Sufjan Stevens reminds me a lot of Grady Tripp, the main character in Michael Chabon's Wonder Boys (surprise! I'm a book nerd too!). Grady Tripp is a pot-smoking college English professor who is working on a follow up to his critically acclaimed best seller, which he wrote 7 years ago. Everyone thinks he has writer's block. He actually has the opposite problem, he can't stop writing. He is already well over 2,000 pages and, has several weddings, murders, catastrophes and calamities still to add to the book before it will reach it's conclusion. He has been working on the book for 7 years, he has included in it a genealogy of the major characters' horses, and their dental records. He simply can't stop himself.
Similarly, "Illinois" is, I believe, the second album in Sufjan Stevens' attempt to make an album for every state in America (there's 50 of them for those of you who struggled in American History). He has since abandoned the project, and released a new album "The Age of Adz" which I haven't listened to yet. The itunes version of "Illinois" has 26 songs on it. The normal version has 22. The majority of songs are over the 5 minute mark and have titles such as "The Black Hawk of War, or How to Destroy an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning", "A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane but for Very Good Reasons", and my personal favorite "They are Night Zombies!! They are Out Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhh!!" He can't seem to stop himself from writing.
The album (recently named Paste Magazine's Best Album of the Decade) is a sprawling work. There are choirs, horns, strings, banjos, wurrlitzers, pump organs, droning sound effects, guitars and more choirs. All of it is built around Sufjan's quiet whispery voice. Lyrically the songs all focus around some aspect of Illinois' history or notable people and incidents from the state. Most of the songs have a slow mournful sound to them and fall into the mid-tempo ballads category. Occassionally, he mixes it up: the slow funk of the Zombies song (I'm not going to re-write all of that!), and the guitar rock of "The Man from Metropolis Steals Our Hearts" or the big piano chorus of "Come on! Feel the Illinoise!". This isn't to say that all of the slow stuff is bad, "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." is a great song as is "Decatur, Or, A Round of Applause for your Stepmother", "Casmir Polaski Day" and the anthemic "Chicago".
I like the record. It doesn't fit nicely into one category. It sprawls between folk music, classical, operatic, and pop. But it sprawls a little too much. There are too many noise interludes, too many choirs singing the chorus' and few too many slow ballads. If Stevens could reign himself in a little, and edit himself, it would be a better, more consistent record. After a while it begins to seem tiresome to listen through another musical interlude, or another women's choir singing the chorus to a song that has gone on for 6 minutes. I normally like songs that are a bit longer, but for whatever reason, this record seems to drag on. It's not just that it's long, it's that it feels long.
Stevens is certainly an interesting song writer. And I think there is something to be said for aiming high and trying to make something big and bold rather than something that just tries to fit in. I just wish he could stop himself once in a while. There's nothing wrong with a song not having a 3 minute noise track intro, or just having 5 slow ballads instead of 10 on a record. In Wonder Boys, a character remarks after reading most of Tripp's novel, that it feels like he didn't make any choices. Instead of choosing what to include and what to leave out, he just included everything. "Illinois" is kind of the same thing. Stevens just included everything, and while the good stuff is really really good, you have to wade through some mediocre music to find it.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Rap v. Country Music
In the wake of the CMT Awards and Taylor Swift dominating every conceivable music sales record there is, I thought it would be a good time to bring up an interesting thought I had the other day.
Hip-hop takes a lot of heat for the content of it's lyrics. And rightly so. There is a lot to not like in hip-hop. The music is often misogynistic, and focuses on things like violence and drugs. Now, I've always said that rap is a PRODUCT of life in the streets, it does not cause it. Music is a reflection of culture, it does not cause culture to exist. We like to blame music for the ills of our society but more often then not, musicians tend to write about what they see around them, not what the wish they see. Rap takes a lot of heat for "glorifying drug dealing and using". While there is definitely some validity to that, if you're going to kill rap music for their talk of drug use, you have to kill country music as well.
Quick, write down 5 songs by 5 different country artists. It's ok, I'll wait. Got it? Good. Now, I'm willing to bet that 4 out of those 5 songs all contain some sort of reference to alcohol (1 is probably a Taylor Swift song and she's squeaky clean). Alcohol use (and abuse) is probably mentioned in 9 out of 10 country songs, period, across the board. Think I'm wrong? Just listen to country radio and count how many times someone mentions "a bottle of whiskey" or "a cold beer". Yet, parents would much rather have their children listen to country music than rap. Country music has that family values feel to it, but it's not. Alcoholism is a LOT more prevalent in America than crack cocaine usage by a wide margin (I don't know the exact stats and I'm way too lazy to look them up). So if we're going to give rap hell for talking about drugs, we HAVE to give country music hell for glorifying alcoholism. Period. Jack Daniels is as a country as cowboy hats and belt buckles. And in a country where alcoholism is rampant, and DUI's kill almost as many people as heart attacks (I'm guessing), that's not a good thing.
Sure, rap has other issues (the n word for example), but if you don't like a style of music because of it's subject matter, you need to be consistent and not just pick and choose what problems you want to ignore. If you want to lash at Kanye for "We Don't Care" then you need to remember Toby Keith's "Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses".
SIDE RANT THAT IS SORT OF BUT NOT QUITE RELATED: I'm sick of hearing that rappers aren't talented. Rap has, without a doubt, the best collection of song writers there are. Do you really think "Honky tonk ba-donk-a-donk" required more talent to write than "Big Pimpin'"? Go back and listen to them both and try and tell me otherwise!
I'm not saying you should burn all your country records in protest. I'm not saying Nicki Minaj is a better role model than Carrie Underwood. I'm just saying "Call it both ways!" I'll step down from my soapbox now.
Hip-hop takes a lot of heat for the content of it's lyrics. And rightly so. There is a lot to not like in hip-hop. The music is often misogynistic, and focuses on things like violence and drugs. Now, I've always said that rap is a PRODUCT of life in the streets, it does not cause it. Music is a reflection of culture, it does not cause culture to exist. We like to blame music for the ills of our society but more often then not, musicians tend to write about what they see around them, not what the wish they see. Rap takes a lot of heat for "glorifying drug dealing and using". While there is definitely some validity to that, if you're going to kill rap music for their talk of drug use, you have to kill country music as well.
Quick, write down 5 songs by 5 different country artists. It's ok, I'll wait. Got it? Good. Now, I'm willing to bet that 4 out of those 5 songs all contain some sort of reference to alcohol (1 is probably a Taylor Swift song and she's squeaky clean). Alcohol use (and abuse) is probably mentioned in 9 out of 10 country songs, period, across the board. Think I'm wrong? Just listen to country radio and count how many times someone mentions "a bottle of whiskey" or "a cold beer". Yet, parents would much rather have their children listen to country music than rap. Country music has that family values feel to it, but it's not. Alcoholism is a LOT more prevalent in America than crack cocaine usage by a wide margin (I don't know the exact stats and I'm way too lazy to look them up). So if we're going to give rap hell for talking about drugs, we HAVE to give country music hell for glorifying alcoholism. Period. Jack Daniels is as a country as cowboy hats and belt buckles. And in a country where alcoholism is rampant, and DUI's kill almost as many people as heart attacks (I'm guessing), that's not a good thing.
Sure, rap has other issues (the n word for example), but if you don't like a style of music because of it's subject matter, you need to be consistent and not just pick and choose what problems you want to ignore. If you want to lash at Kanye for "We Don't Care" then you need to remember Toby Keith's "Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses".
SIDE RANT THAT IS SORT OF BUT NOT QUITE RELATED: I'm sick of hearing that rappers aren't talented. Rap has, without a doubt, the best collection of song writers there are. Do you really think "Honky tonk ba-donk-a-donk" required more talent to write than "Big Pimpin'"? Go back and listen to them both and try and tell me otherwise!
I'm not saying you should burn all your country records in protest. I'm not saying Nicki Minaj is a better role model than Carrie Underwood. I'm just saying "Call it both ways!" I'll step down from my soapbox now.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
The Avett Brothers- Live Vol. 3
The blog got a facelift!! This means it's time for more music!
There is a delicate balance in live music. At what point does technical perfection (i.e. making sure every note is correct) hinder the performance? Classical music puts technical perfection first and instead of a lively and entertaining show, you get a group of people, seated, totally unaware of the audience and completely focused on nailing every single note. The inverse of this idea is something like punk rock: turn up the amps, who cares if you mess up, or if the drummer is a little off, just jump around and go nuts and the people will love it. Ideally, I guess you would want to be somewhere in the middle, a lively performance to excite the crowd, and a technically proficient performance. The Avett Brothers tend to ere on the side of the performance.
The Avett Brothers are a country, folk, bluegrass, rock group from North Carolina. The band, composed of two brothers, their friend on bass and a few other musicians (cellist and drummer) who come in and out. The band's newest album "I and Love and You" and its title track both favor much less banjo and more piano ballads. But live, the Brothers tend to go with the tried and true formula of banjo, acoustic guitar, and upright bass at full volume sung/screamed with as much energy as they can possibly muster. Their new live album is borderline exhausting, if not for the few slow ballads hidden throughout the set, you get the feeling they would just drop mid-song from exhaustion.
The live album captures a concert they did in their native Charlotte, NC after the release of "I and Love and You". The band is ecstatic to be home and you can feel it through the speakers. After wrecking the beginning of "The Ballad of Love and Hate", guitarist Seth Avett apologizes saying "I'm so happy I can hardly stand it right now" and starts the song again. It's that kind of a sloppy performance. They play so hard and so fast that they tend to drown each other out, guitars and banjos aren't balanced and they scream until it sounds like their throats bleed. But damn if it isn't fun!
You can hear them trying to catch their breath between words, their throats sound strained, the minimalist style of instrumentation is pretty bear bones, but still, it's a rollickin' good time (so good in fact that you want to leave the 'G' off the end of words and replace it with an apostrophe!). On their records (Emotionalism is my personal favorite so far), that sound doesn't always translate. They just don't seem to fit well in a recording studio, but on stage, it's what the Brothers are made for. They are at home, in their element, and all those songs that seem to be missing something, or just a little bit rough around the edges, sound perfectly at home when being played at full volume in front of a raucous crowd.
The song selection leans heavily on old favorites the oddly sweet "Murder in the City", a crowd and personal favorite "Shame" and "Talk on Indolence" the beginning of which must be heard to be believed. "Paranoia in B Flat Major" and "When I Drink" are other favorites. Some of the new stuff: "Kick Drum Heart" and "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise" also fits in well. The change from banjo rock to piano ballad isn't as weird as you would think it is. All in all, it's a hell of a lot more fun than a night at the opera.
There is a delicate balance in live music. At what point does technical perfection (i.e. making sure every note is correct) hinder the performance? Classical music puts technical perfection first and instead of a lively and entertaining show, you get a group of people, seated, totally unaware of the audience and completely focused on nailing every single note. The inverse of this idea is something like punk rock: turn up the amps, who cares if you mess up, or if the drummer is a little off, just jump around and go nuts and the people will love it. Ideally, I guess you would want to be somewhere in the middle, a lively performance to excite the crowd, and a technically proficient performance. The Avett Brothers tend to ere on the side of the performance.
The Avett Brothers are a country, folk, bluegrass, rock group from North Carolina. The band, composed of two brothers, their friend on bass and a few other musicians (cellist and drummer) who come in and out. The band's newest album "I and Love and You" and its title track both favor much less banjo and more piano ballads. But live, the Brothers tend to go with the tried and true formula of banjo, acoustic guitar, and upright bass at full volume sung/screamed with as much energy as they can possibly muster. Their new live album is borderline exhausting, if not for the few slow ballads hidden throughout the set, you get the feeling they would just drop mid-song from exhaustion.
The live album captures a concert they did in their native Charlotte, NC after the release of "I and Love and You". The band is ecstatic to be home and you can feel it through the speakers. After wrecking the beginning of "The Ballad of Love and Hate", guitarist Seth Avett apologizes saying "I'm so happy I can hardly stand it right now" and starts the song again. It's that kind of a sloppy performance. They play so hard and so fast that they tend to drown each other out, guitars and banjos aren't balanced and they scream until it sounds like their throats bleed. But damn if it isn't fun!
You can hear them trying to catch their breath between words, their throats sound strained, the minimalist style of instrumentation is pretty bear bones, but still, it's a rollickin' good time (so good in fact that you want to leave the 'G' off the end of words and replace it with an apostrophe!). On their records (Emotionalism is my personal favorite so far), that sound doesn't always translate. They just don't seem to fit well in a recording studio, but on stage, it's what the Brothers are made for. They are at home, in their element, and all those songs that seem to be missing something, or just a little bit rough around the edges, sound perfectly at home when being played at full volume in front of a raucous crowd.
The song selection leans heavily on old favorites the oddly sweet "Murder in the City", a crowd and personal favorite "Shame" and "Talk on Indolence" the beginning of which must be heard to be believed. "Paranoia in B Flat Major" and "When I Drink" are other favorites. Some of the new stuff: "Kick Drum Heart" and "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise" also fits in well. The change from banjo rock to piano ballad isn't as weird as you would think it is. All in all, it's a hell of a lot more fun than a night at the opera.
Monday, October 11, 2010
A New Music Crush: Rogue Wave
Apologies for the blogging hiatus. Life tends to get busy with things like work, bills, playoff baseball, college football and important things like music blogs tend to fall by the wayside faster than school funding in a tough economy. (Wow, went dangerously close to going political there!)
Anyways, let's start off with a story! A number of years ago I had a gift card that was burning a hole in my pocket and was walking through the local record store and not finding anything that interested me. Thus, I started looking at bands I had never heard of and finally decided to buy Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot which I had heard some good things about. It was love at first spin, and now Wilco is one of my all-time favorites. Thus, I decided to periodically invest in new music from artists who I've never heard. You never know who you might discover. It doesn't always work (I gave Yo La Tengo a fighting chance, but it's just not happening for me) but every so often, I find a band like Rogue Wave.
I started with "Asleep at Heaven's Gate", their 2005 album. Interesting side note: in researching the band there is a lot of discourse and argument over what is their best work. itunes loves Asleep at Heaven's Gate and Amazon thinks its their worst record hands down. Paste Magazine hates all their stuff except for the early demos. Spin loves "Descended like Vultures" but hates everything else they've done. And Rolling Stone refuses to acknowledge that the band exists. (Their website is horrible and whoever designed it clearly never wanted anyone who visited it to be able to find anything).
After listening to "Asleep at Heaven's Gate" a few times I started to wonder: "Why don't I own all of their albums?" Rogue Wave is a perfect mix of acoustic based pop-melody and screeching guitars, ambient keyboards and driving beats. They are simultaniously capable of unplugging and playing a simple song like "California" and then turning up the volume and getting a little avant-garde with a song like "Harmonium". I made it about a week and half before I bought "Descended Like Vultures". So far, I'm starting to lean towards "Asleep at Heaven's Gate" being the better of the 2, but that might be just due to familiarity. I guess you could say they fit in the same vein as The Shins and Modest Mouse, only not nearly as weird or depressing.
The one thing that Rogue Wave does best is creating melodies that do not leave your brain. I'm sure my office-mates will tell you that they're sick of listening to me walk around humming the chorus to "Like I Needed" over and over and over again. "Ghost" is probably my favorite song at the moment (and yes the chorus is constantly stuck in my head), although it took me several listens and finally a google search to figure out the lyrics. I could not for the life of me figure out if he was saying "Cause its you I wanted" or "It's here if you want it" it's the former not the latter. Is that the ultimate credit to a song's catch-ability? When you are singing along even though you don't entirely understand what is being said?
I also like Rogue Wave because when you can understand the lyrics, they are mostly incredibly positive and upbeat. My itunes was on random the other day and seemed to be picking up only sad songs, so it's nice to inject a little sunshine into it.
Here are some tracks I think you should check out. C'mon! Try something new:
Ghost
Like I Needed
Salesman at the Day of the Parade (it's a great song with a weird name, I promise)
Harmonium
Chicago x 12
Lake Michigan
California
Bird on a Wire
Anyways, let's start off with a story! A number of years ago I had a gift card that was burning a hole in my pocket and was walking through the local record store and not finding anything that interested me. Thus, I started looking at bands I had never heard of and finally decided to buy Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot which I had heard some good things about. It was love at first spin, and now Wilco is one of my all-time favorites. Thus, I decided to periodically invest in new music from artists who I've never heard. You never know who you might discover. It doesn't always work (I gave Yo La Tengo a fighting chance, but it's just not happening for me) but every so often, I find a band like Rogue Wave.
I started with "Asleep at Heaven's Gate", their 2005 album. Interesting side note: in researching the band there is a lot of discourse and argument over what is their best work. itunes loves Asleep at Heaven's Gate and Amazon thinks its their worst record hands down. Paste Magazine hates all their stuff except for the early demos. Spin loves "Descended like Vultures" but hates everything else they've done. And Rolling Stone refuses to acknowledge that the band exists. (Their website is horrible and whoever designed it clearly never wanted anyone who visited it to be able to find anything).
After listening to "Asleep at Heaven's Gate" a few times I started to wonder: "Why don't I own all of their albums?" Rogue Wave is a perfect mix of acoustic based pop-melody and screeching guitars, ambient keyboards and driving beats. They are simultaniously capable of unplugging and playing a simple song like "California" and then turning up the volume and getting a little avant-garde with a song like "Harmonium". I made it about a week and half before I bought "Descended Like Vultures". So far, I'm starting to lean towards "Asleep at Heaven's Gate" being the better of the 2, but that might be just due to familiarity. I guess you could say they fit in the same vein as The Shins and Modest Mouse, only not nearly as weird or depressing.
The one thing that Rogue Wave does best is creating melodies that do not leave your brain. I'm sure my office-mates will tell you that they're sick of listening to me walk around humming the chorus to "Like I Needed" over and over and over again. "Ghost" is probably my favorite song at the moment (and yes the chorus is constantly stuck in my head), although it took me several listens and finally a google search to figure out the lyrics. I could not for the life of me figure out if he was saying "Cause its you I wanted" or "It's here if you want it" it's the former not the latter. Is that the ultimate credit to a song's catch-ability? When you are singing along even though you don't entirely understand what is being said?
I also like Rogue Wave because when you can understand the lyrics, they are mostly incredibly positive and upbeat. My itunes was on random the other day and seemed to be picking up only sad songs, so it's nice to inject a little sunshine into it.
Here are some tracks I think you should check out. C'mon! Try something new:
Ghost
Like I Needed
Salesman at the Day of the Parade (it's a great song with a weird name, I promise)
Harmonium
Chicago x 12
Lake Michigan
California
Bird on a Wire
Saturday, August 28, 2010
MuteMath- Armistice
Armistice: (noun) a temporary suspension of hostilities by agreement of the warring parties; truce
See! You learn something reading this after all!!
See! You learn something reading this after all!!
I got MuteMath's first self-titled album about a year or so ago for the simple reason that I couldn't get "Typical" out of my head. The album was a mix bag. There were some really really good songs on there, but almost half of the album was instrumentals, and at times it felt like more of a jam session than actual album. All the music was good, it just kind of felt unfinished. So, when I had an itunes card burning a hole in my pocket the other day, I took a chance on their follow up album "Armistice" figuring it would probably be more of the same: 4 or 5 really good songs and then a lot of spaced out jams.
I was pleasantly surprised.
Armistice is really really good. It's got everything I loved about the first album: big guitar hooks, tons of energy, crazy skittering drum beats that defy logic, weird background sounds and good lyrics. But it's toned down a little, there aren't 9 minute instrumental jams between every song. The songs are more structured and fully realized. It's that great moment when you hear a band taking the next step. Going from a band who occasionally writes good songs, to a band that makes great albums. They manage to maintain their experimental side, but hone it in to songs that hold together. It's the thing most jam bands still don't understand: albums have to be made of songs. That 13 minute noise intro is really cool live, but on an album, it sucks.
Instrumentally, MuteMath still defies categorization. (SAT words galore in that last sentence!) Are they a rock band? A techno band? Or some kind of weird alternative hybrid? I'll go with option 3. Now, I'm not a techno guy. I don't like listening to the same beat played over and over and over again for 17 mind numbing minutes, but MuteMath is not a techno band. But they are a band who uses a lot of techno features (synthesizers, sound effects, lightning fast drum rhythms) to create a sort of rock music. Their way more U2 than Daft Punk, and you know what? that's a good thing! Because everyone loves U2 and only that weird guy on the 3rd floor who hasn't left his apartment in 10 days likes Daft Punk.
Lyrically, as the title suggests, it's album about conflict, resolution and the lack there of. Songs like "The Nerve", "Clipping" and "Armistice" are about a world where it seems like everyone is at each other's throats. It's about how we put that behind us, or don't. The first step to stopping all of that is an armistice. It's not a solution to all our problems, but it's the first step, a cease fire. (Woah! Got a little deep there! I should probably stick to making fun of techno fans)
My favorite track so far is "Electrify" or at least its the one I can't get out of my head. It's catchy enough to keep you singing along but still features an interesting mix of guitars and synths. "Spotlight" is a close second, with a nice guitar riff and good hook. The band's secret weapon is their drummer. Actually it's not so secret. Most MuteMath songs are based off the drums, it's sort of the defining aspect of their sound. "Goodbye" and "Backfire" are both really good too. Even though there aren't the long extended jams of their previous works, they still mix it up a bit. Notice the middle eastern strings on "Clipping" or the Maroon 5-meets-New-Orleans-jazz horn section on "Armistice". "Lost Year" is a break up piano ballad that, while still a good song, feels incredibly out of place. Overall it's a really solid album and well worth the extra 99 cents on itunes (it's 10.99 instead of the usually 9.99. Why??!!!! It's only 13 songs!).
Enjoy the headache inducing video for "Spotlight" below! More stuff to come, I know I've been slack lately. As always, thanks for reading!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
13.1 Songs for 13.1 Miles
Sorry for the delay, but I was on vacation and then there's this thing called "work" that has been taking up a lot of my time lately. Good stuff is on the way I promise.
You may have detected some mental instability while reading this blog. It's ok, I don't blame you. Especially a couple of weeks ago when my brother-in-law told me he was running a half marathon in October and I agreed to do it with him! (You can read his training blog, it's listed on the blogroll). Now, let's just say that I'm not what you would call an athlete. But I have been making a diligent effort to get into running recently, so it didn't seem that insane at the time. Thanks to my girlfriend's love of biggest loser (which has turned into MY love of the biggest loser), I have been trying to eat healthy as of late, and if Daris can run a full marathon in 4hrs, I can certain run a half marathon. However, as you try to wrap your mind around running 13.1 miles when the longest you've ever run is somewhere around 2... you start to question your own sanity. We're a few weeks in and to finish my 6 mile run today, I needed some help, so I created a playlist to help me through the pain. Thus, I decided to make a 13.1 song list for 13.1 miles.
*Note: This list will include 13 songs and a "cool down song" -the .1 if you will- but in reality, I will probably need over 3 hours of music to get through the race.*
1. The Black Keys- Strange Times: The first mile is all about setting an easy pace and if you follow the drum beat of this song, it will set a nice pace for you. Also, The Black Keys rock and I'm amazed you can make a song this cool with 2 people.
2. Weezer- Getchoo: During my last foray into running (which I think was 2005) I fell in love running to the darkhorse contender for Weezer's best album: Pinkerton. Lots of loud screeching guitars, angsty lyrics, just what you need to really get going. This is a good rocker to keep your pace up.
3. Kanye West- Champion: Hey, you're running half a marathon. You ARE a champion. It's all about confidence and Kanye has enough confidence for you, me and a stadium full of low self-esteem individuals.
4. The Raconteurs- Salute Your Solution: Take your mind off the pain and focus on trying to figure when Jack White is singing and when Brenden Benson takes over lead vocals. Focus, focus...see? Not as tired as you were. Also, Jack White makes the line "I'm like a trashcan, haulin' all the information" seem badass and logical (it doesn't really make sense when you think about it, but it does in the moment).
5. Jimmy Eat World- Big Casino: Most Jimmy Eat World songs are basically motivational speeches. Even their biggest hit "The Middle" was a sort of "come on kid! you can do it!" type song. It's mile 5, it's time to dig deep and believe in yourself. Come on kid! You can do it!
6. Pearl Jam- Life Wasted: Love love love this one! It's total guitar-riff-grunge-ain't-dead-yet glory! Pearl Jam's self titled album (which came out in 2007) is like a renaissance for the band. It's back to basics in the best way possible. Get all the art-house stuff out of here, just crank up the amps and let it loose. Good lyrics too.
7. Mute Math- Typical: Love running to this one. It's inspiring, the guitar riff is awesome and the pace it sets isn't too fast. There's nothing typical about running 13.1 miles, so it's time to crank that!
8. Jay-Z/Linkin Park- Jigga What/Faint: The best thing Linkin Park has ever done/will ever do is the mash-up album they did with Jay-Z. They mix and match their songs with some of Jay-Z's hits and somehow manage to elevate their music without watering down Jay-Z's (which is quite an achievement). This song mixes hip-hop confidence (essential for mile 8) and heavy metal anger (essential for getting through the pain).
9. Incubus- Light Grenades: Can you run as fast this riff? If so, you were probably born in Kenya. You gotta love running to any song with the line: "Wipe off your face, you've come this far, come on, remember who you are!" Especially at the end when Brandon Boyd screams it. Listen to the song and you'll know what part I'm talking about, it's tough to miss.
10. Old 97's- Time Bomb: If you can't enjoy this song, then your enjoyer is broken. I'm a big fan of how the Old 97's mix country and punk rock. It's a good fast song to help you pick up the pace. It's also the ultimate "This girl is driving me crazy song".
11. Jay-Z and Drake- Off That: I'm a big fan of the Blueprint 3 (more on that later) and I'm a big fan of any song that tells off Rush Limbaugh.
12. Jimmy Eat World- Bleed American: This song is really angry about...something. I don't really understand it. But the chorus "Salt, sweat, sugar on the asphalt" is appropriate. I don't know about sugar, but there's a ton of my salt and sweat on the asphalt... It's mile freaking 12!!! Time to dig deep!!!!
13. Rage Against the Machine- Sleep Now in the Fire: My legs will be on fire at this point, and I will be having fantasies of sleep. So, it's a fitting end. This is another good running song: good pace, loud, really gets the blood pumping. Al...most...there...
The point 1. "The Theme from Chariots of Fire" It's a classic! Cool down, vomit, drink some water, vomit some more, feel dizzy, call a medic, get hooked up to an IV and know that you have accomplished something great!
Ok, back to training. Next Saturday is 7 miles, so if you see a guy out running, who is sweating like a madman, and who's face is an unhealthy shade of red, just know I've got my headphones in and can't hear you honking at me.
You may have detected some mental instability while reading this blog. It's ok, I don't blame you. Especially a couple of weeks ago when my brother-in-law told me he was running a half marathon in October and I agreed to do it with him! (You can read his training blog, it's listed on the blogroll). Now, let's just say that I'm not what you would call an athlete. But I have been making a diligent effort to get into running recently, so it didn't seem that insane at the time. Thanks to my girlfriend's love of biggest loser (which has turned into MY love of the biggest loser), I have been trying to eat healthy as of late, and if Daris can run a full marathon in 4hrs, I can certain run a half marathon. However, as you try to wrap your mind around running 13.1 miles when the longest you've ever run is somewhere around 2... you start to question your own sanity. We're a few weeks in and to finish my 6 mile run today, I needed some help, so I created a playlist to help me through the pain. Thus, I decided to make a 13.1 song list for 13.1 miles.
*Note: This list will include 13 songs and a "cool down song" -the .1 if you will- but in reality, I will probably need over 3 hours of music to get through the race.*
1. The Black Keys- Strange Times: The first mile is all about setting an easy pace and if you follow the drum beat of this song, it will set a nice pace for you. Also, The Black Keys rock and I'm amazed you can make a song this cool with 2 people.
2. Weezer- Getchoo: During my last foray into running (which I think was 2005) I fell in love running to the darkhorse contender for Weezer's best album: Pinkerton. Lots of loud screeching guitars, angsty lyrics, just what you need to really get going. This is a good rocker to keep your pace up.
3. Kanye West- Champion: Hey, you're running half a marathon. You ARE a champion. It's all about confidence and Kanye has enough confidence for you, me and a stadium full of low self-esteem individuals.
4. The Raconteurs- Salute Your Solution: Take your mind off the pain and focus on trying to figure when Jack White is singing and when Brenden Benson takes over lead vocals. Focus, focus...see? Not as tired as you were. Also, Jack White makes the line "I'm like a trashcan, haulin' all the information" seem badass and logical (it doesn't really make sense when you think about it, but it does in the moment).
5. Jimmy Eat World- Big Casino: Most Jimmy Eat World songs are basically motivational speeches. Even their biggest hit "The Middle" was a sort of "come on kid! you can do it!" type song. It's mile 5, it's time to dig deep and believe in yourself. Come on kid! You can do it!
6. Pearl Jam- Life Wasted: Love love love this one! It's total guitar-riff-grunge-ain't-dead-yet glory! Pearl Jam's self titled album (which came out in 2007) is like a renaissance for the band. It's back to basics in the best way possible. Get all the art-house stuff out of here, just crank up the amps and let it loose. Good lyrics too.
7. Mute Math- Typical: Love running to this one. It's inspiring, the guitar riff is awesome and the pace it sets isn't too fast. There's nothing typical about running 13.1 miles, so it's time to crank that!
8. Jay-Z/Linkin Park- Jigga What/Faint: The best thing Linkin Park has ever done/will ever do is the mash-up album they did with Jay-Z. They mix and match their songs with some of Jay-Z's hits and somehow manage to elevate their music without watering down Jay-Z's (which is quite an achievement). This song mixes hip-hop confidence (essential for mile 8) and heavy metal anger (essential for getting through the pain).
9. Incubus- Light Grenades: Can you run as fast this riff? If so, you were probably born in Kenya. You gotta love running to any song with the line: "Wipe off your face, you've come this far, come on, remember who you are!" Especially at the end when Brandon Boyd screams it. Listen to the song and you'll know what part I'm talking about, it's tough to miss.
10. Old 97's- Time Bomb: If you can't enjoy this song, then your enjoyer is broken. I'm a big fan of how the Old 97's mix country and punk rock. It's a good fast song to help you pick up the pace. It's also the ultimate "This girl is driving me crazy song".
11. Jay-Z and Drake- Off That: I'm a big fan of the Blueprint 3 (more on that later) and I'm a big fan of any song that tells off Rush Limbaugh.
12. Jimmy Eat World- Bleed American: This song is really angry about...something. I don't really understand it. But the chorus "Salt, sweat, sugar on the asphalt" is appropriate. I don't know about sugar, but there's a ton of my salt and sweat on the asphalt... It's mile freaking 12!!! Time to dig deep!!!!
13. Rage Against the Machine- Sleep Now in the Fire: My legs will be on fire at this point, and I will be having fantasies of sleep. So, it's a fitting end. This is another good running song: good pace, loud, really gets the blood pumping. Al...most...there...
The point 1. "The Theme from Chariots of Fire" It's a classic! Cool down, vomit, drink some water, vomit some more, feel dizzy, call a medic, get hooked up to an IV and know that you have accomplished something great!
Ok, back to training. Next Saturday is 7 miles, so if you see a guy out running, who is sweating like a madman, and who's face is an unhealthy shade of red, just know I've got my headphones in and can't hear you honking at me.
Friday, July 16, 2010
The Black Keys- Brothers
It was love at first guitar riff when I listened to "Attack and Release" the last Black Keys album. Dan Auerbach's guitar is dirty-retro-blues-rock at it's best. He's all about big hollow body guitars and overdriven tube amps, it was great stuff. Patrick Carney is also a fantastic drummer. His beats are more difficult than they originally appear and he plays with a lot of power (all the best drummers do) without being show-y. "Attack and Release" is a great album and probably the band's best, so I was pumped when I got their newest album "Brothers".
*Side note- Is there a better name for an album by a 2-man band than "Brothers"? It tells you everything you need to know about these guys. This is just 2 best friends making music*
I was a little disappointed initially with "Brothers". Where were all the rockers? Where were those big guitar riffs? There wasn't a song as strong as "I Got Mine" (just a full on blast of guitar and drums; they do more with 2 instruments than most band's do with 5) and most of the songs were more R&B than Rock n Roll. I wasn't very happy, especially since I thought the Keys were on the verge of becoming a new favorite of mine.
But, I thought, give it another spin, hang in there with it. I think a lot of the time, when an album is so different from what you were expecting, you need to listen to it a few times. Stop expecting it to be something it isn't and listen to it for what it is. So I did that, and there are some really good songs on here. Arguably the two strongest songs both feature Dan Auerbach doing some falsetto singing (which is an odd thing for a guy who sounds like Kermit the frog doing BB King) "Everlasting Light" and "The Only One" are both as good as anything The Keys have done.
While nothing rocks as hard as "Attack and Release" "Next Girl" and "Tighten Up" are both standouts as well. Both are becoming favorites of mine. "Next Girl" has this weird fuzzy guitar sound that's really cool and "Tighten Up" is suprisingly catchy. Plus, I'm a big fan of any song that opens with whistling. "She's Long Gone" is probably the album's biggest rocker and another really good song.
I'm still not a big fan "Howlin' for You" and "10 Cent Pistol" is a little too dark for me. But still, there's some really good stuff here. It's not as solid over all as "Attack and Release" but still has good songs. Carney's drums really steal the show on most of the album.
I guess the moral here is not to jump to conclusions. A band can surprise you, and just because an album is softer than you had originally hoped for, you should still stick with it and give it a fair chance.
Hey look! I learned how to put in a video! Wow I hope I did this right.
*Side note- Is there a better name for an album by a 2-man band than "Brothers"? It tells you everything you need to know about these guys. This is just 2 best friends making music*
I was a little disappointed initially with "Brothers". Where were all the rockers? Where were those big guitar riffs? There wasn't a song as strong as "I Got Mine" (just a full on blast of guitar and drums; they do more with 2 instruments than most band's do with 5) and most of the songs were more R&B than Rock n Roll. I wasn't very happy, especially since I thought the Keys were on the verge of becoming a new favorite of mine.
But, I thought, give it another spin, hang in there with it. I think a lot of the time, when an album is so different from what you were expecting, you need to listen to it a few times. Stop expecting it to be something it isn't and listen to it for what it is. So I did that, and there are some really good songs on here. Arguably the two strongest songs both feature Dan Auerbach doing some falsetto singing (which is an odd thing for a guy who sounds like Kermit the frog doing BB King) "Everlasting Light" and "The Only One" are both as good as anything The Keys have done.
While nothing rocks as hard as "Attack and Release" "Next Girl" and "Tighten Up" are both standouts as well. Both are becoming favorites of mine. "Next Girl" has this weird fuzzy guitar sound that's really cool and "Tighten Up" is suprisingly catchy. Plus, I'm a big fan of any song that opens with whistling. "She's Long Gone" is probably the album's biggest rocker and another really good song.
I'm still not a big fan "Howlin' for You" and "10 Cent Pistol" is a little too dark for me. But still, there's some really good stuff here. It's not as solid over all as "Attack and Release" but still has good songs. Carney's drums really steal the show on most of the album.
I guess the moral here is not to jump to conclusions. A band can surprise you, and just because an album is softer than you had originally hoped for, you should still stick with it and give it a fair chance.
Hey look! I learned how to put in a video! Wow I hope I did this right.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Ryan Adams : Ron Artest
In the wake of the NBA draft, and the Hawks doing all they can to destroy the franchise, let's compare and contrast the NBA's bad boy with one of my favorite musicians.
Way back in I don't remember, Ryan Adams was doing an unplugged concert in a small club. There was a drunk guy in the audience who kept screaming for him to play "Summer of 69". He thought this was funny because it's a Brian Adams song, and Brian sounds a lot like Ryan. Ryan got so mad that he eventually kicked the guy in the head and jumped off the stage and attacked him. A few years later, Ron Artest got into a fight during an NBA game, and when a drunk fan dumped a drink on him, Artest went into the stands and attacked the guy creating a media firestorm.
There is essentially only one real unbreakable rule for any musician/actor/athlete/performer: Don't attack the audience. Ever. Sounds easy right? These are the people who pay to see you perform, it's essentially career suicide to attack one of them. Yet both of these guys did the same thing, and really if you look into their respective industries, they were probably the guys most likely to commit such crimes.
Ryan Adams is the Ron Artest of singer-songwriters. They are both incredibly talented and incredibly infuriating individuals. Ryan Adams at times, seems bound and determined to wreck his career. After assaulting a concert-goer, Adams told a magazine the inspiration behind his album "Rock N Roll" was "I wanted to get drunk and stoned and play guitar with my band". In an interview with ESPN just last year, Ron Artest admitted that he used to drink Gin before NBA games, and even at halftime. Adams has a history of drug and alcohol abuse (the guy was in a band called Whiskeytown for God's sake!). He told Rolling Stone all about his love of speed balls, booze, cocaine and heroin, then got on his website and said that he was misrepresented and only did speedballs "a few times". (Hate to say it Ryan, but that still counts)
After "Rock N Roll" Adams began working on his follow up "Love is Hell", the label hated it. So Adams' left the label, formed his own, and released the record first as 2 EPs, then as 1 entire album (completely screwing over the people who paid for 2 seprate EPs). In 2005, he released 3 albums in 1 year.
Finally, he seemed to settle down some when he formed his backing band The Cardinals. He told AOL music that he no longer wanted to be "Ryan Adams and The Cardinals" he just wanted to be "The Cardinals". The band helped Ryan put out 4 really strong albums. (If you haven't noticed by now, Ryan could probably put out a new album every week). Between that and his marriage to Mandy Moore (one of the all-time weird marriages) it appeared as though he had settled down. Ryan Adams had found his Lakers, a team willing to put up with his antics and bring out the best in him. Less than a year after the AOL interview, Adams left the band and just finished heavy metal sci-fi concept record that he is only releasing through his website on vinyl. (No, I did not make that up.) These are the highlights of the career of a madman.
Adams carries that same cavalier attitude that Ron Artest brings to the hardwood. He has an air of "I don't care what you think about me" mixed with an attitude of "I don't care what happens to me". He's as likely to be arrested for a DUI as he is to win a grammy (or an NBA title). By the way, the guy writing this, owns 5 Ryan Adams albums. He's as good a songwritter as there is. The music is as undeniably good as Artest's defense on the court. They are so unpredictable, they've entered that weird realm where nothing seems impossible. Admit it, if Ron Artest became the leader of cult and Ryan Adams became an arsonist, you wouldn't really be that shocked. They both have their faults in their prospective areas of expertise: Ryan Adams can write a clunker of a song like no other, and Ron Artest can't shoot a 3 to save his life. But as crazy and infuriating as these two can be, their both really good at what they do, but wildly unpredictable and possibly self destructive. That's not always the best combination, but it sure makes for an interesting story.
Way back in I don't remember, Ryan Adams was doing an unplugged concert in a small club. There was a drunk guy in the audience who kept screaming for him to play "Summer of 69". He thought this was funny because it's a Brian Adams song, and Brian sounds a lot like Ryan. Ryan got so mad that he eventually kicked the guy in the head and jumped off the stage and attacked him. A few years later, Ron Artest got into a fight during an NBA game, and when a drunk fan dumped a drink on him, Artest went into the stands and attacked the guy creating a media firestorm.
There is essentially only one real unbreakable rule for any musician/actor/athlete/performer: Don't attack the audience. Ever. Sounds easy right? These are the people who pay to see you perform, it's essentially career suicide to attack one of them. Yet both of these guys did the same thing, and really if you look into their respective industries, they were probably the guys most likely to commit such crimes.
Ryan Adams is the Ron Artest of singer-songwriters. They are both incredibly talented and incredibly infuriating individuals. Ryan Adams at times, seems bound and determined to wreck his career. After assaulting a concert-goer, Adams told a magazine the inspiration behind his album "Rock N Roll" was "I wanted to get drunk and stoned and play guitar with my band". In an interview with ESPN just last year, Ron Artest admitted that he used to drink Gin before NBA games, and even at halftime. Adams has a history of drug and alcohol abuse (the guy was in a band called Whiskeytown for God's sake!). He told Rolling Stone all about his love of speed balls, booze, cocaine and heroin, then got on his website and said that he was misrepresented and only did speedballs "a few times". (Hate to say it Ryan, but that still counts)
After "Rock N Roll" Adams began working on his follow up "Love is Hell", the label hated it. So Adams' left the label, formed his own, and released the record first as 2 EPs, then as 1 entire album (completely screwing over the people who paid for 2 seprate EPs). In 2005, he released 3 albums in 1 year.
Finally, he seemed to settle down some when he formed his backing band The Cardinals. He told AOL music that he no longer wanted to be "Ryan Adams and The Cardinals" he just wanted to be "The Cardinals". The band helped Ryan put out 4 really strong albums. (If you haven't noticed by now, Ryan could probably put out a new album every week). Between that and his marriage to Mandy Moore (one of the all-time weird marriages) it appeared as though he had settled down. Ryan Adams had found his Lakers, a team willing to put up with his antics and bring out the best in him. Less than a year after the AOL interview, Adams left the band and just finished heavy metal sci-fi concept record that he is only releasing through his website on vinyl. (No, I did not make that up.) These are the highlights of the career of a madman.
Adams carries that same cavalier attitude that Ron Artest brings to the hardwood. He has an air of "I don't care what you think about me" mixed with an attitude of "I don't care what happens to me". He's as likely to be arrested for a DUI as he is to win a grammy (or an NBA title). By the way, the guy writing this, owns 5 Ryan Adams albums. He's as good a songwritter as there is. The music is as undeniably good as Artest's defense on the court. They are so unpredictable, they've entered that weird realm where nothing seems impossible. Admit it, if Ron Artest became the leader of cult and Ryan Adams became an arsonist, you wouldn't really be that shocked. They both have their faults in their prospective areas of expertise: Ryan Adams can write a clunker of a song like no other, and Ron Artest can't shoot a 3 to save his life. But as crazy and infuriating as these two can be, their both really good at what they do, but wildly unpredictable and possibly self destructive. That's not always the best combination, but it sure makes for an interesting story.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Random Thoughts
As you can probably tell, I'm a guy with a lot of opinions and thoughts. Some of those opinions and thoughts are long and detailed and require lots of fleshing out in long and rambling blogs. Some are passing observations that are barely long enough to be considered a text message. As such, I have decided to occassionally throw in a Random Thoughts blog, wherein I will string together lots of little thoughts and save myself from having to sit down and really think about things. It's like a twitter page for a guy who's scared to death of twitter. So, without further ado, here we go:
That's all for now. Thanks for reading!
- It's taken awhile but I really like that Broken Bells song "The High Road". It's a cool combination of techno style mash-up melody and folk song. Kind of makes me want to check out more of their stuff.
- Matthew Sweet's "Girlfriend" is just a great song. It's ridiculously catchy and endlessly enjoyable.
- Even though it drives me nuts to hear their songs played over and over and over again until I hear them in my dreams; the Black Eyed Peas are probably the most popular hit-making group of the last 5-10 years. Ever since "Let's Get it Started" they really haven't missed. That's an impressive feat when you consider that pop music has become more and more dependent on one hit wonders.
- Snow Patrol is a band that has gotten progressively worse with every single they release. "Final Straw" was a really good album and "Hands Open" was pretty good but not as good. Ever since then they have gone down hill rapidly. "Just say yes" represents a new low.
- I had a moment in the car the other day when there were only 2 songs on the radio and I had to choose between Taylor Swift and Nine Inch Nails. I chose Taylor Swift (and yes, I know I just announced that to the entire internet). I'm perfectly willing to give up a man card for that. It's a good thing 15 year old me didn't live to see this day.
- Maybe it's just me, but the new U2 album seems to be imitating Coldplay's Viva la Vida. If so, then this may be the first ever case of the old band imitating the new band who got famous from imitating the old band.
- I know as an indie rock fan, I'm supposed to love Jack White's new band The Dead Weather. But I'm just not into it. I get the whole dark-eerie-blues-rock thing, their songs just don't seem that good.
- Only The Avett Brothers could write a song called "Die die die" that you wouldn't mind if your children were listening to.
- If I was in a 1940s blues bar in the Mississippi delta and the Black Keys were playing. The only thing that would seem out of place is that the band is made up of 2 white dude from Ohio. Their music is perfect for that specific setting
That's all for now. Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Why I Hate KISS and You Should Too!
As KISS prepared to release their live album "Alive", they noticed something troubling: they didn't sound very good live, in fact, they were pretty bad. On the album, you couldn't see their out of this world show, you could only hear the music, and the music wasn't very good. It was really just a poor performance. So much so that the band went into the studio and re-recorded parts of the album. No other band in history has ever doctored a live record (or at least admitted to it). A live show is the truest representation of a band's skill. It's the litmus test, and KISS did not pass it. And that, in a nutshell is my problem with KISS.
Strip away the pomp and circumstance, the facepaint and the fireworks and there's nothing really there. They are the perfect example of style over substance. That "substance" is the music, the thing that's supposed to be the most important aspect of a band. Even their biggest hit "Rock N' Roll All Night", is just what it says, a bland song about wanting to Rock N Roll all night, and party every day. It doesn't get any deeper than party songs with KISS, and their party songs aren't that good. There's no monster guitar riff, no big solo, nothing musically interesting. Just bland music about partying and how cool it is. (By the way, if you can name another KISS song, I'll be impressed. They are really just a 1 hit wonder. Oh, and if you try to say "Dr. Love" you have to be able to prove to me that you knew that song before the Dr. Pepper commercial)
Now, there's nothing wrong with party music. Jazz, is mostly party music, but jazz is interesting. It takes talent to play jazz, a lot of talent actually. But when you listen to KISS, there's nothing interesting or different about the music. It's really bland rock music. It doesn't stand out in any way. The guitar work is average, the hooks are decent at best, and there's nothing innovative or interesting about it. Sure they look weird, and a lot of stuff blows up when they're on stage, and their light shows are the stuff of legends, but there's nothing to the music. The music HAS to be the most important part of any great band. There's nothing wrong with style, style is good, Van Halen has style for days, but they have the music to back it up. Showmanship and being able to own a stage are great qualities, but they don't make a band. The music does.
Now, there are tons of marginally talented bands out there, so how has KISS managed to elevate themselves to the status of "Rock Gods"? Because they have marketed themselves that way. They act the part: they drive big cars, live the lifestyle and put on the biggest concert show you've ever seen, all in an attempt to hide the fact that they just aren't that good. If I were to ask you what is the one thing that KISS does as well or better than any other band, if you really thought about it you would answer: marketing. Seriously?? This is a rock band, and the thing that sets them apart from everyone else is marketing?! But you have to give them credit, their name, face and likeness is on more crap than any other band in history. They've made movies, cartoons, lunch boxes, action figures and just about everything else under the sun. Everything they do, from the facepaint to Gene Simmons' tongue is done so that you will remember them. And again, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but when there's no music to back it up, now you've got a problem. Heck, their most "artistic" achievement is making a music video without the facepaint! That's it.
And it's because they're so memorable, because they put on such a show, that KISS has earned most of their notoriety. Watch or read any list of 100 greatest and KISS will without a doubt have snuck their way onto the list. It's egregious! It's like putting Dontrel Willis on a list of the greatest pitchers of all time because he has that super high leg kick. Or choosing Pepsi ahead of Coke because the label is cooler. At the end of the day, its what's inside that matters, and with KISS, there's nothing inside.
That's thing I can't stand about this band: style trumps talent. Its the thought that if there are enough bright lights and explosions, I'll forget that the music sucks. It's why I change the station every time their song comes on, why I almost throw things at the TV when VH1 puts them in a 100 Greatest category. There is no substance, no talent, no originality or skill, just a couple of hacks in Halloween makeup who missed their calling to become marketing majors. Or, more simply, they are everything that Rock and Roll SHOULDN'T be.
Strip away the pomp and circumstance, the facepaint and the fireworks and there's nothing really there. They are the perfect example of style over substance. That "substance" is the music, the thing that's supposed to be the most important aspect of a band. Even their biggest hit "Rock N' Roll All Night", is just what it says, a bland song about wanting to Rock N Roll all night, and party every day. It doesn't get any deeper than party songs with KISS, and their party songs aren't that good. There's no monster guitar riff, no big solo, nothing musically interesting. Just bland music about partying and how cool it is. (By the way, if you can name another KISS song, I'll be impressed. They are really just a 1 hit wonder. Oh, and if you try to say "Dr. Love" you have to be able to prove to me that you knew that song before the Dr. Pepper commercial)
Now, there's nothing wrong with party music. Jazz, is mostly party music, but jazz is interesting. It takes talent to play jazz, a lot of talent actually. But when you listen to KISS, there's nothing interesting or different about the music. It's really bland rock music. It doesn't stand out in any way. The guitar work is average, the hooks are decent at best, and there's nothing innovative or interesting about it. Sure they look weird, and a lot of stuff blows up when they're on stage, and their light shows are the stuff of legends, but there's nothing to the music. The music HAS to be the most important part of any great band. There's nothing wrong with style, style is good, Van Halen has style for days, but they have the music to back it up. Showmanship and being able to own a stage are great qualities, but they don't make a band. The music does.
Now, there are tons of marginally talented bands out there, so how has KISS managed to elevate themselves to the status of "Rock Gods"? Because they have marketed themselves that way. They act the part: they drive big cars, live the lifestyle and put on the biggest concert show you've ever seen, all in an attempt to hide the fact that they just aren't that good. If I were to ask you what is the one thing that KISS does as well or better than any other band, if you really thought about it you would answer: marketing. Seriously?? This is a rock band, and the thing that sets them apart from everyone else is marketing?! But you have to give them credit, their name, face and likeness is on more crap than any other band in history. They've made movies, cartoons, lunch boxes, action figures and just about everything else under the sun. Everything they do, from the facepaint to Gene Simmons' tongue is done so that you will remember them. And again, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but when there's no music to back it up, now you've got a problem. Heck, their most "artistic" achievement is making a music video without the facepaint! That's it.
And it's because they're so memorable, because they put on such a show, that KISS has earned most of their notoriety. Watch or read any list of 100 greatest and KISS will without a doubt have snuck their way onto the list. It's egregious! It's like putting Dontrel Willis on a list of the greatest pitchers of all time because he has that super high leg kick. Or choosing Pepsi ahead of Coke because the label is cooler. At the end of the day, its what's inside that matters, and with KISS, there's nothing inside.
That's thing I can't stand about this band: style trumps talent. Its the thought that if there are enough bright lights and explosions, I'll forget that the music sucks. It's why I change the station every time their song comes on, why I almost throw things at the TV when VH1 puts them in a 100 Greatest category. There is no substance, no talent, no originality or skill, just a couple of hacks in Halloween makeup who missed their calling to become marketing majors. Or, more simply, they are everything that Rock and Roll SHOULDN'T be.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
John Mayer- Stop this Train
John Mayer is a tool. In other shocking news: Atlanta is hot in the summer, the Yankees spend too much money, LeBron James can dunk and Tiger Woods isn't winning husband-of-the-year. And I'm okay with it. If you were going to make a list of the 10 best guitarists of the last 10 years, John in top 5. He's an all-timer, and most all-timer's aren't nice guys. Most star athletes are more like Michael Jordan than Bill Russell. It's that weird catch-22 where to be the best, you kind of have to be a jerk. Now, I don't really want to hang out with him, and wouldn't want him to date my sister, but this blog isn't a critique of John's personal life, it's about his music. But if you want my critique on his personal life: on John's first record "Inside Wants Out" there's a song called "My Stupid Mouth", that was in 1999*. Which is my way of saying this isn't anything new for him. So John is a jerk but plays a mean ax, let's talk about the ax part and why this is blog-worthy. I chose "Stop this Train" because it's a really well written song that I feel a good connection to, but it also employs John's now famous** "picking and flicking" technique. Without getting too techy, the picking and flicking technique is a right hand finger picking technique where the thumb slaps the bass note while the other fingers strum and pick then pick the higher notes. This guy explains it better. You can hear a variation of this technique early in John's playing on "Neon". He uses it here on "Stop this Train" as well as "Heart of Life" and "Who Says". A few things about this technique: A) I've never heard anyone else before John use it. B) It's really really complicated. It takes a ton of practice, coordination and independence from your individual fingers to pull it off. C) It sounds really really good. It adds a rhythmic quality to a simple finger picking song. It's a sort of marriage of strumming and picking, taking the best qualities of both, and merging into one super-right-hand-technique (I call it a right-hand-technique because I'm right handed, I guess technically its a strumming-hand-technique but oh well, sorry lefties, percentage wise I know you're out there).
So "Stop this Train" is a really good song from a guitar standpoint, but it's also really good lyrically, and if you've read my other blogs, than you know that good lyrics go a long way with me. It's also a song I've connected with a lot in recent years as it's about becoming a grown up and yearning to be a kid again. Unfortunately, you can't stop the train, we all get older and we all have to grow up. Being an adult isn't nearly as fun as being a kid, you've got responsibilities, bills, a job and various other things that keep you from that carefree life you lived as a kid. It's a lot like sitting on a train. Everything is moving by you, and it's going pretty fast, but you can't see where you're going and you have no control over it. Who doesn't want to stop the train? Not permanently. Just for a minute. Just a quick break to get out, look around and enjoy the place you are until you're ready to move on. (Sorry to get metaphorical and deep, I'm still trying to digest the finale of Lost)
Also, it's interesting to insert a conversation with your father into a song lyric:
Also, it's interesting to insert a conversation with your father into a song lyric:
Had a talk with my old man
Said "help me understand"
He said "Turn 68,
You'll renegotiate,
Don't stop this train
Don't for one minute trade the place you're in"
Thanks for the advise John's Dad! Now please tell your son to shut up and keep playing! Click here to see a live acoustic video.
**Okay, so "famous" is a relative term. It's famous among guitar geeks who watch instructional videos on youtube...I'm not saying I'm that guy. I'm just saying, you know, there's people out there who do that stuff.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Josh Ritter Live at Variety Playhouse (a special concert review)
At the risk of "Over Ritter-ing" the blog, I'm going to review my man-crush's show from last Thursday. I was lucky enough to attend the show and when you do a music related blog, you kind of owe it to yourself and others to review a concert, even if you've just written another blog about this artist and your man-crush is starting to reach levels where people are worried. I promise in a day or so I will come down off this Ritter-binge I've been on and write about somebody else soon. I quit whenever I want, really I can...
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Josh Ritter- So Runs the World Away (as promised)
If you're a complete music nerd like me(I know, I know, you have a "life" or whatever), there's nothing more interesting than listening to an artists' records in progression. You can hear how they change, how they grow up, how that weird song on their second record that just doesn't seem to fit serves as a logical jumping point to the next record. Josh's music does that beautifully. "Hello, Starling" is a great folk-pop record, full of acoustic guitars, whispered vocals and quiet pianos. It's ideal coffeeshop music. "The Animal Years" pushes that music forward. More guitars, more intensity, songs are bigger and bolder. "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter" is more of an explosion than a record. A great big cacophony of pianos, guitars, horns and back up singers. It's a fast, loud record about gunslingers and missile-silos. None of Josh's albums sound like the others, so it's hard to know what to expect. In the same way that these records build on each other, but are completely independant of one another, "So Runs the World Away" follows that tradition.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Baseball walk-in songs
Let's take a small detour and discuss something that is relevant and topical(to me at least). I'm sitting at the Braves game a week ago, and notice the lack of good walk-in songs among Braves players (For the non-baseball fans: Walk-in music is the music that is played when a batter steps into the box. Each player picks their own unique walk-in music). As the Braves team batting average plummets to the depths of the National League, I know what's missing. Great walk-in music. It's ok Bobby, I'm here to help. I've got some suggestions for the guys. First let's break down what makes great walk-in music:
1. Something badass. You need a song that is going to alert the pitcher that his worst nightmare just stepped into the box. Something that will strike fear into the opponents heart. Don't underestimate this part of the game. You need a song that's going to make you feel like you're 10ft tall if you're going to face a nasty back-door breaking ball.
2. Crowd involvement. You're in Turner field. The Braves are down by 1 and there's a man on base, suddenly, Ozzy Osbourne comes blaring through the speakers "Alllllll aboooooaaard ha ha ha ha!!" and "Crazy Train" kicks in. You know what's coming. Chipper Jones is up to bat. The crowd is on their feet, everyone is going nuts. The local hero is up to the plate, and the pitcher is squirming. A crowd that was dead a minute ago just came to life, and all because of Ozzy. Good walk-in music gets people on their feet and brings the stadium to life.
3. Originality. Part of the reason the "Crazy Train" moment works is because that song has become synonymous with Chipper Jones. A good walk-in song is specific to the player, and when the song comes on, everyone in the stands should know who is stepping up to the plate. So now that we broke that down, let's take a look at some my personal favorites: (Note: this isn't necessarily a judgment on song quality, but a judgment on how the song works as a walk-in song. There are a lot of good songs that make terrible walk-in music.)
Rage Against the Machine- Bulls on Parade. Even as Kelly Johnson's batting average dipped below .200, I still defended him. Why? Because he used Bulls on Parade as his walk-in music. To this day I still think it's the best walk-in song I've heard. It's super aggresive, badass and gets everyone pumped up. The "Go with it now!" opening makes it a perfect walk-in song. By the way, when Kelly changed from Bulls on Parade to The Outfields "Your Love" I was screaming for him to be traded. That's on the wall of shame for walk-in music.
Alice in Chains- Man in the Box. The opening riff is a monster. Plus the "singing over the guitar" part makes this one instantly recognizable and undeniably awesome. If you want a song that will scare small children, this might be it.
50 Cent- In the Club. An instant crowd pleaser. Not as in your face as some of the rock songs, but it gets everyone on their feet.
Green Day- Brain Stew. Long before Green Day made really bad pop-rock songs about the post-apocalyptic world, they were a punk rock band. And while Billy Joe Armstrong may be on the short list for "Famous Guitarists Who Barely Know How to Hold a Guitar Correctly" Brain Stew is awesome. It's a little slow for a walk-in, but it would definitely strike fear into the hearts opposing pitchers.
I'm sure there are others that I'm missing, but those are probably my top 4. FYI, if you think of one you could post it in the comments. It is legal to comment on the blog. You will not be punished for it, I promise.
1. Something badass. You need a song that is going to alert the pitcher that his worst nightmare just stepped into the box. Something that will strike fear into the opponents heart. Don't underestimate this part of the game. You need a song that's going to make you feel like you're 10ft tall if you're going to face a nasty back-door breaking ball.
2. Crowd involvement. You're in Turner field. The Braves are down by 1 and there's a man on base, suddenly, Ozzy Osbourne comes blaring through the speakers "Alllllll aboooooaaard ha ha ha ha!!" and "Crazy Train" kicks in. You know what's coming. Chipper Jones is up to bat. The crowd is on their feet, everyone is going nuts. The local hero is up to the plate, and the pitcher is squirming. A crowd that was dead a minute ago just came to life, and all because of Ozzy. Good walk-in music gets people on their feet and brings the stadium to life.
3. Originality. Part of the reason the "Crazy Train" moment works is because that song has become synonymous with Chipper Jones. A good walk-in song is specific to the player, and when the song comes on, everyone in the stands should know who is stepping up to the plate. So now that we broke that down, let's take a look at some my personal favorites: (Note: this isn't necessarily a judgment on song quality, but a judgment on how the song works as a walk-in song. There are a lot of good songs that make terrible walk-in music.)
Rage Against the Machine- Bulls on Parade. Even as Kelly Johnson's batting average dipped below .200, I still defended him. Why? Because he used Bulls on Parade as his walk-in music. To this day I still think it's the best walk-in song I've heard. It's super aggresive, badass and gets everyone pumped up. The "Go with it now!" opening makes it a perfect walk-in song. By the way, when Kelly changed from Bulls on Parade to The Outfields "Your Love" I was screaming for him to be traded. That's on the wall of shame for walk-in music.
Alice in Chains- Man in the Box. The opening riff is a monster. Plus the "singing over the guitar" part makes this one instantly recognizable and undeniably awesome. If you want a song that will scare small children, this might be it.
50 Cent- In the Club. An instant crowd pleaser. Not as in your face as some of the rock songs, but it gets everyone on their feet.
Green Day- Brain Stew. Long before Green Day made really bad pop-rock songs about the post-apocalyptic world, they were a punk rock band. And while Billy Joe Armstrong may be on the short list for "Famous Guitarists Who Barely Know How to Hold a Guitar Correctly" Brain Stew is awesome. It's a little slow for a walk-in, but it would definitely strike fear into the hearts opposing pitchers.
Matchbox 20- If You're Gone. Kidding! That would be terrible and you get booed out of the state.
I'm sure there are others that I'm missing, but those are probably my top 4. FYI, if you think of one you could post it in the comments. It is legal to comment on the blog. You will not be punished for it, I promise.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Jamie Cullum- Wheels
What? A song that is actually on the radio? You mean Jay is going to actually write a blog about a song that someone other than him has heard before? Damn straight. Although it's not getting the uber-repetitive play of a Black-eyed Peas song, I'm really digging "Wheels" at the moment (and using dated hipster speak phrases such as "dig" apparently).
Jamie Cullum is one of those artists who I keep hearing songs that I like, but I've never actually put my money where my mouth is and bought one of his albums. I like Jamie Cullum though. He's got a smooth jazz voice, rocks the piano, and does really cool jazz versions of hip-hop songs (he's covered Pharrell's "Frontin" and Rhianna's "Please don't stop the music"). If I were to go all SAT on you, I would say that Jamie Cullum : Jazz :: John Mayer : Blues. He's a talented songwriter, who has mastered his instrument in the traditional musical sense (Mayer is a master blues guitarist, Cullum a master jazz pianist). He's like Harry Connick Jr. only more brash and British.
"Wheels" is more of a pop song than a jazz song, and it's also distinctly modern. Two things make this song work: the piano riff and the drums. The drums provide the song's backbone: a constant chugging sound that sounds like it's being played with those drum sticks that are basically wire brooms. I don't know what they're really called but they give the drums a hushed sound and keep the rhythm chugging along.
The piano riff is still jazzed bassed but it has a really modern sound. It's almost like if U2 wrote a piano song, this is what it would sound like. The riff isn't a whole lot of notes and repeats itself a lot (it's almost, dare I say, cyclical...like a wheel...maybe?). Mix that with the "woooaaaooowoahhhh" chorus and it becomes a pretty infectious song. Click here to hear the song. And click here for a live version of "Frontin'" that begins with Jamie playing his piano as if it were a drum. (I found this while I was looking for the video of Wheels, and it blew my mind. Who knew you could play a piano like that??!)
On a blog related note: I know I have been slack lately, but chalk it up to a busy schedule and a case of writer's block. More songs to come! I promise!!
Jamie Cullum is one of those artists who I keep hearing songs that I like, but I've never actually put my money where my mouth is and bought one of his albums. I like Jamie Cullum though. He's got a smooth jazz voice, rocks the piano, and does really cool jazz versions of hip-hop songs (he's covered Pharrell's "Frontin" and Rhianna's "Please don't stop the music"). If I were to go all SAT on you, I would say that Jamie Cullum : Jazz :: John Mayer : Blues. He's a talented songwriter, who has mastered his instrument in the traditional musical sense (Mayer is a master blues guitarist, Cullum a master jazz pianist). He's like Harry Connick Jr. only more brash and British.
"Wheels" is more of a pop song than a jazz song, and it's also distinctly modern. Two things make this song work: the piano riff and the drums. The drums provide the song's backbone: a constant chugging sound that sounds like it's being played with those drum sticks that are basically wire brooms. I don't know what they're really called but they give the drums a hushed sound and keep the rhythm chugging along.
The piano riff is still jazzed bassed but it has a really modern sound. It's almost like if U2 wrote a piano song, this is what it would sound like. The riff isn't a whole lot of notes and repeats itself a lot (it's almost, dare I say, cyclical...like a wheel...maybe?). Mix that with the "woooaaaooowoahhhh" chorus and it becomes a pretty infectious song. Click here to hear the song. And click here for a live version of "Frontin'" that begins with Jamie playing his piano as if it were a drum. (I found this while I was looking for the video of Wheels, and it blew my mind. Who knew you could play a piano like that??!)
On a blog related note: I know I have been slack lately, but chalk it up to a busy schedule and a case of writer's block. More songs to come! I promise!!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Gomez- How We Operate
Gomez is sort of a British version of Wilco. Which is to say, they are rock band with roots in blues, country and folk that sometimes get a little weird. They use programed hip-hop beats, run guitars through all sorts of sound effects and use odd instruments. Their songs frequently have odd tempo changes and shift keys, but are still catchy enough to fit into the mid-tempo rock category. This is the long way of saying, they are right up my alley. Some of you may know Gomez from the song "See the World" which was featured tons of medical shows and dramas.
How We Operate is the title track to the album "How We Operate", and it's one of the more complex songs I've heard in a while. For those of you keeping track at home this song has:
1) Drums
2) Bass
3) 2 Electric Guitars
4) Acoustic Guitar
5) Mandolin
6) Banjo
Turn me inside out and upside down
And try to see things my way
Turn a new page, tear the old one out
And I'll try to see things your way
That's Gomez in a nutshell, odd instruments, cool changes midway through a song, and a really catchy chorus. Gomez is one of those bands I listen to and wonder "why are they not a bigger band?" I have a theory on this: they use 3 lead singers (2 guys do the majority of the singing, but piano/guitar player chimes in every once in a while). And people identify a band by the voice of the singer, not the instruments. So if a band has more than one lead singer, people have trouble identifying the band. More on this theory later as it relates to Van Halen and U2 (U2 is one of the few bands that can be identified through their sound and not the voice of their lead singer...but I'm getting ahead of myself).
Click here to see the video. It's pretty cool Gotta love youtube. You can find anything. It's like if MTV or VH1 actually played music videos!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Josh Ritter - The Temptation of Adam
Josh is a brilliant singer songwriter from Idaho (yup, there are actually people in Idaho. I know, I was shocked too.) Josh is known for his story-songs and classic Americana sound. While most of his songs are outstanding, "The Temptation of Adam" might just be his lyrical masterpiece. To adequately explain the song, I'm going to break it down like Bill Simmons breaks down NBA games.
To begin with, I heard via Josh's website that the song was inspired when he heard a story that soldiers stationed in missile silos must be of the same gender. This is to ensure that nothing romantic develops between them. You can't have the people responsible for firing ICBMs engaged in a lover's quarrel when it hits the fan. The song throws all that out the window and gives us the 2 occupants of a particular missile silo: Marie, and the narrator (presumably Adam). We meet them as they enter the silo, and Adam uses one of the all-time worst pick-up lines:
"If this was a cold war we could keep each other warm"
I said on the first occassion that I met Marie
Ugh, that's just bad...
We were crawling through the hatch, that was the missile silo door
And I don't think that she really thought that much of me
I never had to learn to love her, like I learned to love the bomb
She just came along and started to ignore me
Right from the beginning its clear that Adam likes Marie a lot more than she likes him. But nevertheless he wins her over, partly out of fear of nuclear winter, partly out of loneliness (fellas take note: the true way to a woman's heart is through isolation and a fear of the apocalypse). It doesn't matter to him. He loves her, and in that moment and in that place, she loves him too. The song's conflict (read: temptation) comes from Adam's realization that this will not last once they leave the silo.
Oh Marie there's something that tells me things just won't work out above
That our love wouldn't have a half life on the surface
So at night while you are sleeping I hold your closer just because
As our time grows short I get a little nervous
My favorite part of the song comes next. I love the imagery of what a silo-romance is like:
Oh Marie if you would stay then we could stick pins in the map
Of all the places where you thought that love would be found
But I would only need one pin to show where my love's at
In a top secret location, 300 feet under the ground
Oh we could hold each other close, and stay up every night
Looking up into the dark like it's the night sky
Pretend this giant missile, is an old oak tree instead
And carve our names in hearts into the warhead Here is Adam's temptation: does he press the button? By pressing the button, Adam can ensure that he and Marie will never leave, and that they will stay together forever. Of course there is the small, tiny detail of destroying the whole world in nuclear winter, but hey, details. People do crazy things in relationships: they spend way too much money on Italian food, stay in on Friday nights, give up going to basketball games to watch the season finale of "The Bachelor", but they probably don't bring about the end of humanity just to stay in a relationship. The song ends with Adam admitting that he is tempted. Not that he does it, because come on, that's crazy, but it's tempting.
It takes some guts to write a love song that takes place in a missile silo, and it takes more than guts to write a song about the moral conundrum of "Do I blow up the world so my girl doesn't leave me?", but it's just a damn good song. Good writers take risks and that's exactly what Josh does in this song. He keeps it simple too, no real instrumentation other than the guitar (by the way, I know a little something about guitar playing, and Josh's finger-picking in the song is pretty darn good). Click here to hear the song.
By the way, Josh's new album "So Runs the World Away" comes out on May 4. So May 5, you can expect another blog heaping obscene amounts of man-love Josh's way. Mark your calenders!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Ben Folds- You to Thank
On a recent road trip, I was looking through my ipod for something that fell into the category of “things I haven’t listened to in forever”, I decided on Ben Folds. It took approximately 30 seconds into “You to Thank” to realize that someone needs to show Ben Folds some love. Who better than me? “You to Thank” is the second track on Songs for Silverman, Folds’ second solo album. (side note: there is almost no real difference between Ben Folds solo stuff and Ben Folds Five. Sure, on his own Folds uses some more instruments: guitar, strings, horns etc. But by and large the sound is almost identical to the drums, bass, piano sound of Ben Folds Five. There’s almost no drop off in quality either. Folds’ has yet to record an album as good top to bottom as “Whatever and ever amen”, but his first 2 solo records are packed with songs just as good as anything he did with Ben Folds Five.) “You to Thank” is a great Ben Folds song, and fairly representative of his music as a whole. To begin with, the piano playing is lights out (you’re darn right I just used “lights out” to describe piano playing! Shawn Merriman, if you’re reading this I apologize, please don’t eat me). Ben’s piano licks are lightening fast and he pounds the living crap out of the keys. Few guys own the piano like Ben does. In the same way that Elton John and Billy Joel owned it. Ben is also underrated as a singer, he’s got great range and can hit some really impressive high notes.
Ben’s songwriting is really what makes the song. Ben has a lot of what I call “pop smarts”. He knows how to write a song that’s very listenable (Is that a word? Never mind, I don’t care. I’m making it one.) It’s poppy and catchy without seeming like its poppy and catchy. Ben also has a style all his own. Very tongue-in-cheek, frequently foul mouthed (which is not something normally associated with piano men), but his songs are almost always emotional. He’s written songs about death, abortion, divorce, heartbreak and so on. But he never comes across as whiny or emo. That’s a fairly amazing feat. Adam Duritz of Counting Crows has spent a career writing about heartbreak, isolation and loneliness and people KILL him for it! If you go too far into deep weighty emotional issues, people hate you for it, but somehow, Ben Folds rises above it. Part of that is because he's so funny. Go back and listen to "Army", that song is basically a comedy sketch. Ben owns the whole, nerdy, foul mouthed, piano genius persona, and that is a winning combination.
But getting back to the song: it's a song about a couple that gets married too fast and runs into early trouble. The piano riff in the beginning is very soft, but as the drums and other instruments come in, that exact same riff becomes loud and raucus. It kind of mirrors the relationship, is sweet and pretty when it starts, but becomes loud and out of control later. One of the interesting things about the song lyrically is that it never really resolves itself. You don't know what happens to the couple. The song ends with the same lines it opened with:
By the time the buzz was wearing off
We were standing out on the sidewalk
With our tatoos that looked like rings
In the hot Nevada sun, and they won't fade
Here's hoping things worked out for them
Sunday, April 4, 2010
My Morning Jacket - One Big Holiday
Every good mix should begin with something fast and upbeat. Oh yeah, sure, you can be all artsy and put a slow song first and show off to people "Oh look at how artsy and hip I am, I started a mix Nora Jones!" But be honest, it's not really as satisfying. Deep down we all want something loud and fast to start out. Something that makes us want to roll down the windows and drive 90mph.
That's why I'm starting with "One Big Holiday" from My Morning Jacket. Because not only is it an all out rock'n'roll song, but because all out rock'n'roll songs are just better when they're performed by big bearded Kentuckians!
I love this song for a number of reasons. 1) I love My Morning Jacket. They are a really really weird band, but they rock just enough to get away with it. I love how they combine country, alternative, blues, funk, reggae and just about every other style known to man (and probably a few that aren't). This is a cut from "It Still Moves" but "Z" is probably my favorite of their records. It's very diverse but all the songs sort of fit together. "It Still Moves" is more guitar and roots driven and doesn't have some of the more out there moments of "Z". Some people (cough, rolling stone, cough) will try to tell you that "Evil Urges" is their masterpiece, and yes, it is a very brave record filled with some interesting and daring songs, but it just isn't as solid as "Z" or as fun as "It Still Moves".
But back to the song: 2) I love the song's structure. It's a big bold guitar song that starts off with a killer intro. The opening lick is deceptively fast. There's an urgency to it that makes the song feel like a jailbreak more so than a weekend getaway. It lightens up a little in the verses but the chorus brings it back to that initial rush of the opening and closing jams. There's a nice balance between the joy in the verses and the urgency of the solos and chorus. It's a near perfect driving song.
3) Lyrically, well it almost doesn't matter. It seems to be about the band getting out of Louisville, but who knows. I think it's an escape song, about getting away from whatever it is you want to get away from. That feeling of joy when you leave something behind. It's more about just raw emotion than anything specific. There's a feeling you get from listening to it that has almost nothing to do with the words. It's all about the notes, the beat and chords.
Click here to watch a live performance. I want to have videos embedded in the blog, but it's going to take some time for me to figure out how to do that.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
What to expect when you're reading...
Hello,
My name is Jay and this is my blog. I decided that blogging about the innane thoughts that randomly run through my head on any given day is an awful thing to unleash on the world. I needed a focus, a subject matter, and thus decided on my first love: MUSIC!
To say I'm a music nut is like saying that Scott Weiland enjoys an occasional drink (which is to say it's an understatement). My life has a soundtrack in my head that I feel the need to share with the world. Why? Because who else is going to say that 1991-1996 was probably the best 5 years in music history? Who else is going to argue to that Third Eye Blind's career was over when their guitarist left the band? Who else is going to compare singer songwriters to NBA players? Who is going to stick up for Hall and Oats? Who else is going to give you the definitive list of underrated songs? If not me than who?? Who is finally going to settle the Stones Beatles debate? Well, I probably won't do that last one, but the other stuff yeah, I'll handle that.
So plug in your headphones, crank your amps to 11 and enjoy the madness.
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