RM actually means Rediscover Music (Or, "Far More Than You'd Ever Like To Know About The Music I Like")

Intro stuff which you can skip:

Lots of people in Utah have very strong musical backgrounds, learning piano from a young age, playing other instruments in band and orchestra, and so forth. I consider myself to have a strong musical background. However, when I went on a mission, my mission rules regarding music were very strict. I was limited, for the most part, to Mormon Tabernacle Choir. That's fine for missionaries. I'm not saying there's something wrong with that. However, when I got back from my mission, my pool of listenable music had stagnated, and I didn't have time to participate in the producing side of music (band, piano lessons, etc) so the musical part of me started to die a little.

Luckily I made good friends with a music connoisseur who showed me a lot of cool, new indie music that I could start enjoying. Also luckily, on Spotify you can listen to essentially any music out there for the low, low price of listening to extremely obnoxious 30-second to 1-minute ads between every 3rd or 4th song. Or $10 a month ($5 for students). I have received two requests to make a list of the music I like, so here it is.

I've tried to stick with A) bands that I feel are unique to me, because even though I like a lot of popular songs, you can hear about them on the radio or anywhere else, and B) bands who I listen to, rather than individual songs. Not that there's anything wrong with liking individual songs, just that there's a special connection you feel with a band when you are an actual fan of them and not just one little thing they did one time.

I'd also like to note that this list is sorted in relative order of my favoritism, that is, the ones I like the most are at the top. So don't feel obligated to scroll all the way down to the bottom. This isn't one of those "9 foods that will kill you" clickbait articles that count DOWN and that you have to click through every single thing, to the infuriation of everyone involved.

Oh, and sorry I don't provide any links to actually listen to the music. It would just take too long, and it's quite easy and often legal to look them up on Spotify (always legal) or YouTube (sketchier).

Music (don't skip):

There is one band that I feel a special loyalty to. Perhaps it's because of how underrated they are. Perhaps it's because I first started listening to them way back in high school, before I listened to any music other than classical or trumpet music. But I like to think it's because their music actually has value. Here it is, folks, my "favorite" band:

They Might Be Giants

This band is just plain weird. They're strange. Nothing about them is normal. Their lyrics are weird, cryptic, and geeky. The tone of voice they sing in is nasally. Their instrumentation is uncommon. Their topics are eclectic. All of those things perfectly explain why I like them so much. A few of their quintessential songs:

• Birdhouse in your Soul
• Particle Man
• Why does the Sun Shine? (The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas)
• Ana Ng
• The Mesopotamians

I'm also a huge fan of the entire album "The Else," including the cover art:

What did I tell you? Weird.

And with that we'll move on to my second "favorite" band, which I have only been in a committed relationship with for about three months:

Death Cab For Cutie 

The first thing you should probably realize about this band, which you might guess from their name, is that basically every one of their songs is sad. And not just "my girlfriend broke up with me, waah" but deeply despairing about life. When I was showing my music to my music connoisseur friend, I realized that I had no "real" music, that is, none that expressed true emotions. I used music to hide my emotions. All of my music was either A) intense and angry (see Dream Theater, below) B) silly and somewhat intellectually stimulating (see They Might Be Giants, above, and The Aquabats and LCD Soundsystem, below). I had a lot of pent-up, hidden emotions, such as sadness, and I was missing the chance to confront and deal with them through music. Death Cab helped bring me out of denial and into the glorious, sunlit uplands of freedom of expression.

Over time, the musicians of Death Cab have honed their skills, including songwriting skills. Out of their eight studio albums currently out, I like best their last two, which are Codes and Keys:

and Narrow Stairs:

Note: all images blatantly ripped off a Google Images search without permission from any original posters.

To me, Death Cab's music demonstrates how you can live with, and even express, negative emotions like anxiety or depression, and still have a productive, fulfilling existence. (See this earlier post for why that's meaningful to me.) 

Here are some of my favorite songs by them:

• Grapevine Fires
• President of What?
• Monday Morning
• A Movie Script Ending
• What Sarah Said
• Title and Registration
• Different Names for the Same Thing
• Crooked Teeth
• Doors Unlocked and Open
• You are a Tourist
• Bixby Canyon Bridge
• Some Boys
• Cath...

... and many others.

I am also a huge fan of electronic music. I have divided my electronic listening music into two different categories, lyrical electronic music that is more similar to indie music (Death Cab is a good example of indie music), and techno music, which is more repetitive and which I like to have more as background music to homework or driving or working or even just thinking.

Lyrical Electronic Music:

The Postal Service 

The Postal Service (who were sent a cease and desist letter from the actual United States Postal Service because of their name) is basically the electronic version of Death Cab. The lead singer from Death Cab, Ben Gibbard, is one of two and a half lead singers in the Postal Service, and their musical style and emotions present are very similar. Check out:

• Such Great Heights
• Clark Gable
• Sleeping In

Plushgun

This is an obscure indie techno group discovered by my friend Maddie (the music connoisseur previously mentioned). They're weird but awesome. Check out:

• How We Roll
• I Like It
• Waste Away
• Kick Me Out

Two Door Cinema Club

This group has an upbeat, almost defiant feeling to them best illustrated by the name of a few of their songs, "Sleeping Alone" and "Eat That Up Its Good For You" [sic]. Have a gander at:

• Changing of the Seasons
• Beacon

... and anything else from any of their albums. 

More Techno-y Stuff:

Daft Punk

I am a big fan of their early album "Discovery." Their early music was pure digitized happiness. Recently it seems they've sold out a bit more and become a lot more pop-y. Check out:

• Their album "Discovery"
• Some of the videos people have made to "Harder Faster Better Stronger," like this one
• One More Time
• Aerodynamic - a cool techno-y guitar solo in the middle!
• Digital Love - a story about a dream he had about a girl - with techno stuff in the background!
• Harder Faster Better Stronger
• Nightvision
• Superheroes
• Something About Us - an electronic robot-sounding love song!
• Voyager
• Veridis Quo - a cool classical-sounding organ song that gets a techno beat!
• Face to Face
• Too Long

... aaand yes, I did just name off the entire contents of the album "Discovery." (minus the two songs on it that I don't like.) Seriously, check it out. 

Capital Cities

These guys are famous for the song "Safe and Sound." They have a good sense of humor. Also check out:

• Kangaroo Court
• I Sold My Bed, but Not My Stereo
• Sarah Fawcett Hair

LCD Soundsystem

This guy has a great sense of humor. Also, this is one thing I disagree with Maddie on, but I really like it sometimes when people just speak with music in the background, kind of like rapping. This guy does it a lot. Check out:

• Losing My Edge
• Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
• Disco Infiltrator

Glitch Mob

Their sound is a bit more serious. Check out "We Can Make the World Stop." They also have cool album art: 

I have no idea what it means, but what could be cooler than a samurai helmet with a sweet golden crown and smoke instead of a face?

More Indie Pop/Rock Music: 

Jukebox the Ghost

This band is pretty awesome too. I'm sad they couldn't make it earlier on the list, because they really deserve more devotion than a position this far down on the page symbolizes. Jukebox the Ghost has been playing music for over ten years and they're just now starting to become relatively successful. Thus they are a good example of musical survivorship, which is totally necessary in the music industry. Most bands and musicians have been around for a long time before they hit it big. Jukebox started off playing music with each other in college, and their music from that era was pretty weird and not as skilled. Over time they improved in quality and decreased in weirdness, slowly becoming more mainstream. Of their four albums that are out, I find their 2nd and 3rd to be the perfect mix of weirdness and skill, although their 4th (newest) has good songs too.

I'm actually going to their concert this Saturday. I'm excited to see what music they'll play, and what proportions of older and newer music, because their style has changed quite a bit over the years. Do yourself a favor and give a listen to:

• Somebody
• At Last
• Half Crazy
• The Stars
• The Popular Thing
• The Spiritual
• Made for Ending
• Long Way Home

Vampire Weekend

This is another great, weird band. They're very melodic, which I love-- every song has its own unique theme, which is usually played by some synthesized combination of violins, flutes, drums, marinaras, and other things. Actually, marinaras aren't an instrument (I was just testing you. Also, it's 2 am). I suggest especially:

• Ya Hey
• Horchata
• Holiday
• Step
• M79
• Campus
• I Stand Corrected

They're also cool and hipster-looking and I can imagine the lead singer (2nd from the right) sneaking in my window at night and biting my roommates in the neck (I'm too big of a fan for them to use me as food):

MisterWives

The girl that sings lead has an amazing voice. They do a cover of Riptide which I like better than the original. Their other songs I really like are Reflections and Vagabond. Unfortunately they only have one EP (short album) out right now, but I'm looking forward to their new album "Our Own House" coming out later this year. 

Bad Suns

This band is almost more classic rock than truly indie, but they are new enough (their only album came out in 2014) that the true fans of classic rock would probably stone me (like with stones, not with drugs) if I called them classic rock. But my uncle said they have a distinct late-80's sound. Check out:

• Their entire album, "Language and Perspective"! It's all wonderful! (except the song "Dancing on Quicksand" actually says the f-word about 9 times ... but discretely enough that I didn't even notice it at all until the 4th or 5th time I listened to it.)

New Politics 

I went to their concert so I figured I'd mention them, although the best part of the concert was discovering the band Bad Suns (above). Their songs I like are:

• Harlem
• Berlin
• Dignity
• Overcome
• Just Like Me (over-the-top rap)

Now for another great category: 

Intense And Sometimes Headbanging Music

There are just 2 bands I'll talk about in this section:

Dream Theater

This band is good enough that if I had thought this through better, they would have made it at the very top as my 3rd "favorite" band. But their music is so crazy hardcore that I can't listen to them for more than a few songs a day on average. Dream Theater is the only metal I listen to with any regularity. Their songwriting is magical, though; they perfectly exemplify the genre of "progressive rock," which is the movement of musicians in rock back to classical, skilled roots. They met at Berklee School of Music, for goodness' sake. Their current keyboardist was accepted to Julliard but didn't go, instead working on his progressive metal keyboarding skills. Their guitarist If you can handle the intensity (which you probably can, it's just a bit of a shock at first, or at least it was to me:)

• On the Backs of Angels (good for those times when you just bombed a test and need to punch-dance out some rage)
• Dance of Eternity: Scene Seven (this is part of the concept album "Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory," which tells a huge, epic story ... look it up here. Wikipedia says, "In the late July 2012, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory was voted as the number one all-time progressive rock album in a poll conducted by Rolling Stone." I believe this is worth your time.)
• Behind the Veil -- the chorus of this song is so desparate and pleading that it seems almost like a prayer. Listen to it when you're feeling betrayed and it'll do you wonders. Or if you're like me and don't really get betrayed, just listen to it anyway and apply the wonderfulness to whatever your current situation is.
• Pull Me Under -- had to be mentioned. This is the "Greatest Hit" of their album titled "Greatest Hit [... and 21 other pretty cool songs]".
• Ballads that don't involve heavy guitar distortion or double bass pedals: Beneath the Surface, Far From Heaven, The Answer Lies Within
• A few songs that touch spiritual topics and affirm the existence of God and the afterlife: Along For The Ride, Beyond This Life
• The Bigger Picture -- another inspirational song

Dream Theater also wins the prize for awe-inspiring album art:

Isn't that awesome????? I sure thought so, but most of the people I've shown haven't been thrilled. Please just sit and ponder the above picture for a minute, while listening to "On the Backs of Angels."

Twenty-one Pilots

I have no idea where their band name came from, but I like their music. Especially:

• Johnny Boy
• Air Catcher
• Guns For Hands
• Run and Go
• Semi-Automatic
• House of Gold
• Ode to Sleep
• Migraine -- be warned of a heavier topic (suicide) in this song's lyrics

They're quite emotionally satisfying for me to listen to, especially when I've had a hard day. And they're small enough that they really need your support. 

Miscellaneous

Aquabats

This is the only ska band I know of whose song lyrics and topics are fit for elementary schoolers. Their songs are, in fact, about elementary schoolers. One great song (which I played trumpet for in a band) is about a love song between 3rd (or so) graders. Check out anything on their album "Fury of the Aquabats."

P!nk

I feel slightly less masculine listening to her sing but she's a really good singer so it's worth it. I like her song "Just Give Me A Reason" (sung with Nate Ruess, lead singer of Fun./The Format!) as well as "The Truth About Love." The album "The Truth about Love" has quite a few good songs.

fun.

First of all, Nate Ruess has a pretty amazing voice. Second of all, Jack Antonoff is an awesome guitar player. Third of all, Andrew Dost is great on the piano, and okay on the flugelhorn (he gets major points just for trying). All together, they make great music. Check out the following:

• Some Nights (warning: f-word towards the end)
• Be Calm
• Walking the Dog
• It Gets Better
• All Alright
• The Gambler
• C'mon (sung in conjunction with Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco)

Panic! at the Disco

I really just like his one album "Vices and Virtues." It seems to be the cleanest. I'm trying to learn "Always" on the guitar.

Single songs I like 

Interpol: "Obstacle 1". Listen to this song when you're having a hard time. I realize I say that about a lot of songs. Actually my advice would me to just listen to music in general when you're having a hard time. But definitely don't listen to this song when you're having a good time because it will cheer you down (or whatever the opposite of "cheer you up" is).

Cold War Kids: "Hospital Beds." Or really any of their other songs, because they pretty much all sound almost the same. But you should find one song of theirs and listen to it. The lead singer has quite an interesting, good voice.

The Strokes: "Reptilia." This song has some really cool guitar licks.

And there you have it: exactly eighteen times more than you ever wanted to know about the music I like. Even if no one starts listening to these bands, though, this post was a lot of fun to write. In summary, the music I like is: They Might Be Giants, Death Cab For Cutie, Jukebox the Ghost, Daft Punk, Vampire Weekend, Bad Suns, Dream Theater, and Twenty One Pilots. Or according to Spotify's "My Year In Music" app:

Considerate Collegestudent and his nemesis, Judgmental Jan

Early on in my mission, I felt pretty lost and overwhelmed, and I was frustrated that I felt like I had to guess how to handle each situation. I really looked up to the older missionaries who seemed to know just exactly how to handle difficult investigators. However, when I got to be companions with these missionaries and see them up close, and also when I became an older missionary myself and realized I had just as much experience as they did, I was disappointed to discover that they were still guessing at what to do a lot of the time.

One day this last October, when the leaves on the trees were colorful and the temperature was just right, I sat down on a bench in front of the ASB, looking out at campus, to ponder why in the world I tended to like people less the better I got to know them.

Me sitting and pondering

To me, this seemed to be a problem that, if unchecked, threatened to chip away at most every relationship in my life. I lacked a fundamental respect that it seemed each person ought to deserve just for being a person. After some minutes of introspection, I realized that when I first met a person, if I had a good first impression of them, it was because I tended to idealize them, seeing only the concept they seemed to embody. I failed to realize that they were real people too, with real weaknesses and real mistakes and real flaws.

It turns out that everybody is flawed. In writing, in film, and in performances, authors show a polished version of themselves. I was foolish enough to believe that was the real them. Some people who have worked and focused on one thing can develop that quality, skill, or ability, to be sure--enough that often, at first glance from an observer without such specialty, seems like perfection. A Ph.D. professor, a professional writer, a motivational speaker, a comedian, and many, many musicians, are a few people who have impressed me that way. The examples go on and on. I become aware of such people daily, whether meeting one in person and conversing, or reading their writing, or enjoying their music or joke track or food or even hearing about how calmly and collectedly they acted in a heated situation. However, each of these people, and each of us, are still fundamentally broken. (You probably already know that ... I somehow missed it.) Not one of the 7 billion of us is ideal or even has any perfect qualities, because we are all broken. Not just that we occasionally fall a tiny bit short, but that we constantly fall short.

There are some easy examples: we see in all the tabloids tales of celebrities and rock stars’ miserable home and family lives (although this clip from Wayne’s World presents a different view on a rock star’s outside-the-concert personality than the one we normally get). Einstein himself was so focused on his research that he rather neglected his wife and two sons. And of course people that aren't world-famous have similar challenges, too: the comedian can command resounding laughter when he’s on stage but he may be depressed about his life and unsure that he is fulfilling his life's mission or contributing what he should to the world. The innovative engineer makes bucketloads of money but doubts that his inventions, while lucrative, are truly what the world needs, rather than just what the rich ask for. The amazingly disciplined and organized mother of 9 may wonder if her children could've turned out even more successful if she'd just tried a little harder.

And not just people with attributes we may immediately identify as extraordinary, but normal people, average people, young people, unspectacular people, people who had no opportunities, people who squandered for decades and decades the opportunities they were given.  The RM may wonder if much of his effort was in vain; the college student may doubt his or her major. These people are a bit more obviously flawed. However, they are still inherently valuable. This realization is central to not being judgmental, and it’s the one I struggle perhaps the most with.

From a Church and Gospel standpoint, the clear and most often quoted reason that each person has value is that each person is a son or daughter of God. While this is true, it’s difficult for me to grasp and to apply to real life and real people, and plus, the Church has plenty of material elaborating on it. Therefore, for the rest of this essay I’ll focus on a different reason that each person is valuable, one that is a bit more personal to me.

Earlier I held that people were valuable insomuch as they had perceived potential to change the world. It became a problem for me to respect any person that I saw as "average" or incapable of meaningfully changing the world. Now it is my belief (which I’m still trying to cultivate and remind myself of as often as possible) that every person can and will change the world. 

That day in October, I mentally went through some examples of real people I knew, whose choices of profession I judgmentally thought was dumb, and thought about it further, and realized that each person is valid and will change the world. 

Note: If any of those people are reading this and are offended that I judgmentally thought their chosen profession was dumb, just keep in mind that I judgmentally thought my own chosen profession (computer engineering) was dumb too, so it’s really more a reflection of my judgmentalness than of your chosen profession’s validity. And plus, the whole point of this is that I don’t think it’s dumb anymore. So don’t worry.

I thought of my profession, and my classmates, and how sometimes it seems like the engineering we are training to do won’t do anything to further the world, it’ll just give the rich even sweeter, bigger, and faster iPhones while leaving the poor to rot in their caves, eating dog meat and texting on a flip phone without so much as T9 predictive typing to ease their pain. However, even if it seems like the rich are the only ones with the newest technology, new technology still benefits people at large; the population of the world in general is a lot better off than they were 50 years ago because of computers, radios, cell phones, video streaming, and anything else you can think of. And who’s to say the happiness of the rich doesn’t matter at all? I mean, it’s not the noblest goal I can think of, but it’s not nothing.

I thought of a person I had recently become friends with who is a pre-Journalism major and wants to ultimately write about music. I thought that sounded like a dumb goal but then thinking about it, this one was pretty obviously a good thing, and on top of that, had already impacted me personally. Music has been a huge part of my life for essentially my whole life, but when I got back from my mission, my pool of music to listen to had stagnated. I hadn’t listened to hardly any music for two years, and I wasn’t doing music at school so I didn’t really have friends to recommend me new music. The second time we ever hung out, this friend showed me a bunch of her music, and just like that, I'm back on track enjoying great music all the time. As a music critic, my friend will change the world by helping her readers, like she helped me, (re)discover the world of emotion and expression that is music.

I thought of a guy I met at an end-of-work celebration who seemed obnoxiously judgmental and somewhat defensive of himself; I think I annoyed him just by being myself, which was annoying to me. He’s a social work major and I was further annoyed that he seemed a bit full of himself because of this major. But as I thought about him and what he'll accomplish, I realized that regardless of his personality, America needs more people to help the social system, and he’ll do a lot of good and change the world for the people he helps. 

I tried to think about other people in general and what makes them inherently valuable. The great majority of people will be parents at some point in their lives, and parents change the world quite a bit. By definition, they give life. If they stick around and care about actually raising their kids, they'll help inspire and nurture them, and help them become contributing members of society. 

People who don't have kids or don't get married will have friends and family members to support and help and further. They'll also more than likely have careers or at least some type of job, through which they'll also help others, thus changing the world in some small, yet positive, way.

I'm Jan Bergeson, and I accept myself just as I am, that is, broken. I'm going to change the world. I accept others just the way they are, which is, broken. They're going to change the world too.

Until I can find a way to precisely quantify all the "good" a person has done and will do for others during their lifetime, I have no right to look down on them or think that I'm somehow better. Different, yes, but not better. I'm no better and no worse than any other person. If you're wondering, since sitting down on that bench and pondering this stuff, I've realized that if I think of people as real people, actual people, whose contributions to the world, although small, are positive and meaningful, then I like them and appreciate them. And as I get to know them better, I like them more instead of less. I think that's a victory. (One still in progress, I guess.)

What are your thoughts? How do you refrain from dismissing (judging) people?