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.