Strange things about musc that just 'get you'

[Lost_BMW]

Just musing about what it is in music that hits some kind of nerve and really affects you, especially some almost unexplainable bits?

I've always had a strong reaction to things I love - with goose bumps, shivers etc. for the lovely/ sad bits whereas my wife who says she loves some artists/ music has never had such a feeling and thinks it's weird. I guess I'm not alone am I?

What made me think about it today was listening to 'The Everthere' by Elbow. At 2.28 mins (on this YouTube version - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LUzoYZfDDA ) theres a 30 second sequence that sounds strange, 'jangly' and perhaps almost discordant but with a lovely back beat and tones that just does me in. I could listen to it forever - to me it really hits some emotional area and is beautiful and melancholy to the point it brings all the shivers etc. + makes my eyes sting; I can only imagine how it would work if I could still drink!

And yet others think it's a "row". Weird. Anyone else experience this sort of thing either for this piece or other music?

[Silver Smudger]

This is exactly what I love about music - Every now and then a piece will get in through the ears, bypass your brain and just hit you somehow. Sometimes it's emotional, other times physical. You don't know when it is going to happen and can be all sorts of music, from classical to trance or rock.

You rave about it to someone else though, and they just say something stupid like "You can't hear the words" or "is it meant to sound like that?", they don't fell it the same way at all.

[Lost_BMW]

Silver Smudger said:

This is exactly what I love about music - Every now and then a piece will get in through the ears, bypass your brain and just hit you somehow. Sometimes it's emotional, other times physical. You don't know when it is going to happen and can be all sorts of music, from classical to trance or rock.

You rave about it to someone else though, and they just say something stupid like "You can't hear the words" or "is it meant to sound like that?", they don't fell it the same way at all.

You must have met my wife!

No feeling, ever, from any piece of music. Makes you wonder what the point is for her?

[AdeTuono]

Must be something to do with Elbow. I saw them in Bournemouth last year, and was almost moved to tears. The crescendo at the end of Newborn built and built and then......nothing. Complete silence and a black stage. Not a sound from the audience for about 10 seconds and then uproar. You could tell by the look on Guy Garvey's face that they had totally nailed it as a band. I've seen many many bands over the years, but that moment defined live music for me. (I'm welling up just thinking about it!)

[Lost_BMW]

AdeTuono said:

Must be something to do with Elbow. I saw them in Bournemouth last year, and was almost moved to tears. The crescendo at the end of Newborn built and built and then......nothing. Complete silence and a black stage. Not a sound from the audience for about 10 seconds and then uproar. You could tell by the look on Guy Garvey's face that they had totally nailed it as a band. I've seen many many bands over the years, but that moment defined live music for me. (I'm welling up just thinking about it!)

Yes they really have something - I think it comes from the emotional make up and techniques the writer/band have in them and combine to make. Music about feelings and emotions that they may somehow need to get out of them in some form. Mixing the musc with some of his lyrics works well too - I just love the opening of Newborn for that reason . . the meaning behind it and the way it rises, falls then soars; special!

[ferkle]

Anyone who doesn't have an emotional response to music is wierd if you ask me. There are a few tracks that get me every time whether its a stood up hair or a goose bump or a triggered memory or what not.

[kiteless]

See, my musical muse ploughs a pretty wide path. Chicago blues / trance / classical / jazz / metal / grunge / classic rock. I draw the line at Country & Western, but that's by the by.

I'm not overly concerned with lyrics as - for me, for the most part - they are just incidental icing on the cake. What flicks my switch is harmonies and melodies, probably because I play a musical instrument myself. So I appreciate certain chords and notes being played against other chords and notes, and if the rhythm and lyrics are good as well, then that's a billy bonus for me.

However, much of the stuff I listen to is classed as "noise" by the missus. See, she likes a good rhythm and lyrics she can sing along to. She's not a musical person, and freely admits it.

Best example I can give is: I can listen to, and get endless enjoyment from Miserere by Allegri or the Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis, yet mrs k gets bored after about 30 seconds. The relentless, ever changing beats, hooks, loops, and harmonies of Juanita/Kiteless by Underworld will never get tiresome for me. Play that tune for 10 seconds, and the missus is climbing the walls. She, however, enjoys The Scissor Sisters and the B52's (specifically "I don't feel like dancing" or whatever it's called, and "Love Shack"). Basically stuff that leaves me stone cold.

But we both appreciate why we like the music that we do, and that's the great thing about music. It's the broadest church, and welcomes all.

[tuscaneer]

for me it is usually heavy stuff that gets the goosebumps going but heavy orchestrated music is the second biggest contributor to this phenomenon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiwqRSCWw2g
seputlura-ratamahata....heavy as hell!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGGlL1wexQk
holst-mars the bringer of war....heavy as hell!from 4.14 as i write this i am listening and goosebump territory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhJ6xpitT3k&fea...
downset-empower...rap vocal delivery really accentuates staccato rhythms and sets me off!

[patmahe]

If its a song that speaks to me either through lyrics or music, that sparks off some emotional memory (good or bad) I've been known to well up or burst out laughing depending on what memory its triggered.

[Plotloss]

Basslines...

[andy_s]

Plotloss said:

Basslines...

Entwhistle on 'The Real Me' and Greenwood on '15 Step', excellent.


Radiohead do it to me often, Cat Stevens still does it on Tea for the Tillerman and Elbow have had me welling up a few times.

Edited by andy_s on Tuesday 29th June 10:20

[tuscaneer]

for sheer beauty that makes you want to burst into tears

from 2.06 there is a definate chill up the spine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6249ouVKX8&fea...

[tuscaneer]

nick drake..need i say more

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idcaRTg4-fM

[tuscaneer]

my favourite female vocal of all time.yes,it does get me goosebumpy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCuSo8q7HnI

beautiful

[tuscaneer]

as i was putting up all this music i remembered the last time i had this feeling and it was at christmas watching the sting winter songbook documentary from durham cathedral

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4NV_zjXXtw&fea...

when that traditional hymn thing from the orkneys kicks in in the chorus, oh my god!

[Asterix]

tuscaneer said:

for me it is usually heavy stuff that gets the goosebumps going but heavy orchestrated music is the second biggest contributor to this phenomenon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiwqRSCWw2g
seputlura-ratamahata....heavy as hell!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGGlL1wexQk
holst-mars the bringer of war....heavy as hell!from 4.14 as i write this i am listening and goosebump territory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhJ6xpitT3k&fea...
downset-empower...rap vocal delivery really accentuates staccato rhythms and sets me off!

Mars is simply amazing - my first ever live music event was watching the whole Planets Suite at the Royal Festival Hall played by the LPO.

Had never seen classic music before so it was a rather decent debut.

I fully understand what the OP is saying - it can be the smallest thing in a song or the whole thing itself.

[KANEIT]

I enjoy this one by Vangelis. Try to imagine it in isolation and distance it from the movie, I find it quite beautiful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZKkxAQYxyE


ATB has a few tracks that really get me. Living Life Over http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nErsEzjzb0s&fea... are quite emotional for me even though they are 'euro-pop'.

And this one - Tears For Fears, Pharoahs really makes me feel happy and relaxed. In essence all it consists of is a simple beat and a few synthesisers with samples of bloody shipping forecasts!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E7PElndUIU&fea...

Paul Young's voice in 'Stop Baby' is another thing that 'gets me'.

Doves, Ambition is one that affects me, and no I didn't watch Queer As Folk. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1yKeF1qJwc&fea...
It's the guitar work in that one.

[tuscaneer]

loving this thread.
been a massive fan of tim story for ages and when he collaborated with roedelius on the lunz project i heard this song and melted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIpEYKCPiiE

[jet_noise]

Dear All,

why I need to reveal this on a public forum I don't know but...

...when the brass band comes in on Roy Harper's When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease I well up.

Gets me every time, the only song ever that does this. I try to avoid it which is a pity as I love it.
I heard it this morning hence the post I suppose - on Radcliffe & Maconie's Chain feature,

regards,
Jet

[Lost_BMW]

tuscaneer said:

for me it is usually heavy stuff that gets the goosebumps going but heavy orchestrated music is the second biggest contributor to this phenomenon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiwqRSCWw2g
seputlura-ratamahata....heavy as hell!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGGlL1wexQk
holst-mars the bringer of war....heavy as hell!from 4.14 as i write this i am listening and goosebump territory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhJ6xpitT3k&fea...
downset-empower...rap vocal delivery really accentuates staccato rhythms and sets me off!

Interesting how different things get different people. Mostly the heavier stuff can pump me up for training etc. but it's the quieter gentle stuff that gets the emotional response . . except for where there's a big upswell or crescendo. Though Neil Young's guitar work on 'Cortez the Killer' and the anger in Buffalo Springfield's 'Ohio' cover me in goosebumps.

Guitars and strings are usually behind the bits that get me the most but sometimes piano too like the later part of the 2nd movement of Ravel's Piano Concerto (from about 6m 30secs in to the end) which is so beautiful and evocative, especially the way it just seems to disappear into the distance (or something!)

The only clip I could find of this on You Tube that isn't distorted or shrill is here and gives an indication of this, especially near the end, but is a bit of a dull recording and doesn't do it full justice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qOhg58PwXg

For those who like rhythmic, driving music the Concerto for Left Hand is well worth a listen if you've not come across it - really stirring with a great repeat theme throughout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwsY-S2-ZQU&fea...

I know what you mean about Holst - what does Venus do for you? I utterly love that piece which does rise and swell + has some really 'pretty' bits like the violin solo. The contrast with the earlier piece works very cleverly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKvG0RU4_fI&fea...