New Music Addictions!

Ahhhh, okay I might have deceived you a little bit, the music I'm talking about isn't actually new as in fresh from the studio, but its new to my ears.

Having been brought up in a Christian home, I didn't hear much secular music until I was about 10. From about 10-15 I did start to have an interest in music but it was mostly only mainstream chart music or what I played in orchestra (basically PotC and everything John Williams, go brass!!). It was when I started 6th form that I started really digging around to find new music that wasn't in the charts (not that I'm against mainstream). Last year, partially thanks to one of my new friends from uni, I think I've had the biggest haul of new music to date (again, some of it old but new to my ears).

Now when I'm talking about music addictions, I mean listening to the song or album as often as I can for at least a month. This means all my tv/movie/other concentration activities get stopped and I try and find some easy task to do just so I can listen to music. When my phone dies its playing from my laptop, if I can't use either then I'm singing the song in my head. I become ridiculously anti-social, taking my headphones everywhere finding every excuse I can to leave the room and go listen to my music.

I guess it's kind of shameful really. And the worst thing is, if I don't listen to it for awhile then I genuinely start to feel almost light headed and desperate for it like I'm having withdrawal. That's how much I can't live without music.

The first time I got one of these addictions was the summer before my last year at 6th form. I had been going through a rough time and just discovered the bands Skillet, Flyleaf, Switchfoot and Lifehouse and the pianist Ludovico Einaudi. There were others, but those were the ones I really became addicted to.

The next haul was my first year at uni, when my friend introduced me to 30 Seconds to Mars, Coheed and Cambria and Eminem just to name a few. There was so much more music though like Imagine Dragons as well as the stuff in the clubs like Drake and Kanye (who my friends have been telling me to get on for years) that I couldn't stop listening to and the biggest one of all was that summer:

Bastille

OMG I ended up getting all his albums, all his covers, his live lounge stuff etc, anything I could access that had his voice in it. That was one of the strongest addictions I've ever had in my entire life.

Second year at uni was far worse than first year. Before, I would listen to an album and pick a few songs to love. Now, it's whole albums. My standard used to be 3 good songs makes a good album. Now at least 80% must be likeable before I'll listen to it properly. This makes me picky which makes me find more stuff which makes me go crazy.

Artists of uni year 2 included: Bastille cont., Justin Timberlake (his new albums, I loved him a long time before then), Jay-Z, Avicii, and the goldmine that is Woodkid.

But the next overpowering addiction which is coming close to eclipsing Bastille is the music of the composer Hiroyuki Sawano. If any of you are familiar with the animes, Attack on Titan or Guilty Crown, then you'll know the scale of epicness which his music holds. I love his scores more than modern composers like Hans Zimmer and John Williams. A comparison I'd make is that:

Hiroyuki Sawano is to Zimmer and Williams
as
Studio Ghibli is to Dreamworks and Disney

...

Yes, I just said that Ghibli trumps Dreamworks and Disney animations (with a few exceptions). Don't hate me please!! But in terms of being extraordinary, original, imaginative, moving, thought provoking as well as being entertaining and just ridiculously epic, I think both Sawano and Ghibli win hands down.

Well there we have it, my musical addictions. There are so many other artists who I love and will listen to their stuff for about a week non-stop, however to be listed here, I will have been listening to it for at least a month.

This blog entry was supposed to be about my latest finds, but I guess according to the criteria, I can't really say they're strong enough to make it. But I'll list it below anyways. Thanks for reading, if you think you know of any more good music I'd be interested in (I like everything except screamo), then seriously, message me, I'm ALWAYS looking for new music.

Today's song
Anberlin- Feel Good Drag