A very large bit of symphonic music.

 In light of the fact that my Mom is attending a performance of Mahler's 3rd Symphony, I decided to write something on it.

  I began listening to this particular symphony a few years ago and to say that I was hooked promptly would be a fallacy. It received a good number of scrutinizing listens before it settled in proper. That being said, every time I hear it played it receives rapt attention. I now consider it among my favorites.
  If the opportunity arrises for me to hear this work in a live performance, I will be attending with a euphoric sense of expectation.

http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1040831/a/Mahler+3+%2F+Solti,+Helga+Dernesch,+Chicago+Symphony.htm

This is one of the greatest syphonies written. It also happens to be quite lengthy, which suits me just fine. Why would you want such fantastic music to end quickly? (P.S. Mom, I hope you enjoy the performance to the utmost degree.)

Years in the making.

This album followed a quiet spell of twenty years.

  Steely Dan had released Gaucho in 1980 and with it, created possibly one of the best musical creations to date. (My opinion) Musicianship, creativity and all-around cleverness seemed to have peaked.
  This style of music was not on my radar until about two years ago when my Piano Master, Mark Cramer, introduced me. I have never looked back.
  Two Against Nature is brilliant and lives up to the steady progress that the Dan had left off with. This is clearly a piece of genius.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/recsradio/radio/B00004GOXS/ref=pd_krex_listen_dp_img?ie=UTF8&refTagSuffix=dp_img

  The lyrics might not make you giggle like it does me, if you do not have quite the dark sense of humor that I do, but the grooves should give you the urge to jive.

Something very unique. (in concept at least)

I've discovered a new genre. Well, a sub-genre I have been told.

Battle Metal...

  Yeah, I know right? But shock and after-shock, this stuff is good. It has a lot of elements I really enjoy. One of those being that my sons think it is outrageously fun.
  This album has got fist pumping anthems, speedy shredding bits, foreign accents, pirates and an instrumental track that has me in stitches with giddy excitement every time I hear it. (Venetoi! - Prasinoi!)

http://www.myspace.com/turisasofficial

  Just in case you have not noticed yet, I will not be sticking to any one genre.

  If this does hurt your feelings it is not really my fault. If it does not? Great! I look forward to writing to you in the near future.

A Morning Musical Surprise

  I am not a strong believer in cover-bands or covers in general.  Usually they drive me nuts due to the fact that the artist covering will either try to copy the original exactly or create some sort of way-out-there rendition.

  Why copy, the original is awesome and to try to mimic it should be something you do at home for yourself.

  This is a generalization but massively altered and downright changed covers usually appear to be an attempt at proving musical savvey.

That being said, surprises do show up every once in a while. For instance this morning I went looking for Sufjan Steven's Seven Swans artwork and stumbled across this. 

http://onjoyfulwings.bandcamp.com/album/seven-swans-reimagined

  Seven Swans is an album that I hold in great esteem. It is solidly written and produced. To me it has a perfect blend of moody, joyful, out in the woods sentimentalities. One of those albums that if the suggestion had been made to cover, I would have scoffed at.

  I would have been wrong...