Rihanna: I'm-a fight a man

I was listening to my ipod on the way home today, and one of my favourites came on. A song that fills any woman with outrage, even if she has no reason to feel so. A song that inspires indignation, even where there is no reason to be indignant. A song that lights a fire in the heart of even the most content woman.


I'm not a huge Rihanna fan, but here is one song of hers that I simply can not help but indulge in. It is called "Breaking Dishes", and it is basically about a guy who stays out late every night, and leaves his lady at home alone. In her fury, the lady begins tossing dishes about the place, burning things, and bleaching his clothes... 


Somehow, Rihanna manages to capture the depth of darkness that overcomes a furious woman. Come on ladies, you know I'm talking about, and gentlemen, you know you've seen that look on your woman's face before (and trembled in fear).

I just love this song, it makes me feel so angry, and self-righteous, and so in the mood to march into my kitchen and start emptying the cupboards onto the floor and against the walls... Until the track comes to a close and I re-surface to the realization that I have a wonderful man, who inspires no such emotion in me, and deserves nothing but my adoration and dedication. 


What a spoilsport!


Check out Breaking Dishes here. 

Music By Day: The Randos

Greetings,


To read my review of a new band, The Randos, on the website, Music By Day, click here.


Nice band - big potential - check it out.


Peace out.

Loudness War: Give me my emotion back!

Just read a most fascinating article about music's "loudness war".


Very, very technical - lots of stuff I'll never understand - but to sum it up, a long-standing 'trend' has been for record companies to digitally increase the 'loudness' factor of a CD, to make it stand out more in the marketplace. And the scary thing: they're increasing the loudness more and more all the time...


Long story short: by doing this, the music loses it's "dynamic range" - IE: it loses it's variety, it loses the contrast between loud and soft and, some argue, completely loses it's emotion. 


I do not have the IQ that it takes to elaborate, so read more here.


And here.


And here.


What an outrage! It's like the subliminal messaging in the movie Josie and The Pussycats! 

*blush* Yes, I just made reference to Josie and The Pussycats... Oh what, like you've never seen it?!

Friday-Music of the Day: Pendulum

 A buddy of mine, Sam, introduced me to this music, calling it ‘anti-Monday wake-up music’. It has apparently 'fried his remaining brain cells' this week. My brother later referred to it as 'kak* heavy techno'.

 Well... picture metal meets electronics... and you have a mind-blowing result: Pendulum. This will surely melt your face off if you're not prepared for it, but I have never heard such wickedly cool dance music. Hip hop, step aside. Rave, bow down to your master.

If this was being played at clubs, I would BE there. And I DON'T dance. Ever.

Click here to sample Pendulum Immersion

But be warned...

Footnote:

*Kak is a local South African term, considered by some to be a mild swearword - forgive me… or rather, forgive my brother.

Thought of the day: Do-overs

 I have put some thought into my life, and have decided that if I could have a do-over of the entire thing, I would pursue my dream of becoming a singer. Other than my obsessive love for music, I am not really a musical person. I don’t particularly have any outstanding vocal talent, although I can hold a note. A weak note, but I can hold it.

 No, the reason I feel that I could pursue this dream is that it has become apparent in recent years that vocal and musical ability just isn’t a requirement to fortune and fame anymore. You’ll have to forgive my bitching on this matter – I guess I’m just baffled as to why certain people are even on the charts. I have no problem with different genre’s, don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about taste, I’m talking about talent.

 In fact, I have just now changed my mind: I will not become a singer. I will become a rapper – this is where musical standards are the lowest. One rapper I admire for talent is Eminem. While I’m not a fan of his somewhat distasteful lyrics, that boy can rap. Respect, with a capital R.

 But since talent is no longer a requirement, I would get my bling on and become a rapper… if I could have a do-over, that is.

All right, that’s all I had to say.

*Personal rant over*

Steve Turner (who may or may not have been stoned)

When I was a teenager, my mom handed down a book of poetry that she had had in her bookshelf for many years. It’s a book called “Up to date” by Steve Turner, originally printed in 1976, my edition printed 1983.

 The collection of poems in this particular book provided me with hours and hours of amusement, as I read them and re-read them and re-re-read them. I always imagined that Mr. Turner was slightly stoned when writing his poems, as they are far from the ordered rhythm and rhyme of poetry that I had been exposed to beforehand. Sadly, as it turns out, he is a very respectable man, with several best-selling biographies, among other accomplishments – there goes half my amusement.

 I’ve been sick with flu for about 5 days now, and have been off work. Tomorrow I will be returning to the office, and to my real life as I know it. I thought it would be appropriate to send out a poem to all my fellow workers, about the substance that drives us all. 

 It motivates us to get out of bed each morning. It keeps our eyes open when we’ve had enough. It soothes and comforts frayed nerves, yet simultaneously kicks our minds into gear.

 Yes, this is a tribute to none other than that one legal addictive stimulant that many of us obsessively rely on: Coffee

White With Two Sugars (Please) – By Steve Turner

Coffee gives you

a legal shot of

energy when your

eyelids are feeling

down

Coffee kills time

when you’re washed

ashore on the streets

of London.

(Coffee can even

help rainstorms

disappear.)

Coffee is something

to dangle your lips

in when conversation

is scarce.

Coffee is a good

place to take a

new friend.

(Coffee is an excuse

to stay half an hour

longer)

Acquiantanceships end

on the doorstep but

friendships begin

with a coffee.

Coffee can be

appreciated by all

generations.

Coffee is a multilingual,

multi-racial, liquid esperanto.

Yes.

There’s something quite

religious about coffee.

Goodbye Lullaby: What's next Avril?!

 For anyone who may be a devoted Avril Lavigne fan, such as myself, her latest album may have come as a subtle surprise. I know I’m surprised.

 Her first album, “Let Go” had a clear theme: rebellious, fun-seeking, energetic and a somewhat angry teenager on the loose. This is the album for showing the finger to rules, for running wild in shopping malls and pulling down your angry-at-the-world oversized cargo pants in public to sit on a toilet-sale display. (video-alert: Complicated)

 Avril Lavigne’s second album, “Under My Skin” loses the fun. She’s still the angry teenager, but that’s about all there is. It was an album that I dearly connected with at the time of my life and it’s still my ‘hormonal music’ when I need it from time to time! I would love to know what was going on in Avril’s life during this era– what would inspire such solid aggression and despair. 

 The third album to hit the shelves, “The Best Damn Thing”, brought back a renewed energy, the same rebellious spirit as “Let Go”, and an almost arrogant confidence, but this time with an element of grown-up independence. Along with this newfound freedom, one senses in this album a period of self-discovery. It’s pink, it’s girly, the cargo pants are long-gone, replaced by some styling, sexy, yet still punk threads. Avril literally blossomed. (See how her style has unfolded here)

 Which leads me to the great surprise of “Goodbye Lullaby”. The two songs that I had heard on radio prior to buying the CD were Smile and What the Hell, and I was assured by this that this would be another epicly fun and rebellious album. I was overflowing with expectation when I first put the CD into my sound system… and flabbergasted by the end.

As it turns out, Smile and What the Hell are the only two fun and rebellious songs on this album, and the rest are… mellow? And beautifully sad. I was immediately mystified about what could possibly be happening in Ms. Lavigne’s life to inspire such deeply introspective music. So I looked into the timeline. Within a month of finishing her Best Damn Thing tour (Nov 2008), Avril began working on her 4th album. By July 2009, most of the tracks were already recorded. On 17^th September 2009, Avril announced her separation from childhood sweetheart, Deryck Whibley.

A-ha. There it is. The story behind the music – and knowing this gives me a greater appreciation of Goodbye Lullaby. It took me a few “replays” to get used to this new Avril Lavigne, but it’s grown on me, more so than any of the previous albums, which is saying a lot. I have an increased respect for this young woman, who can create her art so honestly and transparently, that without even knowing her personally, the listener can deeply sense where she is in her journey of life. That’s my kind of music.

So kudos to Avril for having the guts to do something different – you’ve inspired confidence in your fans that you can master just about any genre you need to. (just don’t go country on us. Ever.)

Life In Soundwaves

I would like to welcome myself to the world of blogging, and more importantly, welcome you to my blog, and indirectly, to my world.

A Little Rock A Little Roll is simply a personal blog, just some “thoughts to paper”, where you will find that one of the biggest influencing factors in my life is music. If you yourself are a passionate music-lover, perhaps you will find yourself feeling quite at home here, and I hope you will share your experiences too.

A Little Rock A Little Roll is more or less a great analogy of what life seems to be about. Sometimes, life rocks your boat, violently, aggressively, like an angry Metallica tune… Sometimes life rolls the boat, gentle, wooing, like a Coldplay ballad. This is what I love about music, and why it is my driving passion: the feeling in it. The fact that it is life experience put into musical expression. Life in soundwaves.

You will get to know me as Potency Supernova. I took the inspiration for this name from one of my current favourite bands, My Chemical Romance. For those who are fans, you may know about the “Killjoy” nickname concept – the Fabulous Killjoys being the band group’s alter-ego’s set on fighting against the evil government corporation Better Living Industries (BLI/Ind) of California in the year 2019, after a Doomsday-type catastrophe has apparently occurred. There’s a lot more to the story, you can start your reading up online…

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101028141136AAk8mBh

…but it’s all fictitious and all in good fun, and provided a great theme for MCR’s latest album, Danger Days. There are websites where you can input your full name, and have a Killjoy name generated for you (http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/namegen/14076/ ) – I decided to take the creative route, and conceived my own.

So, let’s start there - for those of you with a Killjoy alter-ego: what is your name?

It’s nice to meet you all.