Monday, July 21, 2008

random

This song just came onto pandora. i've heard it before but i don't know where.

In the frame- Rob Laufer

i like it.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Wasting a few minutes before i catch the bus.

So, we're gonna play a game right now. it's called put your i-pod on shuffle and list the first 10 songs to play, no matter how embarrassing.

1-Copacabana-Barry manilow: this song reminds me of my two best friends from home. I'm really not sure why we almost always ended up listening to this song during our sleepovers. I also remember running down southstreet at like 2 am singing it really loudly after seeing stephen kellog in concert.

2-Blue Chair-Elvis Costello: as much as I love Elvis Costello. I really don't listen to Blood & Chocolate (the album this track is from) almost ever. It's not like the songs are terrible. I just seem to have a stronger emotional connection to his earlier albums. This is a good song though!

3-I Wanna Be- Eric Clapton & BB King: I instinctively turned the volume up to full blast when this came on. I normally only listen to the title track, "riding with the king", but this whole album is fricken awesome. I don't even know how to describe why I like this song, or anything off this album. It's basically two geniuses holed up in a studio having a really good time.

4-Cheatin'- Gin Blossoms: I've never actually listened to this song before... I was not aware there was country music on my i-pod...

5-Sympathy- The Get Up Kids: TGUK makes me think of highschool again. I didn't actually own anything by them till last year. But i have cruised in the passenger seat to their songs more times than I can count.

6- Gimmee Shelter- Rolling Stones: I have to admit I probably don't listen to the stones as much as I should. It's been months!

7- One more day- Karl Ruch: I saw this guy at bible camp... This was my favorite song for approximately a week. I haven't heard this in approximately five years.

8- Psycho-System of a Down: uh... the transition from a love song to this.... wierd.

9- I'm dying tomorrow- alkaline trio: OMG! the first song I learned to play on the guitar was an alkaline trio song. thanks Dan del

10-Welcome to the Jungle- Guns n Roses: My dance group did this song in highschool. probably almost gave my poor uncle a heart attack. It was hot. But, still very skillfull dancing.


Well, that's it. those songs were much less embarrassing than i thought they'd be.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

The rhythm is gonna getcha

Today's blog serves two purposes:
1- I wouldn't say i'm hungover, but my brain feels like mush right now. I think if i start writing about something it'll give me the figurative kick in the head that i need to stop being a lump today.

2- I've found a lot of bands and songs that i really like. It is mainly due to spin magazine's website, with some help from Pandora's radio stations and the alt rock station on sirius radio.

And so, without further gilding the lily and with no more ado, I give to you my list... of stuff you just have to listen to.


Cold War Kids: So, I probably hear the cold war kids every single time my friend matt throws a party. Almost every time I say, "I love this song! who is this?" the last time he said, "if you ask me that one more time, i'm going to hit you." But anyway, I finally started listening to them sober, and they're still awesome. My favorite song is probably "We Used to Vacation."


Matt Costa: Pandora has this thing about playing Matt Costa songs no matter what kind of station I try to create. I guess it's because he has a very diverse style of songs. so no matter what kind of music you enter in, it's a pretty good bet that there's a Matt Costa song that sounds like it. He's on Jack Johnson's label, and you can definitely hear the influence. But i think he mostly reminds me of Ben Lee. His newest song, "Mr. Pitiful," was featured in the trailer for Ricky Gervais' newest movie. I think.

Mgmt: I originally saw this band on spin's website. there was a clip of them demonstrating the different types of dancers you see at festivals. it was quite funny. Turns out their music is just as entertaining. They're described as psychedelic synthpop. You can hear hear surf, and R&B influence at times.Their most popular single , "time to pretend," was in the movie 21. It's definitely one of their most "manufactured" songs, and strikingly different from my other favorite song by them, "pieces of what."

Port O'Brien- It's not really surprising that i like this band. It started with broken social scene, but pretty soon I realized i'm in love with pretty much any indie group that can keep the sound tight with 5 or more people. Their most popular song is probably "I woke up today." I'm kind of attached to the less popular acoustic version, probably because i heard it first. It's a tad slower, and more raw sounding. The singers are singing together, but the lyrics invoke alienation. "stuck on a boat" is pretty good too. I love hearing when a girl and boy harmonize well. which brings us to...

The Hush Sound: I'm a big fan of peppy, upbeat songs with semi-depressing lyrics (let's call them poignant, kay?) So when i heard "wine red" I got addicted pretty fast. Bob (guitarist) and greta (pianist) take turns singing for most of the songs. I like it best when they sing together rather than when one steps up alone, their voices just work really well together. Of the bands listed here, they're probably the only one where I like all of their songs across the board. "sweet tangerine" is a good one, as is "Lions Roar."

Okay, that's enough for today i guess.
toodles!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

according to the rumors, my dreams are gonna come true!

Now that you all know i'm a nerd I'm going to go back to talking about things that are really effing cool.

So, it's been confirmed by multiple sources that after yanking our chains last spring, broken social scene has decided to come to state college this fall (youtube: 7/4 shoreline or fire eye'd boy). Yay! But i already knew that. The semi-big news is that The hold steady is in the works to
play here too! they'd be opening for drive-by truckers (I personally could go without, but they're alright). Furthermore, Vampire Weekend (you tube: oxford comma) and Tokyo Police Club (look up nature of the experiment or in a cave) are also both in the lineup for the coming school year.

In other words, two of my old favorites and two of my new favorites are gonna be in my town. Between that and the increased rent for a larger apartment, i fully anticipate being broke. Broke but blissfully happy.

Of course, i did get this information from a state college music scene insider, which means some of them may not go through. But i have faith.