Saturday, February 18, 2012

Mash Me Up

I, like every other person I've ever known, LOVE MUSIC! It is one of the things I can honestly say my life would be lacking, boring, and empty without. Music keeps me alive just as much as food and water, and in most cases, gives me a much bigger dose of energy than any espresso. There is a song for any day, any emotion, any situation, and EVERY moment of your crazy life, and can take you to places you've never gone before. "My Heart Will Go On" takes me back to eighth grade in an instant. It was the year my life improved ten-fold and I finally saw Titanic. When I think about or hear that song I see myself standing in the shower belting out the words thinking I was Celine Dion herself. "Peaches & Cream" takes me back to eighth grade also, but in a very different way. It, on the other, more inappropriate hand, takes me back to winter Church camp with my best friend at the time. I see myself walking around the snow covered camp grounds with my hot pink compact disc player in hand, foam ear piece headphones on blast, Adidas sweatpants and doodled Converse shoes on, rapping to myself and playing the song on repeat so I could memorize every last line. (And yes, if you put it or "Fantasy" by Ludacris on, I will still bust out every word.:) When Benny Benassi's "Come Fly Away" catches my ear, I am suddenly in my best friend's Volvo our sophomore year of college. We're driving around Chico playing the music at an annoyingly high level, and letting our voices soar as we have an all-out car dance session. And now, whenever I hear that dirty, filthy, nasty, and delicious Bassnectar, I am taken back to the football field of the community college in South Shore, Lake Tahoe, during SnowGlobe. I see myself gigging harder than I ever have before, feeling the music course through every ounce of my body, making me move to it, feeling every vibration from the bass and drop of the beat thinking, "I hope I don't break my neck from whipping my head around so hard," and being caught up in the intimate experience he and I were sharing (never mind the thousands of others around).

Yes, music is quite an interesting thing. They say a picture's worth a thousand words, but I think that a song is worth much more. A string of memories, an instant rush of feelings, phrases, dance moves, or conversations shared, yup, music is the key to life my friends. And since I have been blessed with such a strong case of A.D.D., it makes sense that one of my favorite genres is mash-ups. They fit who I am and what I am quite perfectly. They're rarely staying the same for very long, but they're always a blend. Taking songs that are from genres as different as water and absinthe, but putting them together to make something incredible and brilliant. Mash-ups are a great way to describe any life. Different pieces of different people, places, things, ideas, cultures, and styles, that all play an important part in the finished product. Hardly ever boring, and generally unexpected, just like my life. :)

So here's a playlist my roomie and I recently discovered on 8tracks.com. It has some of the best mash-ups I've heard in a while, and is sure to put you in a good mood, and take you down memory lane!


Today's Quote: "All good music resembles something. Good music stirs by its mysterious resemblance to the objects and feelings which motivated it." Jean Cocteau

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