And no one dared disturb The Sound Of Silence.

Track: The Sound Of Silence

Artist: Disturbed (Originally by Simon & Garfunkel)
Album: Immortalized

Year: 2016 (1964)

Genre: Rock (Folk Rock)

I first heard this song during the JJO Sonic Boom music festival in Janesville, WI. And what an amazing couple of days that was, rocking out to so many of my favorite bands with brother from another mother Shreyas Gaonkar (go, follow him!). But those stories are for another blog.

So, we saw David Draiman of Disturbed (the bald dude singing his heart out) invite Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge (another guy with an unconventional voice, that I really love listening to) on stage, and they captured everyone's imagination with a beautiful rendering of this Simon & Garfunkel song.

1 Oct 2016 - David and Myles at JJO Sonic Boom '16 during Disturbed's headlining set - Janesville, WI

And I had parts of this song replay in my head for weeks after that, never really nailing the lyrics. I understood the true beauty of the song after I added it to my playlist.

The above video is the exact performance that has been nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Performance this year. Here's wishing Disturbed get to see Ten Thousand Fists in the air when they go up on the stage to collect their prize. And that the crowd erupts in applause, ironically to celebrate The Sound Of Silence.

It is amazing to see how the problems of the 1960s have reared up their heads again in modern avatars. This song talks about how truly lonely we really are, even in a world constantly shrinking as technology overcomes traditional communication barriers. How we hold our inventions, our flimsy escape from our loneliness, in the highest regard - even higher than personal relationships.

When was the last time your kid didn't check his Facebook at the dinner table? When was the last time your friends took a moment to take in the natural beauty of the mountains, lakes, forests around them before rushing to whip out their fruit phones to capture an inferior-on-all-counts 12MP picture or Snapchat or Instagram or Boomerang or WhateverTheFKidsDoTheseDays? When was the last time your girlfriend looked you in the eye during a date, and not kept on glancing at the constant stream of notifications on her Whatsapp?

Can we just take a few seconds and appreciate the poignant writing of this verse?

And in the naked light I saw

Ten thousand people, maybe more

People talking without speaking

People hearing without listening

People writing songs that voices never share

No one dare

Disturb the sound of silence

I'm All The Way Up & Nothing Can Stop Me

Track: All The Way Up

Artist: Fat Joe, Remy Ma ft. French Montana

Year: 2016

Genre: Hip Hop

I owe UV my thanks for introducing me to this song during one of our countless wanderings in and around San Jose, rocking some tunes in the car. This track is perfect for your morning dose of motivation, more potent than that dark liquid 'Starbucks Lovers' (yeah yeah, I know Taylor Swift didn't say that) swear by.

Say something frequently enough and it starts sounding true. Sing along - "I'm all the way up! And nothing can stop me". Say it again. And again. See? Don't you feel powerful, with the world at your feet, ready to tackle any challenge in your way and ready to take all the credit for it? That's what I'm talking about.

As my taste in Hip Hop is still underdeveloped, I really don't give a second thought to the self praise and hedonistic, misogynistic lyrics that complete this song. But the hook makes it all worth it.

So brush off that laziness, go get something productive done in this Vine of a life. And for all your haters, and anyone that tries to bring you down, can you even hear them? 'Cause you're all the way up! And nothing can stop you.

Shorter. Faster. Better.

In this age of reducing attention spans, the most engaging content is in the form of small doses. This is me embracing the new world order of fickle loyalties and trivial pursuits, trying to find a way to still get my points across. 

Reintroducing MusicManiac, 2017. Of all the shitty things bound to happen this year, I hope this is not one. Seriously, how long are we going to humor the app (and its users) that lets you create a 10 second snap of your face in a slice of toast? 

One song recommendations, auto video playback, and sassy but honest writing - all of that cool, annoying stuff. It'll be over before you know it. Best case: "Hold my beer while I add this to my playlist". Worst case: "Yeah, I know this song, and it sucks balls."

Here's me raising a toast to the long life of this short blog (shlog?). And also to shlongs, thank God there are still things on this planet that people prefer the long form of.

Till the first post comes out, I have just one thing left to ask. In the words of the evil genius Moriarty : "MISS ME?".