keynuances-blog

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This brilliant electronic rendition of the classic "In the Hall of the Mountain King" (originally from the 1876 play Peer Gynt), is by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame. The song was written for the 2010 movie The Social Network and reaches its awesome high point at 1:28, where the song climbs down a ponderous scale into an ever-quickening race to the finish. I love what Reznor has done with his modernization here. 

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I will never apologize for a band that I post here, and My Chemical Romance is no exception. Two of the highlights are found at 3:28 and 4:07. The former is simply a deviant interval. On "we belong", Gerard takes the high road to commit a musical act that I like to think of as "harmonizing with the ghosts of choruses past". There's no actual harmony there, but if you layered it over the other choruses, there would be. At 4:07, their (temporary) drummer fills in a lovely "and" beat on a quick cymbal that gives the song a nice drive to the finish. Finally, the harmony at 1:03 gave me chills the first time I heard. Especially "covered in glass". 

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If you haven't heard this song, you've been living under a rock. However, because of the catchy and simple melody, precious few people I know have recognized the far more complex and interesting counter melody. The clearest example of this starts at 1:09. There are some slightly different intervals in the chorus, but variations of this part can be found throughout the song. It blew my mind when I first heard it; it's pretty well buried and it took a vinyl copy of the album, a decent sound system, and *ahem* a heightened state of mind to discover it. The way the melody and counter melody play off each other is genius. Now I carry with me the solemn duty of sharing this knowledge with everyone I know. 

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Same old, same old for Fleet Foxes. And by that I mean: fantastic as usual. At 2:35 the instrumentation drops off and the melody is carried over an absolutely gorgeous vocal chord progression. I love when songs "minimalize" in this way. 

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I'm aware that bands like The Human Abstract are an acquired taste, and some people will never appreciate what they label "noise", but I think they're great. An incredibly gifted band that features classically trained musicians, The Human Abstract brings intelligence, variety, and talent to an often colorless genre. This song starts off tediously for me—I don't think there's anything particularly special about the first two minutes. Where this song comes alive is in the mellow jam that begins at 2:05 and resumes again at 3:06. Here Nathan Ells really gets to flex his vocals and show how clear and effortless he can sound. I also love how driving the rhythm guitars are; they give the song an incredible feeling of approachability. FInd this at 2:24. Finally, my absolute favorite part is in the lead guitar at 3:25. It's fantastic the way that THA layers moving and often complex guitar parts underneath relatively mellow passages, creating interesting rhythms that really flesh out every beat. The way the guitar passage at 3:25 weaves in and out of the vocals is masterfully done. The crescendo-decrescendo sweep picking at 3:31 is, as they say, icing on the cake. 

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An underrated jam by The Killers and the only one I've heard off of Day & Age. I really dig the way Brandon takes it down on "look it over" around the 1:47 mark. And as a drummer, I can't get enough of the off-beats at places like 2:12. In the last chorus, the snare drum part changes to put the emphasis on "two and". It gives the last chorus a noticeably more immediate groove.

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I am absolutely in love with this song. Despite the uneducated knocking Fall Out Boy gets from the elitist crowd, I regard Patrick Stump as one of the most immensely talented singers in modern pop. The part that gets me in this song is at 3:40, when Patrick takes the upper road on that harmony on "love" and absolutely kills it before tapering off with an incredible, shaking vibrato.

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Key Nuances

This blog is more for my usage than any other's. Here I track nuances of songs that I think are great. A key change, a harmony, a cool guitar lick. I find myself picking them out constantly. If you like to listen for the little things in music, give me a follow.