Musical Advent Calendar, Day 2: Better Days

My Mission: One holiday-themed, non-carol song every day between now & Christmas. It's my own version of an Advent calendar. I may succeed, I may fail, but there will at least be some good music posted ... music you won't hear at the mall, that hopefully won't make you end up looking like him. ----->

Today's song, for December 2nd, is the Goo Goo Dolls' "Better Days." (Ignore the subtitle given in the YouTube video here. Also: the official video is unembedable, but is available on YouTube.)

(You can see previous songs here. Email me or comment below if you have a tune suggestion!)

Musical Advent Calendar, Day 1: Surabaya Santa

My Mission: One holiday-themed, non-carol song every day between now & Christmas. It's my own version of an Advent calendar. I may succeed, I may fail, but there will at least be some good music posted ... music you won't hear at the mall, that hopefully won't make you end up looking like him. ----->

So I start today, December 1st, with Jason Robert Brown's "Surabaya Santa," from Songs For a New World.

Music in Slow Motion

There was some Twitter buzz a while back about a slowed-down version of Justin Bieber's U Smile. If you haven't heard it, you must: it's interesting, and a little freaky ...

I won't lie, his voice sounds other-worldly, and I hear waves crashing on the rocks throughout. (And this got the millions of Bieber-haters to actually listen to him!)

J. BIEBZ - U SMILE 800% SLOWER by Shamantis

That's all fun and games, but ... what about doing something similar with Beethoven's 9th Symphony? Like stretching it out to last 24 hours? Thanks to a podcast from the great NPR program Radiolab, I heard part of this the other night. (9 Beet Stretch is its name.) It's been done in installments (the Radiolab broadcast was from one in San Francisco), but you can listen to it (or part of it) from your very own home via the 24 hour stream.

What an interesting concept: taking music that we're familiar with and transforming it into something completely different. What things do you hear that are new? Can you hear hints of the old in these versions?

Something old becomes new, heard through new ears ...

The Moments That Make You Smile

Sometimes I listen to music to distract me, sometimes I listen to it because its mood matches what I'm feeling, sometimes I listen to it to help change my mood, etc, ... but often times I find myself listening to a piece or recording because there's a part - even if it's just a brief blip - that makes me smile and brightens my mood. It's different than the tears or goosebumps I get with other music; this music brings out a type of joy. I typically like the entire piece, but it's that special spot that makes me really like the piece.

What musical moments make you smile?

Here are a few of mine (for today, at least) - with YouTube links:

• The clarinet melody in Vientos y Tangos, and the countermelody that follows - heck, the entire section from about 5:55-7:55.
• Oscar Peterson's solo break in Have You Met Miss Jones? (The tune starts about 5:40 in this clip, and the solo break is at 7:10.)
• Almost anything in a Count Basie chart. Here: Moten Swing. (The band's entrance at 0:34, and the build to the end starting around 3:50.)
• The backgrounds behind the sax solo in Fred Sturm's Riverscape. (Here, around 3:50.)

Share some of your favorites below!