Sometimes, you just want to cry.

this has been a rough year. I lost my mom. My dad is fighting Cancer. Several musicians who were big influences on me died of either suicide or drugs. I myself am battling an alcohol problem. It seems like every time I turn around, another mountain of shit crashes into me. Music... Music is cathartic though. Tonight, I was sitting in my living room, listening to some music in the dark, and just crying. No shame, just letting the emotion flow through me. sometimes it's important to remember that it's okay to be sad. For the friends I've lost to suicide... and the musicians whose music helped heal me, but couldn't heal themselves:
For those who fight the good fight against the evils in the world, but can't quite conquer their own demons:
 

For those who are struggling to deal with the loss of someone dear to them:

well now... it's been a while. Life was good, for quite a while. Thanks KF for everything you do for me. Life turned to crap lately. Gonna miss you mom. I'm listening to a lot of instrumentals. I'm also listening to stuff that is angry and resentful. I'm trying to get back into playing myself, but it's slow progress. Here's some stuff.

Five Finger Death Punch - Canto 34. the title is a reference to one of the later verses of Dante's Inferno, wherein Dante and Virgil approach the 9th circle of hell and observe the traitors' fate in the icy lake of Cocytus.

Caspian is a band I found through Slacker Radio's "post-rock soundscapes" station. "Gone in Bloom and Bough" makes for good driving/working music where I can be alone with my thoughts yet steered towards positive emotions.


A Perfect Circle is putting out another album. I'm a big fan, though Maynard and I have very different outlooks regarding religion. I appreciate this piece aesthetically, and I can understand (based on his history) his resentment towards religion and many religious people even if I don't share the sentiment.

Anguish.

Around a week ago, a good friend of mine took his own life. I made the ~1200 mile round trip by car to his funeral. Suicide is never the answer. If you're thinking that it might be your best option... I urge you to talk to somebody.

I find myself listening to Silverchair and Counting Crows.
Silverchair - Shade


Silverchair - Suicidal Dream


Counting Crows - Perfect Blue Buildings


I miss you already Doug. I hope you found what you were looking for.

Classical plus Metal and some other stuff I've been listening to

I've been listening to some weird stuff lately (big surprise). Here's some of it. note: as always, if you don't like the first few songs of a post, don't give up... the others may be vastly different.

Atomis ~ Maelstrom This is a band I discovered from a youtube video (thanks vsauce2). I actually gave them currency to help them record more music. The vocals are a bit screamy, but don't let that frighten you. give it a listen, it's not what you think.

Means End ~ Nox Aurumque Again, thanks to vsauce2 for this one. The original version of this song is a choral piece that plays opposite to Lux Aurumque. Add in a 8 string guitar, drum kit, and 5 string bass guitar... replace the choir with a single powerful vocalist, and you have something special.

Cat and the Menagerie ~ Better Song came to be in a strange little flash game. not really my style, yet I can't stop listening

video followed by game link.

game here: http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/daymare_cat

Reduce the bit count

I was having a conversation the other day about how video games have been part of my generation's daily life since we were born. The sounds of an 8-bit sound chip resonate with me in a way that few other instruments can, and I'm not the only one. In fact there is an entire genre of music where old console sound chips are used in lieu of more traditional instruments. chip music might seem limiting, but to me there is a purity in it that other electronic music can't match.

this song just makes me happy.
Shirobon - Remembering Childhood


X-ray - Zizibum


Chiptune David - Where Am I?

Lets Do the Time Warp Again

Don't worry, I'm not going to post clips from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I am however going to post some music from before my time. I was born in late 1981... got into rock and alternative as a teenager at the end of the grunge era, and didn't give older stuff much attention until college. Here's some stuff that was all released prior to my birth.

I've slipped back into some older stuff lately, which is why I'm making this post. I'm listening to a lot of Progressive and Psychedelic Rock, as well as a lot of harder stuff from around 1967-1974 but the main reason behind this post is that my neighbor's daughter just posted on facebook that listening to justin bieber always makes her feel better... and I felt a need to bring balance back to the internet.

David Bowie - Space Oddity


Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit


Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb


Pink Floyd - Time


Led Zeppelin - Kashmir


Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song


Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze

Driving, freedom, and the road.

The road has been on my mind a lot lately.The first Audioslave album remains among my favorite driving albums of all time. So many of the songs on that album speak of the joys of the road. Included in this entry are the originals and some of my favorite covers from that album as well as some of my favorite driving tunes. enjoy.

First off, here's The original version of "I Am the Highway"


A while back, I was listening to a pandora channel based on the band "Apocalyptica" and found a group called "The String Quartet" who does classical covers of a lot of different bands. They did a great cover of "I Am the Highway". here it is:


Gasoline. This song pretty much nails what I expected when I heard "Chris Cornell" and "Everyone except Zach from RATM". You have the drums and bass from Rage, the "Soundgarden" vocals... and it's one of the few Audioslave tunes where Tom Morello really does his thing on guitar. Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of his other stuff with the band, but just listening to the guitar on this song and say "bulls on parade" or "testify" and you can tell it's the same musician.

Roundabout remembrances.

Okay, so I was on the interwebs wasting time, as is my custom, when I suddenly stumble across a discussion forum thread detailing the latest purchases of said forum members. One member had purchased a rather elegant pen. As a response to this, another member posted a youtube clip of the business card scene from "American Psycho". Now, this movie has been on my "to watch" list for some time. I immediately head off to Netflix to see if it was available for streaming... it was not. So, I then started searching my external hard drives. By some miracle, these drives became stuffed with media during my college days. A search for "Psycho" failed to turn up an appropriate movie file. It did however turn up a band I hadn't thought about in years: Treble Charger.

here's a sampling.
American Psycho


Red


Cheat Away

Angry... Stressed... feeding those feelings with music.

Going through some stuff... need songs that are loud and screamy followed by songs that make me chill the hell out.

first comes loud and screamy

Nonpoint - Bullet With A Name


Maximum The Hormone - What Up People


now for the chilling
This is one of my favorite Pumpkins' tunes.
Smashing Pumpkins - Drown

modern blues.

I've come across some interesting stuff lately. Very bluesy, rap lyrics that address real socio-political issues rather than simply glorifying excess. Not much else to say, I'll let these poets speak for themselves. I should note, that I do not necessarily share the political views contained in these songs, but found them thought provoking.

Brother Ali - Uncle Sam Goddamn.


Atmosphere - Guarantees

NOSTALGIA!!!!

The guy I carpool with has XM, and most mornings we're listening to Lithium or Liquid Metal. The other day on the drive home, Lithium started playing this infectious little tune:


I fully expect to be sick of this song within a week... such is the case with mid-90s one-hit-wonders. They're really catchy, and you find yourself humming along... only to overplay them and thus become sick of them. Then you forget about them for a decade only to rediscover them when you least expect it.

I've been listening to a lot of early post-grunge lately. Here's some stuff I keep coming back to:

Sister - The Nixons


Casual Affair - Tonic


Lame - Seven Mary Three


Punch in Punch out - Seven Mary Three

Street Dogs

Here's yet another band that crept into a pandora channel of mine. Their song "Free" connected with me, so I downloaded an album and have been listening to it in the car for the past few days as well as learning how to play a few of the songs.

here's a sampling from their "State of Grace" album.

Free:


Elizabeth:

The Yoshida Brothers

My uncle linked them on facebook and I thought it was cool. Always fun seeing old instruments being used in newer music. You get tired of the same guitar, bass, drums and keyboards all of the time.

GoRemy

Yeah, I'm slacking. I warned you about this in the inaugural post. I've been shifting through music styles almost daily, so nothing has really kept my attention long enough to warrant a post.

Anyway, GoRemy (comedic rapper based in northern VA) released a new song a little while back. Here is some of his stuff. A lot of his stuff is either local references or him making fun of his middle-eastern heritage.

Saudis in Audis


Metro Song


Arlington


Hey There Khalilah

Abney Park

Abney Park is a band that crept into one of my pandora channels. They're sort of industrial, sort of tribal, sort of electronic, sort of classical. They blend in the steam-punk aesthetic to their image and music.

Have a listen. The third tune reminds me of another band I was introduced to via a different pandora channel called "Alestorm" (pirate metal?).

Airship Pirate:


Virus


Æther Shanty

Ulterior Motives

So, here's a post with an ulterior motive... check out
"The Last Monarchs".
I've known the violin player for ~10 years so I can't deny that I may be biased, but that doesn't change the fact that they're a fun band. check them out and leave a comment here to tell me what you think.

Doctor Steel

Dr. Phineas Waldolf Steel is a mad scientist/toy designer/musician who is bent on world domination. I'll leave the description at that.

vids 1-3 show the man, vids 3-4 show the tunes

I like the song in video 4 best.

SomethingALaMode feat K. Flay

I first came across K. Flay while listening to MC Lars a few months ago. She did a guest verse on "We Have Arrived" along with Lars and YTCracker and it stuck with me. I recently stumbled across her collaboration with a french duo called "Something A La Mode". They make interesting use of classical string instruments. I like seeing an actual cello being played rather than just another synth.

anyway, here's 5 am by Something A La Mode, featuring K. Flay. Enjoy.

Purpose of this blog

Let us face it... most of you listen to horrible music. It's not your fault, you simply listen to what you're exposed to. You don't have the time to go looking for interesting tunes, so you end up with an iPod full of auto-tuned, over-produced, MTV-friendly, 4-chord, cookie cutter music. "This album sold 500k copies... it must be good". Windows ME sold millions of copies... it's still garbage (no offense to the band "Garbage").

The purpose of this blog is as a repository for whatever music I stumble across and find interesting. Some of the stuff I post here you may really like, some of it you may despise. Either is okay. At some point after posting, I'll probably hate a song or two I've posted here. I guarantee however that you'll broaden your musical horizons. Give each tune a listen. Let me know what you think. Maybe look up some other songs by the same artist. Above all.. keep an open mind. Don't discount a tune simply because "that's genre X, and I don't like genre X"

updates will be haphazard and ill-timed.