Music Makes The Difference presents a unique night of cinematic sights & sounds...
Wednesday 2.10.09 – MUSIC of the MOVIES
with resident DJs Ted Loc, Schpilkas, & El Dopa
Guest DJ Matter of Manifest Music (check out their sick dubstep remix of Free School - free download below in Top 10 chart)
Projected visuals by VJ Hussein & movies on the flat screens
No cover. 10pm-2am at Verdugo Bar 3408 Verdugo Rd. LA, CA 90065
The Music Makes The Difference Collective has put together a special night for February's version of our monthly vibeout. On Wednesday Feb. 10th we're spinning our favorite music from the cinema all night. Soundtracks, film scores, and songs famously used in movies. Plus we'll have movies playing on the flat screens and we're bringing in a projector for some added visuals to really get your synapses firing. Come celebrate the cinematic sound with us, it's gonna be super dope! MMTD Collective every 2nd Wed. of the month at Verdugo Bar. Full bar * rare craft beers * big outdoor patio.
DJ * Music Supervision & Licensing * Music Programming * Custom Mixes
Top 10 Feb 2010
- Vampire Weekend – Contra "Horchata" free download
- V.V. Brown – Travelling Like The Light see the video
- Spoon – Transference listen on lala
- Corinne Bailey Rae - The Sea
- Candi Staton – "The Thanks I Get For Loving You"
- Perez Prado – "Mambo Macabre"
- Hudson Mohawke - "Fuse" listen
- Free School – "Give It To Me (Bang. Alter. Remix)" free download
- Fool's Gold –"Nadine"
- Jay Electronica – "Suckas" free download
Stream and/or download the new El Dopa mix 'Electric Dreams' on Soundcloud
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The magic mixtape collabo 9 months in the making is complete, finito, a done deal. Mastered and ready for your bumpin' enjoyment. Music Makes The Difference is extremely pleased to bring you MILLIONAIRES USING COUPONS vol. 1!!! Chasan the Hot Son on the mic, DJ El Dopa on the decks, and a slew of special guests. It's hip-hop at it's finest – raw, diverse, and fun. As the cover suggests, it's a nod to the roots of hip-hop and those who pioneered it, while also taking you right up through today and on to tomorrow. Not only in the music, but also in the ideas behind this project altogether. Millionaires Using Coupons is also your survival guide for the recession. So get your money straight, and BUMP this wisely.
El Dopa & Chasan shot by Joseph R. Davis Nov. 09
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El Dopa Market City mini mix: Free download
20 minute global house/electronic mix recorded in '03
El Dopa presents "Culture Is Sexy" (Jazz, Brazilian, African, & French Classical selections):
(click image for free direct download)
Tracklist:
1.Intro
John Coltrane – Greensleeves
Koop – Waltz For Koop
Stan Getz – Samba de Uma Nota So
Vera – Vera Sambinha
2. Chico Buarque - Cotidiano
Friends From Rio 2 ft. Celia Vaz – Os Escravos do Jo
O Povo Canta – O Telefone Tocou Novamente
Jorge Aragao - Preto, Cor Preta
3. Tony Allen – Crazy Afrobeat
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba ft. Harouna Samake – Torin Torin
Sir Victor Uwaifo & His Melody Maestroes – Dododo (Ekassa No. 1)
4. Jose Feliciano – California Dreamin’
Paulinho Moska - Admiracao
DeBussy – Clair De Lune
5. Duke Ellington - Isfahan
Curumin – Acorda Simpatico
Troubleman – Paz ft. Nina Miranda
Bebel Gilberto – Samba da Bençåo
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DJ Services || Music Supervision & Licensing || Music Programming || Custom Mixes || Original Production
Over 12 years experience in music and marketing
hip hop * r&b * club bangers * indie * rock * soul * 70s * 80s * electronic * jazz * cinematic * international
Quality music can make anything better
Contact Ben for more info: ben@musicmakesthedifference.com
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Live Your Life Like A Melody
An essay on music, life, and the brain
Music, and the ways in which we experience it, can teach us far more than we realize about life, humanity, and ourselves. Now, I’m not talking about lyrics here. And when I say “the ways in which we experience” music, that’s not referring to whether we hear it in the club, on the radio, or on someone’s cleverly titled blog. I’m referring to the neurological mechanisms at work when we hear a piece of music. And not just actually listening to music, but imagining it as well. This goes beyond clinical music therapy (in itself a new discipline worth further exploration), into everyday benefits, insights, and applications of understanding music’s effect on us.
Music has had a prominent and central role in virtually all cultures and societies since the earliest days of man. This implies that there is something about music that connects to all people and has a profound impact on us, regardless of cultural and sociological meanings that have been assigned to it. Music taps into our subconscious on a primal level, and the main thing that sets humans apart from our apparent animal descendents is the advanced development of the brain. Could one of the greatest results, and benefits, of this neurological development in humans be the experience of music?
It has been speculated that one of the reasons people are so pervasively attracted to music is the element of expectation. When we hear music for the first time there seems to be an automatic sense of knowing or guessing at what is coming next, based on what has come before (a process that combines learning from experience with instinct). This is the essence of expectation, and it’s something we do almost constantly, everyday, not just with music. Usually this process happens subconsciously, without our realizing it. The interplay of expectation and surprise is very engaging, entertaining, and emotional for people. Some of the most effective songs, movies, advertisements, – you name it – are those that do something to surprise us. But in the case of music, even when we hear a song we’re very familiar with, it’s a new experience each time we listen. It can evoke deeper or different feelings, depending on what is going on in our lives at that moment. We listen to it with a “present” ear, so to speak. For example, you may hear a song a few times and not like it, but then you hear it later, and for some unexplainable reason, you start liking it. We say, “it grew on me.” Maybe it’s not so unexplainable, and maybe the same process can be applied to other areas of our lives, at will.
I believe there is great value in being present…living in the moment, and not getting caught up in thought. Often times our thoughts, particularly those having to do with expectation, trick us into thinking we know what’s happening or what’s going to happen. And thinking in a certain direction can actually lead to a manifestation of that thought in reality. To me, this is not just some new age, self-empowerment theory. When we think, we visualize, we play out the scenario in our minds, feeling the emotions. Actually feeling the emotions of what we’re imagining. On a neurological level, this is no different than studying something in order to learn it. We’re training our brain, firing the same neurons that would fire if we actually experienced the very thing we’re imagining. So as we are constantly using expectation in our everyday lives, we tap into this memory that our brain has stored. To the brain, it makes little difference whether the memory was real or imagined. The pathways have been opened, bringing whatever it is you’re thinking about closer to realization.
Often, people talk about feeling like they’ve fallen into a rut. They wake up in the morning and think it’s another day at work, basically the same as before. Or they find themselves bored in a relationship that used to be so fulfilling. They grow increasingly disillusioned and disconnected. But if we can break out of this pattern and stay present in each moment, we will be newly entertained (much like we are when we listen to our favorite songs over and over) and even find (create) new possibilities and opportunities in our everyday activities. It is much easier said than done to shift your perspective and be truly present in the moment. But I believe there is a way we can teach ourselves to live like this, and music holds the clue.
In Dr. Oliver Sacks’ brilliant book Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, he discusses the idea that every note of a melody carries with it the past and the future. Indeed, a melody would cease to be such without the full sequence of notes, the preceding and the forthcoming. Yet, it does not require us to think about it. We simply hear it for what it is, with that “present” ear that bypasses the part of our brain that wants to think about, analyze, and make sense of everything. Once we consciously think about it, we lose it. Musicians will tell you that when they are playing a piece of music, if they concentrate too hard on it, it won’t come out good. It will sound mechanical or they will sometimes lose it altogether. It needs to be a natural process, bypassing the conscious to access the subconscious and allow it to drive motor function (motor memory). Non-musicians may be able to relate in situations when they can’t think of a particular word or name. The more you think about it, the harder it is to recall. Moments later, after you’ve stopped trying to think about it, bamn! There it is.
If we can train our brains to treat other aspects of our lives as it treats music – bypassing at least some of the conscious thought, the expectation or prediction that can get in the way, and just tap into our subconscious, our natural selves – I believe our lives can improve greatly, and we can expand our potential to overcome obstacles, do great things, and be happier.
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