Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Discovering New Music

Because we live in an international community, we're not only learning and picking up many new phrases, but we're also being introduced to new movies and music.  I haven't always had a love of music.  My family, because of how they were raised, actually many times prefer silence to song.  My mom, even in the car, drives in complete silence.  I think there is something to silence.  It allows your mind to wander, and frees your mind from the girdle and constraints of noise.  Being able to sit with yourself in complete silence commodiously is a skill in itself, something that I continue to struggle with, even to this day, as do most people in industrialized nations. So because I was raised in a family without much music, I was never up to date with the latest musicians.  My music education came in the form of my next door neighbor, who introduced me to the sounds of the radio.  She was appalled when I informed her, I'd only ever heard soft rock.  Today, I mostly listen to music while cooking, eating dinner or cleaning, and occasionally working out, although I've almost completely switched to podcasts.  One evening, as our international gang lounged on our couch, we began discussing musicians.  The lethargic mood lifted to an elevated one, as each of us shared music that the others had likely not heard.  Many European musicians do not make it to America because of the competitiveness of the industry, so it was exciting discovering new candy for our ears.  Below, I have listed a few of the bands we've recently discovered:

The frames are an Irish band.  If you've seen the movie, "Once" you've heard this song.  And although I'd downloaded the album from this movie, I did not discover that THE FRAMES were a band before and after the movie. I LOVE THIS SONG!


Adele is an English singer that has made it in America.  She is actually a grammy award winner so I'm most likely just behind the times in my music knowledge.  Her voice is amazing.


Paolo Nutini is a Scotish musician.  I love his sound.


Save the World is a song by Swedish House Mafia which is as far as I can tell an electronica band, but this new song, which I discovered from a friend on facebook has such a great sound, and the video is HILARIOUS!



RubberbanditsThe Rubberbandits are the award winning comedy hip hop duo from Ireland.  They've won awards for both their music and COMEDY.  They disguise their faces with plastic bags because part of their act is to remain anonymous.
 **WARNING*** DO NOT watch this song if you dislike CURSE WORDS.  DO NOT, because it has A LOT of curse words.  However, if they don't bother you- this song is HILARIOUS.  There is a clean version they played on the radio, but I couldn't find it in video form.


This song is about "knackers"- basically an Irish word for "white trash" but refers to a group of people who travel in caravans (which is why he says he has a horse outside) around Ireland. These people actually even have their own language, but are poor, and have reputations for drinking and poor societal behavior.

4 comments:

Craic in Korea said...

Loving the Irish influence in that post... both the Frames and of course the infamous Rubberbandits!! Also you got in our favourites Adele and Paulo Nutini!! All is all I greatly approve of this post Nessa. Well done!! x

Unknown said...

I could send you 21 in a zip file if you don't already have it, let me know.

Scoop said...

You should try these two:

Colin Hay (original frontman for 80's group "Men at Work") his unique stylings as a singer/songwriter are amazing... and

Gaelic Storm (they were the Irish band in the steerage scene in "Titanic") they are fantastically funny and talented.

Nice post... it got me thinking about my own musical interests... thanks!!

K.Pete said...

omgosh - I love your life :) It's so exciting!!! And you look so happy!! :)

btw - the knackers video is so funny - I think "white trash" is pretty universal. They were called "bogans" in AUS.