Humans use all our senses to perceive the world around us.

As newborns, it is touch, smell, and sound that provide the signals we need. Parents themselves are hard-wired to react to the cries of their child; a baby in distress is a powerful sound that makes adults run – in one direction or the other. Our ancestors relied on sound for important signals that were crucial to survival, and our emotional response to different types of sound explains the roots of language development.

So it should come as no surprise that sound plays a huge role in the emotional effectiveness of visual entertainment, even though most people don’t realise how they are being influenced. Next time you watch a movie or TV show, try to keep your ears open as well as your eyes. It isn’t always as obvious as the dramatic, emotional soundtracks to important scenes. Pick out the little motifs used to define the characters and places. Listen out for sound bridges between scenes that help you understand what you are meant to be feeling.

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Hugh Laurie has had a fairly varied career, especially with his award winning role in House. However, for British people he will always be synonymous with comedies Fry & Lauria & Jeeves & Wooster. His plummy British accent has been replaced though recently with an American accent on House and now in Let Them Talk, his debut album, he sounds about as Americana blues as any posh English man possibly could.

Throughout his career, especially in the early days on Fry & Laurie, Hugh has played the piano, and on Let Them Talk he brings his skills to bear. He’s helped along the way by the likes of Irma Thomas on John Henry and Baby Please Make a Change, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Dr. John on After You’ve Gone, and Welsh crooner Sir Thom Jones on Baby Please Make a Change.

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A recent study entitled “The Do Re Mi’s of Everyday Life: The Structure and Personality Correlates of Music Preferences” found that there is a direct correlation between one’s musical preferences and his personality type. They categorized music personalities into four groups – Reflective and Complex, Intense and Rebellious, Upbeat and Conventional, Energetic and Rhythmic. Combining this information with the Myers Briggs Personality Types, which guide career choices based on one’s personality traits, one can correlate musical preference with occupation. So, while you may be considering a nursing degree, criminal justice degree, or it degree, think about what kind of music you like and how that may relate to a possible career path.

Top careers for Reflective and Complex individuals include communications, counseling, and designing. The music that inspires these individuals includes Classical, Jazz, Blues, and Folk:

• Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5
• Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture
• Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik: Allegro
• Don’t Know Why by Norah Jones
• What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong
• Feeling Good by Nina Simone
• At Last by Etta James
• Shelter Me by Tab Benoit and Louisiana’s LeRoux,
• Dust Bowl by Joe Bonamassa,
• Mr. Tambourine Man by the Byrds
• Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan
• California Dreamin by the Mamas and the Papas

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Ahhh summer – that time of year when we’re supposed to be blessed with the archaic rays of the sun. A time for fun, laughter and BBQs, a time for drinking, lots of food and, above all, listening to music in your car. Come-on, you know you do it; we’ve all done it. The second the first ray hits the pavement, we’re all out with our three-quarter length combats, awful River Island sunglasses and music blasting from our car speakers. So, with that being said, here’s some of the best driving music for summer.

The Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff – Summertime

“Summer, summer, summertime!” – is this song the most summer-related and universally loved warm-weather track on the planet? It could well be, and it’s all thanks to a pre-Hollywood Will Smith aka The Fresh Prince, and his DJ, Jazzy Jeff. 1991 was the year when this iconic summer track hit radio and we’ve been getting our hip-hop on ever since.

It’s not hard to see why summertime was such a big hit. The beat just sounds like a BBQ in July with Hayfever sufferers suffering, kids playing in the park and alcohol being served. It’s a timeless track that deserves a place in your iPod!
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It’s been a little while since I posted up a music review, so I thought it was about time that I got on down to writing one and just at the right time as the news of a re-release of the 2004 album Cocktail by Carlos Wilde.

Some years back in those early days of me surfing around the internet and producing my own music, yes I still do that as well, I got to know a lot of artists through a lot of the social music networks and one of those artists was Carlos Wilde and the one thing that I never got to do was get my hands on his debut album Cocktail, shame on me!

Then just as I wanted to get a copy the website that was selling the album ceased and so it was a case of having only a couple of tracks of his music.

But, recently Atom Sounds has announced the re-release of the album on Bandcamp and I was lucky enough to get a copy of the album from Carlos, though this album is now available as a pre-order and isn’t available in full until the 1st June, you get two tracks with your pre-order, now how cool is that

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I recently started an unofficial MySpace boycott as a result of their decision to remove the ability to search by location. As a local music reviewer for my city, I turn to online resources when seeking new bands to write about. When MySpace launched their revamped site late last year, they altered their advanced search and omitted the special feature that allowed a searcher to navigate at a local level. Enraged with frustration, I emailed and asked what had happened to my beloved zip code search field, to which they simply replied “We’re sorry. That function no longer exists.”

This painful realization has given me no choice but to experiment with a new medium: Reverb Nation. The website has been around for a while, but it wasn’t until I needed to find new local bands that I decided to complete my profile and become an active member of their community. Since then, I’ve come to realize that the niche website actually provides more benefits to both the musician and the reporter than MySpace. Read on to see why.

General Search

As I mentioned, being able to find bands by location is essential for a blogger who only covers events local to their city. Furthermore, musicians who are seeking like-minded bands to schedule and play gigs with will want to be able to search by zip code. Reverb Nation sorts the returns of a general search query by artists, venues, and labels and then allows a deeper search of on-page content if you still can’t find what you’re looking for.
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Remergence – Wide Open Space

An Album That Sneaks Up On You

I have to admit “Wide Open Space” has a sound that sneaks up on you. Over the past few months I’ve been listening to various tracks of other music by Remergence but never listened to anything from start to finish. Yes, I would listen to songs from start to finish, but when it came to listening to a complete album, I never stuck with just one. Instead I jumped from album selection to album selection listening to a track here and a track there.

When I finally decided to listen to something by Remergence from start to finish, I was not disappointed at all. Now here I am writing a review of “Wide Open Space”. As mentioned in the heading, “Wide Open Space” sneaks up on you. The title cut starts off rather quiet. It almost makes you strain to hear what’s going on. It’s a very effective method of grabbing the listener right out of the gate. However, as you move from track to track, there’s a great build up of sounds. The amazing thing is, the subtle ebb and flow of various sounds actually end up reaching out at times through your speakers grabbing your attention and demanding you listen. In what’s probably best described as a techno-pop sound, “Wide Open Space” is captivating from start to finish.

Find out more by reading the rest of this album review