iTunes
I like a fairly wide range of musical styles, including rock, alternative, electronic, blues, jazz, adult alternative, folk and some pop (mostly Britpop). I have Rage Against the Machine moods, John Mayer moods and Massive Attack moods. A sampling of the most recent songs on my iTunes:
Spinnerette: Ghetto Love
Snow Patrol: Shut Your Eyes
The Bravery: Believe
Foo Fighters: Let it Die
… which most of those songs aren’t all that new. They’re just newer than the bulk of my iTunes library, which dates to the late ’90s.
I really made a habit of seeking out good music when I was in college, but lately I just haven’t had the time or money. Well, honestly – it’s been quite a while since I’ve had the time or money! But the desire is still there. I hate most of the drivel on the radio, and alas, my car has a tape deck. I don’t even have a stereo that could make mix tapes anymore, so I’m out of luck until I can upgrade my sound system (currently, a low priority vs. other things).
But I digress … I love music and I love finding great new music. I just wish there wasn’t so much garbage to wade through before you find the gems. I need a personal music consulant. I wonder how much that would set me back? 
Count it off
We’re still working on the concept of 1, 2, 3 GO! Read the rest of this entry »
I can’t believe I’m actually writing this
My husband is currently at “praise band practice” because he’s going to be one of our church’s drummers (they take turns). I realized something watching him play earlier, though … I’m going to have to look elsewhere during our song service. As in, not at him. Because he looks … well, RIDICULOUSLY SEXY playing drums. And I’d hate to think impure thoughts in church. 
Speaking of drums
Jay’s drums came today. They’re awfully pretty. Read the rest of this entry »
Drums and stuff
So, my husband has recently gotten out of the woodworking business. Jay was really, really good at crafting fine furniture, but we never wound up selling anything. Fine, people, go buy your crappy particle-board furniture at Wal-mart. You get what you pay for.
So anyway, another of Jay’s many talents is percussion. He did really well in marching band (he ranked really high in the state contest) and went on to teach drum lessons, which he’s been doing on and off since the early 90s. Starting this summer, he may be the go-to guy for private percussion instruction for a local ISD’s band kids. And he’s also starting to play drums for our church’s worship team. So, needless to say, he needed to purchase a drum set.
Now, I knew drum sets were expensive, but I knew nothing about cymbals, which I thought were just glorified trash-can lids. Apparently not. I am not usually a cheap-skate, but when I heard what cymbals go for, I just about fainted.
Anyway, I’m kind of excited that Jay’s finally getting a drum set. He sold his previous one right before we met. I’ve always wanted to learn to play the drums. Is it too late to be a rockstar?
Oh, to be a rockstar
The Smoking Gun reports that it has obtained a copy of the Foo Fighers’ tour rider. (If you don’t know what a tour rider is, click here.) If you want to skip to the funniest parts, look for the red arrows.
Be Still My Beating Heart
I recently blogged about one of my favorite bands – Portishead – coming out with a new album (which I’m somewhat disappointed with).
But as a consolation, two more great bands I love are coming out with new albums – the Verve and Coldplay.
the Verve, like Portishead, are back together after a 10-year hiatus. (I swear, these bands are re-uniting to save us from the wretchedness that is ’00s music.) They have tour dates scheduled and recently released the Thaw Session, which you can hear here. I saw the Verve live at the Roxbury in Atlanta in 1997. I would love to go see them again, they’re a great live band. They currently don’t have any U.S. dates listed, but they did recently play at the Coachella music festival. Anyway, an album is forthcoming. I’ll try to contain my excitement. [If you're new to the Verve or only know them by their hit single Bittersweet Symphony, here's a few songs to broaden your horizons: Slide Away, Gravity Grave, Lucky Man, Weeping Willow]
Coldplay, on the other hand … I’ve loved every album they’ve put out, but I’m not sure what I think about the single, Violet Hill from their upcoming album Viva La Vida. I mean, it’s not bad. But something about this track reminds me of that insipid Franz Ferdinand song they played to death on the radio the year it was released. I personally love their endearing, melodic songs like Fix You and Trouble. If it ain’t broke, why fix it?
Review of Portishead’s new album, Third
Well, this is more like random thoughts than a cohesive review, because that’s how my brain works. If you don’t like it my next two blog posts are free.
I’m posting video links, but if any of them don’t work, go to youtube and do a search for Portishead and the name of any of these song titles below. That is, until the music licensing people get wind of it and swat the videos like flies. More will pop up in their wake, though, I’m sure.
Starts out with a man speaking Portugese, (according to LyricWiki) then transcends into a dreamy song similar to some of their old stuff (strings in background, vocal style). Is is just me, or are the drums distracting? I’m not wild about this one.
Easily my favorite off the album. Sounds like it would fit right in on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. Jay said it reminded him of something from a Bond movie.
The vocals and guitar juxtaposed with the tribal, driving bongo beat makes me think twilight zone vs. sexy hula dance. I like it, though.
Starts out pretty and simple, but they lost me after the keyboard came in.
I could do without the helicopter noise.
That one annoying keyboard note is a bit like chinese water torture, but I have to admit, this song is growing on me. It’s just BEGGING to be remixed into something you could dance to.
Holy cow. A ukulele. I just don’t know what to say about it. Unexpected.
Industrial beat gets kind of boring by the end of the song. I know this one’ll probably be a single (judging by the fact that there’s a video, I guess it already is), but if this is the first song of Portishead’s that I heard, I don’t think I’d like them. Feels uninspired.
Is this Jefferson Airplane (that vibe starts about 2:28 in)? Wow.
Between the cowbell and the wonky off-time drumbeat, this is just not my style. Jay (my husband, an accomplished drummer/percussionist) says it’s in an unusual time and it doesn’t flow well. I agree. This feels like the musical equivalent of watching a fish flop around on dry land.
Another one that is growing on me. Hello again, Grace Slick!
Portishead’s new album
My gosh, I’ve been so out of the loop. I am just finding out that one of my favorite bands of all time, Portishead, is not only back together, but is coming out with a new album (due out tomorrow).
Portishead, for the uninitiated, is a trip-hop band from Bristol, UK. Think electronic with sexy vocals. Mandatory cool-kid listening (in my not-so-humble opinion). The last album they released was over 10 years ago.
Will the band live up to its iconic image in their third album (incidentally, titled “Third”)? I’m sure ready to find out.
Read the rest of this entry »
Rock band
My husband’s family had a get-together yesterday, and we wound up playing Jay’s oldest sister’s kids’ “Rock Band” video game. The game is similar to Guitar Hero, except that this version also features bass, drums and vocals – in other words, you can have 4 people playing/singing together at the same time, just like in a real band. I tried bass and vocals and had an absolute blast. I’m not sayin’ anyone’s going to vote me into the rock ‘n’ roll hall of fame, but I had fun anyway. If I had the $$ I would totally buy this game.
Incidentally, when I told my sister about this, she said my 14-year-old nephew says Rock Band is for dorks. Well, I guess I’m a dork.
Little drummer boy … and girl
So we’ve had this kiddie-sized drumset for over a year now. Jay bought it to help with Gabriel’s motor skills – and it did help, but we just didn’t have room for it. Anyway, Jay found the drumset for cheap and souped it up with Remo and Aquarian heads and Zildjian hi-hats. It was nice. We’ve been trying to sell it forever (to someone that appreciated the fact that this wasn’t like a set you could just go buy from Wal-mart), and finally did the other day. We took it out of the closet to set it up so I could take pictures of it for my Craigslist post. The kids had some fun with it while I had it out.
Christian metal: not “Christian” enough?
This article makes me want to pull my hair out. It basically says that the Christian message gets lost in the heavy music and sometimes obscure lyrics. Whoever said that Christian music had to meet some sort of holiness standard to meet approval? These parents should be really glad their kids aren’t listening to Ministry or Slayer (if you’re not familiar, these bands are anti-Christian heavy metal).
I grew up around people that spent WAY too much time on such a non-issue. There are too many major things facing Christians in this world without people worrying about whether their kids music is Christian enough.
I will say this: I don’t want to be too critical of the organization that put this article out there. Focus on the Family has a lot of good things to say, and I would actually love to work for them. Maybe I could convince them to spend less time on things like this and more time on things like genocide and poverty and making birth control more readily available (which, admit it, will lead to a decrease in abortions).
Bedtime Lullaby by Mark Kozelek – Yo Gabba Gabba
OK, I already thought Yo Gabba Gabba – a new kids’ show that both my kids and I love – was awesome, but today took the cake! There was a short animated lullaby featuring the vocals of Mark Kozelek (of the Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon fame.)
Red House Painters is one of my favorite bands of all time. This isn’t a band you’re going to hear played on the radio, and most everyone I’ve ever met who likes them is a proud music snob like myself. Needless to say, I was thrilled to hear another great band on this show.
I figured it out the other day: Yo Gabba Gabba has the magic that Sesame Street has long-since lost. I only wish Yo Gabba Gabba was an hour long!
Artist worth checking out
I’ve known Aaron Robinson since way back when (we were college friends), and ever since, he’s been in one band or another. I have always been frustrated for him, because he’s talented but hasn’t “made it.”
Well, things finally seem to be coming together for him. He’s got a manager, a new solo CD (available through Undertow Records and via iTunes) and upcoming tour dates, including a SXSW showcase.
Anyway, go to the above site and give it a listen. You can scroll through a few of his songs on the media player at the top right of the page.
Cake covers “I Will Survive”
So, the band Cake has a cover of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” on the airwaves right now. But the singer’s trademark choppy speak-singing makes it sound like the song is being sung by William Shatner. And I’m not getting the video.
Alternative playlist
I’m trying to create the ultimate Alt-Rock playlist. Any suggestions? (I’m trying to avoid the completely obvious.)
You might argue that a lot of these are old, but I’d like to think they’re from Alternative’s golden age.
That time again
Well, thanksgiving was almost a week ago now and my fridge is starting to smell like a trash can. I guess it’s time to clean out the remains of the leftovers. 
I am listening to a great assortment of Christmas music right now, thanks to my rad bro-in-law Glen. I mean seriously, I could listen to iTunes from now ’till Christmas and not listen to the same song twice. Some of my favorites are the old Chrismas songs (think Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Bing Crosby …) on Ultra-Lounge: Christmas Cocktails and Pier 1 Holiday Classics and Amy Grant’s Christmas albums, including Home for Christmas and A Christmas to Remember.
Yay!
So, I’m happy for two reasons: one, Jay got me an iPod nano for Christmas. [We've already exchanged Christmas gifts because we're adults and WE CAN. Hahahaha. Okay, the real reason is we act like 10-year-olds and can't wait for anything.] Anyway, I’ve been wanting an iPod for years, so I’m really, really thrilled.
Two, I was somehow able to resucitate my old Mac to retrieve my iTunes to load onto the iPod.
So, now my iPod has 805 very carefully hand-picked songs. I have hundreds of CDs that I originally downloaded onto my computer, but I went through all my iTunes and deleted all the songs I’m not particularly attached to. I have a long list of favorite songs, eh?
I’d like to think I have a pretty wide range of musical tastes. Songs on my iPod span various genres: Christian/gospel, rock, alternative, pop, hard rock/metal, soft rock, classic rock, trip-hop, blues, jazz, bluegrass, classical, folk, electronica, Latin, and a very few hip hop/rap. I guess I should throw some country songs on there for good measure. There’s a few I can tolerate (about as much as rap/hip hop).
Not that this is news for those of you who care …
Radiohead recently released a new album , inrainbows, that you can download for free. I’ve listed to it twice and so far I really like it, although I can’t really explore its intricacies with screaming children running through the room. I’ll have to listen to it again tonight to get the full effect.
Flashback
I just found this video on youtube and it took me back. I LOVED the Monkees and faithfully watched them on TV as a child (I think I was about 6 or so when they started showing Monkees re-runs?) I dreamed of one day marrying Davy Jones, or if that didn’t work out, Peter Tork. I’m so not making this up. When I found out that I was actually watching re-runs and the Monkees were much older than me, I was just crushed.
What’s currently playing in my head
So, I’m in Walgreen’s drug store the other night fairly late, buying pull-ups for the kids, when a song that I haven’t heard since … let’s see… 8th grade(?) comes on the loudspeakers. Somehow, it came right back to me and I sang every word. It was the Damn Yankees singing “Where You Goin’ Now?”
Wow, my music taste has come a long way.
Beautiful
I think this is the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard.
Guilty pleasure
When Jay and I got married, I teased him for still owning a pair of tight, stone-washed jeans, as well as a collection of hair metal (on tape).
But, I can’t honestly say I didn’t like any of the songs from that era/genre. Tonight I was looking for a good radio station whilst on my way home from the drugstore, and I happened upon one playing the Scorpions’ “Rock You Like a Hurricane.” I turned it up and rocked out.
Happy, Jay?
Sounded prophetic to me.
When Kim Jong Il decided to fire some nice Fourth-of-July fireworks off, I was immediately reminded of the Soundgarden song, 4th of July, from their Superunknown album.
Well, the world apparently didn’t end then (not that I really thought that it was going to), but the lyrics are kinda creepy nonetheless.
“… Cause I heard it in the wind
And I saw it in the sky
And I thought it was the end
And I thought it was the 4th of julyPale in the flare light….
And leads the scorched ones here
And everywhere no one cares
The fire is spreading
And no one wants to speak about it …Now I’m in the fall out…”
getting older and still hanging on
I drive a minivan. I wear 'mom' clothes. I don't know what movies are playing. I haven't been dancing in – well, ever. I am OFFICIALLY not cool anymore.
Except … for my taste in music.
I always loved music, even from a very young age. Music was more than just background noise for me – it was something to get excited about, somewhat of a cause to promote with fervor. Read the rest of this entry »
