe I'm half-imagining it, but with music I like, I can feel the sounds settle into different parts of my body. There is emptiness with music to which I don't connect.
At first I couldn't understand why I liked Architecture in Helsinki so much. They were a twee band comprised of many members and, lately, when isn't there a new twee band comprised of many members?
But when I listened to them, I felt that familiar pull, right in my sternum. So, I listened. The music can be quiet and light, tingling with bells and bubbles. But the song that got me was "The Owls Go," with the whispered count-off in the beginning to the hand claps and to the slowing ending with people's voices coming in left and right.
Still, as it happens,
Their new album, "Places Like This" just came out. I haven't heard the whole thing, but if the single Heart It Races is anything to judge it by, the album is amazing. I haven't been able to stop listening to is and the music video is strangely simple, but may be one of my favorite of all time (after the White Stripes' "Hardest Button to Button").
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2bqsWU1R3k
Feel it?
NOTE! Even if Architecture in Helsinki isn't your cup of tea, tell me about music that pulls you. Where do you feel it? Do you feel something in your feet? the tips of your fingers? your pinkie toe? Share share share
Comments
"Places Like This" is so good, it's my favorite album by them.
I think it's best to just go with it.
I think their song "Souvenirs" is on a Sprint commercial . . . well its on some commercial. First time I saw it [which happened to be at the Transformers film . . . . SUCKED], I became extremely excited and yelled, "I LOVE THIS BAND!!!!"
Weird looks ensued, and I was content.
That is, until Transformers started . . . but that's a different story.
I haven't taken much notice, but I think I feel all music that I enjoy in my sternum. And everything I don't in my throat, as a sort of irritant.
Actually, I feel Don't Ask Me in my hips. Maybe there's more to this body music thing than I first thought. I'm going to look into this....
Especially when they're live.
Go see them!
Yeah! They're with a group who make all those complex pictures with glow-sticks and extended shutter time or whatever the technical term is. I started singing along with the beat when the first time I saw it come on and didn't realize until halfway through. Commercials have taken a liking to indie bands, though nothing upset me as much as hearing Iron&Wine's cover of "Such Great Heights" on a fucking M&Ms commercial. Seriously. Almost as bad as Modest Mouse on that car commercial. Seriously. Advertisers should go back to making corny jingles. I would definitely buy more stuff if everything had a jingle.
Yeah! I noticed most people feel things in their chest.
Like Jade, I get especially strong feelings at concerts. (Using the prior examples, at the OK Go concerts I've been to, I always accidentally knee someone because I feel the need to keep time with my knee, where I feel their music. Whereas at the Arcade Fire show, I felt like I was being lifted by my top vertebrae.)
Alice, the comment about feeling the music you don't like in your throat was pretty cool! I usually don't feel anything, just kind of hollow (i.e. no pull).
holy shite. i saw that guy in the kapris, blue shirt and beard on the subway today. im about 75% sure.
Imma listen when I get home. But I love the massive band thing... it makes everything sound bigger ... it does have that effect to make you feel moved, Its the small things that get you but when it all comes together its just magic.
House music pulls me. you feel it everywhere.
Prince. he tugs at my ribcage.
Sebastien Grainger's got me going mad. My heart for sure... *sigh*
(after almost getting lost on the bus and forming a hipster task force with the hipsters next to us who were also going to the concert in order to find out where we were)
It was fantastic. When listening to them, everyone danced like they would if they were alone in their room, even the members of the band. Absolutely fantastic. They finished up with Heart it Races and I just danced my little heart out.