Taking "trips" while listening to music.

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Postby Ph1l2007 » Tue Jul 08, 2008 9:47 am

Hehe, thanks for the replies. I feel a lot less like a looney ;)
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Postby Emotive » Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:27 am

Some very specific music does this to me..

That includes, first and foremost, Tool..

I'm mentioning Tool above everything else because a lot of their songs have that effect on me, while with other bands it's usually just a selective few songs if not just one or two.

Amongst the songs that have brought some amazing, unique, godly images to my mind are: Portishead - Mysterons, Tool - Pushit, Air - Run, Sleeping Dogs Wake - Toys For Alice, Sleeping Dogs Wake - Sugarkisses, Pain Teens - Manuche (just.. totally wow.. after I listened to this song after years, seeing music from a different perspective, I was overwhelmed - that must have been amongst my first "music trips" along with Cocteau Twins - Garlands and The Breath Of Life - Nasty Cloud), This Mortal Coil - Another Day and Cocteau Twins... lots of songs by Cocteau Twins.. I'd put them right below Tool in the hell of images coming to my mind while listening to them.. So dreamy and trippy! Lots of their songs, at least from the Trasure cd, have some weird blue aura to them, I swear, it's so blue and it's so peaceful..

It can be rather nice being weird..
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Postby NS » Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:33 am

Some songs will make me just REALLY think about the past and whatnot.. whereas most songs I actually go on "trips" imagining whole amvs for them... even if I REALLY don't want to and just want to listen to some music :O
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Postby Emong » Tue Jul 08, 2008 12:46 pm

I guess it's time to analyze myself as a music listener. Never really done that before O.o Unfortunately I think I'm kinda lacking the emotion people get from listening to instrumental music or instruments in music. It's like, my guitarist friend sends me a metal song saying that guitar riff is amazing and well played yet I wouldn't necessarily have even heard it or paid any attention to it and when I do I just think "oh.. well.. it sounds nice.." Sometimes I wish I was a musician or at least understood more so I could enjoy instrumentals "professionally" and get much more out of them than I do now. I feel like I'm missing a lot.

I guess the fact that I don't know fuck about instruments has led to me like music that simply stands out for its pure outstanding "sound". Not to say this wouldn't be the case with all genres and types of music, but I think that's the reason I've come to like several electronic, industrial, shoegaze and noise bands. The thing with electronic music is I can personally more easily notice its outstanding characteristics if there is such. It's just easier for me to get into and like electronic music (whether it's industrial, trip-hop, electro-rock/pop etc.) for the simple reasons that 1) I like the sound of it and 2) it's easier to understand and digest for me.

And seriously, there's nothing more trippy and overwhelming than loads of layers of electronic beats, noise and distortion O_O I love industrial for this very reason. It's insanely rhythmic and layered (well, depending on the subgenre of course), works like an adrenaline noise bump. I can easily dive into it and turn my mind into a chaotic machine listening to it. Although, I always need the emotional human presence (underlined for the extra emphasis it needs) there too, so monotonic and repeatative music (like many techno or ebm bands) usually tends to alienate me from the song. Haha, I guess I like to balance on the edge of humanism and machinery there =P

I do love guitar though. It's still my favourite instrument, but I love it when it's used not as a guitar but as an instrument to produce sound. Many noise, shoegaze and prog artists do this with guitar, especially noise and shoegaze. The sound is usually altered, even to the point where it doesn't sound like a guitar at all, and distorted so it works nicely as a melodic and intriguing noise generator. So, opposed to electronic music, I also tend to trip to noisy and distorted guitars that are also capable of rhythmic and melodic hooks though. Also, what's great with noise and prog guitars is that the music often breaks out very clearly from the song structure into an avantgarde prog machine or drone soundscapes x] (Sonic Youth's "Total Trash" ...)

Another thing that stands out for me, or is perhaps even the most important thing, is the melody. Really, layers of industrial or noise rock would be nothing for me without any melodic hooks. Especially I love it when the melody is produced by human voice or just simply by singing. That's mostly the case with shoegaze music; the distorted and chaotic guitar noise hell is overlapped by really soft and melodic singing. It's trippy as hell, a heaven for the big escapist in me x] I also love melodic singing and hooks in industrial. Actually, many industrial or electronic bands I listen to would sound pretty dull without the singing.... Really, anyone who has heard Portishead's "Machine Gun" for example knows what I'm talking about o.o

But enough about the sonic aspects of music.. It makes about 50% of what I like about music. I've always thought good lyrics and good song make a fusion of good literacy and good music. I just need the human presence there in a literal sense. I just can't get the emotion out of the music alone. There are exceptions of course but usually good lyrics and good vocals make the overall experience a lot richer for me. It actually works the other way round too, since I don't read much poetry... I just need the music to get the emotion out of the text. Symbiosis O.o

Anyway, I don't think I differ much from the rest of the people when it comes to lyrics I like. It's like reading a good book. It's about relating to the lyrics and understanding them. It's not even always emotional, though I tend to prefer emotion over intellectual in lyrics. Of course, when they both meld in together is the best option =P I actually love it when lyrics get too deep or witty for me. That has happened a lot with Tool and HURT. They both seem to be constantly "ahead of me" whenever I happen to pay careful attention to the lyrics and their meaning. Though I feel like an idiot sometimes when I'm trying to get it all. Actually, I feel like an idiot afterwards when I've realized I've gotten it all wrong >_>

I draw emotion easier from situations I could try to relate to, which is obvious, though sometimes it's easy just to reflect emotional singing without knowing the lyrics all that well. I happen to be a really introverted person so whenever lyrics make an attempt to get in contact with the lower levels of the human psyche I feel like at home. HURT does this in excessive amounts and at times they get a little too deep for their own good. But hey, at least they try to understand themselves and others and heal the issues they've come to. Empathy is not really something every rock band out there tries to channel since they're too busy blaming others and victimizing themselves, which imo is propably worse than crying about your own problems all the time. It's just ironic to me that emo is so frowned upon >_>

Anyway, being the psychology and philosophy geek I am, I naturally prefer such themes in lyrics and everything in general. Though I'm also a person who has made a hobby out of feeling blue and isolated so such themes tend to hit me as much as smartass philosophizing. I'm attracted to sad things, there's no denying. Even my personality type desription tells me that >_< I'm not so aggressive though, so I just prefer my melancholia soft and dreamy. Shoegaze and dream pop work nicely for that purpose. It's different kind of escapism, or perhaps the most common type? I don't know. Music for solitary walks is music for me.

And the last thing I need to mention about lyrics.. I'm a very opinionated person, actually. I have tried to calm down shouting out my opinions lately though so I propably seem very submissive outside, even though I kinda hate it to keep it all to myself. But anyway, I have a problem listening to music that doesn't fit my ideology. I mean it, it's seriously annoying. I hate to listen to songs that are too aggressive or just... wrong? :lol: Well, I don't mean it that way, but still. Too bad a lot of industrial music is really aggressive and revenge-driven or other bullshit like that. It's okay to be wicked, but it's not okay to pull out your gun at school and shoot everyone, if you know what I mean? I'm okay with certain hate songs though. Hate is natural and healing in certain ways as a feeling (but not as a violent act), and for me, it's always directed at certain ideologies or the society (yeah I practice pointless rebellion like that) and not the people themselves. Hating makes me sad though. I get all teary-eyed sometimes listening to stuff like NIN's "Happiness in Slavery", Tool's "The Pot" (dammit, the melancholic part in the middle of the song gets me everytime) and Angelspit's "Girl Poison" or even "Homo-Machinery"... Not really something most people would cry to, I suppose :lol: But anyway, the bottom line is, the better the band's ideology fits my own, the better I like the music. It works two-sidedly though; sometimes the band gets all ahead of me and messes up my opinions, which is or isn't a good thing, I suppose.. But it happens, thanks to the constant state of ideological self-renewal I'm in.. I sincerely thank Tool for directing me towards existentialism though ^^

lol, offtopic? But yeah, I make trips with music =P

And plah, screw my typos.. And I feel like I got myself wrong now X_x
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Postby Ph1l2007 » Tue Jul 08, 2008 1:17 pm

Damn. What a reply! :D
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Postby xexyzl » Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:51 pm

Trance music makes me depressed. I once broke down crying while listening to an Andy Hunter album. Not sure why though. :P
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Postby KisaRoar » Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:14 am

It Happens To Me EveryTime Almost........I Always End Up Injuring Myself Thou So I Try To restrain My Self When Im In Certain Places.......
We Are All A Little Weird,
And Lifes A little Weird,
But When We Find SomeOne Whos Weirdness Is Compitable With Ours,
We Join Up With Them And Fall In Mutal Weirdness And We Call It Love,
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Postby Bauzi » Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:04 pm

I do take these trips nearly all the time except when I´m doing something else like working. All the time I mix up various songs to anime and try to create amvs in my mind. It is a very effective way to get ideas, but you just get too much of them. That´s why you tend to stop working on a vid to realize another idea.

Scott wrote:Best Example: Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts I-IV on a rainy train ride..

I could say it out loud, but I guess you know what I think :P
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Postby Scott Green » Thu Jul 24, 2008 3:13 am

Bauzi wrote:
Scott wrote:Best Example: Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts I-IV on a rainy train ride..

I could say it out loud, but I guess you know what I think :P

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Postby Ghet » Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:05 am

KisaRoar wrote:It Happens To Me EveryTime Almost........I Always End Up Injuring Myself Thou So I Try To restrain My Self When Im In Certain Places.......

i feel a void inside my heart opening anew every time, trying to hold back as the razor digs into my skin, seeing the blood seep out as all the pain washes away, i close my eyes, hoping this will be the last time.


and now being on topic, simple answer - yes.


especially to progressive music, gordian knot, opeth, dream theater, even Rush, when i kick back and close my eyes while listening to music (pretty much any kind that has a melody) i just relax and my imagination starts to roam
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Postby Otohiko » Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:27 pm

Real question: do you listen to music when you take trips? :o
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Postby AaronAMV » Sun Jul 27, 2008 2:07 pm

DOKTOP KPbI/\OB wrote:Real question: do you listen to music when you take trips? :o

derrr ;o
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Re: Taking "trips" while listening to music.

Postby requiett » Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:30 am

Ph1l2007 wrote:I'm not necessarily talking about using drugs

Then you haven't gone on any "trips." End of discussion.
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Postby Shui » Mon Jul 28, 2008 4:53 am

only when I listen to speedbass
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Re: Taking "trips" while listening to music.

Postby Ph1l2007 » Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:24 pm

requiett wrote:
Ph1l2007 wrote:I'm not necessarily talking about using

Then you haven't gone on any "trips." End of discussion.


So are you saying that one MUST be high on something to let their imagination take them places? This has not been the case in my experience.
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