hi! kinda new to this whole blogging thing. i like the aesthetic i’ve got going so far, though. so, you came here for a music blog, so you might as well learn a bit about me, the one person running the whole show.
my background
the first artist i remember getting into was Michael Jackson. i was maybe eight or nine years old at this point, so i don’t really know much about what i liked in his music besides the catchiness and range of uplifting themes. my first band was Bastille, so i guess my first experiences with music were a bit blander than you’d expect. i think in one way or another it affects my expectations for the dramatic displays in the music i listen to. i tend toward things that have an understated format yet blossom into gigantic projects.
so of course i go through a few musical phases throughout my teens. there’s early-to-mid 2010’s indie pop like Imagine Dragons and twenty one pilots, then i start listening to nu metal and alt metal like Linkin Park and Marilyn Manson, and then i discover post-hardcore through Pierce the Veil and just start listening to more of this whole scene… yeah, lots of stuff. also somewhere in here you can overlap, uh… “fandom music.” i don’t wanna get too much into that right now though.
that’s my backstory up till i discovered music nerd culture and just how much more music there was in the world i had to discover. i didn’t start properly listening to stuff like hip hop or indie for a while, and with the rise of genres like hyperpop in recent years, i really had no idea what i was in for past 2018. (admittedly, i owe a good portion of my taste now to anthony fantano, but i don’t think that should discredit how much i love the music i listen to nowadays.)
my current taste/outlook on music
i love music. i know that’s probably a given, but that motivates my whole experience with it. i am eager to keep expanding my musical taste buds all the time. i guess i do have tendencies to “weirder” music, be it glitch, avant-garde, etc., but what matters more to me is music that can truly evoke emotion within me. i’m not sure where to start so i guess i’ll skim through my perfect scores on RateYourMusic circa today to give you an idea of what i’m looking for in music.
the most traditional sounding albums i have here are things like When the Pawn… by Fiona Apple, Hounds of Love by Kate Bush, and Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) by Car Seat Headrest. i guess recently i’ve leaned toward a big indie pop(-adjacent) aesthetic, but yeah, albums like these just have super well done narrative elements combined with great hooks and melodies and songwriting. a little further down the spectrum you get some of my post-hardcore hits like La Dispute’s Wildlife and No Place by A Lot Like Birds, which are even more concept albums with spoken word/screamed passages and great band dynamics. i think most important to note is the albums that instill overwhelming emotions within me, particularly The Origin of My Depression by Uboa, The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me by Brand New, and the recent Ants From Up There from Black Country, New Road. each hope to take their individual sounds to some extreme: Uboa uses noise and ambience to create ultimate distress, Brand New fill their album with the most depressing introspection, and BC,NR just builds and builds to bring you up a mountain of sounds and feelings. there’s also just albums i think have perfected their genre like the emo masterpiece Diary by Sunny Day Real Estate. last thing i wanna point out is albums i think are so inventive and creative in a way that accomplishes something incredible-sounding too, i.e. Nurture by Porter Robinson or Frances the Mute by The Mars Volta. i’d talk in detail about each album if i could, but i’m just introducing y’all to me so let’s save those discussions for individual reviews.
in a more general sense, my relationship with music has been just about obsessive. it feels like an inherent part of me or a necessity that i have to constantly explore. i think i’m at a good point where i can say i have a wide enough taste to talk about music in great length, but i will always try my best to be humble and say how open i am to music i haven’t listened to yet. i listen to new albums almost daily because it’s like i just need new music to live. lol
with that being said, i think you know enough about me to get a sense of where i’m coming from with my opinions and thoughts so far. there’s lots of other things i’d love to talk about like sincerity in music, the industry, etc., but you’ll hear about all that soon enough.
let’s do this
this blog is a new journey for me; i don’t tend to put myself out into the world this much. either way, i’m excited to share all my thoughts and so much exciting music with you all!
Tess Faces the Music 