Dance Music

Although this week shoul mean the replaying of every single christmas album known to man kind, I can't help but listen to a little dance music to put me in a good mood!

Beyonce- Countdown and Love on Top
Robyn-Call Your Girlfriend
Lady Gaga-Born This Way

I love fun dance music, I also live the Jackson 5 and dancing my buns off to them!!!

Brooklyn Bound

So I am here in Brooklyn with my friend Steph, getting dinner at the Cornerstone, and we are overcome by the soul vibe that's going on! We can't wait for the live jazz that's to come later on, but for now we are content with the dimming lights, the vegan nachos and the sweet low beats of soul music thrumming through the downstairs restaurant.

All American Road Trip

Although it seems like an obvious fact, I'm not quite sure that people understand just how large the United States truly is. We could fit most of the land mass of Europe, roughly 32 tiny countries, inside our one gigantic body of states.  It's pretty impressive, if not completely astounding. My point here, is that while some countries have their own musical influences, our country has that times 10. There's so much music out there that people just don't realize exists, or how it came to be. 

I've decided to create a challenge.  There's no need to hop in your car and drive for 2 weeks straight across the country to listen to all the music you can possibly handle (although that does sound like a lot of fun).  Take the next week or so and go beyond what you would normally listen to.  Though I am an alternative/indie junkie, I'm sure that there are aspects of country that I probably would really enjoy.  Dig deep too!  You never hear a musician talk about today's pop stars as an influence on their work, it's the golden oldies that have taken them into their dreams. 

Here's a list of some of the people that I've started listening to and who have made a huge influence in the music choices that I make today:

Loretta Lynn
Dolly Parton
Aretha Franklin
The Supremes
Johnny Cash
Lou Reed (The Velvet Underground too, obviously!)
Sex Pistols
Joan Baez
The Beatles
Edith Piaf

The list continues, but I'd love to hear some music feedback!!!

I think I'm inlove with my radio...

So tons of things have been going on lately, one specifically is the reemergence of the radio in my life.  For a while I was all about the iPod and getting my playlists together for my long car trips or my trips to the gym, but lately I've been feeling quite bored with my musical selection. I know, I know, how could a person with over 3,000 songs on her iPod get bored of her music? Trust me. It happens.  It's not that I dislike my music, it's just that I like hearing what's coming out on the radio.  It is the first place you really ever heard music before this Apple takeover, anway, so why not pay it a little homage every once and a while and tune in?  Although I really hate the fact that radio stations really only play the same 6 songs over and over again, I can't say that I'm willing to pay for a song for my iPod if I'm gauranteed to hear it 45 times in one day on the radio. 

Some of the shows in the Boston/Manchester area that I recommend thanks to my scan button:
Kiss108
92.1WFNX
NPR (there are like 5 stations for this, but trust me, definitely worth listening to All Songs Considered and World Cafe)
94.1
93.5
91.5 (UMass Lowell's radio station)
88.9 (Emerson's Radio station)
106.3
92.5The River
92.9 Independent Radio

There are so many more, but it's definitely worth a listen to that box in your car that sometimes makes fuzzy noises!! 

Give me some of your favorite radio stations! I'm always looking for new places to find and listen to music!!

How can a person be this terrible...

At updating their blog!! It's not that I forget that I have this..I guess I just lose confidence that people actually read it.  I'm sure they don't, it's not like I reinvented the wheel. I'm just telling people what I'm thinking is up and coming for music! I'm admittedly not even that on top of things any more, the sad times of being a corporate employee.  Hopefully whoever does read this gets some good music out of it!

As always, I am obsessed with Bon Iver.  With a bunch of friends I saw him live at a perfectly quaint outdoor venue in the Berkshires.  It was the perfect setting for Bon Iver, it even rained a little.  I realize this makes everyone automatically assume that he is this very emo artist.  On the contrary, folks, Bon Iver is delightfully up beat (tempo wise) in many a tune that he plays.  Justin Vernon's falsetto voice definitely lends a creepy quality to the music, but because the music itself is so intricate, the voice really just floats and goes where it's needed. 

Opening for him was The Rosebuds, who I wasn't completely sold on until the 3rd song or so.  It's a girl and guy group, probably the best combo that you can get really, and they are pretty good.  I'm interested to hear more from them, but so far it seems they are strictly on the indie radar. 

Although she is not someone that I thought that I would ever spend the money to go and see, I saw Sara Bareilles live in Boston this past week.   I know that I don't say many bad things about artists, but it's usually because I can find something good in every performance, aside from the occasional onsie twosie mishap.  Anyways, Sara Bareilles was sort of a breath of fresh air from what I thought my night was going to be like.  She started her set with a Solo cup full of Bourbon and you could tell that she was a little nervous.  It was really interesting to see a musician who is very popular and famous to be nervous and have a little bit of stage fright.  After the first couple of songs she definitely loosened up and started having some hilarious banter with the audience, at one point commenting on how much she cursed and how parents should probably know by now to not bring small children to her shows.  Her voice was incredible.  I don't know many of her songs, in fact, I only know the ones that are on the radio; I was blown away.  My friend that I was with, K, told me that she was really impressed, she assumed that they barely ever had to fix her voice with Auto-Tune.  I can tell you right now, that girl probably NEVER gets Auto-Tuned.  If I had pipes like that, I would find Auto-Tune an insult. The whole show was just very unexpected! Her opener was Joshua Radin, a long time love of mine, so that was also a pleasant surprise. I'm sure that they were billed together, I just never took the time to look at the ticket to see who was opening. 

I'm going to try and stay on top of this, but I want to hear some of your stories about bands you love and shows you've seen! I can only go and see so many...I'm poor, so I'd like to live vicariously through some people!!!

My fancy dinner party

As I dice my potatoes and I chop the leeks, I find myself in a non-stop love affair with my Dad's Wustoff knife.  It's the most incredible knife ever. I chops anything with a clean and smooth edge.  While chopping with this ridiculous wonderful and very sharp knife, I also find myself being really dangerous...because I've been catching myself using it as a pseudo-microphone. Best idea? No. Absolutely not.  As soon as I realized what I was doing I went for the wooden spoon.

Kitchen playlists that make my hands crazy with chopping delight:
Andrew Bird-Heretics
Joni Mitchell-Both Sides Now
Florence and the Machine-Dog Days
Ricky Martin-Cup of Life
Spice Girls-If You Wanna Be my Lover
Regina Spektor-Fidelity
Neon Trees-Animal and 1983
Mark Ronson/Amy Winehouse-Valerie
Vampire Weekend-Ladies of Cambridge
Katy Perry- Teenage Dream
Phoenix-1901 and Lasso
The Strokes-Last Nite
The Clash- London Calling
Sex Pistols-Anarchy in the UK
Marina and the Diamonds-I Am Not a Robot
Wolfmother-Vagabond
Lady Gaga-Born this Way
Blink 182-Anthem Part 2


there is absolutely no cohesion at all to this random mix of awesome music, I just realy love singing and dancin when i cook! make your own kitchen set and let me know what your listening to!

Wow, terrible at updating, will try and be better

So as far as this soap box preacher goes, this blog is mainly about music.  However, I should probably put  shout out to my Uncle George, whose KILLER exhibit at the New Museum in SoHo, NYC has realling been getting some major crowds.  The exhibit was incredible.  From a person who has grown up seeing a lot of his work, it was just really phenomenal to walk around and have other people, who were unrelated to you, criticize and take note of every single brush stroke.  It was a little bizarre, especially seeing one of the paintings that has our family name in bold, but over all an amazing experience. Go check it out if you are in the area : George Condo-Mental States

Okay, on to music: I am in love with Lady Gaga.  It is true, I was not her biggest fan when first I heard "Just Dance", truly I thought she was sort of a freak show that didn't really know what was going on, but after many a catchy tune has been stuck in my head, I've actually taken the time to listen to some of her stuff and I have to say, I should not judge a book by its cover.  Gaga is deep and soulful at times, although her music is pop and fun, some of her songs sound like they should be from a different generation all together.  Take "Born this Way", taken from Gaga, she envisioned Whitney Houston singing this song, and the song itself is basically a mashup of every madonna song every created! It's incredible! It is all at once familiar, but brand new.  It's only a matter of time before Glee performs it, let's be real.

I've been in a poppy mood lately, probably because I can't stop listening to Matty in the Morning on Kiss 108, but he's just so hilarious on my morning commute! I really can't stand a lot of these pop people, including, but not limited to Miranda Cosgrove, Biebs, and Rhianna.  However, I can't stop listening.  It's because pop just sucks you in! You can't get out once you have a pop song stuck in your head, it'll just keep playing over and over!!

Hopefully this week will move from Pop to Hip Hop and Rap, because, obviously, that is the natural progression of things.  I'm hoping that by this time next week I'll be so wrapped up in Kanye's compilations with Bon Iver and Niki Minaj that I won't even have time to worry about what terrible song is coming up next!

Let me know what you're listening to!! Follow me on twitter now @allyallycondo

Ratatat

Normally I'm not huge into remixing music.  I used to believe that if someone remixed a classic, or used a riff in their rap song from something wonderful like the Rolling Stones or something, that the original song was losing it's initial power.  I still that way a lot, but the more I hear remixes done well, the more I can appreciate them.  I'm not talking about the same chorus playing over and over and over again in one song that has a no name rapper and then gun shots in the background, I'm talking about the use of one aspect of a song that is taken and morphed into something else.  I had a very interesting experience with this type of music this past weekend.  Clearly, I feel the need to share.

One song really stood out to me, more than any other that I had heard all weekend; Sleep Head-Passion Pit.  The amazing thing: it was not Passion Pit.  For those of you who have no clue who Passion Pit is, they are electronic/pop/alternative with some pretty high pitched lyrics.  Their song Sleepy Head just so happens to be a personal favorite of mine, so when I heard the opening beat I immediately tuned in.  Run Toto Run was the group who changed the way I listen to electronic music...mainly because they are not electronic.  They use a synthesizer for some of the harder sounds, but mainly a xylophone, a fiddle, and an acoustic guitar.  The breakdown is incredible.  It took me only a second to realize that instead of the high pitched sounds of Michael Angelakos I was listening to a woman singing, and an added bonus was that I understood what she was saying!

I would also like to take a second and acknowledge the amazing amount of folk music that is currently being created.  I talk about music and I say that I love a lot of things, folk is where my heart is.  I love the harmonies and the way they tell stories.  I love the use of a band, and not just a lead singer, but a collective group where everyone has a job.  Folk music has always been around, but it was pretty uncool for a while there.  I'm just happy that the world is finally coming to its senses again and seeing that folk music actually makes the world go round.

Caught in the crossfire

Oh Brandon Flowers, thank you for helping the Killers become awesome and thank you for making your solo efforts awesome.  I appreciate your lyrics and your music mixing abilities.  Thank you.

On to music picks for the week.  A long time ago I had the idea of listening to old albums that I never really paid any attention to anymore, so I've slowly been working my way through the mine field that is my itunes and also my cd collection.  I had completely forgotten how much I LOVE the Killers, and also, the Sex Pistols.  Many people don't realize that I am a huge fan of classic punk music.  Give me some Patti Smith, Sex Pistols, Velvet Underground, Ramones...I'm like a kid in a candy shop with that stuff.  It's powerful and raw, these people were singing about there generation, no sugar coating.  They weren't just outcasts from society, they were outcasts from the music scene too.  They fought for what they knew would change the way music was listened to for decades! Punk still influences us! Music amazes me.

Solid favorites of the week  that keep making it's way up the playlists:

Mumford and Sons
Florence and the Machine
Marina and the Diamonds
White Rabbits

as always, blogotheque.net for more!