Song on Repeat: Kiss Me - Ed Sheeran

I’ve become slightly obsessed with Ed Sheeran as of recent (and I’m kicking myself for not giving him a chance earlier). There’s definitely a quality in his music that you don’t hear as much anymore. His voice is so raw and emotive that it’s overwhelming sometimes. Plus, he’s only twenty-one and shows talent beyond his years. The reason I went with this song is because I think it’s one of the most emotional, but simplistic songs I’ve heard in a while. I can’t get enough of it. 

Cover Song Tuesday: I Wanna Dance With Somebody - Ben Rector

Ben Rector is one of my favorite artists, there’s something about the quality and honesty of his voice that makes it hard to not love him. I really love his version of this song. Beyond impressed by the fact that he did everything himself.

Enjoyable Music Video

Animal Love 1 by Charlene Kaye
Directed by Liann Kaye 

Music Talk: Soundtracks Vs. Scores

This has been something that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately because of the news of The Hunger Games soundtrack. I’m a big fan of the book series, and I’m really excited for the film, but I’m slightly wary about the choice of having a true soundtrack for the film. Even though the film hasn’t come out yet, and I’m actually pleased with the type of music they decided to put on the soundtrack, I feel like this would have been a great film to have strictly a score. 

Why? Well, to put it quite honestly, I feel like the current music they chose could muddle the story line of The Hunger Games. I’m sure the music supervisor of the film did an excellent job with placements, but the thought of a story that is set in the future, using music that isn’t as timeless as the use of just a score, really kind of bothers me. Let’s think about this in the terms of other films that I would consider the same sort of genre as The Hunger Games. What would you guys think if something like Star Wars or Harry Potter had used modern music within the film? It would have been really awkward, let’s face it. There’s a timeless quality of a score that transcends the use of a soundtrack in the film.

With this being said, I don’t hate soundtracks. I love them, actually. I want to make them for a living. Some of my most listened to things on my iTunes are soundtracks (500 Days of Summer, Garden State and Elizabethtown has unbelievable counts). But there’s a time to use a soundtrack and there’s time to use a score. In my opinion, strictly a score for The Hunger Games would be more appropriate. 

Artist You Should Know: Dinner and a Suit

I can’t even being to tell you guys how much I love this band. The guys of Dinner and a Suit are some of the most dedicated and talented musicians I’ve ever met and they are such sweet guys on top of that. I could seriously go on for days over how great they are, but instead I’ll tell you why they’re so great. In my 21 years of life, I’ve had the pleasure of going to hundreds of shows. I’ve seen tons of bands in various different stages of their careers, but when it comes to putting on a solid show, I have never seen a band perform quite like Dinner and a Suit. I mean never. The energy that radiates off this band when they perform is insurmountable. Flawless instrumentation and remarkable vocals make them the best live performance I’ve ever seen. I’ve been lucky enough to see them multiple times and I’m still blown away by just how good they are.

If you ever have the opportunity to see them live, I highly recommend it. And in the meantime, go check out their facebook and get their stuff on iTunes.

Songs to Check Out: Too Late, Where We Started, Enough
Sounds Like: MuteMath, Mae, This Day & Age 

https://www.facebook.com/dinnerandasuit

Enjoyable Music Video

That’s My Girl by Russell Dickerson

Music Talk: NoiseTrade

With all this talk about illegal downloading because of this mess called SOPA, I felt like discussing one of my favorite websites would be a great idea. 

NoiseTrade is an awesome website that has thousands of awesome albums that you can legally download for free. As a college student living on a pretty tight budget, NoiseTrade has been a lifesaver over the past few years for me because I can discover new music and get music from some of my favorite artists without having to worry about illegally downloading it.

The way NoiseTrade works is an artist will sign up and provide their music; sometimes it’s an album, sometimes it’s a single, sometimes it’s a sampler. Then fans can go and download that music by providing an email address and zip code. Then the fan can promote the music by sharing it on facebook or twitter. It’s a really cool way to get fans involved with the artist. Plus there is this really cool function on NoiseTrade that allows you to tip the artist whatever amount you feel fitting, but doesn’t require that you pay for any of the music. 

Overall, I’ve found it to be a really cool way for artists to get their music out there, while encouraging their fans to help them promote the music. I think it’s so much easier to get friends to listen to some great music if I tell them they can download the music for free. It’s a great tool for any artist and a great music provider for any music fan. 

Song on Repeat: Please Don’t Leave Quite Yet - Adam Agin

I’ve mentioned Adam’s band, Neulore, a few times on here, and over the past few weeks, I keep coming back to this song. It’s one of the first songs I’d ever heard by Adam, and I was completely blown away by this guy’s talent.

I’ll always remember the first time I heard it. I was at a writers’ night that Adam was playing and he ‘debuted’ this song to the intimate crowd, and as he was explaining what the song was about, he broke down into tears, which basically caused everyone else in the room to cry as well. In that moment, you could tell just how connected Adam is to his music. He’s a genuine artist in that sense. He puts everything he has into what he does and it results in some of the most hauntingly beautiful music I’ve ever heard. 

It seems I’ve fallen off the face of the earth…

and I have a very good explanation for it, or at least I like to think it’s a good explanation. 

A couple months ago, my computer crashed and for a couple weeks, I thought I had lost everything. Luckily, I managed to retrieve everything off of my computer, but it’s been an extremely slow process returning everything back onto it. Naturally, that includes all my music. Now, I’ve managed to transfer quite a lot of it back, but it’s a slow process because at the time of the crash, I had over 12,000 songs in my achieves, and that simply hasn’t made it’s way back onto my hard drive quite yet. Every day I slowly add more stuff back onto my computer, and thanks to Spotify, I’ve managed to save all my playlists, which I’m beyond thankful for because my playlists are my life. 

In addition to my computer crashing, I’d had a very stressful semester, and as a side effect, this took the back burner. But now that I’ve got some time out of school, I plan on bringing this back in full force. I’m working on some new playlists. I’m thinking of some new topics to share my opinion on. Hopefully I’ll be going to more shows that I can tell y’all about. 

In short, 2012 will be a better year for this blog. 

Artist You Should Know: Scars on 45

I had the pleasure of seeing Scars on 45 open for Matt Nathanson a few days ago and I must say, they blew my mind. I’d even say that I enjoyed them more than Nathanson, which, coming from me, is a pretty bold statement because Matt Nathanson has been one of my favorite artists for a long time. There was something really specially about this band, and I’m not talking about the fact that they’re from England (though that is pretty cool), there was something about their dynamic that I really enjoyed.

They have a very distinct sound to their music. The combination of male and female vocals along with the melodic and mellow quality of their music makes them the kind of band that I see myself never getting tired of. I really look forward to hearing more of their stuff, and I have a feeling they’re going to get a lot of recognition in the near future.

Songs to Check Out: Heart on Fire, Don’t Say, Promises and Empty Words
Sounds Like: Lovedrug, Alpha Rev, Barcelona