Music is my religion.

Music is the biggest influence on my life, over anything.

Music is a means of expressing emotions, feeling emotions; it’s a creative outlet where you can be yourself with no limitations. It’s something I simply couldn’t live without.

I’ve never been able to find a connection with religion… I looked to Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, anything to fill the void that I had always felt. But nothing fit.

At the age of eleven I listened to Robert Miles’ “Children” and felt this strong warmth growing throughout my body… I had found my religion: Music.

“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”

So I present to you my top twenty albums of all time (in no order)…

 

My song (to the tune of London Bridge Is Falling Down): Music makes the world go ’round, world go ’round, world go ’round, music makes the world go ’round all day long!

This is a fan video Gabe Askew.

The hipster harmonizing, Pet Sounds-aping band probably made a video for “Two Weeks” the single off of their latest album, and it was probably decent, but it hasn’t had the viral power of this, which picked up something like 47,000 views on Vimeo since it’s debut. Bonus: even the band noticed it. It was animated by a guy named Gabe Askew, and it’s truly wonderful. Imagine a world where not only did MTV still play videos, but played the best ones out there. Oh well. Certain arts come and go, but there will always be people to preserve quality in them for their ever-obscured audiences. Enjoy:

No one makes music like The Cinematic Orchestra. Their blend of soul, jazz, beats & widescreen arrangements is beloved the world over.

TCO return with their first full-length since 2002’s “Everyday”. “Ma Fleur” was written as the soundtrack to a specially commissioned screenplay for an imagined film, which may or may not yet be made. Dealing with themes of loss and love, “Ma Fleur” is fertile ground for Jason Swinscoe’s brand of raw-emotion music making. If the mood is melancholy, Swinscoe and company manage to make it an ultimately uplifting experience, perhaps in the end more about the love you find than the love you lose.

The photographs you find here have been chosen to accompany each of the songs contained on “Ma Fleur”. Inspired by but not tied specifically to any of them, these largely unpeopled studies in light are meant as an aid to the listener in reconstructing or creating the narrative contained at the heart of this suite of music.