Music

Ben Folds and Nick Hornby-Lonely Avenue

2010-10-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

3 of my favorite bands put out albums within one month. What a treat for my birthday. I really wanna delve deeper on this blog and put actual reviews and music from that artist up. If anyone knows how to arrange this properly on blogspot, let me know at comptamos@gmail.com. Anywhen, on to the first review.

Ben Folds With Nick Hornby-Lonely Avenue
This album is, in one word, fantastic. Ben's collaboration with British author Nick Hornby scared me a little at first. Then I saw Ben play the new song 'Levi Johnston's Blues' with the Utah Symphony and my fears immediately subsided. Other than Ben's potty mouthed portrayal of Hornby's written lyrics, the song is brilliant. I'm usually very conservative politically, so this satire of the VP Nominee's Daughter, Bristol Palin and her pregnancy/relationship with Levi Johnston was hilarious for a right-winger. Concerning the lyrics I need to point out that the chorus comes straight from Levi's Myspace page so I sort of forgive the swearsies. The other songs here range from the subdued piano melodies Ben does so well on 'Picture Window' and 'Belinda' to the flashy, danceable new wave pop of 'Saskia Hamilton'. 'Doc Pomus' rollicks along with the amazing piano part made effortless by Ben's genius piano plucking. I'm surprised how much more I'm paying attention to the lyrics this time around with Ben's album. I normally just pick out a few clever high notes per album, but I found myself discovering gems throughout this album. Am I becoming a lyric guy instead of a music guy or are Hornby's lyrics just better? I think it's most likely the former, with due credit going to Hornby's amazing lyrics at the same time. In other words Ben and Nick write great lyrics. This album is brilliant and I look forward to how this songs come alive on the stage.

2010-10-13T00:05:00.000-07:00

School is starting. Less time for searching for music.

2010-08-29T22:17:00.000-07:00

The more classes I take per semester, the quicker I can be finally done with this damn BA degree. The Electronic Media emphasis has been fun so far, and looks to be another fun semester. My last Math class, Statistics, will be completed after 10 years since I graduated high school. Anyhow, I am taking a big load (of classes) this time around and I'm actually not too scared. I have two online Business classes along with my Stats and other Communications courses. Video Production promises to be the most fun from what it seems. Only one thing to decide; do I go into Audio Production or Video Production within my emphasis of Electronic Media? How much does that matter? In other, non-music news, my 3-year-old son Rhett had another seizure about a week ago. He's medicated to prevent seizures. A couple of days after the seizure we discovered there was an error between the Neurologists office and the Pharmacy. We were supposed to be giving him a larger dose. Did this cause his second seizure? Time for a little bruhaha with the Pharmacy and the Neurologist to find who is at fault and what we can do about it. We ended up giving Rhett his emergency medicine (basically Valium) that stops his seizure, but he was still loopy and mostly non-coherent. My wife called his Doctor's office and they said to take him to the ER. Does this mean we can have either Walmart or Rhett's Neurologist pay for this ER visit. We do have insurance, which will hopefully bring the bill down to 100 from almost 700, but shouldn't the people who made the mistake pay for this debacle? Well, that's about all for the life ramblings outside the realm of my passion for music; onto the music news. I saw John Prine for the second time and he was fantastic. He has so much fun on stage and has that old dude chuckle to him that is pretty cool. If I can be doing something that I love for as many years as he has I will surely die a happy man. Headed to The Avett Brothers show on Friday and I'm pretty stoked for that. I've heard they're really good live. Other than that, new Old 97's, Guster, and Ben Folds all have new albums coming out soon so I look forward to those. That is all. Night Night all.

Ramblings of a sane man.

2010-08-01T22:04:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd post on my thoughts about life in general. This post will mostly be about things other than music, but music is very important to me, so I'll get back to posting about new bands I've found soon enough. School is starting after my summer off. It's been a nice enough summer but we haven't gotten out camping like I wanted. Anyway, Rhett is still getting cuter everyday. He's 3 now and has fun and makes fun wherever he goes/whatever he does. Lots of good concerts coming up: The Avett Brothers, John Prine, fun.. Also new albums from Ben Folds, Guster, and Old 97's. Great stuff coming up music wise. Other than that, things are going great. I'm not stressed at all, but school is starting soon so I'm sure that will change. That's all for now; check back for music posts soon to come. If anyone has suggestions for me, please comment here or send them to comptamos@gmail.com, and keep reading. I wanna get a podcast up with a bunch of music too, so if anyone knows how to get that going, please let me know.

2010-07-21T14:32:00.001-07:00

Guster: Easy Wonderful

2010-07-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

When one of my favorite bands, Guster, decided to take four years between their last release 'Ganging Up on the Sun' and their newly announced 'Easy Wonderful', (Out October 6) I was slightly annoyed. The announcement came from the band on Tuesday after "technical difficulties" barred them from releasing the information on Monday through their twitter/facebook/website. After becoming frustrated whilst recording in "the dungeon", a basement recording studio with no windows, the band retreated to multi-instramentalist Joe Pisapia's new Middletree Studios in Nashville. The band describes this experience as completely opposite from New York and they felt free and the recording process moved along swimmingly. The result is much anticipated and us fans got a teaser with brand new single Bad, Bad World. The free download was released via the band's website and email list. Let's just say I'm excited and pleased with the news song. That would be an understatement but let's just go with that.

GUSTER ‘EASY WONDERFUL’ TRACKLIST

1. Architects and Engineers
2. Do You Love Me?
3. On The Ocean
4. This Could All Be Yours
5. Stay With Me Jesus
6. Bad Bad World
7. This Is How It Feels To Have A Broken Heart
8. What You Call Love
9. That’s No Way To Get To Heaven
10. Jesus & Mary
11. Hercules
12. Do What You Want
Guster Online:
http://www.guster.com/
http://www.facebook.com/Gustermusic
http://www.twitter.com/guster
http://www.myspace.com/guster
http://www.youtube.com/guster

New Bands and Stuff.

2010-07-01T22:59:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the almost one year hiatus. Well, if anyone read this that's what I would say. As it is now, I'll just get right into the bands I've gotten into since I last posted. I struggle to make the music I am describing interesting for some reason, so I'll just list a bunch of bands and their overall style in general.

Local Natives-Great indie/pop/rock. These guys have really catchy tunes.
Surfer Blood-A little edgier rock than what I normally like, but this band is really good.
The Mynabirds-A really great band called Georgie James broke up and out of that project comes this one from the girl that was in Georgie James. Really good mellow rock and roll. She has an amazing voice as well.
The Thermals-Great straight ahead rock and roll.
Fanfarlo-Really cool orchestration, folk/rock feel, and a really cool sounding lead singer make this band really good. Check them out.

That's it for now. I'll try to stay more on top of this blog, and hopefully improve it so I can have links to listen to songs from some of these bands either on my playlist at the right, or, hopefully, on each seperate blog so after you read my one or two sentence description of the band you can just click on the button and listen to the song for yourself. If anyone is reading this that knows how to make this happen on this here blogspot page send me an email or leave a comment.

fun.

2009-08-22T16:48:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I updated this. I'll just quickly plug a really good band I've been getting into lately.

fun.-That's right fun. with a lower case f and a period at the end. This is Nate Reuss from The Format's new project after the demise of The Format. It was a sad day when I heard that The Format was breaking up. They were an amazing, amazing band. My brother's friend Clint commented about Nate when we saw them for their last festival show in SLC. He said that he looks so skinny and frail. The conversation went somewhere to the effect of it might be too much boozin' and drug action (which may or may not be true). Clint then said something like come on hold out for at least one more album. Sadly that wasn't the case for The Format, but Nate has returned with fun.! And what a great band they are. They came to SLC a few months ago and are coming back hot on the heels of their new release Aim and Ignite this Tuesday. The album is streaming on their myspace.com/fun site now. Check it out; it's really good. Great pop with horns, strings, and great guitar work. If you liked The Format, you'll love fun., and if you haven't heard of The Format either, there ya go, two bands for you to check out.

2009-07-04T09:58:00.000-07:00

I've been getting into tons of new music lately so I'm just gonna list like 10 or so bands for y'all to check out. If anyone actually reads this blog, that is. Here goes:

Frightened Rabbit
White Rabbits
Rhett Miller
Grizzly Bear
Fanfarlo
St. Vincent
The Annuals
Throw Me The Statue
Camera Obscura
Wild Light
The Low Anthem

There you have them. I'm still discovering all these bands myself; apart from Rhett Miller (singer of Old 97's) I've been a big fan of him for quite a while. Anywho, explore these bands with me, won't you? You won't? Fine. Loser.

Newton's Folley

2009-06-03T14:27:00.000-07:00

Today I'm gonna plug my band. I figure noone reads this but perhaps my wife so it's not a shameless plug. More like a journal for me and my posterity to find and remember/discover good music. Anyway, my band is called Newton's Folley and we are a folk/rock/pop band trying to get gigs in Utah. We started playing together just 3 weeks ago or so, and things are looking promising. We have a ton of original songs Travis (the singer/guitarist) and I have already written and recorded; we just need to get arrangements of those songs, plus work on my new guitar stuff i've been writing, as well as Travis' solo stuff he's written; also, we need to practice a few songs our guitarist Jordan has written. Hopefully that sentance wasn't too convoluted. The point is this band is gonna be good. We'll be playing at The Wine Cellar in downtown south Ogden soon. Stay tuned for more details on that and other shows coming this summer. Other than that I'll try to post some music of Newton's Folley's previous 2002 release "Struggling..." soon. Until then keep on listening to good music. Bye!

Say Hi

2009-04-01T20:25:00.000-07:00

This band used to be called Say Hi to Your Mom, but now it's just Say Hi. I personally like the old name better. I just got their new album "Oohs and Aahs," and it's incredible. Best album of the year I think. Great indie rock with lots of piano, and your standard guitar, bass, drum, keyboard. It's nothing spectacularly innovative, but if it aint broke don't fix it I suppose. We don't need a world full of Radiohead Kid A albums all over do we? Anywho, check out this band; they are fantabulous.

2009-03-17T16:04:00.000-07:00

Today I'll mention a great St. Paddy's day band as well as a few bands I've been hearing great things from.

The Pogues-these guys are the ultimate scottish rock band. They're above and beyond anyone in this genre. Flogging Molly, and Dropkick Murphy's don't hold a candle to The Pogues. Before Shane McGowan left the band they were fabulous. Afterwards, I'm not too sure cuz I haven't really followed them; nor do I know if they are even still together. Pogue Mahone, the album after MacGowan left was a good album, but I lost track of them after that. Despite my lack of follow up with this band, I still stand behind the fact that they are the most incredible scottish rock band out there. Shane MacGowan formed a band called The Popes and the one album I've heard of theirs is pretty damn good also. So, on this St. Patrick's Day, The Pogues should be your choice for great music to celebrate with as you drink your green beer (or root beer in my case).

Delta Spirit-This band is really awesome. Great folk/rock tunes with generous helpings of piano, great melody, and a singer with passion. The singer reminds me of one of the singers in Dr. Dog with the same passion and the singer in The Veils. You can just feel these three singer's passion. Anywho, check out Delta Spirit; they're great!

Neko Case-I love Neko's voice; that's one of the main things that draws me to her music. That and the fact that her music is also superb. She sings part time with the fabulous band New Pornographers, who are great in their own right, but Neko's solo stuff is also utterly brilliant. It's basically folky type stuff with a fantastic vocal behind it. Check Neko out if you like good music. I'm still catching up on all her music. Her two most recent albums Fox Confessor Brings The Flood (I think that's what it's called), and her newest, Middle Cyclone are both incredible! The others I'm still researching, and you should too.

that's all for now. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Wow, so there went six months

2009-03-15T17:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the six month delay in posting. Today I'll post about some great artists that not a ton of people have heard of.

Ben Kweller-I think I may have posted about Ben before, but his new album deserves to be written about. Ben's first three albums have been fantastic. They've all been brilliant pop/rock albums, and have not failed to bring the awesome tunes. His new album, though, is pure country, but it's the good kinda country. None of this country pop, or rock music with a hick singer. This is the good style of country: old school without the twangy voice and it's fabulous. Ben sure has a knack for writing a catchy song. Whether it's rock, country, or pop, he crafts an incredible. Check out all his albums including his newest album, Changing Horses.

Andrew Bird-I heard a few of Bird's songs when his last album came out. I really liked them, but didn't really delve any deeper than these few songs. Well, I just got his new album, Noble Beast and it is superb! Andrew is a really awesome multi-instrumentalist. His music is folk/pop brilliance, and I'm digging it a lot. One of the really cool things about it is that plays the violin and uses it heavily on this record. It works well with this style of music so check out this and his other albums (I only have this newest one so I will do this too because based on this album, I'm almost postive his other albums will be great as well).

So, I'll try to post more often from now on. School, and other junk has just gotten in the way.

adios

Belle and Sebastian, The Decemberists, Kathleen Edwards, Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband

2008-08-31T08:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the absence the last few days.

Belle and Sebastian-I believe these lads/lasses are from Scotland, but I'm not exactly sure. There from somewhere "across the pond". Anyway they make brilliant folk/pop music. They remind me of Nick Drake at times, who I don't know much about other than that he had some great acoustic songs and died at a young age. Belle and Sebastian have a great melodic sound, and the singer's accent comes through at times, which I enjoy on occasion. Their songs can make you feel very calm, or make you want to get up and shake your money maker. Good stuff. Their new record, "The Life Pursuit" is fantastic!

The Decemberists-I vaugely heard of these guys a few years back, but never really got into them. I finally bought their latest release "The Crane Wife", and was blown away. It's really good stuff. Like Belle and Sebastian, it's folk/pop style with some great acoustic guitar and piano. I also like the fact that there's a mariner/oceanic them to the entire album. Maybe I'm just out in left field, but it seems to me that every song has some sort of allusion to boats, water, fishermen, etc. Anyway, I recently purchased one of their other albums, "Picaresce" but haven't listened to it fully yet. The few songs I have heard though have been really good.

Kathleen Edwards-Switching gears from folk/pop to folk/country we go to Kathleen. I honestly don't know/haven't heard a ton from her, but what I've heard is really great. She's the folkin' country style I like. She doesn't have a thick accent, and uses just the right amount of twang in her music. I look forward to hearing more from her.

Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband-When I listen to a Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband album for the first time I'm blown away. I can listen repeatedly to their albums without getting tired of them. They're a local Utah band I guess you'd say, but they're getting fairly popular across the country. Their style of music crosses genres. Hopping from rollickin' country/bluegrass to rockin, to folky ballads. They use mandolins, fiddles, and banjos which make their music labeled country most of the time, but to do that doesn't give these boys justice. Having met them on multiple occasions, I know they're all very down to earth musicians, and their live show is amazing! They obviously love what they do and it shows on stage.

Ra Ra Riot, Julie Ocean

2008-08-27T18:57:00.000-07:00

emusic.com is quite a fun service for me. It's a music download service that costs around 1/3 of the price of itunes. The only problem for me is that there is not enough music that I want on there. It's mostly new indie stuff. To get you to join their service they offer so many free downloads with your first month's subscription, so I like to scam them. I join for a month just to get all my free downloads and then cancel my subscription. That way, a month or two down the road they'll come begging for me to rejoin offering me free downloads. I've done this around 3-4 times, and have gotten around 300 downloads (say 25-30 albums) for around 30 bucks. Sweet deal, eh. Anyway, I just got Ra Ra Riot and Julie Ocean (among other things I'll blog about later I'm sure).

Ra Ra Riot-I heard of them through a splendid review of their new album, The Rhumb Line in Rolling Stone. It compared their music to The Arcade Fire, and Vampire Weekend so I was intrigued. It's really really good music. Very poppy, with awesome guitars and string arrangements. I've only listened to the album a few times, but golly-gee it sure is good.

Julie Ocean-I heard Julie Ocean on J's Indie Rock Mayhem podcast. They're very poppy, and very good. Really melodic music that makes you wanna dance. I'm still new to this one as I've listened to it maybe once through and just like a minute of each song. I guess I'll see if it holds up down the road after repeated listening.

Josh Rouse, Josh Ritter, Bright Eyes

2008-08-25T09:05:00.000-07:00

Today I'll be playing catch-up once again.

Josh Rouse-I heard of Josh Rouse through reading Guster's blog about 6 years ago or so, but never really got any of his music until maybe 3-4 years ago. That being said, I still haven't purused his entire catalog, but the two albums I have by him are pretty damn good. The record I bought by him a few years back is called "Subtitulo". From what I understand he married a girl from Spain and lived there for a while. This album is about living in Spain. His latest album Country Mouse, City House is not as good as Subtitulo, but it's still good. A little too jazzy for me, but some really good piano/pop/rock abounds too. Rouse is a great singer and uses some awesome melodies, making his music (for the most part) really catchy.

Josh Ritter-I only know Ritter's music through J's Indie Rock Mayhem podcast, but I've heard probably 9-10 songs and they're all really fantastic. I still haven't picked up any of his albums, but I look forward to hearing more from him. A lot of his stuff is acoustic/piano based. This description of music in general can either mean an artist is really good, or just mediocre. In Josh Ritter's case, it means his music is exceptional.

Bright Eyes-I suppose you'd call Conor Oborst, the man behind Bright Eyes music "indie-country". Perhaps he's more folk than country but he uses a lot of country elements to his music. Having said that, it's the good form of country without trying to be rock with a hick singer. I have three of his albums, and they're all really good. Digital Ash in a Digital Urn is more electro-folk and the other two are more country/folk. Anyway, check out Bright Eyes.

The Arcade Fire

2008-08-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

The Arcade Fire are amazing! When I first heard clips of their songs on amazon I wasn't really impressed. I took a chance on them probably a year after their debut album, Funeral came out. I still like their first album better than their latest, Neon Bible, I think, but both of them are really great. I'm loving how The Arcade Fire, and TONS of other bands are using the piano to make their music that much better. What a lovely instrument the piano is. It can be used full on ala Ben Folds, or thrown in to enhance music greatly i.e. Travis' song "The Last Laugh of the Laughter". I picked up Dr. Dog's newest album fate today, and what a great use of piano! Anyway, The Arcade Fire also use great string arrangements along with horns. Believe the hype, The Arcade Fire totally rock, man! ;)

New Pornographers

2008-08-19T16:06:00.000-07:00

Today's artist of the day is one with a name that would your mother would be ashamed of. Kinda like Violent Femmes did with my mom many years ago. Anyway, New Pornographers are an amazing band. I just discovered them last year when their latest, "Challengers" came out. It's really awesome music with great work on acoustic/electric guitars, and piano. Very melodic and catchy stuff. Check 'em out.

The Veils

2008-08-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

I heard the Veils on this dude from North Carolina's radio show. I've been listening to his show, "J's Indie Rock Mayhem" for around a year or so, and it's really been introducing me to a lot of great stuff. The Veils, who are from across the pond, debut album "Nux Vomica" was J's number 1 album of 2007. I don't exactly agree with him, but damn, its a great album. The singer may be off-putting to some because his voice kinda cracks throughout his singing. Not like a teenager really, though. It's hard to explain, but the words that come to my mind are attitude and passion with his singing. So passionate that this guy's voice cracks. I'll try to put up one of their songs on my playlist so I ya'll know what I'm talking about. Anywho, this album is really awesome guitar rock with lots of piano. I'm terrible at describing music, I know, but just take a chance on The Veils.

My Playlist/Peter Bjorn and John

2008-08-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

Well I finally figured out how to put a playlist up on my blog. Thank goodness! It was really bothering me that I couldn't figure it out. I wanted to put seperate mp3's up for every day's band of the day, but until I can figure that out you'll have to scroll through the playlist. I put at least one song from every artist of the day so far, so if you haven't heard of any of them you can find one of their songs on the playlist. On to today's band of the day. Today, I'm going with Peter, Bjorn, and John. These guys are from Sweden as are quite a few bands lately I've noticed. They sing that whistlin' song you may have heard on the radio. I'll put it up on the playlist to refresh your memory. Anyway, they're really great swedish pop/rock. Awesome melodies and harmonies along with great music make them really cool. I only have one of their albums, but I'm probably gonna look into getting more of their music (if they in fact have more albums, which I assume they do, but maybe not). Well that's it, have a great sabbath!

Catch up again...maybe I'll make this a weekly thing and then put like 5 bands. just an idea.

2008-08-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

The Format,-These guys sadly broke up already after only two albums. But, damn, these two albums are so fantastic. Great folk/rock type stuff with lots of piano and lots of horn/instrumentation on their second album Dog Problems. Pick up both of these albums now, and look forward to "fun" the new band formed by Nate, the singer from The Format
Ben Kweller-I am always impressed by Ben Kweller. He did great stuff with "the bens" which was the band he was in with Ben Folds and Ben Lee, and all three of his albums are super good, especially his latest self titled ablum.
Ben Lee-This Aussie is a really great folk/popster. Great tunes.
My Morning Jacket-I've picked up their newest disc (which is incredible) and their last cd. Their last cd had a problem going onto my ipod, though. It won't play properly on there, so I haven't listened to it in a while. Gotta go back and listen, though, cuz it's a really good album too.

There you have it. Some semi-older (to me, perhaps newer to you) bands I've gotten into lately.

Wow.

2008-08-13T15:33:00.000-07:00

Wow. So as you can see I haven't kept my promise to not miss days at a time. Therefore, I'll make this a quick one for the four days I've got to post about. I think I'll just list four bands. Today I'll just go with a bunch of old school stuff to quickly get through the days I've missed. Here goes: R.E.M. (best band in the world in my opinion), Tom Waits (what an amazing musician! He has like 20 albums or something, all of them really good), Guster (great band! they're quickly working their way up my top ten bands list), and finally...John Prine (I usually don't like most country stuff, but this folk/country artist is fantastic! He's another one with lots and lots of albums). Well that's it for now. I'll put some newer stuff the rest of the week I promise.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday artists of the days

2008-08-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

So I'll quickly mention three bands for the days I've missed. Thursday: The National. The National is a great band. They use a lot of piano and their singer is kind of a deep baritone. It's good stuff. Great poppy acoustic stuff with, like I said, lots of piano. Good times! I need to get their other album "Alligator" now. Friday: Spoon. When these guys first album "Gimme Fiction came out I liked it a lot, but I never picked it up. When their latest album "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" came out I readily snatched it up because I liked their last one, and cuz I really liked the one or two songs I heard from the newest album. This album is fantastic. Great pop/rock, with, once again, quite a bit of piano. These guys, though are more rock I'd say, therefore they have more electric guitars. This is a good thing with them. I really dig them, and this latest album. Now I just gotta get their other albums. And finally for today I'm going with an old school pick: Old 97's. These guys are quickly jumping their way up on my top ten bands list. They're most likely nearing the top five lately. Their latest, "Blame it on Gravity" is soooo amazing. I like it inside and out. Up and down. It's delicious! Maybe that's because I'm comparing it to their last album, "Drag it Up" which was good, but not quite as good as most of their other albums, upon retrospection, but this album is fantastic. It's the kind of record I want to play over and over and over. That could be because it's still new, perhaps, but I don't think so. It's an album, that'll probably remain one of my favorites for a long time to come. That's all for now, check back for more and hopefully I won't skip two days in a row anymore.(but don't quote me on that)

Band of the Day: Vampire Weekend

2008-08-06T19:30:00.000-07:00

So I'm still pretty much cruising on bands/artists I've heard earlier this year, and late last year for the most part without blogging about new new stuff I've heard. This is a band I jumped on board with early (as in before their debut album came out). Their self-titled album is amazing! It's kinda afro-pop ala Paul Simon's Graceland album, and I'm loving it! These are some smart dudes that went to one of them prestigious Universities. Can't remember which one, but damn, they're some good musicians. Well, they play really catchy stuff at least. I guess you don't have to be superb musicians to write fantastic songs. Nah, I'll say it, their superb musicians to create such amazing pop music. It's catchy, hooky, danceable, and it...just...rocks. Maybe "rocks" isn't the right word, but I think I'll just use the word "rocks" to describe music that is really good. From now on, any music that I find good will be labled with the the words "it rocks." Got it? Good. Anyway, come back tomorrow for another great band of the day; if anyone reads this blog, that is.

Band of the Day: Band of Horses

2008-08-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

Today's band of the day is Band of Horses. I really like their band name because a band of horses is what you call a large group of horses, right. I don't know why that strikes me as cool, but it does. Lay off. Anywho, these guys are really cool; kinda southern rock attitude, while at the same time being great rock and roll. They're a little folky at times, and loud rock at others. All in all they're really good. Great harmonies, great guitars, great tunes.

Band of the Day: Rogue Wave

2008-08-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

Quick post today. I'm just getting into the band Rogue Wave recently. I believe they have three albums, and I just got their second one "Descended Like Vultures." It's really good "indie" pop/rock. I've always hated the word indie to describe a type of music. It's not descriptive at all. Anyway, these guys probably fit well into the folk/pop/rock category I suppose. I really am digging them! Check 'em out.

Band of the Day: 10,000 Maniacs (I know, another old school band, sorry)

2008-08-02T10:23:00.001-07:00

I heard of 10,000 Maniacs around the same time I was getting into The Beautiful South, and REM when I was around 8-9 years old. What can I say? I'm ever grateful to my brothers and the Anderson family for turning me on to good music. I just picked up the Blind Man's Zoo and In My Tribe albums along with Matt Pond PA's new album (which I talked about yesterday) all for 15 bucks! Damn I love Graywhale! Anywho, 10,000 Maniacs are an amazing band. They're mostly really poppy/folk/rock. I really like their Unplugged album the best I think. It's fantastic. Too bad the Maniacs broke up a while back! Well, Natalie Merchant left the band, and they pretty much haven't been really that great since. After Natalie left I read that Rob Buck (the guitarist) passed away. I don't remember how long it's been since he passed on, but he was truly an amazing guitarist. I think Natalie Merchant is still making music, but she hasn't put out any new stuff for quite a while, so I'm not sure what she's up to. I've always had kind of a crush on her, though. Don't tell my wife :) Just kidding my wife already knows I have a crush on her.

Band of the Day Double Shot: Matt Pond PA, Love as Laughter

2008-08-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

Since I didn't put a band of the day yesterday, I'll do two today. I just got Matt Pond PA's Last Light album, and it's FANTASTIC. Awesome folk rock stuff. I also listened to, but didn't buy, Love as Laughter's new album that came out this week. It was really superbly done folky/rock stuff too. I need to get that soon. I was really blown away by it when I listened to it at Graywhale yesterday, so as soon as I have money I'll pick it up. That's it for now I guess, sorry for the short explination of these bands, but if you've liked my other Band of the Day picks you'll enjoy these two bands most likely. See ya!

Band of the Day: The Shout Out Louds

2008-07-30T16:11:00.000-07:00

These guys are from Sweden, as are quite a few bands these days as I'm discovering. They remind me of The Cure at times, but mostly they're just straight ahead good indie pop/rock. I really enjoy their newest album, and hope to hear more great stuff from these rockin' Swedeheads (rather than Suedhead's; get it? hopefully you do...)

Band of the Day: Okkervil River

2008-07-29T18:19:00.000-07:00

Today's band of the Day is the folk-rockers Okkervil River. I heard of these guys probably 3-4 years ago, but just got into them last year. I've been listening to Dallas Does Indie, and J's Indie Rock Mayhem, two fabulous podcasts. DDI started out as a podcast and is now an Indie Rock HD radio station. I don't have an HD receiver, but this station might get me to switch from Satelite Radio (which I cancelled due to the stupid monthly fee) to HD radio; and J's IRM is from this dudes radio show on his North Carolina college radio station. Both great radio show/podcasts, and that's my long winded way of saying that's how I really got into Okkervill River. Anywho, great folk rockin stuff. I'm really enjoying their latest release, and look forward to hearing more from them.

Old School Band of the Day: The Beautiful South

2008-07-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

The Beautiful South are today's band of the day. I first heard Paul Heaton's voice coming through the speakers of my mom's old Toyota hatchback. I knew my brothers and their friends in the Anderson family had good taste (I still count a lot of the bands I heard growing up among my favorites i.e. The Beautiful South, REM, etc.) but little did I know that Heaton's voice would be among my favorites even 15 plus years later. Their lyrics were sadistic, their music was masterful pop in it's finest and I loved it! I never got a chance to see TBS before they split up last year which is quite a shame. My brother Trev saw them in the 90's at DV8 club in SLC. Wow, that would have been pretty damn cool! My favorite TBS album by far is 0898. What a masterpiece! Songs like Domino Man, 36D, and one of my favorite song titles, You Play Glockenspiel, I'll Play Drums among 8 other songs made this album so great. My favorite song though is We Are Each Other. Such a great, simple guitar riff. I love it! Anywho, enough rantin and ravin', I'll post a newer band/artist of the day tomorrow. Oh, and by the way, Paul Heaton's new solo album is out now, but you'll most likely have to go on Amazon to buy it since they don't release TBS/Heaton album's in US record stores much.

July 27th Artist of the Day-Hayes Carll

2008-07-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

Today's artist of the day is Hayes Carll. I saw him and his band open up for Old 97's at The Palladium in Salt Lake. He is really amazing. Now, I'll start off by saying I'm definitely not much of a country music fan. That being said, there are a few country-ish bands/musicians I'm really fond of. John Prine, Nanci Griffith, and Iris Dement to note a few. Hayes Carll is a good ole boy from Texas and his accent comes across in his music. Usually I find the "hick accent" off putting, but with Carll I actually enjoy it. My favorite part of his concert/newest album is his cover of Tom Waits "I Don't Wanna Grow Up." I never thought a countrified version of this song would work, but DAMN it's amazing!

myspace.com/hayescarll

July 26th Band of the Day-Fleet Foxes

2008-07-26T11:42:00.000-07:00

Today's band of the day is Fleet Foxes. They remind me a lot of The Beach Boys simply because of their really cool harmonies. As far as I know, they don't sing about surfer girls, or anything lame like that, but I've just discovered them, and so far I've liked them a lot! A lot of their stuff is acoustic, which I'm definitely a sucker for.

fleetfoxes.com

Get into "The Ots", loser!

2008-07-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

So I finally joined the "ots" (2000's) and am going to start blogging. I decided to use this blog for all things music and family. I'll post pictures and bands and links to bands, and concerts coming to Utah. I'll probably also start using this site for all my photography. I really wanna get back into photography and I figured this would be a great place to show off my "talents." Anywho, check back for the following features (if I get around to updating every day) Band of the Day, Photo of the Day, Family News, My attempt to start running again, Updates on the Compton Biggest Loser Contest, etc. So, I'll hopefully keep things updated, but if not, just email me and bitch so I do.