damien rice

yet another concert i was supposed to go see but can't because of golf. it's ok tho... we're going to nationals!!!

Sufjan Stevens

"A self-taught musician, the young Sufjan Stevens pounded out elaborate Mozartian sonatas on a toy Casio, and by college became proficient on the oboe, recorder, banjo, guitar, vibraphone, bass, drums, piano, and other instruments too numerous to mention. Somewhere along the line he also started to sing, though at the time his friends didn't encourage it. He bought a 4-track tape cassette recorder and painstakingly composed 90-minute concept albums for The Nine Planets, The 12 Apostles, and The Four Humors. At that time, in college, the world loomed large and daunting, and Sufjan's music came to sound like a medieval woodwind ensemble waving swords and torches at the twelve-headed dragon of death. During his last semester in college, Sufjan pruned, picked, and assembled a selection of these songs to produce the inaugural release "A Sun Came" on Asthmatic Kitty Records, a home label Sufjan initiated with his step-dad Lowell. A thousand copies were manufactured and shipped to a dark, dank closet somewhere in the vacuous black hole of the universe, where they shifted and snored in their sleep for several years to come. No one seemed very interested. Sufjan went back to the 4-track, tired of "words, words, words," and set out to complete his most ambitious project to date: a collection of programmatic, symphonic songs for the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. There were no lyrics, but more than a few cymbal swells, flourishes on the oboe, and ambient organ drones, all accompanied by computer-generated techno beats, and digital noise. The result was enterprising, but not quite flattering. He sent a few copies to press, which fell on confused ears. "…A hyper-modified Atari battling a souped-up Colecovision in a chess match/battle royal," one writer noted. Feeling inspired, Sufjan dropped off a copy at New York's favored record store, Other Music, only to find it in the used section, reduced price, two weeks later. Sufjan took this as a compliment. His label did not. Write songs, his step-dad insisted. Write something with words and melodies. Sufjan went back to the books, mainly his own unwritten one. Taking bits and scraps of unfinished stories (character sketches, plot lines, penciled diagrams) Sufjan began to arrange his misshapen fiction into the bold mechanics of song, making friends with line breaks, meter, and rhyme scheme. These things led to melody, odd time signature, and a litany of jingle jangles on the drum kit, which had been taken out of storage once and for all. The result was something bold, flashy, and ripe with advertisement, like the Goodyear blimp, but not without Sufjan's tender rendering of the imagination. When all was said and done, Sufjan felt irrevocable changes taking place within his body, like a second puberty. His shoulders broadened, his mind quickened, his heart began to beat with quiet, patient thumps in a rhythm as fluid and faithful as the Chicago River." (asthmatickitty.com)


in short.. he is amazing and he worked hard to get there. listen to his music people!!

Breaking Benjamin

one of my favorite "harder" bands is breaking benjamin. i really wanted to find a video of their song breath but all i could find was diary of jane. still an excellent song. here ya go

unkle bob

i found this article about a band called unkle bob that has become one of my new favs. you may have heard one of their songs on (gasp!) grey's anatomy.. and if you can't jog your own memory then i will do so for you. it was during the ending scene of the episode where meredith dies. meredith is all better and izzie is walking out of the hospital and she connects with denny. tear! ok anyways the song is called swans and you should check it out.


"It may seem strange now but, in that crazy year (2006), Unkle Bob were not yet a household name and their tunes - as sensational and perfectly formed as they may be – were yet to be as significant as they have now become, their presence barely acknowledged on the nation’s airwaves. In short, 2006 may be remembered for several events but the barely-perceptible arrival of a gang of twenty-somethings from Glasgow University and environs is probably not one of them. Historians, however, may choose to disagree: in amongst the manufactured pop drivel, the excitable indier-than-thou new Smiths-elects and the R & B soundalikes you too may have had the good fortune to have stumbled upon something quite special. Enter Unkle Bob with debut album Sugar and Spite.

Well, we can dream, but we are not without a sense of bonhomie here at Unkle Bob Towers. Nor are we alone in believing that Unkle Bob have the wherewithal to be one of this decade’s greatest bands. Surely formed by the thought that “they just don’t write them like that anymore do they?” Unkle Bob are a band you will want to listen to again and again - just to make sure they are as good as you think they are. In the past few months you may have heard a lot about Guilty Pleasures and The Feeling and Orson and the return of the song but Unkle Bob are another thing altogether – instantaneous, classic, contemporaneous. Indeed, what were you expecting - a Supertramp revival?

Unkle Bob are Rick Webster (vocals, guitar), Stuart Cartwright (vocals, guitar, banjo, mandolin), Ron Yeadon (drums, percussion), Tad MacDonald (bass) and Geoff Widdowson (keyboards). Formed in and around Glasgow University in the last few years, Unkle Bob have an uncanny knack of sounding like they’ve been hanging around your record collection your whole life. The band’s list of (guilty) listening pleasures includes Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Van Morrison, Tim Buckley, John Lennon, Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Velvet Underground, Carole King and John Martyn – though Cartwright, the band’s only Scottish-born member, mentions the Stone Roses, and Widdowson (the only band member to have been schooled in a monastery and be taught by monks) cites the Doors, Blur and the Incredible String Band. Having said all that an Unkle Bob song can remind you of REM, Shack, Prefab Sprout, the Pernice Brothers and Radiohead - all in one unbelievable flurry of activity they (rather blithely, in my opinion) call a song."

The Fray

one of the best concerts that i've ever been to was the fray concert last semester. tickets just went on sale for their show this summer and i stalked out ticketmaster until i could get mine. i LOVE the fray! you've probably heard of them from their recents hits cable car(over my head) and how to save a life. interesting tidbit: how to save a life was written about the lead singers brother who has a drug addiction. sad eh? i'm posting a video of one of my favorite fray songs, i'll look after you.

the wood

if you haven't checked out 89.1 the wood yet i would get on it. you're missing out! come on... it's commercial free!

Grey's Anatomy

as promised i found a new video. i don't think i've mentioned yet that i love grey's anatomy. not only for the stroyline but for the music. it is one of the shows that has inspired me to become a music editor. i want to be the person who chooses which songs go where in the show. i love how much power a song has over a person. scenes would not be as emotional if it didn't have the perfect song in the background and i think grey's does an amazing job. this one is a little slower than the ones i've had before but i want to give a wide variety of music on this blog. the song is "bitter song" by butterfly boucher and the video is a collaboration of the episode it was in. enjoy.

Sweet Home Alabama

well i just got back from Alabama for a golf tournament, we came in second! the internet was of course down at the hotel so i couldn't post. my friends really enjoyed the plain white t's concert. they said it was one of the best shows they've ever seen. althought i missed the show i still had a great time in alabama. the weather was amazing, close to 80 degrees each day. and i got a concert t shirt so i'm pretty satisfied. i'm gonna start searching for mre videos of random bands so look for a new video in my next post. thanks for all the comments!

needtobreathe

Southern pop/rock quartet Needtobreathe have been poised on the edge of mainstream discovery, and debut album "Daylight" punts them firmly over the edge. Brothers Bear and Bo Rinehart co-write, and a more interesting pair of sibling musicians may be hard to find. Bear is a former football hero; Bo acts (“Radio”), but both are music-lovers first. Together they come up with tight rock arrangements offered up with the grand flourish of Bear’s dynamic vocal skills. Drummer Joe Stillwell provides a solid foundation of monster percussion, and bassist Seth Bolt adds his recent degree in recording engineering to a pot that will be hard to beat.

Plain White T's

to start, i play on the lindenwood girls golf team, and up til now i've really enjoyed playing and going to tournaments. but here is my problem. this sunday is my birthday. so for my birthday i was given plain white t's tickets (their concert is on the sixth). i was extremely excited cuz i missed them the last time they were in town. BUT... i have a golf tournament this weekend in alabama. i won't be back until the 7th. maybe in a later post i will go on about how amazing the plain white t's are but i am too bummed to do so now. so for now i will leave you with a PWT's video that explains my feelings towards golf right now.


"hate is a strong word... but i really REALLY don't like you."

STOMP

I had the pleasure of seeing STOMP at the Fox Theatre last night. It was one of the most amazing shows I've ever seen. It was two hours of non stop rhythm and music. STOMP is a group of people that make music completely without instruments. They use everyday items like trash cans, brooms, plastic bags, old sinks, newspapers and anything else that makes an interesting sound. They then join all these sounds to make music. Last night, they even had the crowd joining in to help make rhythms. The show was funny and extremely entertaining. I would recommend it to anyone of any age.

One Republic

about a year ago i came across this band while browsing music online. i instantly fell in love. One Republic, a 5 member band out of los angeles, consists of vocalist Ryan Tedder, bassist Tim Meyers, guitarist Zach Filkins, guitarist Drew Brown, and drummer Eddie Fischer. what drew me to this eclectic rock group was the fierce emotions streaming from their lyrics. “They have to do with my own journey; they're about times when I've felt stuck—that I'll never achieve my goals. But ultimately, in the songs, I resolve it by seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and realizing that no matter how bad things get, there's always a way out” says Tedder. i've uploaded the video "Apologize" so that you can hear (and see) exactly what i'm talking about. relax. listen. enjoy.