Hey there, this is the "music" page! In here, i'll yap about music i like, post some reviews and maybe analyze some peculiar and noticeable things i've found in tracks.
Updates will, as always, be posted on the Blog whenever I can.
Do you hear the music ?
There are some bands out there that you just hope make history. Their music has so much work, passion and time into it, blended into a few minutes of masterfully produced musical perfection. Hours, days, weeks invested into a single album or song, evry instant a retelling of an experience one can only imagine to be drug-filled, either heartbroken or hopeful, or simply fun. The BJM is a band that successfully fulfills these criterias, and does more, despite an incredily rocky history.
While the story of the band is, well, complicated to say the least (around 50 musicians have joined and left the band in its 35-year history), this will be a theme for another article, maybe a YouTube video essay. I'd like to, in here, talk about their music.
Some sounds have disappeared from the mainstream music scene, some were never present. What band has a token tambourine player, or could feature in the same song sitars, flutes and a taishogoto ? This is one of the main quirk of the BJM : the use of sounds unheard of, reminiscent of the 60's underground scene, shoegaze inspiration, sometimes pop rock, often noisy, complex, droning and spacey psychedelic vibes filling the listener's ears. The BJM has no definite genre : from one album to the other, the themes vary, and the genre evolves, and still, there remains a unique vibe. The creativity of people like Anton Newcombe (the band's founder and most prominent memeber) exceeds conventional genre barriers and cages in whic bands are confined, allowing, out of everything shitty the music industry has producedn, the emergence of passionate music.
This may be the main driving force for the BJM. Producing music, transmitting an experience, a story.
When listening to albums like "Methodrone" or "...And this is our Music", with songs like Anemone, You Look Great When I'm Fucked Up, Feel It, or Here comes the witing for the sun, you can only feel the pain and sorrow, the sadness and depression that lie within addiction, love and novelty. The story told in some songs is completely dissonant with the melody, the tempo. Everything is done in harmony, sometimes without lyrics, transforming these few minutes of music into a nearly spiritual experience.
Everything reeks of mastery, of creativity, of renewal. the BJM's music is an ode to everything beautiful, unapologetic good sound. It's engaging music, creation, by Anton Newcombe, for Anton Newcombe, and everyone who listens.
The BJM is one of my favorite bands of all time, probably the band who'se music i listen to the most, and has one of the largest musical range ever. I heavilly recomend you go have a listen.
"Not for You" was released by Pearl Jam in 1995 and is, in my humble opinion, one of the band's greatest track. The 5 minutes and 50 seconds of this song feel much too short for what is expressed through the lyrics, as this song expresses a rage the likes I've never encountered before.
Vocalist and songwriter Eddie Vedder has expressed before (thx Wikipedia) that the song was about middlemen stealing the band's music, making it part of a marketing campaign that contributes to destroy youth. His music becomes the industry's, a tool to bring in customers.
But something more comes to mind when reading the lyrics. This stealing process is not a slow, creeping one like Marx's alienation of the proletariate. This is proper theft, borderline robbery. It's the industry coming in, seizing any occasion to take everything in a virgin mind and corrupt it. It's a shout against middlemen, a cry for help from the youth feeling the corruption coming.
And there is nothing to do when it comes to that. Expressing yourself is at the cost of selling out, becoming a part of the industry: don't do something you hate, don't fight back or else you become a part of it. One can only enjoy his youth while it lasts, while it's virginity is safe from the oncoming sorrows.
In such, there remains a question: what to do? If you can't fight back nor protest, what actions can you do without digging a deeper grave for yourself to be buried in? Well, do things for you. Don't do it for others, don't do it for success, do it because you want to. In such, you show that none of your works were meant to be corrupted. "This is not for you" is both a scream at the industry, but also a scream to the listener. "Fuck you, you who listens to a medium the industry uses to control you. And fuck you, industry that steals my life, my essence, for the green, godly dollar".
This song is phenomenal, both in writing and execution. The guitar solos are awesome, the drums are spot on, and the singing conveys the full rage the band expresses against the industry. If you can, go have a listen : "Not for You", Vitalogy by Pearl Jam.
Sources: Wikipedia, Genius, and my opinions. These are my thoughts, and they represent only my interpretation.