Shout! Shout! Shout at the 80’s!
July 30, 2008 by Ryan
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Photo by Jessica Hansen
Butt Rock is Alive and Well! At one point in time I wanted to be this cool!
For those either too young or too old (or just plain respectable!) the title is a reference to a Motley Crue song. One of my colleagues went to CrueFest the other day and came back with pictures! She shared them with us and I saw this one and it brought back repressed memories of 7th grade life as a metalhead. Shameful. Awesome. Shamefully awesome!
Oh the days when I went along with the idea that metal was the best music ever! It’s sad really, being that closed minded. I remember a few of my friends that were a little more into it and would hold everyone in check if they liked something that wasn’t metal enough. Deep down I still liked other stuff, but that wasn’t the “code”. Eventually, I got sick of it and decided that there are things to appreciate in all kinds of music and I would learn to appreciate it. Just think of what you’d be missing out on!
Don’t get me wrong, I still love my Skid Row, Guns ‘N Roses, Metallica, and of course The Saints of Los Angeles!
The Flobots: Best Hip Hop I’ve Heard in a While
May 27, 2008 by Ryan
It’s sad but hip hop sucks right now.
I haven’t listened to a hip hop station in years! No one flows anymore, it’s basically one catchy phrase repeated to death. Last time I listened to hip hop radio I heard one song that was actually good, but it ended up being Nas’ Hip Hop is Dead.
It’s sad but the best hip hop I’ve heard in years is from a predominantly white group from Denver, Colorado! If you haven’t heard their single Handlebars, here’s a live performance on Last Call with Carson Daly. My wife watched this with me and she said, “They’re kinda intense!” To their credit, unlike most rap, they sound as good or better live than their radio single. Finally, a song I am motivated to learn all the lyrics like Warren G’s Regulators, Outkast’s Bombs Over Baghdad, or the Beastie Boys’ Paul Revere.
Their newest album reminds me of a jazz version of Rage Against the Machine. Yeah, jazz. They have a trumpet player and a female violinist (awesome)! And like Rage, they are political, so they might run contrary to your political views. If you want to hear some good music (and you’re secure in your political stance), check out the Flobots.
Discover New Music with TheSixtyOne.com
January 3, 2008 by Ryan
Just real quick…I ran across this website on Digg last night and spent a good hour messing with it:
Tons of cool music. Here are a few I liked:
It has a very cool interface (Digg-style voting, very quick music play, music continues to play while you surf).
Check it out!
New Bands I’m Diggin’
December 29, 2007 by Ryan
Again and again we’re seeing why we don’t need record companies. Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” shows that even big bands can release albums on their own over the internet. I recently ran across the Doritos Contest where they are going to give some band a big break and let them play the Super Bowl Halftime based off of internet voting. Actually, to be more accurate I ran across this post from TechCrunch, “Digg May Land Digg Girl Record Contract”. Which led me to Kina Grannis and the video to the right. The “Digg Song” that she did gained her lots of notoriety but she is definitely a much better artist than just a gimmick song.
After voting for Kina on the Doritos thing, I decided to listen to the 10 other finalists. All were pretty good, I imagine they had to be to get to be finalist, but a couple did stand out:
- Dominic Castillo & the Rock Savants: I’ll be voting for them in the contest as well. The song is a great “funny duet,” to quote them.
- Landon Austin: Great voice. He’s probably so popular right now at school!
- Barra Libre: I have to admit, I was going to skip over this one because of the spanish name…really stupid. Very cool, big band/almost ska feeling song. Definitely, listen to this one too!
I know that I’ve posted about it before but I still haven’t gotten over Paramore! I found on MTV the live performance that turned me on to them here and included one of the songs here.
Two, Three, Four!
After looking around MTV.com for that Paramore show I also ran into Flyleaf. Their single is catchy, particularly the chorus, enough to check them out.
Is that the Smashing Pumpkins? No, this is…
November 1, 2007 by Ryan
My Paramore post got me thinking about the music I’ve been listening to recently. And while this is a little old, I still want to bring it up.
I was listening to a local station X96 on my way home from work when the DJ introduced this new song and my first thought was, “Is this the Smashing Pumpkins?” Because I had heard they were coming back. As it turns out, it was Silversun Pickups. I ended up buying their album and love it!
Then I finally hear the new Smashing Pumpkins song, and my first thought was, “This is the Smashing Pumpkins!?”
Seriously, it didn’t sound anything like I would expect. I was thinking that the Silversun Pickups’ album sounds more like the Smashing Pumpkins than the Smashing Pumpkins do! Tarantula eventually grew on me, but it still cracks me up how Well Thought Out Twinkles is so early-Pumpkins sounding.
Chick Rock that Rocks!
October 31, 2007 by Ryan
So it’s 3:30am and I’m up because I’m feeling like crap. I was flipping through the channels, trying to avoid the “paid programming” if you know what I mean, and I see: Paramore Live on MTV. I’ve been hearing their song Misery Business on the radio for a while now and really dig it. That girl has a great voice!
And how long as it been since a band with a chick singer has actually rocked? Everyone’s guilty pleasure, Kelly Clarkson? Maybe one song. Evanescence? Yeah, but that’s more opera meets metal. I’m talking like Joan Jett chick rock. Pink? Please! It’d say the last was Gwen. She put on some pretty good shows back in the early No Doubt days.
What was cool too was this lead singer, Hayley Williams, wasn’t all skanky! Just up there having fun. She has this great edge to her voice without sounding like a whiny girl. The band wore matching black and red, which I think is awesome…a little like The Hives. I love bands with great stage presence. For me, jumps and kicks and headbobs are all part of conveying the energy to the crowd.
Take a few minutes and watch the video. I think I’m going to have to buy the album or go see them live or something! Here’s to hoping they don’t get MTVified!
