Cellophane Towers

Music, Musings, More

Taylor Swift at the American Music Awards

Swiftly Bankrupting A Nation

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By Cosmopolitan UK, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90905376

Beyonce already caused Swedish prices to rise, so who’s to say the Swifties securing tickets for Dublin next week won’t cause the same effect in Ireland?

The Minister of Public Expenditure, who saw Taylor Swift live the last time she was in Dublin, said that he wanted to rebuild the hospitality sector, and that the Irish should essentially welcome Taylor’s concert with open arms.

The economic impact of Taylor Swift’s concert tour is “more than the gross domestic product of 50 countries.”

From: The Honest Broker

An Executive Briefing Paper on the Creative Economy

Last month, I tried something different at The Honest Broker. As you probably can guess, I spend a lot of time trying to grasp what’s really happening in our culture—especially behind-the-scenes stuff that impacts media or music or creative work. But only a little of this information actually shows up in my articles here…

Read more

In all seriousness, the cultural impact of these pop star’s mega-tours should be examined not only on national but also global levels.

An Irish Swifty yourself? Here is a guide by https://www.irishtimes.com on where to get Taylor Swift Dublin tickets.


Industry Pulse

Glastonbury’s Very Own “Carhenge”: 24 vintage cars have been used to create a kind of Stonehenge at Glastonbury.

Carhenge

Dermot Kennedy Says Sorry For Racial Slur Use: The singer apologised to the Traveller community through a story on Instagram for his use of racial slurs.

For Those Interested In New Scottish Music: An article detailing Scottish musical successes of 2022 and new interesting bands to look out for in 2023.


Music History

Who Was Frédéric Chopin?

By Louis-Auguste Bisson – Ernst Burger: Frédéric Chopin. München 1990, S. 323, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=113046

Chopin was a Romantic period composer and virtuoso pianist who lived from 1810 – 1849, writing a total of over 230 works. All of these include the piano in some capacity. A select few of his works branch beyond music for the solo piano, including some piano concertos and chamber music.

Chopin was one of the main composers in his era, being particularly innovative, and possessing innate talent for composition and piano playing that far surpassed most of his contemporaries.

He innovated within and expanded upon many of the Romantic period genres, such as the nocturneballadepolonaisecharacter piece/impromptu, etc.

His music was characterised by heavy nationalism and improvisation, making use of many Polish practices and displaying his immense piano skill.

While he was perhaps not as famous for frenetic performances as Franz Lizst, he was incredibly prolific during his short life, and his technical prowess and incredible ear for melody is undeniable. Reportedly Chopin said that Mozart and Bach were his two biggest influences in shaping how he conceptualised music.

Chopin was highly acclaimed and praised by contemporaries, and his work remains influential and important today. He has written some of the most recognisable and beautiful piano works the world has ever heard, with an unmatchable elegance.


Song of the Day

Schism – TOOL

Schism, one of TOOL’s best tracks, contains everything that makes the band so appealing: odd time signatures, heavy riffs, melodic breakdowns, and a tense buildup leading to a satisfying release. It has one of the most iconic, exquisite opening basslines of all time.


100 Albums to Listen to

Image from https://cavetown.fandom.com/wiki/Worm_Food_(album)

worm food – Cavetown

(bedroom/indie pop)

Inspiring from start to finish, Cavetown once again presents to the listener an intimate, heartfelt tracklist in his typical, endearing style.

Some songs, such as grey space and a kind thing to do have a few production elements that could prove grating, but this is otherwise a great record.

5/100


Lyrical Lament

You can look but you can’t touch/I don’t think I like you much

I Think I’m Paranoid – Garbage