New Feature

I love music. I listen to music all the time. When I'm not listening to music, I like to talk about music. When I'm not talking about music, I frequently think about music. I like to think that music likes me back; that's why I rarely get annoying songs stuck in my head and can usually choose what songs I want playing in my head.

Anyway, I love to share music with other people. Ever since I became passionate about music when I was fifteen or so, I have always tried to get people to enjoy and love my favorite bands. This meant burning CDs for them, making them mixes, convincing them to go to shows, and so on. I have been pretty successful in this endeavor and have influenced most of my close friends' musical tastes in some way.

This urge to share the music I love has led me to create a new sidebar feature for this blog. I have put together a mix, a collection of 20 songs that I have titled "The Beauty of Melancholy," and I have uploaded it and made it available for download. I hope that people will take the time to download and listen to these tracks.

With a name like "The Beauty of Melancholy" you might have an inkling of what's in store for you brave souls. Sometimes I chose the songs for their lyrics, other times it may have been the melody or some other aspect of the instrumentation, but I find each of these songs melancholic yet beautiful. And I think that being able to recognize beauty in things that may be sad can be just as beneficial to us as finding beauty in the things that make us happy. I think to really appreciate beauty and truth ("beauty is truth, truth beauty, -that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." - John Keats) we must experience the entire spectrum of human emotion. I hope this mix might facilitate that pursuit.

Or just provide some listening enjoyment. Whatever.