Green Day

Green Day is the band that got me listening to music. I began listening to the song When I Come Around and thought it was awesome. That song alone was one of the main reasons I started listening to music. Of course, I loved the album American Idiot for the longest time. It really sounded awesome to me. I still can enjoy a few Green Day songs like Time of Your Life and the cover of John Lennon's Working Class Hero. They were a majority of what my early music taste was. I still respect them as a band. I've definitely moved on to different bands and have a different taste in music. I can always credit Green Day as the band that started my love of music.

Austin's Live Music

We all know that Austin is the live music capital of the world, but I've always wondered just how big it is in the world of live music. Sure we have some venues like Antones, The Erwin Center, and Stubbs that are popular. Many famous musicians have come from Austin such as Robert Earl Keen, Eric Johnson, The Bright Light Social Hour, Ben Kweller, and What Made Milwaukee Famous. There are so many more. Austin has produced some great musicians but how famous is its live music? I suppose I don't have anything to compare it to since I've lived here my whole life and I haven't been anywhere else for long enough to know its live music. I know that there are always live shows to go see and many great bands playing, but I don't think bands are waiting in a line out the door to book venues in Austin. This is just a guess and I could be completely wrong. I guess what I'm saying is if we are the live music capital of the world, then I'm a little worried for live music in general.

Early Death Cab

I know I've blogged about Death Cab for Cutie a couple of times but I felt like this was an appropriate subject, considering my recent discovery of many earlier songs of theirs. They may not be that early but some of them are earlier than the other songs I've discussed. The first one is:

This song is Stay Young, Go Dancing and it is actually off of their newest album Codes and Keys. I really like it and the message it teaches. I don't like too many songs on this album but this is definitely one of my favorites.

This is an interesting song called Death of an Interior Decorator. The drum beat has an interesting meter to it that fits the song but can get a little confusing. Its a nice and slow song but I enjoy it a lot.

This song called Your New Twin Sized Bed is very good in my opinion. The overall theme is a little sad but many songs by Death Cab are. I think it's a really good song but it doesn't seem to be very popular. Popularity doesn't matter to me though.

This last song is called Transatlaticism and it is the title track to one of their albums. It's very simple but enjoyable. It sounds great when I'm in a calmer mood and reminds me of many other songs by Death Cab for Cutie.

Weezer

Weezer is a band that I've liked for a long time. I first became a fan of Say it Ain't So, and quickly discovered other songs of theirs. I only really got into the Blue Album and didn't love any of the rest of them honestly. Out of the songs on that album, my favorite have to be My Name is Jonas, Buddy Holly, Say it Ain't So, and The World Has Turned and Left Me. I think the band is really talented. I wish they weren't known for the song Beverly Hills as much because, personally, I don't really like it that much. If I'm being honest, I really only love these certain songs out of most of their discography; but I really do like them a lot. I think they maintain a simple but classic rock sound. I absolutely love that about them. Sometimes I feel like they almost are trying to bring back that true rock sound to the mainstream. Although the instrument parts seem to be relatively simple to me, they blend together really well and bring a lot to the sound of each song. I think Weezer will continue to be that band that fills my rock craving that I get occasionally. I'm not super into them, but I don't really want to be. I like where they fit in with my music taste.

Radiohead

The truth is that I thought that I didn't like Radiohead before we listened to them in class. I thought that, like Led Zeppelin, they had a huge group of fans and that I wasn't one of them. I'm not sure at all why I would think that because I wasn't familiar with their music at all. My whole view of them changed, thankfully. We listened to some good songs of theirs, but two stuck out to me. Those two are Fake Plastic Trees and Paranoid Android. I really do love Paranoid Android. I've listened to the video that has just lyrics many times. I think the music video makes it hard to focus on the song itself. It really is a strange song in itself. But I still really like it. Certain parts of it remind me of the singer from Muse, more towards the end. Fake Plastic Trees is also very good. I love the more relaxed feel to it. I would really love to listen to some more Radiohead and I definitely plan on doing so.

Massive Attack

Like many other people, but only knew about the song Teardrop because of its role as the House theme song. Other than that song I basically didn't have any expectations as to what I would hear on the album Mezzanine. What I did discover is that Teardrop seemed to be different from the rest of the album somehow. It seemed to be more of a relaxed song with a different feel than the other songs on the album. Honestly at the end of the album Teardrop was the only song I really enjoyed a lot. I liked the song Exchange but not nearly as much as Teardrop. I'm sure there are others that I did like but the one that really stuck in my head was obvious. Actually, I liked all of the songs we listened to. But it was Teardrop that stuck out. Listening to the album made me aware of the group, allowing me to check out more of their music. I agree with what Mr. A said. This album is the perfect type of music to listen to in bed with some good headphones. That's what I've been doing recently. I'll listen to Teardrop and occasionally other songs on the album before I go to bed. It's perfect. 

Bankrupt!

The new album from Phoenix was released, so I'll talk about it a little. When the song Entertainment was released I was very excited for the album. I almost expected all of the songs on the album to have the upbeat feel that Entertainment does. So far, what I've found is that they don't have much of that feel, besides Oblique City, to a certain degree and Drakkar Noir. The album isn't bad at all. I just don't think it's as good as the previous one Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. There are a few good songs on there but the only one I love is Entertainment. I like every song on the album. But I basically just like them. Some of them more than others.

Here is a performance of Drakkar Noir, Trying to be Cool, and Chloroform. 

ACL 2013

I have tickets to the first weekend of ACL. Unfortunately, I will have to miss Friday due to a band conflict. If any of the main bands that I want to see are on Friday, I'm not quite sure what I'll do. I'll go through the bands that I'm considering seeing and talk about them. Phoenix is one of the ones I want to see the most. I haven't seen them before and they just released an album so it should be pretty awesome. Walk The Moon is right up there with Phoenix and I'm really hoping that they aren't on friday. They're probably the one I want to see the most. Passion Pit is definitely up there because I love them but I've also heard that they aren't great live. I won't be heart broken if I don't see them. Fun. would be cool to see for sure. But again, it isn't gonna be terrible if I don't see them. Grouplove is a band that I like but I really don't care if I see them or not. It's just one that I'll see when no one else is playing that I like. Jimmy Eat World and Vampire Weekend are under the same category. I could easily live without seeing them. Arctic Monkeys are, to me, just okay really. I like them but I feel like I could easily get bored of their music. I'll see them if they don't conflict with any other bands. My sister used to absolutely love Okkervil River, so if she wants me to go see them, I'll consider it. Muse. This one is interesting to me. I've loved Muse for years and years and have all of their albums besides the new one. I'll see them if I can but it isn't too important to me. It wasn't even close to as important as it was for me to see RHCP last year.

I love when the lineup is announced because it always leads to me discovering more music. I'll definitely go look up some more bands so I have more to see when I'm there.

Wu-Tang Clan

I know that Wu-Tang Clan is a group that we listened to in class but I want to count this as my personal listening because I've loved these guys for a long time. I think my love for them started with the song Method Man. I won't post a link to it because it isn't super school appropriate but you can check it out. I went a while only knowing Method Man and then I learned of a few more songs such as C.R.E.A.M, which I absolutely love. I came to love RZA and Method Man the most. I learned that RZA was a cool guy outside of rapping, in his acting carrer. Truthfully, I don't know tons of the group's songs but I'm definitely going to check more of them out because I haven't found one that I don't like so far. This is one of the very few rap groups that I actually like. I really can appreciate this style of music. Another one I like a lot is Biggie Smalls. Although the two groups had a strange relationship, I love both of them. Biggie Smalls is probably my favorite rapper of all time. Wu-Tang Clan would be a close second.

Red Hot Chili Peppers (Early)

I wrote a blog earlier about these guys earlier but basically only covered their new stuff and what I had already heard. We listened to Blood Sugar Sex Magik, which I had only heard certain songs on. I really enjoyed the album all the way through. It sounded exactly what I thought the Chili Peppers would sound like back then. We then went even further back. This is when I started to almost hear a Beastie Boys influence in their music. Maybe that was just me but it seems like their later albums sound more melodic and lyrical rather than being close to Beastie Boy style. I think that their choice to keep Chad Smith as a drummer was a great decision. He is perfect for the band and his style of drumming adds a lot to the music. One thing I didn't know was that the band has been active since 1983. I knew that they had been here for a while but not that long. It really shows you that not all bands take off after one album. These guys worked hard for their well deserved fame. They're one of the first bands I actually liked and no one could ever replace them.

Finding new music

Recently, I've gone through a period where I've lacked finding new music that I enjoy. Admittedly, I haven't looked too hard but I've never had to look hard before. My music usually comes from friends, my dad, brother or sister. I think I've just been listening to the music I've had all along and accepted it. I have been using music as a way to help me do homework and not much else recently. When I don't have much homework I listen to much more music and enjoy it. I find new music and add it to my collection. It could be at a result of my limited genres that I enjoy. I admit that I may be closed minded to certain types of music. Hopefully things will change when I get past some of the difficult school times.

LCD Soundsystem

I had only heard the name of this band until we listened to it in class. I only think they're okay, really. I only have one real point to make. If you're looking at music from their era, there are much more exciting artists to consider. I listened to LCD Soundsystem and almost fell asleep. To me, it sounds like a guy singing to an electronic beat. It isn't bad but I personally don't love it. If I were asked which bands I would listen to alternatively, I name bands such as Death Cab for Cutie, the early works of The Strokes, The Shins, and many other bands that I love. This is, of course, my opinion. I find much more excitement from listening to these bands. I really appreciate their music a lot. While watching the documentary for Soundsystem, I asked myself why the crowd was cheering at certain points because I wasn't impressed. I know this is biased, but it's my honest opinion.

Pop

To me, pop music is mostly what is played on the popular radio stations. The stations play songs that are popular which is enough for me to label most of them pop. I asked my mom what she listened to growing up and what most people enjoyed. She told me that she always loved "Hair Bands". I didn't ever know that she liked hair metal too much but I'm glad she did. My dad loved The Beatles, of course, and he also has listened to Bob Dylan a whole lot. Pop music when they were growing up was nothing like it is today. Then, many people listened to rock on the radio and everyone loved The Beatles. Today, it would be pretty hard for me to find a song on 96.7 that I truly enjoyed. The few times that I listen to it, it's just for background noise while I'm driving. It isn't that I can't tolerate pop at all. I just really don't like it and it's hard for me to believe that so many people to. That being said, I don't want to be too cynical. I accept that it's the popular genre and I quietly enjoy my own music while trying to not let it affect me. I will never try to tell someone that their music is bad and mine is good. I find that completely wrong and pretty stupid, as you can't expect everyone's opinions to mirror each others.

So many rappers become popular and fade out within a few months or a year. I probably couldn't name a third of all the rappers or hip-hop groups on the radio today. Sometimes it feels like they come and go in a cycle. Either way, I'd much rather hear someone say that they love Justin Bieber than say that they "don't really like music". To me, that's a closed minded thing to say. It may be rare, but everyone should enjoy music, no matter what the genre is.

Wilco

Wilco is an interesting group. I had never heard of them once before yesterday in class. I'm glad I did though because I've found them to be quite enjoyable. Watching the documentary and seeing them playing in the studio was interesting to me because you could really see how the recording process works. I've been listening to the whole album "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", and have yet to find a song that isn't a low energy sound. I'm not complaining because I've basically discovered that it's just the way they sound and I do enjoy it. I don't think that I would sit down and intensely listen to a whole album of theirs. Instead, this music feels, to me, like perfect background music for passive listening. I can listen to it at a normal volume while doing something else and appreciate it. I will probably only listen to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot because it seems to be one of the middle albums they released. I want to hear the median of their albums and I may listen to another some other time. There is a video on YouTube that has the entire album on it and it's pretty awesome. You can just hit play and listen, appreciate, and not worry about changing songs. It's a fun listen and to me, it sounds like it could be a tranquil feeling overall, but a little bit of sadness at the same time. It varies from song to song. As I continue to listen, a few of the later songs sound a bit more high energy. Here's the video and I highly recommend checking it out.

Foster the People

I never expected to like Foster the People. The first song that most people heard was, of course, Pumped Up Kicks. I thought the track was really only okay the first time I heard it. It kept playing on the radio constantly for multiple weeks and, like other songs on the radio, it's got stuck in my head and I started to enjoy it a little bit. Kind of forgot about it after it disappeared from the radio. I then heard the song Helena Beat, which changed this mentality. It's probably not a song that everyone will like, but I sure do. The first time I heard it, I thought it was actually a woman singing, until I saw a live video of the song. I really enjoy the song but you judge for yourself:

Nirvana

I've been interested with Kurt Cobain as a person and a musician for quite a while. It was probably about a year ago when I watched videos of people interviewing Kurt Cobain in order to learn more about him. I really liked Nirvana a lot at the time and I wanted to learn more about him. I basically learned that he and the rest of the band were really funny people and were interesting to watch. I personally believe that Kurt Cobain could have gone on to do many great things as a musician. If you look at Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic's success, it's almost hard to think that Cobain wouldn't have done really well. I guess that he eventually killed himself as a result of too much fame, which he hated. Somebody told me that he never wanted his music to become mainstream or part of the modern society. I suppose that I can understand this, but I would never do anything as dramatic as he did if I felt the same way. I heard Smells Like Teen Spirit Emily Carr earlier and just listened to the general feel of the song. I sort of came to the conclusion that it is a relatively simple song but the band players with so much intensity and enthusiasm, that you can't help but enjoy it a lot. I personally enjoy the band a lot and am kind of sad that they were only able to release three albums for Cobain's death.

Entertainment

While trying to decide what to blog about, I decided to go check out some more Phoenix songs. I found one in particular that I loved. They released this song as a preview to their new album that should come out within the next few weeks. This song gives me a lot of hope for the album. Once it comes out, I'm definitely going to have to check it out. I really do like this song and it gave me a whole new look on Phoenix's sound and style. It's almost as if they took a more pop feeling song and threw Thomas Mars, their singer, into it. The result is really great. I never thought that I'd hear Phoenix release a song like this, honestly. Here it is:

The music video for it is really random and sort of strange. However, I don't have anything bad to say about it. I've actually been getting into songs like this recently, and with Phoenix's release of this one, the trend will continue. Personally, I'm really excited for this album and I think that everyone should give this song a shot and maybe check out the rest of the album once it's released.

Rattle and Hum

I think I was around 12 when I first heard U2's Vertigo. At first, I didn't think much of it besides that it was a nice high energy song. I had, of course, hear Beautiful Day and Sunday Bloody Sunday. Basically, I only knew the newer U2. It wasn't until a few years ago that my dad told me that the band started in the mid '70's. I was pretty surprised to hear that the band had so much history. After watching Rattle and Hum in class, I discovered that their sound used to be immensely different than it is now. That being said, you can definitely hear very strong similarities in their music through time. Some songs really do have very similar styles.

Beautiful Day

With or Without You

If you listen to the two songs, it almost seems as if they could have been released on the same album. When you compare the whole album Rattle and Hum to a newer song like Vertigo, you start to notice the obvious changes to their sound that have developed over time. I really do enjoy listening to musicians over time and hearing how much they have changed in sound and style.

Studio vs. Live

One thing that I was thinking about today was difference between creating a great sounding song in a studio and being able to perform it live really well. Literally anyone can enjoy a good song produced in a studio. You can spend days perfecting small details until it's exactly what you want. In a live show, the band only has one shot to play it the best they can. They don't get to go back and fix anything. I started really considering this after I played drums at a gig-like thing with my guitar lesson teacher. I think that musicians generally can appreciate a quality live performance by any band. I have a lot of respect for a band that can put on a great live show. It shows that they actually know their music and actually work to be good. I think that this relates to modern music and older rock. I feel that it wasn't until 20 or 30 years ago that bands really focused on small details and sounds in their music. Since then, the studio work has been heavy and songs are often altered a lot. Before then, bands played more live shows and had to put on good ones. To me, songs seemed more simple. You had a guitar, bass, drums and vocals. You didn't have hundreds of little computer generated sounds playing in the background or serious alterations of the singer's voice. The bands had to be really talented. I don't think it takes quite as much talent to be successful today honestly. You can rely on the computers to do a lot of the work. That's why I really love seeing a great sounding live performance.

GNR

I like Guns N' Roses. I've liked them for many years actually. I really started to get interested in them when I learned Sweet Child o' Mine on guitar. After that, I learned more about them and got interested in more of their songs. I hate the personality of Axl Rose, however. He is a jerk and basically ruined the band with his attitude. My favorite member is definitely Slash. He was my first favorite guitar player and I still see him as a very skilled player. When I listen to GNR, I enjoy it fully but I know that it's not the case for many other people. I am able to overlook Axl's horrible attitude for the sake of the fun and energetic music. I can fully respect and appreciate why Mr. A would dislike the band, but my opinion differs slightly. I will say that my respect for the band dropped significantly after discovering how hostile Axl acts. At this point in the band's career, I think they should just stop playing because Axl sounds terrible now and the band will never ever be the same. GNR was really the first band I got into that wasn't modern. Because of that, I will always be able to enjoy their music.

All The Time

With the release of a new Strokes album expected next week, the band released one song from the album. That song is called All The Time. I only got around to listening to it this morning. My initial thought was that it's definitely good. I don't want to criticize it too much because I do really think it is good. But to me, it's just like every other Strokes song. It sounds like the rest of them and you can't understand anything that Julian Casablancas says like most of them. I was a little disappointed by the end of the song because my opinion had gone from it being good to me hoping that the rest of the album would be different. When I listen to a new album, I want to hear a difference in the style from the last album. Maybe the difference is very slight, but I just want to hear a change. I don't want the exact same sounding songs that the band has released forever because that bores me and steers me away from the band. I feel like The Strokes have many good songs. They also have many mediocre songs. I would probably place this one in the middle but closer to mediocre. I really am glad to hear that the band is back but my expectations were not met with this one song. I definitely may need to lower them at this point but I'm hoping to enjoy a few songs on the album a lot. Here is the link for the song. Listen to it and judge it for yourself:

 

Hair Metal

To me, hair metal is a genre that is fun to listen to for a while. That while could be a few songs or a couple of hours, depending on how good the metal is. I like a good amount of the metal we listened to in class. I think that the wave of hair metal was really just wave of music that is primarily supposed to be fun and exciting to listen to. Like punk, music was used to escape from the stresses and pressures that everyday life creates. With more stress, the demand for a temporary escape grew and this could have led to this uprising. It also could have just come from an interest in the genre. One of the major stylistic techniques used in hair metal is tapping on the guitar that is used during solos or any other time really. I think that Van Halen used it very early on in the genre's first wave. Listen to the beginning of this:

It is when he uses his right hand on the neck of the guitar. I was interested when I heard that Van Halen popularized this around the same time as hair metal.

Cliffs of Dover

Cliffs of Dover is a song by Eric Johnson released around 1990. Eric Johnson is an amazing musician from Austin, Texas who has played with many bands. I heard the song Cliffs of Dover many years ago after someone showed it to me. I had only been playing guitar for a couple of years and I was amazed. Even today, I have given up on trying to learn it on guitar. It is really difficult and it shows off Johnson's talent. Many instrumental tracks bore me often but this one is very entertaining. Even those who don't appreciate the difficulty of it can enjoy the tune of it. It is easily recognizable. Johnson has said that he can hardly take credit for writing the song, as he literally wrote it in five minutes when it came to him. I think that clearly lays out how talented he really is. I have a lot of respect for talented guitar players and musicians in general. Eric Johnson is well respected and one of my favorite guitar players by far. He is, arguably, one of the best guitar players ever.

The Sugarhill Gang

The Sugarhill Gang is an old school hip hop group that is great in my opinion. I like them much more than modern hip hop groups and rappers. Their music is still listened to widely today. I usually don't like hip hop that much at all. I just tolerate it, as it is so popular today. I am actually able to listen to Sugarhill Gang and enjoy it. I feel that it is quality music. Today's hip hop and rap becomes stale within a year or so and is no longer listened to hardly at all. Some of the classic hip hop is still listened to today, such as Sugarhill Gang. I also enjoy the fact that actual instruments are used. To me, this adds to the quality of each song. I don't think that I need to post videos of their music because we've all heard Apache and Rapper's Delight a million times. It may get a little bit old when you've heard it a couple times in one week, but personally, I have no problem with listening to it again as opposed to worn out modern rap songs. Old school rap and hip hop are, by far, my favorites in the genre of hip hop.

We Will Become Silhouettes

We Will Become Silhouettes is a song by The Postal Service, a band that I don't care for much. Here is the original version:

I that Ben Gibbard's voice is one of the few good things about this song. It definitely isn't my style. I can see why a lot of people might like this song, but I'm not among those people. A band that I enjoy much more than the Postal Service covered this song. They took it and completely changed the style. They basically made it into a 12 bar blues styled song that isn't swung. It's straight eighth notes instead of swung eighth notes. I would guess that many more people will like this, but I'm not sure. I think it's an example of then a cover is better than the original. Here it is:

Talking Heads

Before we listened to the Talking Heads in class this week, I had only heard one song. I didn't really think I liked them at first, but after listening a little more, they grew on me. When we actually did listen to them in class, I heard different songs of theirs for the first time. I know that they're weird and different, but I don't mind that. I think that they were very talented as a punk band. I think that the fact that they are strange makes them somewhat of a punk band, or helps at least. To me, punk is more of the intention of music. Even though many of the Ramones songs have similar lyrics to what a rock and roll song could have, I think that just the nature of their playing makes them punk. Not just the sound, but the fact that they play loud and intend to be crazy sounding. But one thing I've thought about is: if the intention of music makes it punk, would rap be punk? Many rap songs are critical of others and try to be very dangerous sounding. Is that enough to make them punk?

The Goo Goo Dolls

A very long time ago, I bought one song off of the album "Dizzy Up the Girl", and that was all of the knowledge that I had on the band. Later, my dad took me and my family to see them in concert, which was great because it expanded my knowledge on them and got me more interested in the band. 

If you know one song by The Goo Goo Dolls, it's probably this one. It's really famous and played pretty often on the radio, even though it's years after it's #1 position on the charts. It's just a really good song that anyone can enjoy. That's why it has become so widely known.

I think that this song was actually released as a single to be a sound track in the movie "Transformers", which is a little disappointing that it was made for that purpose. Either way, it's a great song. It changes both time signatures and tempos in it when it transitions into the chorus, which I absolutely love for some reason. I don't think that many musicians do things like that as much anymore. It's just another reason for me to like the Goo Goo Dolls.

The Ramones

I grew up listening to The Ramones. My dad played music all the time, and The Ramones happened to be one of the bands he loves. I love them too. I love the sound of Joey Ramone's voice, even though it sounds really different. Just like Bob Dylan, a lot of people in class seemed to dislike the Ramones, and I love both of them. 

This must be my dad's favorite Ramones song, because I've heard it the most out of all of them. It's a great song by them even though it doesn't seem to be quite as well known. I've always thought that playing drums, or any instrument for the Ramones would be ridiculously fun. They rarely use a slow tempo and there are almost always fast eighth notes coming from the guitar and the drum beat includes fast eighth notes on the hi-hat. Playing with the Ramones, to me, would be all fun music all the time. It would be great. That's part of why I like them. It's just fun to listen to. 

This is just another song that would be fun to play. There isn't much to say. I think it's great, but that might be just be because I actually like the style of music and I like the singing, which I think might be a main reason why people don't like the Ramones. 

Passion Pit

A few years ago, my sister showed me an interesting group called Passion Pit. I initially didn't like them too much, but like many other bands, I grew into them. They have an interesting genre of music. It's somewhat techno and somewhat indie. The singer has a very high pitched voice. Some people may not like it at all but I enjoy it a lot. It really works for their style.

This song called "Sleepyhead" is the most famous of theirs, as far as I know. It was the first one that I heard and I grew to love it. I've listened to it many times and I haven't gotten tired of it at all.

This is the most recent song that I've discovered by them. It was actually my dad who showed me it. It also became my favorite song by them. It's really great for any mood you're in and it's just a great song. Passion Pit is probably the only group that I could like in this genre. 

More Zep

In "How the West Was Won", Led Zeppelin played a long and continuous concert. I am only a moderate fan of Zeppelin, so my attention was only partally kept. I love watching rock like that, but it seems to be much more interesting live. Also, being a guitar player, I can appreciate the skill it takes to play that well on a live stage. The few times that there was a drum solo in between songs, you could tell how talented Bonham was. The band is talented, without a doubt. I enjoy their performances and their music, but it's not quite my perferred taste. Don't get me wrong though. I can appreciate them for what they are, which is an incredibly talented rock band. Arguably one of the best in history.

The Postal Service: Such Great Heights

I did a blog a while back about Death Cab for Cutie, but then I discovered that their lead singer had also been a member of a duo called The Postal Service. I'll go ahead and say that I don't really care for them all that much. They do electronic music with Ben Gibbard, the lead singer of Death Cab, singing. I honestly would have rather seen some more Death Cab material and I think that The Postal Service is a waste of Ben Gibbard's talent, besides his acoustic covers of their songs.

This is the original version of Such Great Heights. It is The Postal Service version that was written originally. I think that the feel of the song doesn't really match the lyrics that well honestly.

I heard this version a while ago and didn't recognize the song at first. I loved it. When I discovered what it was, I downloaded it and have been listening to it since. It was surprising that I liked a cover so much more than the original song.

Lennon vs. McCartney Solo careers

After the break up of The Beatles, the member's solo careers began, which was part of our focus in class this week. John Lennon had some amazing hits including Working Class Hero, Imagine, and others. Many of his songs have a special meaning pertaining to either a current event at the time, deep emotion, or political opinion, which seems perfect to me for being rock and roll. Of course his career was cut short when he decided to retire and then he was killed in 1980, but he released some great material in is career. Paul McCartney has released tons of material since The Beatles break up. Some of it has been completely solo with him covering all instruments, and others with different bands such as Wings and The Firemen. I think that it's great that he still plays and does what he was born to do. I can't blame John, of course, because we can't know whether or not he would have come back. It is nearly impossible for me to choose between the two amazing artists because they're both great in different ways. Paul can record multiple tracks of him playing instruments and make great music and John writes awesome and strange music.

David Bowie

In class, we listened to a lot of David Bowie. This is just gonna be my short opinion on him. I really think that he was very weird. I saw him in the movie Labyrinth, and thought he was strange then too. I'm sure that for the time, it wasn't quite as different, but he does feel like someone straight from the '70's which is not a bad thing. We did listen to some of his music that sounded much more slow and not quite as high-energy. I did like that. I think it's pretty cool that such a famous person has admitted to being bisexual too. He, of course, is loved by many and he still came out with that information. Moving towards the '90's, Bowie started to have a more normal appearance, which I like more. I also love the fact that he is still making music. That's good to see.

More of The Shins

The Shins don't have a ton of songs that I love. There definitely are plenty, but compared to the number of songs they've released, it isn't many. They have a lot of just okay songs. But don't get me wrong. I love the band and they have some really great songs, like I said in my last blog about them.

This song, Phantom Limb, sounds slightly different from most of their other songs. I can't really decide what's different, but it's a great song. I think that it may be the singing that I feel is different. 

It's Only Life is a great song if you ask me. It doesn't really sound too original or different, but definitely sounds like a Shins song.

Saint Simon is really interesting. It has a different tone than most of their other songs. There are some weird things in it that I don't just love, and some weird things that I do like.

The Shins

After only hearing the name of this band for a while, recently I was introduced to The Shins. It was my brother who showed them to me and I absolutely love them. They are probably my favorite band at the moment. They have an indie sound, if you ask me, and as far as I know, are only semi-popular. I'm almost glad that they aren't huge because I feel like once a band reaches the point where they're absolutely famous, their music has changed too much and they usually don't make as good quality of songs. This could just be my opinion though.

I absolutely love this song called 40 Mark Strasse. It's hard for me to put a finger on what I specifically like about it, but it's just an amazing song. I also love the story that it tells. It's actually about a young German boy who is in love with a German prostitute. He sees her "play in the street at night" and she sleeps with American tourists. The name comes from the German word for street, which is straße, and a street in Germany where I believe you used to be able to get a prostitute for 40 Marks. I guess the story just seems different to me, as far as a song telling one like it.

This song called New Slang is possibly one of their more well known ones. It is pretty calm sounding, but I love it. I don't know what it is about because I can hardly understand a word he says. There isn't much to say about it other than it's great. I do love the way that The Shins arrange their use of instruments. I love the bass guitar in this and the singing. I suppose it's just that everything blends together really well. I will probably write another post about The Shins just because they're so great and I couldn't possibly cover all of their good songs in one blog. 

Zeppelin IV

In class, we listened to Zep IV this week. In my opinion, it is definitely a better album than Zep III. In both albums, you can see the diversity of sound that the band uses. Even within individual songs you can here it. Stairway to Heaven changes immensely throughout the whole thing. I love it. I am just able to find more songs that I enjoy on IV.

I only kind of like this song but I wanted to include it to compare. It never gets to be a really high energy song. It is nothing like Black Dog or the heavier part of Stairway. I like the fact that the band will have such a diversity of songs within an album. It makes me able to scroll through their songs and find ones I love and ones that are just okay. I'm sure that other songs would appeal to other people. 

I included this song because it is a good example of how they can sound like a Rock and Roll band. The sound is classic in this song. It isn't original but it's just Led Zeppelin's take on it. Overall, Stairway to Heaven makes me have to choose Zep IV over III. I enjoy more songs on IV, but Stairway to Heaven makes the choice more than obvious. 

The All American Rejects

I really started listening to music back when I got my first CD player, probably around 6 or 7 years ago. One of the very first CD's that I got was Move Along by The All American Rejects. I listened to it for a couple of years and then kind of stopped. I recently listened to a few of the songs and realized that I still thought they were pretty great. The band influenced a ton of choices I made later, as far as which artists I listened to. I wasn't a musician back when I first listened to them, but now that I am, I can really respect some of their musical talents. For instance, some of the drum parts on the album interested me, so I decided to learn them and discovered that they were relatively difficult.

This is one of the songs that I really enjoyed back then. I think it's an overall great song. I actually really love their singer in almost all of their songs. The only real thing that I can complain about for this band is the one song "Give You Hell" that became popular a few years back. I honestly hate that song. I really enjoyed their album Move Along, and then could hardly make myself sit through "Give You Hell". It seemed really repetitive to me. I guess it's just one of those songs that I dislike.

Copyright laws

This week in class, we watched a video over the affects of copyright laws. The video evoked a lot of thought. We had also been talking about the same subject in my Spanish IV class, meaning that I was able to hear many different sides of the issue and how it affects various people. I, personally, don't always buy music on iTunes. Part of me feels like downloading illegally or pirating, takes away too much money from the people who created the things that were meant to be paid for. When there is a band that I really love and want to support, I will not only buy their music on iTunes, but also buy a CD on occasion. The other side of the issue is that music is pretty expensive. $1.30 per song seems expensive to me, especially when considering that I rarely just buy one at a time. I think that companies or websites that are for the purpose of pirating should pay money to the music industry or movie industry. I'm sure that those sites make some money from advertisements on their webpages. I realize that it wouldn't be much, but it may add up when considering how many websites are for pirating.

As far as using other artist's music for mash-ups and collaborations, I am kind of torn. I love artists like Girl Talk and many different mash-ups. But I kind of feel like a situation where a mash-up artist makes more money off of a song that they took from another artist is wrong. This situation seems possible to me, so I believe that the mash-up artist should either pay a percentage of their revenue or some predetermined and reasonable amount of money. The part of the video that had to do with the man who had made a mash-up using Radiohead material was very interesting to me. I thought that Radiohead did a great thing by aiding the man escape fines. I can't remember what they did exactly, but it was a generous thing to do. These are just some of my ideas on the issue. I love the idea of not having to pay for music and movies, but helping out my favorite artists feels really great to me.

RHCP

The Chili Peppers are band that I've been listening to for years. I won't pretend that I'm some huge fan though. I only really listen to one album. but it's fine for me because I'm content in doing so. I bough Stadium Arcadium probably back in 2007 and I still listen to it on occasion. One of my favorite members of the band has to be Chad Smith. I think he's a great drummer and adds a lot to the band. When I saw RHCP live at ACL, Chad Smith put on an amazing performance.

Snow was my favorite song for a long time back when I bought the album. It's still probably my favorite song of theirs today. I really dont know what it is about this song that I love, but one would be how their challenging guitar parts blend with the song so well. I think that almost everything they did, instrument wise,  was just about perfect for the song.

Charlie is a very interesting song that I like. Everything from the intro up until the chorus sounds like serious funk rock. Then the chorus comes in, and you get back the same RHCP sound that you have in Tell Me Baby and Snow. It's a cool song, and I don't think that everyone knows about it because it doesn't seem to be as popular as other songs. Even though I'm not a die hard fan, I like to think that I can occasionally listen to a few songs by this very talented band. 

Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath is a band that I've heard my whole life but never actually listened to very actively. I never had much of an opinion on them either, until we listened to them in class. I think that their music is too repetitive, and that they could sound more tight and together. I don't really like them actually. I just don't like listening to music that sounds so similar. Ozzy also has an unenjoyable voice in my opinion.

War Pigs is a song that sounds too similar throughout the whole thing. The guitar effects they use in their songs are also repeated in many other songs. As we talked about in class, they also have pretty terrible lyrics that don't add too much to the songs. These are just reasons why I don't enjoy Black Sabbath. I like the influence they had on music, but I can't really enjoy listening to many of their songs.