For the love of music
I like my music, and I like it loud.
Every day, I abuse my Bose Wave and blast songs to the entire neighbourhood. If I cannot feel the bass tremble through my bones, it ain't loud enough. If I sing along at the top of my voice and I can still hear myself, it ain't loud enough. I like to drown in my music, and feel every note wash over me like a tidal wave. There's just so much feels, you know? It puts me on a natural high, same like being at an awesome night club, except better; I am in the comfort of my own home, highly likely walking around naked, and doing my thang (cool thangs - like ironing).
Recently, I got onto the Spotify bandwagon. The song lists that the Spotify team has put together to cater to different moods are beyond fantastic. They plug even the most obscure of artistes, and I feel like my music universe has expanded tremendously. I play the songs off my phone or laptop, and the sound quality is obviously not great. It is also impossible to achieve gangsta loud levels, so I started hooking up my phone to my Bose Wave using an AUX cable. That did the trick, but the set up - phone perpetually tethered to my music player - meant my mobile phone was no longer mobile. I had to conduct all of my frivolous phone activities while sitting butt naked next to my music player, which is unfortunately in full view of anyone who walks past my condo. A rather minor inconvenience I would say, this immobility. I live in a very small house afterall, and my phone is never more than 10 steps away, but giving a free show for all and sundry to see is another matter altogether.
So.
I got myself this baby. The Bose Soundlink Mini is a portable speaker that links to my phone wirelessly via bluetooth. I come home, turn it on; it auto detects my phone which has spotify on, and just like that I can seamlessly transfer music from headphones to speakers. The sound coming from this baby is pure gold. For such a tiny thing - fits in the palm of my hand - it easily fills a room with great quality sound. I can pick it off its charging dock easily and carry it to any part of the house. Recently, I've taken to putting it on the pillow next to me in bed, but the vibrations caused by the bass reverberates a little too much. If you have this baby sleeping next to you, you won't need a vibrator! Haha, kidding. Every girl needs a vibrator. Ahem, I digress.
The soundlink mini is quite a looker, with an all aluminium body and sleek rubber buttons. It feels quite substantial because of the weight, but that lends to the feel of excellent build quality.
Baby bose next to Mama bose. My life is complete. I can spotify myself senseless now. Speaking of which, you should check out my favourite Spotify list called 'Indie Ambient'. It has songs that are haunting and soulful. They say you can tell a person's character by songs in their playlist. Whoever at Spotify put 'Indie Ambient' together must have had a very dark side. As do I. In my quiet moments when I let my thoughts run all over the place, I tend to become a little melancholic. When I look through my own playlist which I put together, the songs that show up are borderline suicidal.
Ships in the Sea - by Lanterns on the Lake.
Click to viewMy body's an anchor I'm lost to the sea
I look to the stars as the waves cover me
It's a beautiful night to behold
The most beautiful I've ever known
Ships in the rain I'll see you again
Their whistles are blowing
They´re looking for me
Like an orchestra playing
As I sink to the deep
But this cold black ocean will know
That this sailor will never come home
Ships in the rain I'll see you again
It is not a bad thing to indulge in melancholy. A necessary evil, me thinks, to have such a time to feel the burdens of the world weigh down on me like a tonne of bricks, so that I can process them and purge them from my system. That's what keeps me awake at night. I put my music on, lie in bed, and get in the mood to think. I sleep so little because I think too much. Always too much.
Sometimes it is also in such low moments that I find courage to do whatever it is that I feared to do before, because it feels like I have hit rock bottom, and there is nothing more I can possibly lose. I can still remember the songs that played in the background when I reached such moments of resoluteness. I actually wake up a different person from the one who went to bed the night before. It's incredible how music exalts the soul and empowers the mind.
Some of my life's most illuminating realizations - about life, love and relationships - have also come from the lyrics of songs. It feels like someone out there understands; that brings me comfort, despite knowing that at the end of the day I still carry my burdens alone. It always feels special when I find a kindred connection to the world through what is written in songs and books.
Spotify has been a godsend. Here's another suicidal song that's so deliciously depressing.
Take care - by Tom Rosenthal.
The old
The young
The brave
Astound all around you
The lights fell down upon the world and did surround
Take care of all the lonely souls or I will haunt you
Oh, how you walked through the dark, and light destroyed you
I also got myself a-Jays headphones to round up the ultimate Spotify experience. They're tangle free. Nuff said.
Here is my spotify list. I have titled it 'Borderline Suicidal'.
