Run Cover

So I decided to make a cover of the song Run by Snow Patrol. I don't think it's super fantastic or anything but I thought it was okay so I decided to post it as Tommy always posts his. The piano is a little loud (and sloppy...I should really practice more) and I had to change key for the chorus (it was too low). And it has a super awkward ending. That aside, I think it's decent.

Run cover by whatsernamewashere

Welcome To The Family ...Octavius

So we have a new blogger on here ("Yay!"). His name is Octavius and he's into metal...(hence, A7X reference in the title). He's also a member of Elephant Pathogen (the band Tommy is in). To find out more about him, just click on his page (which should be up soon).

4 Chords....

One of my friends showed this to me and I seriously could not stop laughing. That's right - you too can write a #1 hit using just four chords. Axis of Awesome is indeed pretty awesome. I love the one line of "When I Come Around" in there. It would also be worthwhile to check out their song "Birdplane"....possibly the funniest parody I've ever heard in song form.

And of course, "4 Chords of the Apocalypse" by Julian Casablancas. Speaking of the apocalypse, it's coming soon, right? Anyways, I love this song even though most people think that this is one of the weaker songs on Phrazes for the Young. It just holds so much power in its simplicity.

No drums or vocals

I recorded this a while back, and it was kind of weird. There are no drum multitracks for the song, so I didn't add any. I was going to add a drum machine later, but that proved to be too much work. I didn't bother to sing either. Even without percussion or vocals though, I think it sounds pretty good (bet nobody else thinks so). And it's very sloppy. Who cares about perfection? Not me. All the instruments were recorded on the first take (2 guitars, one bass). I don't feel like showing the title of the original song, so you can't compare, but if you know it, good for you.

Florence + The Machine - "What The Water Gave Me"

I just saw this on Youtube and for once, the suggestions make sense. Anyways, I think it's a new song by Florence + The Machine and it is pretty good....The video is also quite interesting and just came out today. The song sounds really full and fleshed out and sort of ethereal...

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am6rArVPip8

I Hate Airplanes, I Love The Strokes

So, just got off an 11 hour flight and am still getting used to society and functioning like a normal person. You know, the usual where it feels like nothing is coherent and that if a stronger gust of wind were to blow you would topple right over. You know the feeling, right? Sort of weightless but grounded? I sound crazy, I know.
Anyways, the real point I was going to make is about airplane music. They have these stations on the plane that you can listen too. And they sort of suck. Personally, I don't think I'm too picky - I can listen to almost anything, but my gosh, the New Wave channel was almost strictly 70's and 80's (not bad) but it seemed to be all the songs that we just boring. And the Classisc Rock channel...I didn't even recognize half the songs on it - how can you call that "classic". Don't even get me started on the absence of an indie rock channel...

Bands that start with a B (and Naked Raygun)

It's weird. I have basically 5 bands on repeat on my iPod, and three of them are in a row alphabetically. There's Big Black, Big Star, and Black Flag. And The Breeders. And Naked Raygun too. And three of those bands are hardcore punk, so I'm kinda into that too right now. By the way, new logo for Christie Road is pretty cool.

I was listening "Cables" (Big Black) and I thought that it was a pretty cool song (especially the chorus) so I found this one download site (I buy later), and this is what I found.

Like any Big Black fan who would download Songs About Fucking would listen to 30 Seconds To Mars. Dumbass auto recommendations. I refreshed the page a couple times and it also "recommended" crap bands like Linkin Park, the Fray, Kings Of Leon, and even a bunch of bullshit rappers and other shit. That screenshot is the exact opposite of indie rocks's beliefs and what Big Black stood for. That was my Steve Albini imitation. Not cynical enough, I guess.

Also listening to a bunch of Big Star. It's from the early 70s, but it seriously sounds timeless, and it always makes me feel better, if I'm depressed. Radio City is my favorite album by them (most people think so) because it's like #1 Record, but with a little more hard rock edge. Throughout their career, Big Star was constantly in inner turmoil, especially with feuds between Chris Bell and Alex Chilton. That tension is what makes some of the songs sound so good. Chris didn't get any credit on Radio City (he left before they recorded it), but he obviously cowrote songs on it (not exactly sure which ones), and those songs are great. "O My Soul" starts the album, and although it's 5 and a half minutes long, it's really, really awesome. No really. It's also super fun to play on guitar, especially since there's so many different riffs and stuff. The bassline also mixes well with the song, and the drum fills are insane. It's no so much the complexity of the fills, but how rhythmic they seem with the song. It's actually possibly my favorite Big Star song, now that I think about it. And the song's always in mono, there's no stereo mix available. For some weird reason. Also really like "September Gurls" and "Back Of A Car" (possibly Chris Bell compositions). They're pretty upbeat and stuff, but they're also really emotional, you can practically hear the longing in Alex Chilton's voice, which clashes with the chiming, slightly sharply tuned guitars (which gives it a happier tone). Kinda long part about Big Star, but they're that awesome. And it's a break from all the hardcore I listen to.

Black Flag's only original member that lasted throughout all their lineup changes was Greg Ginn, the guitarist. But he's no Axl Rose. Well, kinda. But no. He's an awesome guitar player, mixing in little cool fills with his driving rhythm guitar. Not a big fan of Henry Rollins (longest singer), but he does add something to the music. But it's mostly about Greg's guitar. One of the comments I got on my On A Plain cover (go to my Soundcloud, it's there) said that my guitar kinda sounded like Black Flag. Which really made me happy :) "Nervous Breakdown," Black Flag's first single, is actually pretty solid for a debut. Keith Morris a pretty good vocalist. And it has a pretty good rhythm hook. But the riff on "My War" is one of the coolest I've ever heard (above). It really shows that Black Flag is much better as a live band then in the studio. Note the female bass player. Nice to see a girl playing really good punk rock. Which leads to...

Kim Deal. That is all.

Well, not really. There's Kelley too. The Breeders aren't really punk rock, they're very indie. Pod is actually one of my favorite albums ever now. It's very sparse, and the focus is mostly on the bass melody and Kim's soothing, sexy voice. Hey, shut up. My favorite song on the album, is surprisingly, the Beatles cover ("Happiness Is A Warm Gun"). Although the ending isn't quite as good as the Beatles one, the Breeders version is more ominous and dark. Especially the "She's well aquanted to the touch of a velvet hand like a lizard on a window pane" intro part. It's just the vocals and drums, which sounds yeah, really dark. The drum parts are simple, but they get the job done, along with the occasional noodling of the guitar. The songwriting is so good that they seems to use the least amount of instruments to get the job done. But that changes on Last Splash, which is more rock oriented. It's not as good as Pod (not NEARLY), but there are some pretty catchy songs like "New Year," "Cannonball," and "Divine Hammer" (ESPECIALLY "Divine Hammer"). But there's too much crappy filler. Breeders are still amazing though.

Okay Naked Raygun. Singer is Jeff Pezzati, and guitarist was Santiago Durango. They played together in another great band too. Not saying which band though, cause you probably don't care what that band was. It was a great band though, with great lyrics. Anyway, Naked Raygun. They have a bigger focus on melody than most hardcore, and it's kind of weird that they didn't get the same amount of fame as Black Flag or Big Black. Since they're less known, they really don't have any really signature songs (possibly "Vanilla Blue") but I really like their reunion single called "Mein Iron Maiden" (not sure why it's called that) and it's only about 1 minute 21seconds. But it's possibly the catchiest 1 minute 21 second song I've ever heard. I replayed maybe 20 times yesterday cause it was so good (or maybe because it was so short, who knows). It must rock to live in Chicago. Naked Raygun gets to be your local band.

Very long post. Felt I had to write something, and it kinda turned into a big growth. Oh well. Can't post anything next week. Hawaii. Now excuse me, I have to pack for the "relatively short" 6 hour flight.

Snow Patrol

One of my friends got me started on Snow Patrol. I mean, I've obviously heard Snow Patrol before (Dear John trailer, anyone?) but it only hit me yesterday how beautiful their music is. It's hard to describe...It's sort of like Metric meets The Killers meets Muse but that's really raw. It sort of makes you want to tear your heart out - it's so evocative. I've been humming "Set The Fire To The Third Bar" all day long (I love the video for this - simple, but very artistic). Something about the lead vocalist's voice (Gary Lightbody) is incredibly entrancing and crisp - in short, I love his voice. I definitely will be looking into more Snow Patrol. I highly recommend Snow Patrol to anyone who needs a good, solemn, song to listen to.

On The Backs Of Angels (DT)

So I guess last month was my "latent" period (haha, freudian psychosexual stage reference), I guess I just got lazy. Anyhow, I came across this song on YouTube a while ago and I was genuinely impressed. If you were keeping up with the Dream Theater "news" you would know that their original drummer Mike Portnoy had left from the band and they were left looking for a new drummer who turned out to be Mike Mangini. As some YouTube video commenters say it, the real royal wedding was Mangini and Dream Theater which I thought was pretty clever. Enough about Mike Mangini, who was mentioned in a previous post that you are free to read if you wish, and allow me to move on to the actual musical structure of "On The Backs Of Angels"

The beginning is a rather low frequency electrical sound typical of Dream Theater. As the song progresses, more instruments chime in, rather like a layer cake. This mix of instruments and interesting rhythms adds to the "intrigue" factor of the song. The song continues in a similar fashion, adding more spontaneous runs from the electric keyboard and guitar. About 1 minute into the song, we can hear the general melody played by the Petrucci, but of course, as many DT songs go, there is never simply one recurring melody, this song, similar to many others is highly polyphonic. LaBrie now begins to sing in his usual ethereal voice which pairs well with the heavy instrumental role within the song. The song generally consists of little sections some of which containing vocals and others which do not. It continues in this manner containing little unexpected rhythms and runs. How could I forget, the piano solo is awesome =]. If Maria and Tommy are up for it, maybe we could do an acoustic version of the song. Anyhow, back to the actual song, the lyrics are pretty powerful in my opinion. "Lead me like a lamb to the slaughter" really caught my attention. The album title couldn't be more fitting, the change from Portnoy to Mangini is definitely "A Dramatic Turn of Events". Once the whole album comes out, I'll make sure to do a post on it. As always, thanks for reading and make sure to check out all the other posts that my friends and I have written.

Video link: http://new.music.yahoo.com/Dream-Theater/videos/view/On-The-Backs-Of-Angels--221576286;_ylt=AovM_abk5mJddWXRZIjg4.msvyUv

Who knew?

Yes, it matters how you dress in a music video. Just check it out - I thought it was pretty interesting.

http://www.gq.com/entertainment/music/201107/30-most-stylish-music-videos?mbid=synd_yshine

Brandon Flowers and his dictator of a small country outfits... LOL

I totally agree w/ The Strokes one too - they have that trashy chic thing going on...

The list actually isn't too bad - it has everyone from the likes of Michael Jackson to The Who to Nirvana in it.