25

Wow...

As of today, I have been to 25 concerts.

This does not include seeing Paul Delay twice, however...

I don't know why...

Maybe it's because he was free.

Oh my...

I also saw Bruce Cockburn... and Dan Hicks. Wow.

29, then.

Though I'm not sure if the first Paul Delay concert counts as I can barely remember it... I was very young, maybe 8. He was playing at the state fair once, and my family and I ate dinner on a blanket in the grass in front of the stage.

I suppose I should add those to my list.

Anyway, the point is that I've started a new blog to store my memories of all of these concerts in.

It's called PDX & Muses.

You'll find it here.

Music of the Week

(DISCLAIMER: Some of these songs have questionable lyrics. If you're going to get offended, don't listen to it. I like the way these songs sound. You don't have to.)

So... I feel like I haven't updated about music in a while. Here we go.

Lately I've been getting really into heavy rock/metal and rap/hip-hop. Which is strange, since I usually don't listen to those genres very often. Maybe it's because I've been listening to the radio again.

Anyway, here are a few songs I've been listening to a lot this past week.

Elbow - The Bones of You.

I heard of this song from another blog recently. It's a little different than most of the music I listen to... I like it.



Saosin - On My Own.

A friend of mine got me to start listening to this group and then told me that I should learn the bass line for this song so I could play it with him. After listening to it about 50 times while learning the part, I think I've come to love it rather a lot. Thanks, D.



Monty Are I - Dublin Waltz.

I saw this group back in August (I think...), 2009 and LOVED the performance of this song. After a couple months I stopped listening to MAI... but now I'm remembering how awesome they were. Check it out.



Black Eyed Peas - Imma Bee.

My friends used to tell me I was a music dictionary... then I stopped listening to the radio about a year ago... I stopped being the music dictionary I was. SO. I started listening to the radio again and this song has become a favorite. Not really sure why. It's just nice and catchy I guess. Way better than "Boom Boom Pow" was.



Jay-Z ft. Rihanna and Kanye West - Run This Town.

Another radio favorite. In my opinion, Jay-Z had a bit of a fall in popularity a while back, but he's completely back in the game now. Love it. Pardon the unfortunate lyrics during Kanye's verse.



Black Eyed Peas - Meet Me Halfway.

I love this song. I would totally listen to it without any singing and/or rapping, too. BUT. It is better with both. Though I don't really like the techno vocals on a couple of Will. I. Am.'s verses. Love the chorus, though. Especially at 2:58 onwards. The build-up is great.

Beautiful, catchy, and it makes you move.



Drake ft. Kanye West, Lil' Wayne and Eminem - Forever.

Alright... if you take offense at questionable lyrics... don't listen to this one. It's edited but you can still get a lot out of it. I fought with myself about putting it up here, but the back track on this one is too good to pass up at a couple parts.

I personally like rap in general, though I didn't used to listen to it as much as I do now. BUT. What really got me liking this song... First, the variety of the rappers in this song. Drake, Kanye, Lil Wayne AND Eminem?? Awesome. Second, I LOVE the piano on Lil Wayne's verse.

If you would prefer, you can just listen to his verse... which is clean. It starts at 3:14 and goes til 4:07. The best piano part is at 4:00.

I also have to make the comment that Eminem is an incredible rapper. Not only does he come up with some of the best metaphors... he's insanely good at articulation. I can understand every word that comes out of his mouth. Which, at times, might not be the best thing. But I appreciate it a lot since many popular artists (not only rappers) have terrible articulation and you have no idea what they're saying.



Alright... That's seven songs. One a day for your week. Have fun.

"Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl" Book Review

A beautiful blend of theology and classic humoristic wit, N.D. Wilson’s “Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl” is an amusing, yet highly accurate journal of thoughts about our world and the amazing God who designed and directed it. The God who not only wrote the screenplay, developed the perfect cast, and directed the feature presentation, but who also spoke it all into being with one word: "Action!"

In this book, N.D. Wilson uses sarcastic humor to show that the world we live in is not the way many have represented it (a world of chaos, chance and tragedy), but that it is, in fact, a novel of purpose driven, everything happens for a reason, delight. He takes ordinary events and pastimes of the average human’s life and turns them into theological tales of an incredible play, with lines and scenes for every living, dying and dead creature.

“Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl” is filled with memorable metaphors reminiscent of GK Chesterton, but with a modern twist and sarcasm that is all its own. Lines such as, “Death is that black stripe above my head on the measuring board. When I’ve reached it, well, then I can go on the gnarly rides” have made me smile and nod my head with approval. Such a simple statement, yet it is soaked with meaning. N.D. Wilson’s book reminds you that life and death are all characters in this great story. He reminds you that there is a plot, and you are very much a part of it. Life is an epic poem, and N.D. Wilson’s book is a record of a miniscule part of it. His part. But going with the ideas of “Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl,” even Wilson’s small part and small book of stories is a page in the novel that God has dictated into being.

N.D. Wilson has created a book that I would recommend to anyone interested in Christian theology and even in life itself.

A Little Music for My Mind.

Okay, maybe it's not just a "little" music. Over the weekend I've aquired about 200 new songs. By "new" I mean that I didn't own them until Saturday morning. So I decided to make a list of all the ones I've listened to so far and arrange them into four catagories: LOVE IT, like it, hate it, want to like it/love it.

Let's do it.

LOVE IT:

Classics: I Want You to Want Me - Cheap Trick (live version), American Pie - Don McLean, Several Elton John songs off of the album "Tumbleweed Connection."

New to me: I've fallen in love with so many new songs that it's just ridiculous.

Let's start with basically anything Brandi Carlile's put out, including her cover of Creep by Radiohead. This was a big move for me because I simply refused to listen to any modern country-like artists, and I had specifically said that I would never listen to Brandi Carlile because of her personal life. Several of the songs are about relationships with women, and I'm a Christian. However, the quality of her music is such that I just don't care. One of the songs is entitled "Josephine" and I love it. The harmonies are dead on; the vocals are smooth. It's just amazing.

I may be exaggerating a little bit, but the point is that it's good music.

Country is growing on me.

Moving on, another group I've fallen in love with is The Jonas Brothers. Say what you will, they're pretty good musicians. And in this case, they're all professing Christians and seem to be sticking to it. I'll stop there, because my brother will be too embarressed if I go on anymore. ;)

Billy Talent. I saw this band open for My Chemical Romance last year and haven't been able to get them out of my head. However, I only just bought some of their songs yesterday. Two of my favorites are "Surrender" and "Red Flag."

Quick comment: The difference between all three of these artists is incredible. Brandi Carlile: folk/rock, Jo Bros: teen/pop/rock, Billy Talent: rock/punk.

I love a little variety.

Beirut. My brother got me into this group. I only have two of their songs at the moment, but I love them. "Cliquot" and "Nantes." More of a mellowed out group which features some interesting sounds. They seem to use a lot of keyboard effects and piano, and they also have some good accordian, horn and drum usage. At first, I thought that the vocals were terrible, but after listening to them every time I see my brother, they've really grown on me.

Greenday's latest album "21st Century Breakdown." I love this album. "21 Guns" and "Viva la Gloria? (Little Girl)" are probably my favorites. It's Greenday, but they've grown up.

Passion Pit. Awesome techno-ish group. Favorite song is "Sleepyhead" off of the "Chunk of Change" album. Enough said.

Eminem's new single "We Made You." Another sarcastic, stupid, arrogant, yet pointedly awesome song. However, the lyrics are incredibly controversial and at some points, simply disgusting. Not for the faint of heart, I suppose. Hmm... maybe I shouldn't put it in this post... Oh well!

The Ting Tings - "That's Not My Name." Love it.

Like it:

3OH!3 - "Trust Me." Okay, this is a terrible song. But some of the lyrics are just plain awesome. Plus it has a good beat. Think what you will.

The Kings of Leon. Specifically their new single "Sex on Fire" and... hmm... there's another one that I can't remember the name of. Sex on Fire has great flow and interest, but who knows whether the lyrics are appropriate or not? The other single is alright too, but not as good as a lot of other music out there.

(The early Kings of Leon stuff is great, though.)

Cobra Starship. New single has a great beat & a sweet tune, but a terrible message. Typical.

Asleep at the Wheel - album "Keepin' Me Up Nights." Not much to say about this, cause I haven't listened to it as much, plus I only just got into modernish country sounds, but I do like it. Vocals are awesome.

Want to like it:

Regina Spektor - "Laughing With." Off of the album "Far." Not quite sure whether this is actually a good song or not. Lyrics are either excellent or anger-inducing. If it is good, love it. If it isn't, I want to.

The Indigo Girls. I only just discovered this duo, which apparently won some Grammys a few years back. I love the music and the sarcasm in the lyrics, but I can't love the entire sound because of the political crap. Both of the women in this group are lesbians and super-enviromentalists, which makes for some really irritating lyrics at times. Want to like it for sure, but just can't yet.

Some of Fall Out Boy's new songs such as "20 Dollar Nose Bleed" are written incredibly well, but the political stabs at George Bush and the War in Iraq just make me mad.

Hate it:

I don't have much to go here simply because I don't buy stuff I don't like. However, some of The Indigo Girl's stuff just makes me angry. Pretty much anything that insults the following will tick me off: Republicans, George W. Bush and/or Christians. Also, anything saying that we need to "save the planet" is a bunch of crap.

I know that musicians can and should write about whatever's affecting them, but that doesn't mean they should insult whomever our current President may be in the process. That includes interviews and stage talk. Sometimes, they really do need to shut up and sing.

But again, musicians can sing about what effects them and should because it makes for better music.

There you go, large post for my long absence.

My Favorite Commmercials

These are two of my favorite commercials: One, the Berries and Cream Starburst ad. "Berries and cream, Berries and cream, I'm a little lad who loves berries and cream!" Two, the Dell laptop commercial featuring the song "The W.A.N.D." by The Flaming Lips.

Berries and Cream


Dell

Music

Recently I've been listening to several new bands. I thought I would jot down a few notes on these new bands, songs, or albums.

Shiny Toy Guns - We Are Pilots: I really enjoy this album and band. They're an electronic rock band. The songs not only have a good tune, but are also about very interesting things. One of my favorite songs on the album is "When They Came For Us" which is (I think) about Vietnam... however, in a literal sense, the song is about robots and their children being taken away. But I think it has deeper meaning. Anyway... I like the idea of robots being sad and etc.

McFly: This band has several albums. My favorite so far is called 'Motion in the Ocean' but all of the albums have their strong points. I think my favorite songs are "Transylvania" (off Motion in the Ocean) and "She Falls Asleep pt. 1" (I'm not sure which album). Both songs are catchy, and She falls asleep is more of an orchestral peice. I also really like the song "Little Joanna." The best part is the last 30sec. It's well written, I think.

Elton John - Billy Elliot:The Musical. : I just bought this album/musical yesterday. I have heard good things about it, and I think the music in itself is pretty good. However, most of the album makes me sad or angry. Why? Its all very anti-God and pro-Do-Whatever-Makes-You-Feel-Good. This makes me very unhappy. One of the songs on this album is called "Expressing Yourself" and has lyrics such as:
"What is wrong with dressing up in satin and lace?
Get some earrings, some mascara, heels and a fan.
Pretty soon you will start to feel a different man."
This is disgusting and makes me very sad. I suppose this is what I get for listening to Elton John. Ah well, at least the tune is catchy.

Magnet - The Day We Left Town: This is a song a friend of mine showed me. I really like it. It's very interesting and smooth. I think it would be difficult to meld the electronic sound like they do in this song, but Magnet has done a great job.

Kanye West - Graduation: The album Graduation is pretty good as far as I've heard. My favorite tracks are Flashing Lights and Good Morning. Both are somewhat sad, but very nice. Flashing Lights is more mellow and Good Morning is sort of a song about proving ones self. Mabye I'm wrong, but that's what I think of.

So there's some of the music I've been listening to these days.