Music

  • July 24, 2006

    Music from all over

    At a little more than half way through the summer, I have quite a bit of music to write about. Well, kind of. A CD I just picked up, which I liked instantly, was the new Muse Album, Black Holes and Revelations, featuring their single, Knights of Cydonia. The album is really reflected in that song, as most of it contains a lot of build ups, awesome solos, and vocals that only Muse can produce. It’s something you can rock and relax to at the same time.

    I would also just like to mention that the new Killers single, When You were Young is fantastic. The new album drops October 2nd, and it’s bound to be good.

    Really, I have been listening to Johnny Cash a lot lately. Since seeing Walk the Line, I can’t get enough of him. His songs have such a wide range of emotion that you can listen to something he has done no matter what the mood- Linked below are my three favorite of the ones I have heard, At Folsom Prison, and American IV and V. Folsom is a live album with great songs and such funny commentary in between the songs. American IV and V you can tell he put a lot of effort into, covering great songs and making them even better, and some of his most heart-filled original stuff. A couple of my favorites are God’s Gonna Cut You Down, On the 309, and probably my favorite song, I Hung My Head. Later!

    At Folsom Prison
    American IV
    American V

  • May 19, 2006

    Windows Media Player 11 Beta

    Windows Media Player

    I read over at LifeHacker about the new Beta release of WMP 11. As an avid fan of the program, I decided to give it a shot. WMP 10 was nice, but it was kind of getting old, and the screen shot on LifeHacker looked so sexy! So I downloaded and played around. It has its ups and downs, but over all, I like it a lot.

    Its slick new interface is really really nice. It just looks more modern. A more “Today’s PC” kind of feel. It compliments XP’s Royale Theme very nicely. The top options work right into the skin, but you can opt for the ‘normal’ view. The icons are also a lot nicer- with those and a few more subtleties, the who things looks a lot cool and aesthetically pleasing. It also had strong functionality and music management. New to this version, the album cover is shown next to all the music (see above). It makes the music a lot more readable and much more organized. The search function is also nicer. My favorite part is the “Update Album Info” button. Previous to this version, all of my Blink 182 songs were on the album Blink 182, and there was no easy way to change that. However, with WMP 11, The simple click of a button fixed all of that for me. PS- it also comes with URGE, Mtv and Microsoft’s “iTunes Killer”

    But no program (especially a Microsoft BETA program) comes without its cons. Really, I only have 2 3 complaints. The install took WAY too long. I mean almost an hour by the time I restarted and reorganized. It is also a memory hog. I will attribute that to the fact that it is a BETA though. But still, at times, it’s pretty slow and it has crash on me once in the 2 days I have had it. The last thing is that it deleted all of my licenses. Before I realized you could rip CDs to license free .mp3s, I ripped all my music to .wmas with licence info. So some of the music I have owned pre may 2003 needs a license for the PC I want to listen to it on. All of that was already on WMP 10, but must have gotta ousted with the new BETA.

    All in all it’s a pretty fantastic program that I would recommend to those who love WMP, Betas or both, or to those who might be in the market for a new media player/music store. You can get it here. You can also read LifeHacker’s post, with most screen shots, here. Later!

  • May 10, 2006

    The Bamboozle 2006

    BOOZLE06

    There is a lot to be said about the Bamboozle 2006. I went to Saturday’s show and I have to say that it was pretty f’ing wild. My friend Eric and I got there at about 1:30pm and the first thing we did was a meet and greet with Streetlight Manifesto. But that isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. Entering the outdoor complex, we made our way towards the main stages, where the really good bands were playing. We saw: Armor for Sleep, Mae, Reliant K, Sliverstien, Hawthorne Heights, All-American Rejects, Thursday and Fall Out Boy. We moshed hardcore to Silverstein, got beat up, throw down, surfed people and saved people during Hawthorne Heights, Rocked out during All-American Rejects and had some fun during Fall Out Boy. There were three categories we used to rate the show. Most Surprising Band, Best Band and Best Part of the Show.

    Most Surprising Band: Hawthorne Heights. Say what you will about their music, but they have one hell of a stage presence. They got the crowd going, interacted, and just knew how to put on a show. The music wasn’t too bad either.

    Best Band: All-American Rejects. During their set, they threw out beach balls, toilet paper (paper heart), moved the crowd and just did a great job. The crowd wasn’t too violent (for the most part). They made it seem like a small club show where you could really connect with the band.

    Best Part of the Show: Panic! at the Disco playing with Fall Out Boy. It was amazing. Fall Out Boy was like “How bad do you want it?!” The crowd blindly cheered. They start playing “I write Sins not Tragedies” by Panic. Enter, stage right, Panic! at the Disco. They played 1/2 way through the song and transitioned to Sugar, We’re going Down. It was awesome, even from far back you could feel the energy.

    All-in-all it was an awesome experience and unlike any concert/festival I have ever been to. You can find some pictures Here. Later!

  • April 1, 2006

    CKY [again]

    CiG

    WOW. Over the last week I have been very very very busy, and will be until probably April 10th. Then I can breath and enjoy my (slightly longer) spring break. However, I did take the time last week, on Sunday night, to see CKY again. They came to a small club near my school called Tinks and I couldn’t say no.

    As usual, they put on a hell of a show. They played a few favorites, like Disengage the Simulator, Escape From Hellview, Close Yet Far, and a new favorite of mine, Shippensburg. The first time I heard it was the Albany show, and I had to hear it again. My favorite part of the show was probably when Chad did the bitch toss (which he retired in 2005) during a GG Allen song.

    After the show we stuck around and talked with the band. They are all really cool. My bro and I took our friend Melissa (it was her first show) around and helped her get her stuff signed. Over all a good time. If you ever get the chance to see CKY in concert, you MUST. Later

    Pics from this and the otehr show here

  • March 20, 2006

    Recommended Listening

    Some new music I have gotten into:

    Matisyahu’s Youth is an amazing CD that brings together religion and reggae. With a unique sound that will move you and a heart filled message about the youth, religion, and living a good life, it is a different spin on that particular music scene. Some of my favorite songs are Indestructible, WP, Jerusalem and of course, King Without a Crown. Check him out here

    Nightmare of You has release the debut self-titled album, and it’s pretty rad. They are categorized as indie, but really, I think they are better than that genre. They have a cool sound that is worth checking out. Listen to the lyrics. My favorite song on the album is Thumbelina, which seems like a love song, but kind of is not. Check them out here.

    Both great artists I recommend looking into. Click on the album covers to buy the CDs. Later

  • December 5, 2005

    Some Recommended Listening.

    I’ve gotten some new CDs over the past couple of weeks that I think are pretty awesome. I’m thinking about adding a recommended listening section and I seem to do these on a somewhat regular basis.

    SkinDred: Babylon: They opened up for HIM when I went to the show a couple of weeks ago. They have a cool sound and had a lot of energy on stage. I would describe them as “Rosti-Rock”. They have the heavy rock/metal riffs and drums, and the vocalist gives it this kinda Rastafarian sound. A cool album to move too. #

    The Darkness- One way Ticket to Hell… This album is as great as their first, with a very different sound. It is more mature, you can tell they have grown up a little bit. The songs have a great sound to them, and there is a good mix of hard and soft. My favorites include “Hazel Eyes”, “One way ticket to hell and back” and “English Garden”.#

    System of a Down- Hypnotize: This CD is better than Mesmerize- same message they have with crazier songs and a really cool sound. It hooks you in and you want to hear more. It picks up right where the last one left off- it’s crazy, melodic, and fun.#

    Well that’s it for now. Hope you enjoy! Later!

  • November 19, 2005

    The HIM Show

    Valo

    After seeing HIM twice before, the first one being amazing, the second one being ok, I can say that this one ranks much closer to the first than the second. First off, both opening bands didn’t suck this time. I don’t know what it is, but HIM seems to have a knack for shitty openers. Finch, who played right before HIM, did kinda suck. They had energy, but the crowd wasn’t really into it. I felt kinda bad for the them, but it’s really not their ‘scene’. Skindred, the first band to play, was pretty good though. They had the energy, knew how to work the crowd, etc. The last HIM show had Arf Der Mur, which consisted of a female singer who was dumb as shit, and the music wasn’t very good either, and Monster Magnet- and the lead singer was a tool. So we are off to a good start. At around 9:30, HIM came on and opened with Wings of a Butterfly. Which was awesome. The show went well- they had a good amount of energy. They didn’t really talk to the crowd much, but didn’t need to. Then there was the encore. They came out, played a couple of songs, the last being Poison Heart, which is an awesome song. But after the song, they transitioned into this kind of instrumental piece where Valo sang and it was so emotional and wonderful- he ended the show but yelling “Please God help me” and bowed and went off the stage while the other members kept playing. One by one they came off the stage, the last one being Gas (the drummer). The lights slowly came on and everyone left, seemingly in awe from what they just saw. That’s how I felt anyway. Later!

  • October 30, 2005

    The Misfits!

    The Misfits

    The Misfits show was awesome! Well- let me rephrase. When the Misfits played, it was incredible! However, there was 6 hours of opening bands. door opened at 6, the ‘Fits came on a little after 12. When they came on it was crazy though. Great Halloween set, and they opened with Halloween. They played for about hour- songs included Last Caress, Helena (Phil’s favorite song), Teenagers from Mars and American Psycho. Every song was at a really fast tempo. Like songs on speed. They came out for an encore, played Die Die my Darling, Rise Above, and ended on We are 138. It was some High Octane fun, plus, Jerry Only came right off the stage and started signing shit. Great night! Later!

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  • September 16, 2005

    Music and Nostalgia

    I know we have all experienced this phenomena at least once in our lives. You listen to a CD that you haven’t listened to in a long time, maybe years, and when you hear those songs, it brings you back to maybe the last time you heard it, or around that time. It has happened to me a few times, but not as strongly as right now with the CD “War All the Time” by Thursday. I got it December of 2003, my freshman year of college. Whenever I listen to the song Asleep in the Chapel especially, it brings me back to then. I can see it perfectly- sitting in my dorm room, Martin Hall, at my computer, playing Call of Duty, which was all the rage my freshman year because of our awesome network at school. The scene out my window was a wintry freshman lower quad, everything covered with snow. The same scene that was on my computer- a snow storm to brave in search of the other army. I think the reason that this CD brings back such a vivid memory of that is because of the strong relationships everything I just described had. The CD has a white cover and is entitled “War All the Time.” The scene the CD paints is a broken down city that is war tired and now deserted. The game, Call of Duty, is a war game that would take place in the deserted cities described in the CD. It was very fitting that I listened to this CD while playing the game. Another one of our favorite levels was a Russian level that was very snowy- that coupled with the snowy atmosphere outside my window created a very convincing setting to play this game in. Listening to this CD makes me kind of want to be back there- a setting so unique that I know it will never be repeated.
    Thanks for indulging me for a bit- feel free to leave comments. Later.