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What do you get when you take a lover of loud, in-your-face music (everything from the so-called 'screamo' to industrial metal) and hand her a slow-paced indie song?

That's exactly what happened to myself when I asked a friend to help remedy my lack of music. She suggested that I listen to Deerhoof - amongst other bands that I've yet to check out. I thought about it for some time, listened to a song on last.fm radio, but never gave it a second thought. The song I'd heard was rather eccentric in a strangely nice-sounding way, but it wasn't exactly what I'd call my favourite type of music. And that was that...

Well, 'that was that' until today. In my search for more music (and in my boredom, I might add), I decided to search for Deerhoof music online. I looked over a few song titles and chose Red Dragon because, to be honest, I was expecting a more heavy musical approach or perhaps something akin to Japanese Kung-Fu movie soundtrack tunes. That wasn't the case at all.

What I got, instead, was a calming and almost - for lack of better words - opera like song. At first, I was skeptical and didn't listen to it very objectively. "Well, that wasn't expected," was perhaps the most I thought while listening... and perhaps "What the hell is a 'camera frog'?"

It grew on me around the line "When I was alive," and sort of dragged me in. Press rewind. Listen again. Pay attention to lyrics. It still didn't make much sense, but it also didn't not make sense. I can handle a nice middle grounds between sense and nonsense - I do listen to Gorillaz, after all. ;)

But unlike the first song I heard by Deerhoof, I listened to this one a few times and actually started to love it. It's not noisy like most of the music I like. It's not deep like most of the music I like. It doesn't even have allusions to vampires or sex (well, unless you count 'when I was alive'...but I doubt it's meant to talk about vampires) like the oddball songs I like. It's unique - infectiously unique. And that's why I love it.

Well, that and the fact that every time I listen to it I get that whole calmed 'chills down the back of the neck' feeling. It's quite relaxing. This song's definitely going to get a lot of play-time on my computer. Probably not as much as Puscifer or Linkin Park or Evanescence get - but a lot.

So, what's the moral of this extremely long journal: Never dismiss a musical genre simply because you aren't sure you'll like it. And never dismiss a song before you've actually listened (rather than just sitting there thinking 'this isn't what I expected') to it.

Now, to the question posed at the beginning:

What do you get when you take a lover of loud, in-your-face music (everything from the so-called 'screamo' to industrial metal) and hand her a slow-paced indie song?

The answer is simple. You get someone with broadened musical horizons. :)

Or, perhaps, you'll get a rabidly angry and displeased woman running around shouting obscenities. It all depends on who the person in question is.

Speaking in terms of writing, I tend to get most of my inspiration from music. Sure, I'm not the world's best author - nor do I think I'm even good enough to be considered an author, but it's a passion that I indulge in for the sake of making myself happy. Likewise, I listen to music that suits my mood when I start to write. However, certain songs have proven to aid my creative spark a lot more than others - regardless of my mood.

Currently amongst said songs are:

12 Stones:
Fade Away

A Perfect Circle:
Let's Have A War

Blur:
Song 2

Bon Jovi:
Everyday
Wanted Dead Or Alive

D12:
Purple Pills

Eminem:
Just Lose It
Mosh

Evanescence:
Hello
Lies

Ginuwine:
Pony

Gorillaz:
Left Hand Suzuki Method
Sound Check (Gravity)
White Light

Linkin Park:
Hit the Floor
In the End
PPR: Kut
(the last one's on Linkin Park's Reanimation disc, but the disc's info - according to Windows Media Player - lists 'cheapshot & jubacca' as the artist.)

Nine Inch Nails:
Closer
Dead Souls

Papa Roach:
Last Resort
She Loves Me Not

Puscifer:
Rev 22:20 (Rev 4:20 mix)
The Undertaker (Renholder mix)

Rehab:
Hey Fred

Staind:
Epiphany
Mudshovel

Steppenwolf:
Born To Be Wild

So, there you have it, arranged by artist. There are many more, but these are the ones that usually produce some sort of good creativity within me.