Monday, January 29, 2007

I'm so excited!

Yess! Some awesome albums are going to be released in April of '07, boys and girls!!! You want me to list a few? Fine. The two I'm most excited about are The Academy Is... and Skye Sweetnam, but a few others you may be interested in are: Hilary Duff, Avril Lavigne, Jennifer Lopez, Chevelle, Fountains of Wayne, Paul Wall, Mario and Brandi Carlile.

The Academy Is...'s album Santi sounds promising, just listening to their single (See below).
Hilary Duff's "With Love" is worth checking out. I'm personally not a big fan of her, though. But I do like it better than a lot of her other stuff (Again. See Below).
And Skye Sweetnam? Hrm. She doesn't seem to have a single yet...But I've got my fingers crossed. I'd hate it if her album got pushed back any further. There were rumors that it would be Boyhunter, and now they're saying it'll be Human. Oh well. I suppose we'll have to wait and see.

With Love - Hilary Duff
LAX to O'Hare - The Academy Is...

Saturday, January 27, 2007

No, I didn't die.


(Michael Palin? <3)




(Band humor? Very much so.)


(Poor Oliver...)

...Just thought you might enjoy a dose of Monty Python.
(I know I did.)

Monday, January 22, 2007

Two Tones?

Anyone seen this video on YouTube yet? It is amazingggg.

I guess it's a little "artsy" for some, but I still love it. It makes me wanna do something like that. Or at least a video to it (expect one. Believe it. ^.-)

Anyways. That's just something I wanted to share with you guys...So here. Music to download.

Two Tones...By uh...Those guys.
Jeremy Fraser - Franz Ferdinand
Fighting Dreamers (Naruto Opening Theme)

Sunday, January 21, 2007

This morning = Discovery.

Aha! I feel so incredibly accomplished. After our band director asked me to get a copy of our District music in mp3 so he could play it for the class, I nearly chewed my own head off in frustration. Do you know how hard it is to find a decent .RAM/.mp3 converter?! Well, I found one. So you're all going to sit down and listen to this f***in' piece of District music that gave me so much trouble (and, as a bonus, a free interview with AK in last weeks "the Splendid Table").

It's apparently been quite a productive day for me. I've finally figured out how to work Photoshop, and have been making graphics like crazy...
You wanna see a few? Suuure. Why not?

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Ballet Music from Faust (our District piece)
the Splendid Table's interview with Alex Kapranos

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Yayy weekends!!!

Have any of you guys been to Last.fm yet? It's a website that "scrobbles" (keeps track of) the songs you listen to and puts them on a little chart for you. It basically tells you exactly how obsessed with a certain band/song you are. It tracks songs from almost any music player (iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc.) and then tells you what artists you've listened to the most in the past week, and you overall top artists/songs. It then gives you a list of "neighbours", or people with similar tastes in music. It also has artist profiles and (some) song clips. It's pretty cool.

Anyywayyy...This whole week has been absolutely ridiculous for me. So...I've decided to make a list of songs to summarize it for you (because I know you'd rather have music than writing).

Sunday:
Forest for the Trees - Huey Lewis & the News

Monday:
Fight - No Vacancy

Tuesday:
Calling You - Aqua

Wednesday:
Star Struck - Yellowcard

Thursday:
Points of Authority - Linkin Park

Friday:
Stand - Veggie Tales. Yes. Veggie Tales.

Saturday:
I Love Rock 'N' Roll - Britney Spears (Yea, yea. I know.)

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Noteworthy Stuff.

M.A.F.I.A. - An ally space. It's supposedly a network that's developed in the U.S. (Yes, I completely realize that it's says it's based in South Korea..), and is trying to "expand it's area of influence". The MAFIA is trying to move itself onto the web, but apparently news travels very slowly, because there are only a few members...I guess that's what happens when everyone tries to be all secretive about it. The space is apparently run by "The Boss". Who is he? I have no clue... Just thought I'd throw that out there. But whatever...


Anyways, I was looking for a book to read the other night, when I stumbled upon Alex Kapranos' new book "Sound Bites: Eating on Tour with Franz Ferdinand". Interested, I bought the book, not knowing what to expect. I actually found it quite funny (although some parts did make me go "Um...Okaaay...Too much info, AK..."). It was definately a good book. Just be warned, if you find any sort of interview in the internet with AK, or anything of the sort, realize they will almost definately mention his "adventure" in Argentina. Two words. Bull's testicles...Yea. Exactly.


Anyway, That's really all I have to say for today. But it does seem that this wave of depression might be here for a while. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right?



Wednesday, January 17, 2007

The skies are blue, oh so blue...

Maybe it's just me, but everyone seems...depressed. It seems like the whole area has this cloud of depression hanging over it (both literally and figuratively). As much as I love winter, this is just. Not. Cool. The whole town seems to have gotten more melancholy. Including me.

But I've come to a conclusion. Depression must be 100% contangious. Seriously. Look up at the sky. Gray. Cold. (Was) Rainy. See? The town got so bad the sky became depressed, too. Now that makes me feel even more horrible (okay...not really. But it doesn't help, either). So I've figured that if I can post enough random junk that makes people happy, then that'll spread too. Oh please let it spread.





...I swear I didn't do this.


Scot-land - Franz Ferdinand
놀자 - Jadu (Yes. I do indeed realize that is Korean writing. Get over it.)
The Hamster Dance - Hampton and the Hampsters
We're Going to Be Friends - the White Stripes (Some of you may know this as the opening theme from Napolean Dynamite.)
Split Personality - Skye Sweetnam

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Monday, January 15, 2007

Just some random stuff...

Okay, first off, for everyone who's sitting there listening to their playlist for the 100th time in a row (like me) and is starting to kinda want something new, you might want to check out Pandora. It's an internet radio station that takes the kind of music you listen to and compiles a list of similar music. You can rate the songs they give you, to help them further refine the search. 'Tis great.

For those of you who like a little humor with your music, you should definately head over to SongsToWearPantsTo.com. This guy is a genius. He takes your requests and turns them into songs (although not all of them make it. The only way to guarantee he'll make yours is to make a paid request). And because I am the wonderfully nice person I am, I've got a few of his songs up for download. Check 'em out.

Well, I know there's gotta be at least a few of you who are just looking for something to do, so if you're in a quiz taking mood some good sites are: Quizilla and I-Am-Bored.com

If you're looking for some good forums/message boards, the-N and the SSF (Skye Sweetnam Forums. One of the best artist forums I've ever seen. The boardies or "soldiers" there are super nice.) are some great places to check out.


Napoleode (feat. Eko) - Songstowearpantsto.com
Megabytes and Gigabytes Freestyle - Songstowearpantsto.com
The Izzy and Taco Show - Songstowearpantsto.com
Underage Stalkers - Songstowearpantsto.com (my personal fave.)

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Guitar Hero 2

So...I've decided to use today's post as an opportunity for a game review. The game? Guitar Hero 2 (For Playstation 2), of course.

Guitar Hero 2 has gotta be one of the best sequel games (for any console) out there. It's been tweaked majorly in some areas, and that is fine with me. For example, each player in multiplayer mode and select his/her own difficulty (So now I can thrash all my friends who are still stuck on easy while I'm playing on expert...). It also divides up the parts into bass/rhythm and lead guitar. This is 100x better than the original where you had to split up the part, so while one was playing, the other was out getting a drink (...Or something like that. Either way, there was plenty of time for boredom). You can both play simultaneously in either Vs. or Co-op mode.

The characters in GH2 have gotten a makeover, as well. The most noticable difference is in Pandora (who in the first had the long blue hair, dressed in all black, and scared the s*** out of more than a few people...), in GH2, she has gotten a new haircut (but she still has the blue hair), and has lost the all black outfit. In fact, her new outfit is a cream colored jacket/pants set. She looks quite...Glam/diva-ish?
All of the characters have changed at least a bit, though. And in fact, you can change them even more. If you go to the shop, you can buy alternate outfits for the characters (Think skins for your guitar). And I actually turned Judy Nail into a fairly normal nice looking girl (with some damn awesome shoes) into a girl who reminded me a good deal of the movie "School of Rock". Go figure.

The new venues look amazing (as expected). But I almost want to say I liked the venues better in the original GH. The only one that I though absolutely beat it's counterpart in the original was the first venue, Battle of the Bands. Maybe it's just that the rowdiness of the crowd and the dim lights of the gym seem all to familiar to me...But whatever, right?

So, overall, GH2 pretty much kicks GH's ass. Both good games (and I think I might like the song choices in GH a little bit better. But just a little bit. Not a whole lot.) completely blew me away, and I know I still be rawkin' on my little flippy GH guitar for a while. Good job, guys. Keep 'em coming.

Strutter - KISS

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Anime!

I decided I needed an anime post...
So I'm just going to list good anime/manga. Feel free to leave suggestions of other good anime/manga in the comment box as well...

For the manga lovers:
Pita Ten
Samurai Champloo
Full Metal Alchemist
Girls Bravo
MAR
DNAngel

For the anime Lovers:
Naruto (Except the fillers. yuck.)
Inuyasha
Samurai Champloo
BLEACH
Full Metal Alchemist
S.Cry.Ed
Ghost in the Shell

Haruka Katana - Asian Kung-Fu Generation (Naruto Theme)
Ready, Steady, Go - L'Arc~en~Ciel (FMA theme)
Shiki No Uto - MINMI (Samurai Champloo end theme)
BattleCry - Nujabes (Samurai Champloo theme)







Yayy for a new blog!!!

So after lots of searching and organizing, my Top 15 of '06 list is finally done! I am pleased to present you with all of my favorites (complete with downloads). To download a song, just right-click the link and click "Save Target As". Have funn!

15. Jackie Jackson - Franz Ferdinand
Most Brilliant Kids song ever. End of story. The whole "Colours Are Brighter" album is genius, though. For more of the brilliance, check out the Colours are Brighter myspace/website.

14. Beyond the Surface - Kutless
I love this song. It's really all I can say. Kutless has an amazing sound, plus they are a Christian band. Double points, for sure. Check out their myspace/website to see them in all their glory.


13. This Could Be - Mainstay
Although Mainstay isn't exactly topping the charts with their album "Well Meaning Fiction", it doesn't make this song any less amazing. You should definately check out their myspace/website.


12. Boyhunter (Simlish) - Skye Sweetnam
Okay, so I know that "Sound Soldier" isn't supposed to be released until later in the year, but this version of Skye's song "Boyhunter" is a riot. Having the awesome sound of Skye, but the sheer hilarity of the Simlish language, "Boyhunter (Simlish)" was an obvious choice for my list. Check out Skye's myspace/website (and her fanspace).

11. Miss Murder - AFI
The only band with a lead singer that can make someone go "What a stupid haircut..." and "I love his haircut!" at the same time. Miss Murder is one of those songs that you just couldn't avoid, whether it's because you love it, or all of your friends love it (I fall into the first category...). You should definately check out their myspace/website, too.

10. Don't Lets Start - They Might Be Giants
Okay, Okay. I know technically "Don't Lets Start" isn't a song from '06, but it was on their newest album "Then: The Earlier Years", so I counted it eligible on my list. Check out their myspace/website for more of their undeniably catchy songs.


9. Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
Amazing song. Amazing Video. Winning combination. "Chasing Cars"' lyrics and tone have a very peaceful feel to them. While your in that zen mood, do them a favor and check out their myspace/website.

8. White & Nerdy - "Weird Al" Yankovic
You knew it was coming. You can't have a best songs of '06 list without including "Weird Al"s "White & Nerdy". By far the funniest song (and quite possibly, the most well known) on the list, "White & Nerdy" is only sitting so low on the list because it was over played. Stop by Al's myspace/website while your flipping through that comic collection, too!


7. Activate - Stellar Kart
Stellar Kart's sophmore album "We Can't Stand Sitting Down" absolutely blew me away. Other great songs from their album are "Me and Jesus" and "Procrastinating". Check out their myspace/website.


6. Animal I Have Become - Three Days Grace
Three Days Grace's "Animal I Have Become" has an awesome dark and frustrated sound to it. Definately worthy of your air guitar. Check out their myspace/website.


5. High School Never Ends - Bowling for Soup
Accurate. Catchy. Great Music video. Sounds good to me. The song (for some reason...) reminds me of their song "1985". Don't ask me why, but I love 'em both anyway. Check out their myspace/website.


4. Fidelity - Regina Spektor
Regina Spektor proved she's a song writing genius with this one. I loved her use of the piano in this one, and her voice is absolutely perfect for this song. Check out her myspace/website, you know you want to.


3. When You Were Young - The Killers
Another popular song on the list (surprise, surprise). "When You Were Young" has been all over the place since it's release. It's sheer popularity is enough to put it on the list, but the song itself brought it up to #3. So, for those of you who live in a cave and haven't heard of the Killers, check out their myspace/website. Now.


2. Swallow Smile - Franz Ferdinand
The scottish-accented Franz Ferdinand strike again! This song (which is an official B-side) is one of Franz Ferdinand's best songs yet. Check out their myspace/website!


1. Steady As She Goes - The Raconteurs
Enormously catchy song. It has a good musical value, but not to the point where it's not user-friendly. Not to mention the video has Peewee Herman in it (Or at least the guy who played him). Their myspace/website


Honorable Mentions

You're Pitiful - "Weird Al" Yankovic
Over My Head - The Fray
What You Waiting For? - Franz Ferdinand
Me and Jesus - Stellar Kart