In the spirit of this archive and how my brand is being portrayed, I want to share some insight on how an archive can be updated ( Watson 3). This increasing of digital self and “self-knowledge through numbers” is also know as digital quantification (Watson 3). A part of my personality is being the person that is consistently finding new music (Watson 2). I have devised a few ways of finding new music rather than listening to the radio or checking the top 100 charts every month. My adventurer in me always wants more music to be added to my playlist and for it to be new and upcoming. Some might call me a music snob because I get bored of artists that become really fast. For instance, “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons was my favorite songs a few years back and now I do not listen to the band anymore because the radio overplayed it so much. The same thing happened with the Black Keys. They became international celebrities in the drop of a hat and their music is not as appealing to myself anymore. So to get out of the lost music blues I try my hardest to constantly refresh my playlists.
For beginners the radio is a great way to find new music. I listen to CD102.5 which is Columbus’s alternative rock station. They play a wide variety of music from people mentioned in my playlist to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and much more! This piece of technogenesis has been around for a long time but it never seems to disappoint me when I am searching for the newest songs ( Hayles 25).
I also like to use generated radio stations from Spotify, Songza and Pandora. These music apps are vital to my music search. Also apps like Bandsintown tell you when and where your favorite artists are preforming so you never miss out on a concert. These forms of technogenesis and textual media are key to knowing when and where the music scene will be. These apps also allow you to explore musicians that are similar to your favorites. I use this wonderful piece of technogenesis to my advantage whenever I can! It is called liveplasma.com and it is a search engine that links shows relatedness of musical genres. This website is the epitome of a worldwide archive that physically shows you relations of bands with a graphic design. Here is a screenshot of the website when I use Two Door Cinema Club as the beginning band. Once you enter your favorite band, it links their style to many others. Some you may know and others you might not. This piece of technotext is some of the most unique ways to find new music (Hayles 25). On the left side of the screen it allows you to play songs from the bands you have chosen. Also when you choose a new band from the web of bands presented, it gives you whole new web that link to newer smaller bands you may like.
The final and most obscure way I find music is through Bandcamp.com. This is a website that allow a music enthusiast to find the newest, and most likely the least known bands. The editors post their favorite up-and-coming bands along with recommendations. The main goal of this website is to “Discover amazing new music and directly support the artists who make it.” All of the proceeds go directly to the artist. Many of the artists are unsigned and go without a label to gain as much money during their beginning stages. Being able to help out with their progress directly is a great feeling.
All of these are digital representation of my love for music since they are all incorporated to exploring the world of music and not being afraid to be yourself. Also these are perfect examples of innovative technotexts , especially liveplasma.com.
In the world music surrounds, calms, excites, and refreshes us. Within the theme of biophilia we are only programmed to love and respect the songs of of nature and how it can calm us.
The first animal I would like to bring up is the bird. For centuries humans have sat and listened to the wonderful sounds of bird chirping. In this video we can listen to many different types of birds.
These birds are all unique, just like the music you can listen to in my playlist (here). You will notice that each bird has a different call and thus their own genre of animal music. If we were to pair these noises with the white noise of nature we get a serene and tranquil noise.In “Why Look At Animals” by John Berger he states that humans and animals are bridged by language (Berger 5) . Animals cannot communicate with humans and vice versa. I do not think that this is entirely true. We can communicate through the sense of music. Through rhythms, melodies and patterns animals can communicate how they feel to humans.The animal also has secrets that the human is not able to see (Berger 5) . I feel that the actual presence of music among animal populations is one of those secrets.
After listening to this video, I was struck with the beauty of the songs of the birds. My favorite is the last bird on the list, the sage warbler. This bird has a very unique song that I can tell is different from the rest. It has more variance than a normal bird and that makes me think that some birds make actual music rather than a repetition of squeaks and squawks. If you close your eyes while listening to these majestic birds hopefully you will gain a sense of nature, right here online. This video, along with the whale song video below, show a construction of nature that has become digitized. Virtual reality may replace nature as we know it today and putting songs of birds and whales online is the first step to the conglomeration of nature and the digital world.
This next video is a recording of humpback whale songs.
All of these noises are random and foreign to our ears. The first time I listened to this recording, I was taken aback by how it was nothing like any animal I have ever heard. All of the clips were so randomized in noises yet in sync with the animal. This is pure music to the whales and in the right state of mind is soothing to humans too. But how can we say this isn’t music? Our music is just a stringing together of beats, notes and lyrics that sound appealing to the human ear. There are harmonies, melodies, and rhythms. The animal’s music is not like that of humans but when dissected it contains the basis of what we agree music is. There is a theory of “Universal Music” that is a “intuitive musical concept to many animals—including humans” states a NatGeo article on the innate sense of music amongst animals. This article states that humans and animals all have the innate sense to produce music, bird calls have similar rhythms and patterns of that of human music, and that humpback whales compose music for most of their lives.
So this playlist is the heart and soul of my project and what I believe to to be a great digital representation of myself (Watson 3). This collection of music is an Archive of feelings that was constructed with the thought of how my I perceive myself ( Watson, Cvetkovich) The music you will see here will may or may not be familiar but I encourage to have an open mind and take all of my thoughts as a representation of who I am as a person. Some of these songs have a large impact on my life yet can be describes in only a few sentences. They lessons you can learn from songs are priceless ans simple, yet you might not realize them until you pay attention to the song and yourself. Some of the songs in my playlist may not have any life-changing effect on me but just the rhythms bring up feelings of joy and happiness. I will use many feelings from the “Feelings Inventory” from The Center For Nonviolent Communication that was passed out in class and many of the techniques found in “Studying the Digital Self” by Julia Watson. In a previous post on our class blog, I talked about a song called “1996” by The Wombats. I also mentioned this short playlist that I created with thought and meaning towards how I want to portray myself to others. I will go through my favorite and songs i can relate to the most of the 16 song playlist in order to describe myself to the world. Julia Watson states in her article that we all must interpret digital archives to see how the author “document[s] a person’s life, habits, and desires. This digital archive is meant to “store fragments of a “life” (Watson). This life is my personal life. The following songs are meant to show and describe my brand that I portray to the world.
1.”Float” by Pacific Air
I recently discovered this song by Pacific Air. It’s relaxed, synth-like beat really describes me. I am a very relaxed person and am always ready to just have a chill night. Also the whistling in the song makes me feel joyful. I really enjoy whistling because it is just another relaxation technique that I use on a daily basis.
I can extremely relate to the lyrics
“I don’t want to be young
But I don’t want to die
I can whisper in the wind
We can smoke out every night”
This set of words really describes my stage in my life that I am right now. I am in my 20’s which is stereotyped to be a time in my life where I do stupid things, stay out late, and feel invincible. To me that isn’t how I feel. This song captivates that I am past that stage in my life yet I still am young. I just want to be able to hang out with my friends without the culture of getting wasted every night. Although I cannot directly relate to the last line “we can smoke out every night”, I am able to say that the relaxation of smoking would be equivalent to a feeling I could achieve without drugs by just becoming one with myself.
2. “Beware The Dog” by The Griswolds
I heard this song while searching for new music ( See my Finding New Music post for more details) and it immediately made me want to dance. The beginning guitar rift is one that is upbeat and happy. If you really listen to the lyrics, it is a story of a girl that started doing drugs and the guy left her because she was crazy. The lyrics are anything but happy but I like this song for the symbolism. For me it symbolizes a ended friendship due to a addiction that the other party started and drags me around. This happened to me when a friend was so caught up in a relationship I was outcast because of the significant other. The live “We used to go Where no one dared to go” is a great example of how I live my life. I want to always push the envelope but when other people get caught up in toxic environments ,and they do not realize, you cannot go out and have the fun you used to.
3. “Warrior” by Kimbra
I wanted this song in my playlist because I feel that I am a strong individual and that I never let things drag me down. I am always happy and never seem to let the small things bother me. This song is also a representation of the personal time in my life where a friend has gone off the deep end. This song talks about being a warrior and to stay strong for those who need you. They other person that has strayed off track is “pushing you down” but all you have to do is think of them and fight off the urge to let them bring you down.
4. “Pressure” by Youngblood Hawke
“Pressure” by Youngblood Hawke is a reletively new song. It came out in early 2014 and has been one of my “repeat” songs ever since. This song represents me because in my life because I have a lot going on in my life. Between school, work, research, and being a leader of a club sport there is a lot of responsibilities that I have. Everyone should be able to relate to this song though. The lyric”Collect your tears, shoot ’em down Even giants hit the ground Hit the ground” is so powerful to me. They are saying to just collect your thoughts and fears, discard them and if you fail that is OK because everyone does. With it’s happy-go-lucky indie pop feel with a slight club-like tone this song should make you want to get up and dance while not thinking about your worries. Also the chorus
“Felt the pressure, seen the breaks
Let the fortune teller take it all, all
Pressure!
Heard the echoes of mistakes
Call our name until we shake it off, off
Pressure!”
It tells me that everyone is under pressure and it is OK to make mistakes now and then. We should all just shake off the mistakes. This has a really calming effect on me since it is how I live my life. I do not dwell on the past that often, since there is nothing I can do about it besides prepare for the future.
5. “Mother” By Said the Whale
This is new song by the Vancouver band “Said the Whale” is a up-tempo, heavy bass guitar song from the new album “Hawaiii”. Yes that is Hawaiii with 3 i’s. I find this song to be a little heavier than the rest of the playlist but it is the lyrics that really resonate with my personality. The song begins with “I try to always be a gentleman
I try to always be a better friend” which is how I live my life. I do not like to make others upset and I do not believe chivalry is dead. Later in the song the lead vocalist Tyler Bancroft sings ” Try to always do what people like And try to be a man that someone might look up to in a minute when they’re feeling down” which is also how I like to live. I do not have many people that really despise me (that I know of) and I really enjoy being the person that people come to in their time of need. Although I feel the description of me as a gentleman, liked by others, role model, and a good friend the song’s purpose is not to keep on that track all of the time. It really wants to you to find yourself and says you cannot be there for others without being at one with yourself. Therefore do not tell your mother about what bad thing you must do in order to find your limits of what is you.
I have gone through the first five songs on this 17 song playlist. I could go in depth with every song and how it relates to me but from these 5 songs one should gain a greater insight into my personality. I feel I am a nice, kind-hearted, happy,-go-lucky, optimistic and sympathetic person. The rest of the playlist is a great way for me to show the world how I want to be seen. Some people label the music I listen to as “hipster” but I believe it is a new age of pop music and a great way to express oneself.
How I believe music, playlists, and music sharing defines you.
Archive of Music 