I have no idea. For me, context plays a big role. For example, once I was at school in the courtyard with some friends. It was an otherwise normal day. I remember the weather was good. A friend had the radio on as he was loading the kiln for a firing and over the local college radio station a Godspeed You! Black Emperor (though I think at the time, they were still Godspeed You Black Emperor!) came on. I have no idea what song it was, but what I do know is that it completely changed the quality of the scene. The sun seemed different as did the air. Everyone in the courtyard, all three of us felt it and asked each other if we'd been affected by the song and as far as we could tell, we'd all been affected in the same way. A week or so later that same DJ played the same song and that time nothing happened. But at that particular moment in the courtyard, that song was exactly what needed to happen and in that brief span of time, for me and two other people it was a perfect song.
Yes, this to me is the most correct answer. It is entirely dependent on the context of which a given song is heard. As you said, a song can take on an entirely different feeling and emotional response depending on the situation. Though, I have found that there are certain songs that continue to evoke that response even with multiple listens in different situations. For instance, Blue Thunder by Galaxie 500 almost brings me to tears everytime. Same band, different song, Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste does the same thing.
This band kind of reminds me of Mazzy Star. I like those two songs, thanks.
Mazzy Star is great as well. I'm in love with that whole late 80's/early 90's reverb and delay tinged Slowcore/Shoegaze/Lo-Fi movement. It's one of my favorite eras of music, and I've delved way too far into it.
The aforementioned Galaxie 500 and Mazzy Star. I also love Pavement, Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr., Black Tambourine, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Yo La Tengo, Slowdive, Codeine...the list goes on and on...
There is a song which if I listen to at the right time in the right place completely overwhelms me with emotion. Walking along here, when the sun is on the verge of setting. With friends, or alone. If this song (or any other from the album) is playing then I get a feeling of pure bliss.
I had never heard of this band, so thanks for sharing that with me. It definitely sounds like a great song to take a walk to and that looks like a pretty great place to take a walk. Is it close to/in a town or city or is it all open space around it?
It's in the UK in between a town and the village where I live. The river near the village is usually quite busy with dog walkers, but once you cross a side river (tributary?) then there's no one about. To access it from the town you have to cross a train track which I guess puts people off too, but it's so worth it. It's such a beautiful walk and there's benches and little fishing huts which are great places for BBQs! The one downside is a nearby factory, but I think it can look quite beautiful sometimes. If you're into Toe then I'd happily recommend you some similar bands.
American Football, DARTZ!, Empire! Empire, Enemies, Fish Tank, Maybeshewill, Minus the Bear, Pele, Piglet, Renaissance Sound, The Speed of Sound in Seawater, Tangled Hair, Thieves of the American Dream, This Town Needs Guns, 3nd, 14 foot 1, 65 Days Of Static. Dorena, We All Inherit the Moon, Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, Oak, (The) Slowest Runner (In All The World), God is An Astronaut. I tried to choose a few and I ended up with too many, it's too hard to choose between them! The first lot are quite up-beat and most are described as math rock, I believe. The second lot are more ambient and instrumental, great for when you're working. All (or most) of them fall under the post rock genre, which if you can't tell, I love!
Factories can be really beautiful at times. I've been driving through Billings MT at night and have enjoyed the glow of lights from the mills or down-river Detroit and see the billowing smoke stacks set against a sunset. Also, inside the factories hearing the hydraulics and the grinding of metal, seeing the rainbows in the coolant, all of this can be quite beautiful.