Mixtapemotions

  • Age -From the Airport January 3, 2021

    From the Airport is a South Korean electronic rock duo, consisting of vocalist Milo and guitarist Zee. About 90% of their songs are in English. They have two full-length records and they seemed to have disappeared after the release of 2017’s The Boy Who Jumped.  Drawing a comparison of this band is difficult. They definitely have pop influences. The keys and the guitar production is atmospheric, causing a pensive nature in the songs, yet Milo’s lyrics, while often simple, are positive and combined with his vocal pattern and high-range vocals keep the songs light and optimistic. It’s like if Falling Up were less moody and poppier. 

    WISDOM SHALL SHOW. I picked this song for a few reasons. First, it struck me as I was walking home today. I like to pick a song for the day that I listened to authentically, like it came up naturally on shuffle; however, that doesn’t always happen. Another reason was that I wanted to write about this band and introduce them. But the biggest reason was the opening lyrics. “Was it just yesterday? Has it been a season’s turn?” In South Korea, New Years Day is important because it’s one of your birthdays. I don’t really want to explain the system, so I’ll refer you to a video by Talk To Me In Korean.  Koreans celebrate the New Year as the year you will turn your age. Age is important in Korea because with age comes more  respect from younger people. This doesn’t always work out, but it’s Confucian ideal taught in school. There’s often a camaraderie between strangers of the same age. There’s nothing quite like it, but I think of it like you went to a huge high school and you bump into an alumnus who says they also went to your school. It’s much easier to say the age you born in South Korea than to say your age. 

    ABOUT TIME. In the most concrete way, January 1st marks the beginning of the year. We are now in the third day of the new year, and that year is 2021. If I were to say that number when I was a kid, I would say, “the world will probably have ended by then,” or I would imagine myself unrealistically rich and maybe famous for something. When I was a kid, big numbers didn’t seem to register. Just last year, I started to feel a sense of urgency to do something with my life as the calendar turned to 2020. Just to think 21 years ago we thought that all of the computers would crash and we would be living in some apocalyptic zombie-less film. 

    A BLOG ABOUT NOSTALGIA.  I chose not to write very much about this song today. I’d rather react to it. Now my thoughts turn to my age. At 33, or 35? (1987). I’d say I’m pretty happy with my life choices, but I’m still shocked to be here in the future. I’m worried to think about the next 33 years. NASA’s always finding more near earth objects getting uncomfortably close to Earth. Climate change is really starting to become a thing. Who would have thought that the world’s travel industries would have shut down for almost a year? Still, I believe there’s hope. There’s so many good people I know and love and I hope to be with them in 33 years as we wonder where the time went.

    https://music.apple.com/us/album/age/1493346356?i=1493346576

     

  • "I Will Rest in You"-Jaci Valesquez January 2, 2021

     

    Streams is a unique Contemporary Christian concept album from 1999. Featuring nine songs with some of the Christian music industry’s forefront artists at the time and a couple of head-scratchers from Classic rock including Michael MacDonald (The Doobie Brothers), Jon Anderson (Yes), and a song written by Peter Gabriel. I bought this album for my mom, who loved the Jon Anderson/4Him duet. There are few songs from this album I still listen to, even though my musical diet only consists of CCM when I listen to Good Christian Fun. The production of this album is amazing. It seems that this kind of album is a pause in the so-called culture war. Evil rock musicians laid down their Satanic lyrics of anarchy and the heavenly choir of saints,  in a lapse of judgement, succumbed to the the New Age message of unity and created an album to deceive the very elect…no, I don’t actually believe any other that, but it’s something I may have heard from the crazy church people growing up. 

    I WILL REST IN YOU is a song performed by Jaci Velazquez, who was at the peak of her career. Velazquez was young and pretty. Her music was very churchy and rarely upbeat, except for when she brought Latin into the CCM realm. MUSICAL NOTES: This song is a piano ballad which starts out with Velazquez singing in an almost childlike calm, but builds up to some powerful vocals by the last chorus. THE LYRICS of this song talk about a transition from a childlike faith to a deeper understanding. When I started re-listening to this album last year, I was struck by the “God/boyfriend” comparisons that often corrupt pure-intentioned songs. God watches over you when you’re a little child and you mature into the “greater faith prepared for [you].” 

    WHY I CHOSE THIS SONG: After the most turbulent year in most of our lives, everyone is welcoming in the new year. Every month seemed to pile on something new and terrible for the world, as if we were all stuck on a treadmill that raised it’s speed every month. I’m not so naive to believe that it’s over, but what I’ve found is that it’s important to value the rest whenever you can. Personally, I’m hesitant to call myself a Christian, but I do believe that God can give us rest. We have to seek it. In the first Sabbath of 2021, I’m reminded to take that rest because the treadmill will probably decide to level up pretty soon.