Shuffle

I have this iPod, and I’m pretty in love with the iPod. It’s not new, I’ve had it for years and it’s been well used. It’s 20GB of space and it’s jam packed full, not enough room for a single song. To put new music on I have to remove something which is always a hard decision, I’m afraid I’ll take off something that one day on my walk home from work I just HAVE to hear. The last couple times I’ve gone to remove music I’ve started to think that maybe since I don’t listen to everything, it’s full of songs that aren’t that good and I should go through and remove them. I never actually follow through with this thought though.

Then there’s the feature I could never really grow to love... the shuffle. In the years that I’ve had my iPod I think I’ve used the shuffle 3 or 4 times. The music is too random, I didn’t like that. I think over the years though, what with having to remove music to put new stuff on I’ve ended up with an iPod full of some really wicked music. I actually used the shuffle yesterday and today and ended up with the greatest mix. I heard so many songs that I’d forgotten I loved. So here’s to my favorite toy and new music to come, bring on the shuffle!
L

Disappointed

I’ve been waiting for this release for a while now, the new Yellowcard album.
The last album they made was not good, it was not anywhere near the sound of Ocean Avenue so when I started to hear good things about this latest album I was excited. The band members themselves admitted that Lights and Sounds wasn’t very good.

For this new album they went with a new producer and have been talking about how they’ve gone back to what they love and have made an album they’re really proud of. I’ll admit, I had high expectations but this new album just doesn’t cut it. The overall sound is very close to Ocean Avenue which I appreciate, but the songs all sound the same. They’ve taken that formula and applied it to every song, it’s boring. There are two noticeably different songs, Paper Walls, which uses a cheesy boys choir at the beginning and Dear Bobby which is cliché in the lyrics and the use of the old man speaking was silly.

So overall I give Paper Walls a 2.5 out of 5, I’m disappointed, I expected more.
L

Shiny, Happy People

Greatest new discovery of last night...

The Hush Sound

Check them out, worth your time.


I went to the Hellogoodbye concert. Honestly, it’s not a band I’m all that fond of but Boys Like Girls was with them and they’re a band I LOVE, so I jumped at the chance to go when a free ticket was offered to me. Hellogoodbye is a band that is much loved by 14 year old girls, needless to say I was pretty much the oldest one there. The band is poppy and a little synthesized, I’m trying to paint you a picture of the band so you can envision the group that was there to see them. Shiny, happy, colorful boys and girls (there’s a point to this, really).

The concert was at Mac Hall in the upstairs ballroom, there just happened to be a concert in the downstairs ballroom too... Black Label Society was playing. They are most definitely a metal band.

So we walked in to get in line for our concert and were immediately worried that we’d got the date wrong or maybe the location... stretching out in front of us is this black and scary looking line up full of tough guys in leather and did I mention black?

Picture it, two long lines stretched out across the food court, on one side you have black, scary, death, on the other shiny, happy, bubbly teens. Funny.
L

List Time

I think it's time for a good list or two...

Music I love right now

1. Boys Like Girls - The Great Escape
2. Relient K - Bite My Tongue
3. Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye
4. Relient K - Deathbed
5. Anything by Run Kid Run
6. Anything by Mae (they've been rediscovered)

Concerts I've been to, or am going to in the near future

1. The Producers (does that count as a concert?) - March 27th
2. The CPO with Barb Wiebe (Future Mother-in-law) - March 30th
3. Snow Patrol/Silversun Pickups/OK Go - April 9th
4. Hellogoodbye/Boys Like Girls - April 11
5. Jann Arden - May 17th

That is all for today
L

Happy?

Dear Jann,

I thought we were done, over. I thought I no longer needed your music. That my tastes had changed.

I was wrong... tonight was a Jann night for sure. I was searching for the right music for my mood, had tried multiple bands. Nothing was right and then it hit me, Jann - the album Happy?

Glad to know we still have time together.
Thanks for being here.

L

A Song to Change your Life

So I've been thinking about his concept for a while now...

You know that song, that one that you hear that changes the way you feel? There's something about it that hits you in a way to change everything, or so it seems (I should have prefaced this by saying it's possible I can be a little over dramatic sometimes).

It might be the lyrics that hit you just so, they describe you at that moment better than anything else can or it's something about how right the chords are, how perfect the harmony is.

Weeks, or months down the line sometimes they've lost their magic... they're just another song but sometimes they'll be special forever.

There are a bunch of those songs for me right now...

Pompeii - Numbers
Something Corporate - Konstantine
Making April - Hurry Up and Wait
Vega 4 - Life is Beautiful
Mike Doughty - I Hear the Bells
Pompeii - States

So my thought is... how many other songs like these ones are out there waiting for me to find them? What if I miss them? What if I never find them? These songs affect me when I find them so not finding them must affect me too... In what way?

It worries me
L

Rant

I oficially hate Stabilo (it's a music group)

A friend of mine loaned me their cd so, as per usual, I brought it home, opened up my iTunes and went to listen. But wait - iTunes doesn't recognize the cd, that's odd. Oh well, I'll just open its folder and copy it onto my computer and then I'll put it into iTunes.

Why would anyone... at this day and age make a cd that isn't compatible with iTunes?!! I don't get it but I'm angry!

The cd will let me burn it or copy it to my computer but it won't play in iTunes. The only program I ever use to listen to cd's is iTunes but they expect me to count them as an exception and use another program? Forget it... I just won't listen to it. I spend the majority of my time listening to music on my iPod... can't do that with this cd.

The only up side to this whole situation is I actually don't really like Stabilo's music so I wouldn't really want to listen to them anyway.. it's the pricipal of the situation though.

So, in conclusion... not being able to use iTunes ticks me off

So I just googled itunes and Stabilo together and came up with this message from the band...

"We're very sorry your experience buying our music was a negative one. e are grateful that you actually went to the effort and shelled out the cash to actually buy the cd. unfortunately, we the band have no control over the copy protection on the album. in fact, we asked the label not to make our disc copy protected. unfortunately the bottom line is that it's not our call. however, there are ways around it particularly if you are running a mac (which i'm assuming you aren't otherwise it should have worked). itunes is another option. again, we're sorry this was your experience, realize there is a lot of great music and hope you will find a way to listen to ours. thanks for the support."

stabilo

I feel a little less angry
L

"just do it again and this time with feeling"

Straylight Run
A Slow Descent

i'm tired
cynical and broken, but wiser
heavy with a sense of resentment
but i used to be so much different
i used to have so much faith
when i startedyou knew that i always meant it
i knew i could make a difference
i struggled to be heard
and then finally, one day people started listening
and i knew it
but as soon as it began it was ruined
a slow descent from unique to routine
over and over
"just do it again and this time with feeling"
the spotlightthe focus on the friends and the feelings
that made those stupid songs all worth singing
and don't you say a word
unless you're pretty sure that you want it analyzed
so we drovefor what seemed like days
over roadsand four lane highways
we said all we had to say
and i realized in time that it didn't mean anything
never
not ever again...
not like that
"it's only a matter of time"

L

Relient K!!

So last night I went to this fantastic concert. I went to see Relient K! They’re such a great band, if you don’t know who they are you should go here and check them out…it’ll be worth your time.

http://www.relientk.com/news.aspx

So it was my first real “mosh pit” experience. Up until this point when the opportunity to mosh presented itself I’ve opted out but this time I was with some fun, hard core moshers so I committed and in I went. I’ve gotta admit, I enjoyed the experience a whole lot more than I expected and I was a lot tougher that I thought I’d be, I discovered that I can hold my own in the pit.

We maneuvered our way in and eventually, after shoving like mad we made it up to the very front. We pushed, we jumped we screamed and got soaked as security gave us water. We decided it should be a rule that all girls must put their hair up in the pit because dealing with girl’s hair everywhere is unpleasant.

The opening bands were Maxeen (pretty great), you can check them out here http://www.maxeen.com/intro.html and The Rocket Summer who I think are super lame but you might like them…you can go here http://www.therocketsummer.com/ It doesn’t get any more EMO than this. I did touch the lead singer’s leg as he crowd surfed over me, too bad it wasn’t someone I actually liked. I got a guitar pick from Relient K though, that’s something right?

Sadly the night had to end sometime and before we knew it, it was all over. We lay exhausted at home drinking water and drying off.

Thanks for making it a great night Aaron, Kim, Irena and Mikyla (sorry about the spelling)
L