Music: Sounds and Feelings

I feel so great right now. I've been in 'de-clutter mode' at home and in the studio recently. I've been Feng shui'ing my immediate environment to match the internal cleansing process that I'm going through.

This evening, I've been sat on my wooden floor surrounded by CDs that I'd forgotten about or even knew that I had. So I am currently listening to old school David Bowie, memories of a cover version I did of 'Diamond Dogs' and 'Swet Thing' back when I was signed came flooding back. I remember the familial production company environment, JJ was knee high to a grasshopper and all was well...

I love the way music evokes things from within. It can smooth any pain away, hype you up, chill you out, make you smile, make you cry and totally empower you...

All this joy and reminiscing came about because I decided to organise my collection and place all of my CDs into on of those giant file case things. I am now looking at cassette tapes and vinyl and feeling so lucky to have been able to experience the musical eras when all these were prominent in my lifetime. I know it may sound repetitive, having people talking about the sound quality of music rapidly de-generating in the digital age, but I agree. I believe that there is something so vital about those authentic sounds from the vinyl era.

And I SO miss analogue studio recording! I know it was a headache and arm ache for engineers but even that process somehow felt more magical. Or maybe I'm just a reminiscing romantic?

Don't get me wrong, I have embraced the digital age, I love progress but I am refusing to let go of certain things. (I even found my Mini Disc player the other day!)

I like to keep a good balance and choose to celebrate the old with the new. I will deffo keep playing my vinyl for as long as possible. Aaah, vinyl. Where else would you get that subtle 'bump' sound, the occasional scratchiness and warm resonance and the human sounding, lack of quantised beat 'neatness' that you'll find on many releases nowadays? Now this is my experience and an example of the special qualities that jump out at me when I hear music. Of course your experience will be different, memories will certainly be there regardless of the format of music you are listening to and this is what prompted my post. Music and its familiar traits really make a huge difference to how we enjoy it. But we inevitably do.

Even when I'm listening to music on the 'puter, I still feel an amazing buzz. For me, the whole process of pulling out vinyl and playing it is a special routine that adds to the enjoyment of my whole music listening experience. Sorting my CDs out made me think a little and I just had to proclaim how lucky I feel to have been personally involved in these special ways and times of producing and playing recorded music. The reason why I celebrate music in its many guises and I listen to as many formats as possible is because I love music.

What does it for you? Is there a special process that you do to listen to music? How would you describe the way music affects you if you could in one or two words?

No matter what your preferred way of music enjoyment is, I hope you'll agree that nothing beats the uplifting and/or powerful vibes that music evokes from inside of you.

It is truly magical, its is unifying, such a healer, and so potent.

I'm heading back to my joyous CD collection treasure trove right now to see what other treats I can find. So I bid you "adieu", for the love of music.

"And I'm feeling good..."

PICTURE: DANELLE HARVEY ARTWORK FOR SINGLE 'HEAVEN'