MOG

Thank you to everyone who commented! I especailly loved the video Hammerogod!

So I was racking my brian for a song that mentioned strumpets and the only one I've been able to come up with is (oddly enough) a Disney song.

Topsy Turvy from the Hunchback of Notre Dame contains the line:

"Join the bums and thieves and strumpets Streaming in from Chartres to Calais"

Now on to Trumpets.

So I kind of lied when I said this would be about trumpets. Well it is, but it's more about the brass and woodwind... well underused instruments in general.

In my opinion they are far underused in much of today's popular music. I can remember as a child listening to my mom's tapes of The Band, Chicago, Steely Dan, CCR and others and loving that extra something that the trumpets, saxaphones and harmonicas brought to the music. There seems to have been a great more variety in the tools used back then and I feel that that is missing in a lot of todays music. Maybe it isn't that these elements don't get used today but that they tend to take a back seat to other aspect of music that I don't notice them as much. Either way it saddens me greatly.

But! All is not tears and nostalgia! Several contemporary bands make good use of these instruments. Reel Big Fish and Cake come immediatly to mind when thinking of bands that make good use of the Trumpet in particular. Also, a recent find Beirut, though they have a slightly more toned down sound than either Cake or Reel Big Fish, has a wonderful sound, combinding the sounds of many rarely heard instruments. Thier song Postcards form Italy is a current favorite of mine, especially the last 2 min. when the French Horn (I think that's what it is...) really comes to the front and gets to show its real potential. Sufjan Stevens and a new find of mine, The National, are of a similar vein and have excellent... I almost want to say experamental... sounds. Back to more of a harder sound, I like the bagpipes that Dropkick Murphys make use of, especially on their version of Amazing Grace.

And thats all for tonnight folks!