Getting on my soapbox for a minute...

I encountered a couple of my musical pet peeves last night. The first, of course, was someone mouthing off about how this band and that band “sucked.” Why does this rub me the wrong way? Because everyone’s taste in music is unique to them. Music is such a subjective topic. You could sit down and discuss what makes music “good” until you’re blue in the face, but in the end, it’s still only your opinion. Let me set up an example of a few of my likes and dislikes in music. As I’ve said before, I like a strong melody, I like heavier guitar riffs, and I like a good drum beat. A couple of things I’m not really into are death growls and thrash guitars. But someone else could be just the opposite of me. What I’m trying to say is that every quality that you like in music, you like. For every quality that you don’t like in music, someone else does like. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. So sometimes I get a little frustrated whenever someone starts trashing someone else’s taste in music. Music is extremely personal, and I think what you listen to becomes a part of yourself. Therefore, I think we could all stand to show a little respect for what others listen to.

I said I encountered a couple of my pet peeves last night. The other one I haven’t mentioned yet is when people knock it when someone else listens to bands that have any kind of mainstream popularity. These are the people that wave around the names of unknown bands like a status symbol. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great to listen to the little guys! I’ve got my share of them floating around my music library. There are a lot of great bands out there that haven’t “made it” yet, and I think it’s great to get out there and discover them. But there are those out there who would actually abandon a good band once they’ve become successful, claiming that they’ve “sold out.” That’s just another one that rubs me the wrong way. Yes, most of the bands I like are varying degrees of mainstream. I think it’s great that I’ve never heard of most of the bands you’re listing off, but don’t start flaming me because I listen to “popular” artists. See paragraph one. Lol The same basic principle applies here. We all like what we like, and that’s all we can do. So I think we should respect that.

Lol I’m getting off of my soapbox now. Just one more thing I wanna say before I go for today. I love making mix CDs. I’ve got a couple of themed ideas in my head right now, and I am so excited to make them! Both are gonna require a lot of musical research though. At some point in the near future, I want to take you on a tour of my favorite mixes, but you’ll see these as soon as I make them. I won’t tell you what the themes are quite yet though. You’ll just have to wait and see! Anyway, here’s a song, and I’ll post my Tuesday new release blog tomorrow!

Chevelle - Wonder What's Next

Yeah so this album isn’t exactly new, but it’s new to me! And that’s all that matters here. :) I’ve loved the song “Send the Pain Below” for ages, and I finally got around to picking up the album a couple of weeks ago. My main reason (other than loving the song of course) is because I’ve got a ticket to go see Chevelle in September! I’m super stoked about this one. They’ll be playing with Halestorm opening, so I’m trying to get caught up on their libraries before the big night.

Oddly enough, I somehow missed the other singles on this album, “The Red” and “Closure” when they first came out. I’ve been getting my fill of them lately, and I have to say that the three singles are my favorite songs on the album. They have all the qualities that attract me to a song. They have great melodies, awesome guitar riffs, and an overall good feel to them. I also like the lyrics. As an added bonus, both “Closure” and “The Red” have some interesting harmonies happening.

The rest of the album did not disappoint. I’ll admit that none of the other songs quite struck a chord with me the way those did, but I’m definitely glad I got the album. My favorite after the singles is “Forfeit.” Very good song! There’s also a great acoustic song called “One Lonely Visitor.” It’s beautiful and displays how versatile Pete Loeffler’s voice really is. Some other great songs on the album are “An Evening with El Diablo,” “Don’t Fake This,” and “Comfortable Liar.” Really, they’re all good though. Those are just my favorites. :)

That’s all for today. Here’s “Closure” for your listening pleasure. :)

Busy busy busy...

So I haven't forgotten about this today, I've just been very busy, and I still am. lol So listen to this and wait for a new blog tomorrow! :P

Music + Video Games = Awesome!

I’ll go ahead and cover this topic since I briefly mentioned it yesterday. I think that the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises were great ideas. Not only are they some of the most addicting games known to man, but they’re a great way of getting more music out there and into the public ear. Yeah, they pick a lot of big songs for the soundtracks, but they pick some of the little guys, too. Rock Band was the first time I heard Flyleaf, and now they’re one of my favorite bands. I probably still would never have heard of Freezepop or The Material if not for Guitar Hero/Rock Band, and lots of people are rocking out some Buckethead and DragonForce these days, too.

I love how the developers of both of those series go out and find some little known bands to put in the game. Granted, some of them are bands that the developers themselves are members of, but still, that’s great exposure. And I love how no genre or era is untouched. You want glam rock? Have some T. Rex! You want thrash metal? We’ve got some Evile for ya! What, you want country, too? Alright, well here’s some Brad Paisley. And literally everything in between. It’s a great way to get those “oldies” in, too. I’ll admit, I’m not a huge classic rock fan. I still totally respect everything rock has gone through because without it, we wouldn’t have the music we have today. I’m just saying that it’s rare that I just crave some classic rock to listen to. But I’m really glad that so much older music makes in into the games. For those of us who weren’t there to experience the music when it was popular, there it is, in all its splendor. I think it’s both strange and exciting to have contemporary music beside the classics. I could talk to you for days about the awesome things about the soundtracks for these games, but I’ll spare you that. ;)

The games are so easy to pick up, too. I love that accessibility. Even if you’re just starting out on the easiest difficulty level, it’s still fun to pick up and play, and because of that broad representation of genre and decade that I just mentioned, there’s something on there for everyone to enjoy. EVERYONE, no matter who you are, has SOME kind of music that they enjoy. So I think that these games were not only just a great idea for how fun and entertaining they are, but for how they bring so many people together. It’s the kind of game you can get your parents in on, or even friends who have never touched a video game controller.

So if you have the means, and you like your music, I’d give any of these games a shot. There’s just something about holding that plastic guitar in your hand and making your favorite songs happen.

One more thing. As I mentioned yesterday there have been some issues lately with a certain music group that doesn’t want to let Rock Band use their songs anymore… And with the bands that this group owns, that means the series is in for some serious pain. I don’t think I have to tell you how much that pisses me off, for all the reasons I’ve listed above. It’s exposure. WMG is only hurting the bands they’ve signed (and their own profits) by cutting off access to the public. It just doesn’t make much sense to me…

So today was a fairly short rant. I’ll leave you with a little band I discovered on Rock Band that you may not have heard of. :)

Outlets for New Music + a little rant...

The mp3 player is one of the greatest inventions by mankind (imo, at least). I remember thinking when I was little that I wished I could program my own radio station to play only the songs I wanted it to, and not have to listen to all that talking in the middle. Then I thought that was practical enough that surely someone would come up with that some day. Good call. Now we have that, and I couldn’t be happier. Well, I could. Currently, my budget limits me to an mp3 player with only 2 gigs of memory. I love my player (I would just say iPod, but I don’t actually own an iPod), but it is oh-so-frustrating that it can only hold a little over 300 songs, when I’m sure I have at LEAST a thousand that all absolutely have to be on my player (and that number only grows every day, so I’m sure I would need more than that). However, sometimes money IS an object, so getting a player with more memory is a little ways down the priority list right now. :(

As great as the mp3 player is though, it’s definitely not the only thing you need to experience all the great music there is out there. It plays what you tell it to play, so you still need something that doesn’t to hear what’s new. So, I’m still a radio fanatic. XM/Sirius is another great invention. Every genre, every era, all the time. Too bad I can’t afford that right now either lol. But there’s still the local radio stations. Besides, I think it’s important to support the local guys anyway. The one local station that I do listen to on a regular basis claims to have a “modern rock” format. However, I would definitely say that they lean way more into mainstream rock than modern. It’s a great station, but it’s disappointing that a lot of favorite bands and songs don’t receive any airplay on it. If any of you haven’t heard of KROQ though, hop on the band wagon, will ya? They’re probably THE most famous modern rock station in the nation, and they’ve even got a little bit of world renown under their belt, and they truly are a “modern rock” station. It’s broadcast out of California, so you have to go online to listen live, but it’s worth it. I wish I could combine KROQ and the X, that way I could get my fill of modern and mainstream at the same time. If I have an mp3 player, why am I complaining about what the radio stations play? Because that’s a big part of how I hear what’s new. A new song comes out, the radios add it to their rotation, then I get to hear it, and I’m a girl who’s always out to find new music, so that process makes me happy.

Which also brings me to YouTube, another great invention of today. I can’t possibly count how many hours I’ve spent surfing YouTube for music videos, live performances, band interviews, etc. It’s great because it’s all right there, at your fingertips. As soon as I hear a song I like on the radio, I head straight to YouTube to listen to that song about a thousand more times. I hear about a band that I haven’t heard of yet, I go to YouTube and look them up. Imagine my disappointment when that whole fiasco with Warner Music Group took place. For those of you who don’t know, I’ll sum up that story. All the major record labels stem out from four main labels: EMI, Warner, Universal, and Sony. A few months ago, Warner decided that they weren’t getting enough money from google/YouTube so they pulled ALL of their bands off of YouTube. Suddenly, a fourth of the music industry couldn’t be found on the site. I found this move to be incredibly stupid. Not all of the bands on the label are big names that everyone has heard of. YouTube is a great medium through which people can discover these little known bands, and Warner has been cutting them off. The users have been fighting this though and have started to win under Fair Use laws. Many of the lost videos are slowly making their way back onto YouTube, but it’s still going to be a long process. Warner didn’t stop there though. They’ve also decided they’re not getting enough money from MTV Games to use their songs in the Rock Band series, but I’ll save THIS one for another blog.

That's all I have to say for today, so I'll leave you with this:

Papa Roach - Metamorphosis

Ok, so I never said my taste in music was deep, just that it was mine. That being said, I’d like to tell you about one of my more recent album purchases.

This is the first Papa Roach album I’ve ever bought, and I bought it purely on the strength of the single “Lifeline.” It’s very rare that I buy an album for just one song since that often results in disappoint. I have a little bit of history with Papa Roach though, so I figured this would be a safe purchase. While I’ve never gone out and actually bought one of their albums, I’ve liked some of the songs that they’ve put out, so I had a pretty good idea of their style. All in all, I’m pleased with Metamorphosis. Has it become one of my favorite CDs to put in? No. But it was definitely worth buying. It has twelve tracks, and one of those is an instrumental introduction, so let’s say eleven actual songs. Of those eleven, I’m really into seven, lukewarm on three, and just not feeling one.

All too often, bands will release the best songs as their singles. I think we’ve all been there, where we’ve bought an album because we’ve heard the three or four songs that were released and loved them, only to play through the CD and realize that there was a reason they picked those songs to be released. That’s not the case here. I really like the three singles, but I think some of the other songs on the album would have worked just as well in the public eye (ear?).

I found “Lifeline” to be the driving force of this album. I love the opening guitar riff (which is hard as hell on Rock Band…), and I think the melody in the chorus is gorgeous. The lyrics are very straightforward (I hesitate to use the word “emo” in regards to the lyrics…but I’ll save that topic for another day), which has never bothered me. Personally, I don’t think that a band has to have deep lyrics to be considered good. Anyway, I was listening to this song for a few months straight and finally decided to break down and give the album a try.

The other singles “Hollywood Whore” and “I Almost Told You That I Loved You” are also fun to listen to (and the latter wins the Raunchiest Song Since “Crazy Bitch” Award). My other highlights from the album are “Had Enough,” “Live This Down,” “March Out of the Darkness,” and “Carry Me.”

So if you’re into these guys, I’d check the album out. It has some good sounds happening on it. Here’s “Lifeline” in case you’re curious, and I’ll see you tomorrow when I ramble out…something (don’t know what yet).

New Releases! 8/25/09

The big one today (for me anyway) is Jet’s new album, Shaka Rock. I’ve had it pre-ordered on Amazon, so it should be shipping out and making its way to me as we speak. On a side note, why is it that one can order a brand new CD online and pay s/h, yet still pay less than if one hopped down the road to the nearest store to buy it? Anyway, I’m pretty stoked about this one. I was impressed with their debut album Get Born, and I love their new single, “She’s a Genius.” I’ll be honest, I really didn’t pay much attention to the album in the middle. When I first heard “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is” I was little turned off by Nic Cester’s use of falsetto (not falsetto in general, of course, come on, my favorite band is MUSE). I’ve been listening to some of the other songs from that album lately, and I’m starting to think that that one song isn’t very representative of the general style of it. Maybe I’ll be changing my mind about it soon. Anyway, once Shaka Rock makes it to my CD player, I’m sure I’ll be posting my thoughts on here for all (or no one) to see. In the meantime, go listen to “She’s a Genius!” Be warned though. It’s pretty catchy, and it might stick itself in your head for a little while…



In other releases today (of the ones that I care anything about anyway) is Skillet’s seventh album Awake. Despite this being their seventh album, I had never heard of them before the local rock station added their newest single “Monster” to their rotation. I’m really only lukewarm on that song. I find that what generally attracts me to a song is melody, guitar riffs, and beat. None of those aspects of “Monster” feel particularly unique to me (though it is starting to grow on me…). However, I went back and listened to “Hero,” also from the new album… I’m really into that one! So who knows, I might end up adding Awake to my library after all. Time will tell on that one.

The other releases for this Tuesday that caught my eye, but probably won’t make it to my music library are Collective Soul’s Rabbit, Smile Empty Soul’s Consciousness, and Matisyahu’s Light. I might keep an eye on Matisyahu though…that one may surprise me.

This week marks the first of many this fall that I’m super excited about. So many of the albums I’ve been waiting on are all hitting stores in September and October, including the biggest of them all, the new Muse album. Again, go check out “Uprising,” and while you’re at it, give “United States of Eurasia” a listen, too. I’ll admit, the latter is a little Queen-esque with a hint of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom thrown in, but still, it’s oh-so-good!

First, a little introduction...

Ok, so anyone who knows me knows my one true love in life: music. So I’ve decided to share this love of mine with the world…or just whoever stumbles onto this. I don’t expect many to read this. Perhaps this is more for me than it is for you. But I guess if even one person reads it and finds it interesting, then that’s cool. I used to make a few “Songs of the Moment” notes on facebook, but I’ve decided those just aren’t enough. Thus, I’m going to use this as my own personal music blog where I can prattle on about the mundane things that make my world a little brighter.

I’ll start by introducing you to my style of music!

First, I would like to say that you will never hear me say (speaking seriously, of course) that a band, song, or genre is “bad.” I feel that music is extremely subjective, and that as long as one person gets something out of a song, then it was worth writing, and if it’s worth writing, then it’s worth listening to. Nothing irks me more than skimming through a video’s comments on youtube and seeing the usual variations on “this band/song sucks and everyone who listens to it is __________ (fill in the blank with any generic, immature phrase you like).” Anyway, I could ramble on about that for way too long, so I’ll stop there. My point is, you won’t hear me say anything like that about music. My categories aren’t “good” and “bad.” It’s more of what I personally like or don’t like.

That being said, today I’m just going to meander through the main genres of music and tell you what I think. I’ll begin with my main squeeze, rock music, and I do mean that in the most general sense. Rock these days has a huge split down the middle with modern rock on one side (a.k.a. alternative rock), and mainstream rock on the other, and a big bridge built between the two by the bands that rock out on both sides of the rift. I lean toward the modern rock side, but I do wander over and party with some mainstream bands from time to time. Both modern and mainstream are broken into many subgenres, and I feel safe saying that pretty much every one of them is represented in my music collection. I like everything from piano rock to nu metal, and everything in between. I tend to stay away from heavy metal, thrash metal, death metal, etc. I guess nu metal is about as far out as I generally go on a regular basis. I’ll admit I don’t keep up with the underground indie scene very well, though there are a few bands I’ve caught wind of that I listen to (latest indie craze for me is Company of Thieves!), and I’ll go ahead and admit to liking the occasional pop rock band like Paramore, All Time Low, and We the Kings. Hey, I like what I like…

I could write a lot about what I think of pop music today, but I’ll save that for another day. Occasionally I get in the mood for its beats and catchy hooks, but it’s definitely not something that I listen to often. I’m very picky about what I do listen to, when I listen to it. To throw an example out there, I like Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling,” but I’m not into their song “Boom Boom Pow” at all. As for country, it’s just not for me. Even crossover country like Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. I just don’t listen to it. It’s not bad, it’s just not for me.

So that’s a little bit about me and my general musical flavor. I’ll leave you with my top six favorite bands and a few songs that I just can’t get enough of lately.

Muse (new album coming out Sept. 15! Check out the new single, “Uprising”)

Silverchair (if you only remember them for their Frogstomp days, you’ve missed out on a lot of great music!)

Weezer (new album coming out Oct. 27! Check out the new single, “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To”)

Linkin Park (very mainstream, but I can’t help it, I love them!)

Flyleaf (new album coming out Oct. 27! Check out the new single, “Again”)

10 Years (these guys are amazing live!)



And now for a few songs…

Breaking Benjamin – “I Will Not Bow”
Chevelle – “The Red”
Elbow – “Grounds for Divorce”