Lately I have noticed that my moods in music is slowly carbonizing. Meaning that my moods are condensing into a noticeable structure. My tastes in music used to be an amalgam. I was searching for my tune, that ever so sought after perfect pitch on a piano.

I experimented a lot, gave a lot of styles a chance, but my filter is more refined now. Not even coarse granules can seep through.

I danced around all styles of music, but I there is a tone that strikes my chord. One that hits that “normal” spot. I have a few moods: hype - when I want to get buck, mellow - when I want to bask in my senses and soak up my environments, and chill - something to help me sift through the hours or hone in my senses aka focus.

I have one other mood, but I think it is a combination of mellow/chill/hype.

Caught in the Hustle by Immortal Technique is an example of that aforementioned mood.

I think jumping onto the Foreign Exchange’s website made it clear to me. When I am hype mode, I cycle through my songs, never letting a track finish. The opening of hype songs are only good up until a little after the first chorus. Afterwards, it is all the same. They have refrains towards the ends that are different from the driving beat so it kicks me off the hype mood.

Mellow/Chill is my norm. Listening to the Foreign Exchange, Jazz, Bossa Nova, Neo Soul, Sade, Gnarls Barkley, old school Common, Blu, Kendrick Lamar, Big Krit, A Tribe Called Quest, Dead Prez, The Roots, Brother Ali, Jay Electronica, some Eminem, College Dropout and Late Registration Kanye, Maxwell, Erykah Badu, Nneka, Hendrix, Musiq Soulchild, old school R&B, doo wop, some Marvin Gaye, etc. You know things that you can listen to over a beer, things where you can reflect and enjoy yourself all at once. All you want to do is kick back in a hammock, pick up a good book, sip on a nice drink, and stare at the clouds and the trees in between all of that. The music is not intrusive. Instead, the music compliments the situation and the environment.

It is the right mood for any environment.

That sexy lady comes out of the shower hearing the music and says, “Oh!”

You are chilling with your friends shooting the breeze about the events of the day or having a stimulating conversation.

Someone storms into the room raging and goes all buttery when he takes a seat. He does not want to move or leave. He’s relaxed.

This does not put you into sleep either. You are alert and relaxed.

Yeah…that’s the mood.