Music Monday (not a recurring series) + Poorly Timed Tech Slander

Ah, yes. Can you feel it? The chill is fully settled in the air, Mariah Carey has fully defrosted and awoken from her slumber, and the spirit of Christmas has overtaken Thanksgiving. Christmas music is back in style, winter coats are back in style, and losing to Virginia Tech never went out of style, apparently. Boo-hoo, we'll be crying while we admire our [checks notes] 33 national championships, which are [checks notes] 33 more than VPI has!

In honor of this wonderful statistic, here are 33 divided by 11 reasons to come to UVA, even in the wake of such a disgraceful performance on Saturday.

1. UNESCO World Heritage Sites

UVA: 1

Tech: 0

2. Beautiful Campuses/Grounds

UVA: 1 (ranked as such by innumerable websites and college rankings)

Tech: 0 (I looked for a really long time. Also, what is Hokiestone? I think y'all made that up).

3. Number of People From the School Who Flipped Me Off For No Reason on Saturday

UVA: 0

Tech: 2 (really, guys? I'm just in the band).

I'm looking forward to the messages I get as a result of this poor attempt at trash talk at an extremely bad time. Let's get to some good music.

Song For My Father -- Horace Silver

Esteemed jazz pianist Horace Silver caught my attention as I worked on my History of Jazz assignements during Thanksgiving, sending me down a major rabbit hole as I admired every song I heard with a Latin groove. The piano vamp is just slightly tense, enough to make the song tense from start to finish. The melody is sweet and satisfying; beautiful trumpet and sax harmony characterizes such a simple tune. Song For My Father is the name of this track and the album that it appears on, named so due to the influence Silver's father provided via his origins in Cape Verde, and how Cape Verdean melodies and Brazilian bossa nova played into the creation of the tracks on the album. It's high quality jazz, perfect for studying or wandering around or simply living in any given moment.

I Believe -- R.E.M.

There's always more to listen to with these guys. Life's Rich Pageant is an absolute masterpiece of an album, and I hate only picking one at a time; album review, perhaps? Regardless, I Believe is a great representation of the album: loud, energetic, and powerful. Banjo intro, then seemingly interrupted by a completely different song, complete with raging guitar and an accordion solo! What do the lyrics mean? I'm not sure, but the way they intensify along with the rest of the band throughout this track, culminating in the chorus each time, is absolutely masterful, whether or not you can extract much from the lyrics. (I suspect that you can, if you try hard enough. It's tough with Stipe).

When I was young and full of grace

And spirited a rattlesnake,

When I was young and fever fell

My spirit, I will not tell

You're on your honor not to tell

I believe in coyotes and time as a abstract,

Explain the change, the difference between

What you want and what you need, there's a key,

Your adventure for today, what do you do

Between the horns of the day? I believe my shirt is wearing thin,

And change is what I believe in

Yeah, I don't know. Just trust me.

The Right Place -- Monsters of Folk

Imagine my surprise when folk-rock "supergroup" Monsters of Folk (complete with My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James and folk legend M. Ward) finally managed to get their music back on Spotify, and I was immediately reminded of how wonderful The Right Place is, for many reasons.

Jim James runs the vocals on this track. That's reason no. 1. The steel guitar and acoustic guitar contrast beautifully to create a simple, easygoing track obviously crafted by musicians who know exactly what they're doing. That's reason no. 2. The rest of the reasons all have something to do with the sense of comfort buried within this song. "If you like where you're living, if you like what you do... you're in the right place". It's just that simple, and I think we could all use that reminder once in awhile. Much left to listen to on this album.

Silhouette -- Dave Simonett

I feel more and more like my dad every day that I write these posts because that's where my music taste seems to be trending. Simonett is the frontman for folk stomp-and-holler outlet Trampled By Turtles, an excellent band that I haven't talked about all that much; Silhouette is one of his solo creations. In direct contrast to The Right Place, Silhouette feels to me like being on the road, searching for home day after day. It's melancholy and bittersweet, the definition of both.

Oh God, it's getting colder But we keep getting bolder

And I sometimes forget to look behind me

All I wanted was just one thing that wouldn't disappear

Silhouettes in central time

The whole song is a lyrical masterpiece; highly recommend. It's short and sweet, haunting and mesmerizing to listen to.

Every song on "A Charlie Brown Christmas" -- Vince Guaraldi

I'm trying really, really, really hard to learn Skating on piano. This is the very essence of Christmas, the greatest Christmas album of all time. Debate with a wall.

It's the end of the semester, and I therefore have no time to write. We'll see what I get to next, but it will probably be a bunch of stuff written during winter break, when I am back home and without work to do. Until then, thanks for reading! Emory