For the love of Saddle Creek

My love for all things Saddle Creek started with Bright Eyes and grows on me everyday. Indie at it's FINEST. It has only grown with the preview of the new "Criteria" album - which a friend bought a month before it actually comes out (Aug 23) - he found at a used cd place as a promo copy. It's pretty dang good.

And then there is my new love with Cursive. I had thought it was harder rock when I first heard of them, but now that I've listened to it more extensively, geez it is exactly what I like. Yay. I've liked the Faint and Azure Ray for a while, but even more the more I hear from them. Saddle Creek puts 'em out so fast I can't keep up. Plus they are the nicest people EVER when you order from them. Hand written thank you and everything. Kudos.

Jason Mraz, Mr. A-Z

Ahhh, Mr. Mraz. Oh how I love and cherish your first album. So much that I even bought the live album. You took me on a tongue twisting journey that rivaled Eminem with it's fast rhymns and crazy speed. I was even ok with the sideways trucker hat that only you and your cute face could pull off (although I was dismayed at it's immense popularity with the rest of the world).

I, however, am not OK with your new album. First off, life is not wonderful. (See, track 1). According to this slow song, it's boring and vague and SLOW. The song changes sytles like 5 times, and is it bit, eh, blase. Hope was restored with "Wordplay" (track 2). It's a pretty good song, still not fast and mad crazy like before, but still good.

And then, there's that "Geek in the Pink" (track 3). Is that supposed to be a bad sexual reference? I mean, the thing is littered with them. It's like the enternal facebook question "is poking supposed to be a sexual reference?" Track 5 ("Mr. Curiosity) is well, to put it bluntly: AWFUL. Is that opera?! What the hell is going here?! I bought a Jason Mraz cd!

The rest of the album is a repetition of the first couple of comments. Some of the songs are really catchy, and I approve. Overall, this cd is TOO SLOW and not enough of the "wordplay" that made you famous. You just became another Jessie McCartney, Howie Day, & Ryan Cabrara (which I all like, but still go back to being original!).

Smart playlists

iTunes has this really cool feature called "smart playlists" where you just have to set some restrictions and it chooses the songs for you. For instance, you can do things by song title, artist, last played, etc. I made a couple of them:

Least Played (played less than 2 times)
Most Played (played more than 10 times)
Yearly (last played a least a year ago, played at least once)

This thing is awesome! Here's how many tracks (approx) I have on each:

Least: 1220
Most: 110
Yearly: 100
Total on ipod: 1800+

I am working on getting all the songs off the least list - and it is helping me eliminate bunch of music I just don't like, or don't really want to listen to anymore. The least list started at about 1400 hundred so I'm doing a pretty good job of knocking songs off. Some of it is new stuff I've listened to on my computer, just not on my ipod yet (read Modest Mouse and the Bravery). Some of it is just stuff I don't really listen to because I'm not sure I like it (read: At the Drive In). We'll just see how long it takes me to get all of them off that list!

Musical Faux Pas

I've been thinking about a couple of my musical mess ups lately and thought it would be a funny (but short, cause I'm cool like that) post.

- Not knowing that Johnny Cash covered a NIN song.
: which involved me feeling like an idiot when that "joke" was made, and I was like oh shut up don't be stupid. Ahh, whoops.

- Ok there was another one, but I don't remember it. Will post if I do.

Other mess ups:

- MTV and Pearl Jam
: Pearl Jam, back together on stage after a long time, playing Comfortably Numb on Live 8. Wow. It was amazing, until MTV decided to cut it off and let their VJ talk OVER Pearl Jam. :O! Right. Even the cartoon network was making fun of them.

- Book I'm Reading (sort of) about the Alt Rock Exposion in the 90s
: has a 90 best of the 90s list with out Rage Against the Machine OR Radiohead. What?

Yay, local concert

7.20.05
7:30 pm
Cruiserweight, The Letters Organize, My Epiphany, The Blackout Pact, Synatra
$7

@ Tokyo Joe's

I like cruiserweight, and then love hearing new stuffs. Might just make it out to this'en.

EDIT: Hmmm, cruiserweight's website seems to say they will be somewhere else that day.

What song is this?

Wait, how long would you wait
Just for me to call
I know you make mistakes
yeah, but
I hope some day you have it all
cause I feel like a prisoner
trapped inside this broken world
while I'm playing the victim again
running in circles
to me it's all the same
and though nothing's gonna change, still
I hope someday you have it all

take this aggravation that I've thrown myself into
change this situation just cause I need something new

and still I feel like a prisoner
trapped inside this broken world
while I'm playing the victim again
running in circles
to me it's all the same
and though nothing's gonna change, still
I hope someday you have it all
I hope someday you have it all

if we could all depend
on what we know
if you could understand
I'm losing control
that I'm losing control
that I'm losing control
that I'm losing control

- Wow, this is awesome, and I don't even know what it is. I'm in the process of finding out though. I love these lyrics. Especially the highlighted line, speaks to my life right now.

EDIT: Sum 41 - 88

Love Songs

So, my dad and I have jokingly made our "jukeboxes in hell" list of songs (see: Jessica Simpson's version of Berlin's Take My Breath Away). I realized listening to a cd today, that I have such a "list" or an idea for the perfect romantic songs too. I've come across a couple of those lately, so I thought I'd share.

Counting Crows - Color Blind
Even with the stigma of being the seduction song in Cruel Intentions, this song is just perfect to me. Maybe it's the paino, or Adam Duritz's voice, but yikes I like I like.

Iron & Wine - Such Great Heights
I remember listening to this in Garden State, and thinking damn that song is perfect for part of the movie, and then "wait, where have I heard this before?" It's a cover of Postal Service, but I really, really like the slow lullabye version. It's very sweet.

Blue October - Sound of Pulling Heaven Down
This one barely beat out 18th Floor Balcony by them also, but there's just something a little different and more "loving" than 18FB. It's the words that get me on this one, the use of the word "stars", especially since there isn't a musical background to this one yet.

Band List/The Bravery

First off, the Bravery cd is about 45 minutes of awesomeness, including their bass player, who is fabulous. (I don't know if you've noticed, but I like the bass. A lot. Probably because I play it. ;) ). Great buy.

So, this band list thing has turned into quite a project. When I figured out how I wanted to do it, it because this huge thing that I actually am very excited about. Right now I have a very basic outline to it, so check it out. I'm pumped about the possibilities of it. Plus I've got all summer!