Musical Notes

Hi, readers! You must be aware of my somewhat erratic upload schedule. A recent reminder of a rather hefty investment towards the prescriptivist creation of meaningful sequences of lines and squiggles has finally tipped me over the fence into writing a post now.

Before my HSC board exams (pre-Uni level), my exposure to tunes was limited by the likes and dislikes of the various radio jockeys, FM connectivity, the availability of earphones, and privacy. The young me thought earphones were a delinquent's escape. Bollywood music would continue to distract me till I reached my hostel, and got access to Wi-Fi, opening my ears to the world. A journey which started with YouTube and a Weird (Al) phase (thanks Comedy Central), gradually moved to the more "popular" Taylor Swift and Katy Perry. I even had an Owl City phase! However, gears set into motion over a year prior were turning to veer me towards the present. Having been introduced to the manganimous world of Japanese comics, it was no surprise when I dove headfirst into anime.

I realise now, as I write this post, that music has played a more significant role in tweaking my preferences than I would've given it credit for otherwise. One of the first anime I watched was ERASED, whose opening (OP) and ending (ED) tracks were sung by AKFG and Sayuri, respectively. It led me to watch the then serialised Kuzu no Honkai, which featured 96neko. I chased Sayuri's beautiful voice into Spotify recommendations of LiSA's works, leading me to the Sword Art Online franchise. Of course, an anime enthusiast will have to watch at least some of the legendary anime—Naruto, in my case, which introduced me to bands like KANA-BOON. I was already deep into anime music at this point when I came across Kenshi Yonezu. With his music, I entered the world of Japanese popular music. Suddenly, I was bombarded with the powerful voice of 「aimer」, and the slightly edgy lyrics from amazarashi and Ling Toshite Sigure— Tokyo Ghoul fans would know what I'm talking about. The new season introduced Cö Shu Nie, and YouTube recommendations pushed amazing song covers by 96Neko, mafumafu, Sou et al., and led me to E ve. A lot of my earlier anime choices, which have shaped my taste today, stem from my preference for music.

In the gap after my second year of studies, I studied German to get A1 certified (the most basic level). What better way to "get exposure" than to listen to German music! I met Max Giesinger and MarkForster through this route. Somehow, now, I cannot enjoy most songs in languages I'm fluent with—English, Marathi and Hindi. The puzzle-solving dimension of deciphering grammar and new vocabulary, sometimes confounded by poetic spanners, has been integrated into my auditory process.

Another one of the classics—Your Lie in April—introduced me to classical music, which made a sweeping come back a few months ago. It is, again, inevitable, I suppose—musical notation is just another pattern for me to imbibe, not to mention the challenge of interpretation. That said, I'm no musician, but a seed for possibly picking up an instrument has been planted. I found the violinist duo TwoSetViolin bringing modern comedy into classical music on YouTube, which gave me a peek into a whole side of the arts I had never explored. This wave propelled me towards seeing my first live performance by Augustin Dumay and Maria João Pires earlier this year.

Amidst all this, YouTube recommended heiakim—the guy to made Google Translate sing and GIFs dance to his beat. I saw his channel explode from about 30k to now well over a million subscribers. This opened the doors to the EDM, the Vocaloid and the future bass genres.

This journey has certainly added a dimension to my personality. I have surprised people by my tastes in music, though people still find it weird that they know someone who's into German and Japanese music. Today, I could pass any amount of time listening to music. The me who once naïvely thought "art is unnecessary" has successfully evolved to follow the melodies and involuntarily tap his foot to an inviting beat.

PS: Dancing is still off limits, though! I've linked the artists' (mostly) YouTube channels and anime's MAL for your reference. If I had to conclude, I'd say that the YouTube and Spotify recommendation algorithms really do work in general (despite minor hiccups).

Post-edit PS: Linking all of that was annoying.