Jake Bugg

Definitely worth it to listen to this 19 year old.  This kid will probably be called the next Bob Dylan, but that's just because his voice is vaguely similar, other than that I really don't think that he's anything like Mr. Dylan.  I find him to be more of a British Buddy Holly. 

Bugg gives off the feel that he just rolled out of bed and decided he was going to be a musician that day, in the way that only a 19 year old could.  He plays his guitar with passion and precision, showing audiences and fans that he isn't just a cool voice, but also a talented musician.  

By no means am I the first to break the news on Jake Bugg, but for those that read I felt that I would have been remiss not to mention this kid's rising star. That and I'm really digging his album!

Current Obsessions

I get obsessed with things relatively quickly, but it never lasts long.  It really ties in with the fact that I am such an impulsive person and like to try new things in bursts.  Music is not exempted from this way of thinking, I am always getting on kicks of listening to a particular artist or genre for days straight.  The same really goes for my movie choices; I don't think it's a surprise that I once watched The Goonies every day after school for a month straight!

Here is a list of my current obsession:

Vampire Weekend: the entire new Modern Vampires the of the City album - When I first purchased this album I was only listening to it in the car and wasn't really appreciating the music at hand. I was constantly being distracted by driving (what?!) and getting in and out of the car while in the middle of a song.  I like taking the first few listens of a new album to decide whether or not I like something, and I wasn't really giving myself the chance. I decided to listen to the album while I was baking.  It would give me plenty of time to hear everything in its entirety and also to listen to it loudly; who doesn't blast music while baking for friends? Anyway, all of that being said, I fell in love with this album and haven't stopped listening to it since!

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis: Same Love - This song gives me the chills, I love it so much! I believe in equality for everyone, and even though this song really only hits at the issues that the country is currently having regarding same sex marriages, I think that it extends beyond that.  Every civil rights movement has music to help it along, and this song and artist are really climbing the charts with a message of change for the better.

Kanye West: The entire Graduation album - This probably should have been posted in my previous post about revisiting your music, but man. I cannot stop listening to this album.  I've always really liked how Kanye collaborates with a lot of different musicians and is constantly using new sounds and samples for his songs, it makes his music interesting and fun to listen to.  

BOY: Little Numbers - I often contribute my musical findings to NPR and urge people to go onto their website whenever possible to check out All Songs Considered.  BOY came to my attention through a sort of "up and coming artist" post and now I can't help myself.  I listen to this song a couple of times a day and haven't gotten sick of it yet! It's light and breezy, which makes for a great summer song.  

The Avett Brothers - 2009 live performance from Newport Folk Fest: Again, NPR, thank you for being such a huge part of my musical education.  I first found out about The Avett Bros through my friend Kendra, she had sent me a song called "If It's the Beaches," and since listening to that one song I have become an enormous fan.  I haven't made it to the NFF yet, but I really hope that they are playing when I do, because this live performance from a few years ago is the definition of awesome. 

Those are my obsessions for right now, but tomorrow they might change.  What are the things you are listening to/obsessed with right now? Do you listen to them on repeat until you can't take it anymore? It's a slippery slope! Beware!  

revisiting

Music is a huge part of my life.  I sing, pretend to play a lot of instruments, and listen to music almost every minute of the day.  I realize that seems like a lot, but I'm constantly listening to my iPod, Pandora, GrooveShark, or (GASP) the radio!  Given that I'm constantly trying to find new music, sometimes the older music that I have doesn't get played as often. Inspired by this, I decided to whip out a couple of bands that I love listening to, but tend to save for special occasions....a.k.a. me trying to impress people with a  cool music collection....

The first of two bands that I've reclaimed listening to is a band that I'd heard, but then forgot about. I didn't even remember them on my own, it was because this one single kept playing when I was catching up on Parks and Rec on NBC.  It wasn't even FOR Parks and Rec, it was for the new show on Showtime! Anyway, the song is by a band called Dead Man's Bones.  What you say? Zach Shields and Ryan Gosling's band? Uhrrrmmm YES. This is amazing, and creepy, and bold. And I love it!  The specific song Lose Your Soul is absolutely bone chilling, but eerily beautiful at the same time. I sort of feel like I'm listening to Halloween (the holiday, not the movie). The clapping and slow build up in the beginning of the song lead into quite soulful vocals.  Ryan Gosling makes a surprisingly great lead man and really knew how to bring his personal vibe to this band.  I once read an interview with Gosling in Esquire about how he loved growing up in Disney World, mainly because he was fascinated with the lives of the people that played the real life Disney characters.  I'm clearly paraphrasing here, but how cool and interesting would it be to hangout with Mickey when he has his body, but not his head on? It give me chills to think about the childhood dreams that you must have to get over pretty quickly in that setting.  I digress, the entire album is full and well rounded, and I definitely recommend giving this 2009 release a listen.

The next band is Elbow. They are a British band that can date back as far as 1998 (not exactly the stone age, but I was in 4th grade if that gives you some perspective).  Anyway, as stated in previous posts, I love U2; I have for quite some time. It should come as no surprise to anyone that I also really love Coldplay and Oasis....and pretty much every other alternative band that has come tumbling out of Great Britain.  I started listening to these guys about a year ago at the recommendation of one of my sister's closest friends.  At first I was hesitant, not because I don't love getting music recommendations, but because their band name is Elbow. For real, guy? I set my naming differences aside finally and was impressed with the bands use of string instruments.  I wish that I heard a violin or a cello more often in modern music, especially in an uplifting way. There is a reason why those two instruments are popular picks for weddings, IT'S BECAUSE THEY MAKE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC. Sorry. The long and short of it is that Elbow has mastered the use of strings and your everyday rock band to form something unique.  Once you hear them you'll get it and you will probably be just as hooked as I am!  Take a listen to their most recent album here!

Working Out

It's no surprise that I usually make a new playlist every time I workout. I find it dull and sort of monotonous to constantly have the same few songs playing for days upon days, so I like to mix it up. I do have a couple of tracks that are my go-to's, especially because they really pump me up, but I try to bring a new flavor to my workouts when I can.

This is what my playlist consists of for today (or tomorrow's) workout:

Young The Giant- My Body
The Violent Femmes- No Sleep Tonight
Jimmy Eat World- The Middle
La Roux- Bulletproof
Icona Pop- I Love It
Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding- I Need Your Love
Kanye West & Jay Z Ft. Frank Ocean- No Church in the Wild
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft. Ray Dalton- Can't Hold Us
Kanye West- Stronger 
Little Mix- Wings
Foo Fighters- Best of U
Green Day- Brain Stew
The Strokes- Last Nite
Sugababes- Untouched

There's no real order to how I listen to these, but I will start a run on My Body only because it makes me feel like if I can get through at least a 3 minute song than I can keep up the momentum for another.

What's on your workout list? I'm always up for new things to listen to for motivation!

Summer Tracks Part II

What with this not being my full time job (unfortunately), I had to take a break the last couple of weeks from posting.  Mostly because my job was driving me nuts, but also because I hadn't had time to experience much new music.  This weekend I made the effort to do some research and find a couple of bands that I hadn't heard before and also update the Summer Tracks playlist that I have on Grooveshark (take a listen here)! 

Again, I didn't have a ton of time, but I was able to take some suggestions from friends and listen to:

Rhye
The Mowgli's
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

Though I wasn't able to do a whole lot of research on these guys, I know that I really dig all three sounds.  None of these bands are similar, at all, and that is why I like them so much.  Listening to them back to back to back made me really appreciate each one separately.  

In other news, this weekend was spent with friends that I don't see often enough and also with family whom I I will never be able to see enough of.  Saturday, the friends and I, went out in Allston and were able to do some fun exploration of the locals restaurants and bars.  I'm always hyper aware of the music in the venues that I hang out in, so it was fun to hear 3 different establishment's take on what was Saturday night music.  The first place we went to we were serenaded with some seriously rad punk music (I'm talking The Ramones, Sex Pistols, Patti Smith, etc..), then we went to a pretty normal Saturday night bar where Journey was being remixed with a Neyo song, finally we topped it off with some classic rock/nothing that could ever offend anyone at the last bar we went to. Though we weren't there for the music, I had a great time hopping from genre to genre!

I hope that everyone listens to American History Rock (School House Rock) at least once through this week, I know I will! Have a Happy 4th of July, Everyone!!

Rock Bands

I love promoting and introducing new bands and new sounds to my friends and family, and obviously, to all of you! There's something great about always hearing something new and learning new lyrics and new riffs, it's fun and exciting. It's a way, at least for me, to release some stress and to feel a little more connected to a world that I come nowhere near touching in my daily life. It's a higher power in and of itself when you go to a concert and you aren't the only one that knows every lyric, or the only one that gets excited over that one song that is barely ever played off of an album.  You feel part of a larger community of crazy music people, and that can be awesome. 

I love the new stuff, as I said, but I'd be remiss to exclude some of the bands that I consider staples to my musical education and collection.  I've been inspired to share a list of the bands that I have a real appreciation for and that I think have shaped the way that I listen to music.

U2 - Don't give me crap for liking U2. I can remember being a kid in a car with my aunt and singing every word to One.  It was powerful to me then and it's powerful to me now. I've also acquired a pretty heavy love for the entire Joshua Tree album.

The Cranberries - My older cousin Emily gave me To The Faithful Departed for my 8th birthday. It was my second CD  ever, so I was pretty pumped and listened to it on repeat.  I did not understand the political significance of anything when I was 8, but I did get that Bosnia and War Child were really sad songs and that Salvation was awesome.  

Meatloaf - As stated in my previous post about "Dad" music, Meatloaf in our household was "Mom" music.  When you know all of the words to Bat Out Of Hell and Paradise By The Dashboard Light when you're a little kid, people sort of respect you/fear you. 

The Beatles - Enough said.

Led Zeppelin - Again...enough said.

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run wasn't an album that I started listening to until I got into high school, and I really only started listening to it because it was "cool" to listen to classic rock. Beyond being "cool" it was the music that I liked listening to, mainly because I couldn't really get into a lot of the Pop that was going on in the early 2000's.  Eventually I'd come into my own with music taste and would realize that I loved alternative rock more than anything, but Bruce would always be there for me to listen to on long car rides home with my windows down.

Foo Fighters - Late 2006, sort of end of high school early college beginnings, I started listening to FF because one of my good friends Ryan was listening to them.  I knew that I had heard a few songs before, but when their Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace album hit in 2007 I was all about The Pretender. Who wasn't? I just remember listening to it while I was making some important decisions and thinking, "I wish that I could be this cool."

The Black Keys - I found the Black Keys about the same time I started really listening to Foo Fighters.  They weren't grunge, they were garage band. I felt a real connection to their music, especially the entire album Rubber Factory.  It was like my friends and I jamming out in someone's basement had a chance to make music that people would like listening to because the Black Keys could do it.  Not because I thought they were bad, it was the opposite of that. It was because you could tell that they were just playing to have fun and so were we.  

There are a few more bands that I have a real musical appreciation for, but these are sort of my go to's when I feel like I need some solid sound.

Father's Day and Dad Music

Growing up, I used to think that there were only two types of music in the world; Mom music and Dad Music.  Mom music usually involved a Broadway soundtrack and perhaps Meatloaf.  She also really loved a specific Joey McIntyre cd and for the most part, anything that was played on the Top 40.  Dad music was a little more rock and roll, as in, it was rock and roll. My Dad listened to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and The Clash, just to name a few.  As I got older, and my music tastes changed, I realized that these two categories could never continue to exist.  There was too much that my parents loved to listen to that overlapped and also that was completely different.  It turns out that my mom also loved mostly rock and roll music and that my Dad had much more of an alternative edge to him!  In honor of Father's Day (yesterday) I've compiled a list of bands that I probably wouldn't really know about had they not been introduced to me by my Dad.

The Clash

The Beatles

The Rolling Stones

Gem

Marina and the Diamonds

Coldplay

The Allman Brothers

CCR

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Led Zeppelin

Ben Harper

Jack Johnson

Queen (though, in all honesty, it was my Mom who would play "We Are the Champions" every time we lost a Cheerleading competition to make us feel better)

The list could really go on and on, his taste in music always surprises me. I specifically love that he introduced me to Marina and the Diamonds! He was the one that heard "I Am Not a Robot" first and made my sister and I listen to it, obviously forming an eternal love for her and her music. I credit a lot to my Dad, not least of all his caring and compassionate personality. He's a family man, and he loves my sister, my brother and I dearly. I love him and I'm so happy that I got to spend my day yesterday with him!