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Music Geek #9: Pre-mature expectation of spring cues mixtape musings

Matthew Montgomery

Matthew Montgomery wears funny glasses in a Cedar City, Utah park.As winter slowly phases out of season here in southern Utah, I’m drawn to the shocking realization that spring will soon be taking its place (as it does every year.) This, I suppose, isn’t actually shocking, but I am quite excited. What does this mean for me?

Well, for one, I’ll be able to go outside and take photos again. I suppose there was nothing stopping me, but I am a bit of a “wuss,” if you will, and am not terribly interested in having my hands freeze off. Can you blame me?

For two — and why don’t we ever say that? — it allows me to create a new playlist devoted to my regular walks from home to university and back! Now, I haven’t created one for winter, but I have realized that I often listen to the same styles of music when walking along snow-strewn sidewalks in the biting cold. So, rather than just trying to find styles that match these foreign weather patterns and attempting to conform to them a set of music, I’ll take it one step further.

I’ll make a mixtape!

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February 25, 2008 Tags:
Posted in Music Geek by Matthew Montgomery 1 Comment »

Music Geek #8: Love is… Spiritualized?

Matthew Montgomery

Matthew Montgomery wears funny glasses in a Cedar City, Utah park.Let’s get one thing straight: I don’t know what “love” actually means. It’s a terribly abstract thing, and we’ve been taught that it’s some mystical, valuable emotion we should all strive for. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t — but I think I have a vague (and when I say vague, I mean vague) idea of what it is. I’ve certainly felt strong connections before, and if that’s what this is, then perhaps I can affirm some things.

Whatever the case, I love music. Sure, I will confess to ignorance of what love really is (chemical reactions! but isn’t everything? We can break down everything to chemical reactions in mental workings, but it doesn’t bring us any closer to understanding or predicting human action,) but I will likewise profess to be a lover of music.

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February 14, 2008 Tags: ,
Posted in Music Geek by Matthew Montgomery, Video No Comments »

Music Geek #7: Chiptune — Is there anything better?

Matthew Montgomery

Matthew Montgomery wears funny glasses in a Cedar City, Utah park.

Editor’s Note: The track previously included in this post was not written or recorded by Brandon Harrod of Laromlab, who has recently come forward and admitted to having essentially stolen the tracks and called them his own. More information is available at www.mushpotrecords.com.

That’s a brave question, isn’t it? I thought so. So often my questions are lacking in, well, braveness, so I thought I might give it a try. Still, I’m not sure how brave it really is, though, as it is still a question and not a bold statement. After all, I’m willing to admit some wrong in this.

Anyhow, I’ve been venturing into electronic music lately, as it has been something I’m woefully under-educated in. My good friend Derek, a veteran (of sorts) of electronic music, has been instrumental in this, and perhaps we might call him the catalyst. At any rate, It’s happened.

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February 10, 2008 Tags: ,
Posted in Artist Spotlight, Downloads, Music Geek by Matthew Montgomery No Comments »

Music Geek #6: Appearance of “Superfriend” serves as a nice Weezer refresher

Matthew Montgomery

Matthew Montgomery wears funny glasses in a Cedar City, Utah park.It was in 2001 — six-and-a-half years ago — that I first heard tale of Weezer’s mysterious opus, Songs From the Black Hole, a project that frontman Rivers Cuomo had spoken of very little and much hype had arisen behind as a result.

It’s 2008 now, and still, there are several songs from the never-finished concept album that have yet to see the light of day. One of those, until sometime in the range of one month ago, was “Superfriend,” a track that had gained some notoriety on Weezer fan message boards, particularly the Rebel Weezer Board and the Rivers Correspondence Board, which I read voraciously but kept my posting to a minimum, for better or worse.

At any rate, the track quickly became a thing of legend, with only a very select few having actually heard it — and the track certainly wasn’t floating around the mass of information that is the Internet (or bootleg trading circles, for that matter) for easy listening purposes.

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January 31, 2008 Tags: ,
Posted in Music Geek by Matthew Montgomery No Comments »

Music Geek #5: Snow-covered headphones call for post-rock-stained emotional inquiry

Matthew Montgomery

Matthew Montgomery wears funny glasses in a Cedar City, Utah park.Once again, I’ve turned my attention to atmospherically pleasing music; this time, my interest has been sparked by flurrying snow that’s made its way back to Cedar City. I woke up, left for school, and was given a bit of a hassle by some inclement weather, but nothing was terribly pressing: No, it wasn’t until later that the real weather kicked in.

And it did kick in. Returning to the university after a lunch break, I suddenly found movement to be restricted by stabbing cold wind, my vision blocked by quickly approaching flakes of snow. So, what did I do? I slipped headphones over my bearded head, switched my music playing device (an iPod, if you must ask) to something suitable, and walked, head down.

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January 29, 2008 Tags: ,
Posted in Music Geek by Matthew Montgomery No Comments »

Music Geek #4: Music and emotion evoke more questions than they answer

Matthew Montgomery

Matthew Montgomery wears funny glasses in a Cedar City, Utah park.One thing I have particular interest in, above most things considered mundane, is the ability music has to add perspective to natural environments. Take, for instance, my walk toward the university this cold morning: Before leaving the house, I slip my headphones on and find music fitting of my mood to listen to. It varies from day to day, of course, but I’ll often to listen something that’s caught my fancy lately.

This morning, it was a revisiting of ( ), an untitled album by vaguely-post-rock group Sigur Ros. The biting cold, coupled with icy sidewalks and that powdery snow Utah is famous for, didn’t fade away with the music, but it did seem a bit less important alongside beautiful music. In fact, excepting, of course, the biting cold, the music seemed to complement what was essentially a typically winter scenario in Cedar City, Utah.

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January 25, 2008 Tags:
Posted in Music Geek by Matthew Montgomery 1 Comment »

Music Geek #3: Shoegaze, Famicom-style — The Depreciation Guild offers synthesizers with lush guitar work

Matthew Montgomery

Matthew Montgomery wears funny glasses in a Cedar City, Utah park.In the time since the writing and subsequent posting of my previous column, in which I probed for quality shoegaze, I have been offered a small variety of options by which I might discover more of this music I’ve found myself so enamored with.

First, I must offer my appreciation to those who answered my call; the suggestions have been greatly appreciated, and I’m putting effort into exploring these artists more.

In my own search, I’ve found some interesting things. The first is a group I discovered not terribly long after admitting to the internet that I was — and still am — on the clueless side of things as far as proper shoegaze is concerned. The group, The Depreciation Guild, is composed of two musicians and a certain device entertainment-happy children in the mid-1980s and, indeed, most anyone who’s spent time in the confines of American popular culture: the Famicom, or, as it’s more popularly known in the United States, the Nintendo Entertainment System.

The Depreciation Guild – “Butterfly Kisses”
[audio:http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/butterflykisses.mp3]

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January 21, 2008 Tags: , , ,
Posted in Artist Spotlight, Downloads, Music Geek by Matthew Montgomery, Reviews No Comments »

Music Geek #2: Does good shoegaze still exist?

Matthew Montgomery

Matthew Montgomery wears funny glasses in a Cedar City, Utah park.After writing a rather useless column — “Football and post-rock” — I thought it may just be time to venture again into the range of uselessness and write another useless column, so as I might best continue my run of things here.

Now, I hate to admit that I may just be aiming for something that’s not totally desirable: Uselessness, you might say, is bad. I’m not convinced, but for the sake of argument, let’s assume that, yes, things should have some sort of utility. I hope, then, that these columns, despite being useless on the very surface, will be found as something that provides at least something. What that something is, we have yet to see.

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January 18, 2008 Tags:
Posted in Columns, Music Geek by Matthew Montgomery, Video 4 Comments »

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