The sound of muzak...a guest post by Chaach

There is so much about what music means to us that being able to explain it in words is not only impossible but would also make it much less important.
I don’t know if it is because we are so jobless but every song I listen to and write. I’ll observe every aspect of it. The random strum of guitar at some point, the change in pitch in the singer’s voice, the brilliant use of different instruments like a saxophone.....
I know very little about the technicalities of music. I am not very fond of trivia on music and musicians. For me music is just a pure feeling. When people relate their feelings to music..its mostly feeling blue. For me its just any feeling..Be it feeling stupid, feeling angry, feeling turned on, feeling elated, feeling scared or feeling low..feeling random emotions or even feeling like studying.

Music hugely determines how I feel at any moment. I don’t choose the music I want to listen based on my mood. I have never been really sure of my mood for that matter. At every moment I feel too many things. I feel confused and my head is always always brimming with thoughts.
Its here that music decides the feeling that will be most profound while listening to it. Sounds confusing, I know. Let me give you an example.....
Once after an exam, I was feeling so tired that I could not sleep. And when I was finally sleepy, it was too late and it was time to start studying for the next exam. So I randomly put the song ‘learning to fly’ by Pink Floyd and started listening to it on repeat mode on my speakers. The cool breeze on my face and the song on..I studied with full concentration. When I took a break for dinner I was still so so high. I was madly in love with the song and the feeling that it gave me.

This has a downside too. Sometimes playing a sad song with lyrics you relate to a lot can make you feel sad even when you don’t want to. Sometimes when you can’t listen to music...say when you are out somewhere and your ‘pod has no battery, you feel irritated. You in a way become dependent on music.
Enough about music and feelings...i think I went overboard with it and you are already yawning.
There are some aspects about songs which I love so much that I can’t help mentioning with perfect examples.
The weeping sound of a guitar..
e.g. Bombay rain
amazing drumming...
e.g. Achilles’ last stand – Led Zeppelin
A fair judgement – Opeth
lyrics that amplify your rush of emotions..
e.g. Make this go on forever – snow patrol
Say goodbye – junkyard grooves
Weird moodiness..
e.g. lemon tree – fool’s garden
No rain – blind melon
No instruments at all..
e.g. pehchaan – penn masala
Brilliant merging of guitar and drums..
e.g. sound of muzak – porcupine tree
Mad guitar solos...
e.g. free bird – lynard skynard
drastic mood uplifters....
e.g. haste to the wedding – The Corrs
An assured high giver...
e.g. learning to fly – Floyd.