Beat of the Week

It’s around this time of the year that I start to truly, deeply despise Ithaca. I used to love snow; nothing was better than waking up in the morning and seeing the ground blanketed in cold, white fluff. Now snow means I’m going to be cold and wet from head to toe by the time I’ve completed my 15-minute trek up the hill to reach my 10:10. And this seems to be the story every other day. That’s it; I’m transferring to somewhere warm. Real warm. University of Ecuador?
At moments like these, I can do little to recall when snow was a boon except listen to a song called “Cold Water Music.” The trip-hop ditty, by British disc jockey AiM, starts off with a little bit of aural emulation — succinct, echoing strings mimic the sound of drip-dropping water that pounds into a larger body of liquid. The icy blips fall into a cool rhythm and a jazzy snare drum supplements the winter-y theme. Overlapping beats build on one another; flourishes of piano and breezy vocal accompaniments liven things up; a saxophone wails through the snowy sonic backdrop. All of the song’s components build on one another, cascading and compounding into something of an electronica masterstroke. This is the best, most appropriately evokative music you’ll hear this side of the Vernal Equinox, and maybe, just maybe, it’ll keep your mind off the fact that the snow soaked through your worn-down cross-trainers for the umpteenth time this month.