Sunday spotlight: Elbow

So, a friend of mine messaged me today with a suggestion. She asked if I could, in the hope that she might learn something new, blog about some of the bands I've explored and grown to like.

Now, I'll admit off the bat I'm not a very trivial person when it comes to musical knowledge. I don't really care about genres, sub-genres, dates and such but rather focus that zing into pure listening. But still, my first thought? Fantastic idea! I'm all for educational purposes. Hell, I'm even pro-mixtape. And I do believe she called me a 'guru' on the subject, which inherently tickled the ego of this audiohead and lead me to agree. And, you know, there's always Google, Wikipedia and such to draw upon and give the illusion I might know something. Ok, so it might be a field trip for yours truly also.

Then I started thinking. Everyone knows Metallica, right? So maybe I should focus on some of the lesser-known groups that are out there. Not necessarily at grassroots, but with the bar being set to "Metallica" I think I'll be safe regarding the volume of bands. Enough being said, let's start with Elbow.

They're a relatively new addition to my collection. When I first heard of them it was through my former colleague, and a present dear friend, in the June of 2011, just weeks before he was set to go see them at Ruisrock, a rock festival where they have so far made their only appearance on Finnish soil. This story ends up with me agreeing to drive him and his friend to the concert and back without actually going to see the show. And although their alcohol-fueled Chewbacca-impressions on a 24-hour roadside gas station at 4 o'clock in the morning have nothing to do with it, it is a story I regret to this day. Buy the ticket to see the show, ok people? Always buy the ticket.

Hailing from Manchester England, Elbow play easily identifiable alternative rock. Their songs are usually slow tempo in the style of Radiohead, with much emphasis given to keyboards and percussion. Singer Guy Garvey manages to produce a dreamlike sound that is very much to my liking. The music asks much from it's listener: they hardly produce party music. But I've discovered that the more you give them, the more they give back.

Now, some of you looking at the discography listed below might already find where the author of this blog took his name from. Even more so, I challenge you to get a hold of the track listing on that album and find even more similarities.

Discography:
Asleep in the Back (2001)
Cast of Thousands (2003)
Leaders of the Free World (2005)
The Seldom Seen Kid (2008)
Build a Rocket Boys! (2011)
Dead in the Boot (compilation) (2012)

elbow that i listened to while blogging. [via Spotify]

"When words leave off, music begins."

These words uttered by 19th century German poet Heinrich Heine are, imho, the single greatest summarisation anyone has used to describe music. Ever. I imagine it was a moment proud & wise, definitely one for the books.

So I'm what you might call a heavy consumer, an audiohead I've dubbed myself. And I consider myself pretty darn good at it. A healthy dose of self-praise seems appropriate here. Based on my last.fm account (which I avoided joining until February this year), I scrobble on average over 150 plays per week. And that's counting the tracks that playback from start to finish, point zero till the very last second. Add the stuff I don't keep track of, and the numbers might double. But that's just statistics I wanted to illustrate my point with, they have no particular meaning to me. Quality over quantity, as with all.

I totally get what Heinrich meant though. At it's best, music really can be an extension of speech. A way to communicate without borders or language barriers. Means to bring out feelings and emotions that mere words define. Even set out entire mood scenarios that affect the way people react to them. But also, and this is equally as important, entertain the hell out of people. That's the power of music.

I owe much of my love for music to my family. Even more so to my stepfather of 18 years. You know how there's a difference between hearing and listening? That's what happened to me once I hit my teen years. Suddenly hearing turned into listening. Listening turned into understanding, and out of understanding grew love. Of course, his taste in music was and is mostly 80's hard rock and heavy metal, so my breeding ground was set with the likes of Iron Maiden, Dio, Tarot, Peer Günt, Ozzy Osbourne and Motörhead.

And then there's my older brother. Outgrowing me by 9 years, he was obviously my go-to guy when looking at example. In fact, some of my earliest childhood memories include him and this big yellow cardboard box he had, full of cassettes that defined the era of late 80's / early 90's. Metallica, Anthrax, Suicidal Tendencies, Overkill, Megadeth and Faith No More spring to mind. So I listened alongside him. Even though I couldn't understand what they sang about. Sometimes I would ask him to translate, and note that the lyrics seemed funny to me at the time. But to this day some of those bands still belong to my heart and my record collection. So the seed was planted.

Moving into modern times, what really revolutionised my taste acquired was the introduction of streaming platforms, or Spotify. Wow! Suddenly it felt like I had the musical reach of a giant. And that feeling remains. What most people use as a platform for listening, I do for learning. I keep active. New bands, new genres, new experiences, click, click, click. How else is one able to evolve? And in the process of all this, after a few years, I realised just how much my preference had indeed unconsciously shifted and expanded. It's quite staggering really, to change one's musical identity. And while it might be the biggest cliche to state your music taste as "all kinds", at the same time it's been the most liberating thing I've gotten to experience. Breaking out of genre-oriented preferences might've been as educational of an experience than most of the school I attended. Which is not saying much though, because I was a poor attendee. Really rubbish.

Ok, I might've exaggerated to make a point. But since then I really did notice the amazing variety that reminded me why I fell in love with music in the first place and brought back much of the same feeling I had during my previously mentioned teens. Hearing turned into listening, turned into understanding, grew into love once more. And it keeps on happening.

Honestly. What greater feeling can there be?

Go out there and be passionate about it!

a playlist of what i listened to whilst writing. [via Spotify]