I love to write, I really do. Words have the power to inform and to affect, and knowing that my words have the ability to do that makes me really happy. And of course, my other love is music. Or rather, listening to it since I can't really play any instruments (unless you count knowing enough to plonk away at single notes on the keyboard). If I could, I would spend my days scouring the internetz for new artists/songs.

Actually I think I have music ADD. I flit from artist to artist, depending on my mood and whichever sounds nice to me at the moment. I think I only ever listen to my "Recently Added" playlist, because there is always something new to discover and get hooked on - however long that lasts. Sometimes I hear a song on the radio, then download it only to realize that I already have it haha.

Anyway it seems obvious that the best way to indulge both my loves is to write about music, right? But I seriously find it hard. I'm always struck by how reviewers do their jobs. Firstly, to me, music is all about the feelings they strike up in you when you listen. It isn't like describing solid products and rattling off their pros/cons. You can't hold music in your hands and talk about how practical/useful it is. You can only listen and let it reverberate and sink in. So how do you even transmute your intangible feelings into literate words, such that your reader is also able to feel exactly the way you felt? Shouldn't it be enough for the music to speak for itself? And of course, music is subjective. One man's poison is another's wine. So who am I to judge whether this song sounds better than the rest?

Plus in order to provide technically-sound critiques, you need a huge internal catalogue of knowledge in order to understand the band's inspirations, or how they've made a certain genre sound even better and made it their own (or not). And most importantly, it takes time to listen and form your opinion of the song/album.

In other words, writing about music (and anything, really) is a labour of love. You can't continue unless you seriously enjoy it.

I know all this cuz I've tried to do it on my tumblr (link here, and on the right for those who're interested). It started out mainly as a place for me post whatever songs/videos that I liked, ie. sorta for book-keeping purposes. Plus I happened to have a lot of time on my hands haha. Then I discovered that there are others (albeit strangers from across the sea) who like my posts enough to 'like'/reblog them, or even follow my blog. There's a certain satisfaction in knowing that there are people who appreciate and share your interests. So I considered actually writing blurbs to go with the audio/video, to like share my (humble) opinions. But when it came down to it, I realized how HARD it actually was haha. So I only write something when I'm moved/inspired enough to do so, and even then it's mostly just a few lines.

(I feel like I'm drifting further away from what the main point of this post was supposed to be. So I shall end my rambling soon.)

Anyway yea, so I'm trying to challenge myself to contribute more constructive posts. As hard as it might be, it keeps my brain from degenerating during this lull period. And it is good practice cuz I really hope to find a job that allows me to write creatively. But of course I hope I won't write stuff for the sake of it, or because I wanna pander to "the masses". I'll still keep it close to what I love, cuz that was the reason I even had the tumblr in the first place.

As much as "talk-ischeap" is a guilty pleasure, I hope to keep it up even after I find employment and real life restarts.

- end verbal diarrhoea -

PS. editing blogspot templates are a PAIN. I'm starting to despise blogspot for its general unfriendliness. But well, I'm going back to basics with this layout haha.

So black and blue

For you