headphones make me sleepy.

vinyl adventures in the olde towne

2012-02-22T14:43:00.000-08:00

Over Presidents' Day weekend, I visited Boston to look at colleges with my family. At my request, we made a few stops in some of the city's record stores (all of them conveniently spaced within walking distance of Berklee College of Music). On this city adventure I actually bought stuff (as opposed to my last record store-hopping adventure, during which I just shoved as much free stuff as I could find into my bag.)

Our first stop was Looney Tunes (1106 Boylston Street, Boston M.A., 02215), where I bought American Popular Song: Six Decades of Songwriters and Singers, a seven-disc set from the Smithsonian Collection of Recordings. Basically, this is the best purchase I have ever made at a record store. Especially since I just finished reading The House that George Built: With a Little Help from Irving, Cole, and a Crew of Fifty by Wilfrid Sheed and watching Part 2 of Michael Feinstein's American Songbook on PBS. (Dorky, I know.) Towards the back of the shop, the records are in no order whatsoever, so you're on your own there... I managed to find some fun '45s though.

The second shop we visited was Orpheus Performing Arts Treasures (362 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston M.A., 02115), which is a small, seemingly privately-owned vinyl shop that specializes in classical and opera vinyl and CDs and show tune sheet music from the first half of the 20th century. The man sitting behind the counter was very kind.

The third and final store we stopped by was Newbury Comics (332 Newbury Street, Boston M.A., 02115), which seemed to be the most popular among the college-aged crowd in the area. It was more of a we-sell-things-that-all-the-"hip"-kids-are-into store than an actual record shop, but they did seem to have a wide selection of CDs and a somewhat varied section of vinyl.

This concludes my log of the record stores I visited while in Boston, I know there are at least five others that we didn't get to. I had fun, especially at Looney Tunes, but I think I prefer Philly's selection.

this week in music history

2012-02-12T23:30:00.000-08:00

I'd look like an idiot if I didn't write about all the things that happened this week in music history.

Sunday, February 5th: While onstage with Madonna, M.I.A. flips off the camera during the Super Bowl XLVI half-time show in front of approximately 111.3 million American viewers. Later, Madonna repremands M.I.A. saying that the gesture was, "... one of those things, such a teenager, irrelevant thing to do...".

Monday, February 6th: Jay-Z becomes the second hip-hop act to perform at Carnegie Hall. (The first was Wyclef Jean in 2001.) His wife, Beyoncé appears for the first time in public after giving birth to their first child, Blue Ivy.

Tuesday, February 7th: On this day in 1965, the song "Hello Dolly", sung by Jack Jones, is sent to American astronauts aboard the Gemini 6A spacecraft as a wake-up call.

Wednesday, February 8th: John Williams, composer of scores for iconic movies such as E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Star Wars and Harry Potter, turns eighty.

Thursday, February 9th: On this day in 1964 The Beatles premiered in America on the Ed Sullivan Show. Their appearance marks the start of the British Invasion.

Friday, February 10th: One year anniversary of Rebecca Black's "Friday" music video. The Ark Music Factory star goes viral a month later. Black goes on to win the Choice Web Star Award at the 2011 Teen Choice Awards.

Saturday, February 11th: Whitney Houston dies in Beverly Hills, CA, at the age of forty-eight. It is speculated that Houston died after overdosing on drugs. In her lifetime, Houston won 415 music awards, including six Grammys, thirty Billboard Music Awards, and twenty-two American Music Awards.

Sunday, February 12th: At the 54th annual Grammy Awards, Adele wins all six of her nominations, including Album of the Year! Go Adele!

"Call me and I will sing you a song."

2012-02-03T12:57:00.000-08:00

On Willis Earl Beal's website he advertises, "Write to me and I will make you a drawing. Call me and I will sing you a song". Provided is a working telephone number and a legitimate P.O. box address.

Beal, a somewhat mysterious twenty-seven-year-old Chicago native has recently gotten a stream of attention from accredited music magazines and blogs such as Spin, The Fader, NME, and Pitchfork. It all started with a personal ad of sorts that Beal spread around a few years ago in New Mexico, which was then featured on the cover of Found Magazine (if you've never heard of Found, check it out ASAP).

Since his discovery, Beal has recieved plenty of calls from people asking for a song and collaboration offers from the likes of James Blake. An NME blogpost describes Beal's music as, "Jandek meets the real-life, male, soul-stirring version of Audrey Tautou’s Amélie in the film of the same name – all about mystery and with just as alluring a backstory as the French enigma".

Currently, Beal is signed to a branch of XL Recordings (Adele, Vampire Weekend, Radiohead, among others), and has plans to release a 7" on February 21st and a full-length album, called Acousmatic Sorcery, around the end of March/beginning of April.

Willis Earl Beal's Official Website

Do you ever get the feeling...

2012-01-31T19:29:00.000-08:00

Do you ever get the feeling that you should have been born in other decade?

I recently (literally, an hour ago) discovered this:

Like, oh my God! (lolz.) I need this song on vinyl.

The Week in Discoveries, Observations & Ponderings

2012-01-21T17:57:00.000-08:00

A list of interesting and cool things I found this week:

1.
Johannes Brahms is probably the cutest little-old-man that ever existed in classical music history and I haz proof:

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

2.
The short clip on http://outloud.fm/ is magical.

It's actually the telephone scene from the 1999 film, The Virgin Suicides, but new music has been overdubbed into the scene. Taken out of the depressing context of The Virgin Suicides, the whole playing-records-over-the-phone-to-your-secret-BF/GF-because-you-have-no-other-way-to-communicate idea is really really really romantic and hip and stuff.

(That was my first attempt at being cool and referencing The Virgin Suicides like cool-kid The Style Rookie does in almost every single one of her posts. GAH.)

3.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is for cool people.

Every Friday night from 5:00 to 8:45 PM, the Philadelphia Museum of Art hosts Art After 5 in the Great Stair Hall. Last night, the place was packed because DJ Jerry Blavat "The Geator with the Heator", and DJ King Britt were there as part of a Philadelphia dance party series. In honor of artist Zoe Strauss' exhibit, "Ten Years", the PMoA decided to have a series of "dance parties" celebrating Philly's rich music history. The nice thing about Art After 5 is that it's free with the regular admission fee or with a membership, so I'd recommend checking it out if you're in Philly on a Friday night. There's usually a good mix of young people and old people, so it's not too wild or too boring.

Here are some hazy-looking pictures I took:

4.
I heard Pitbull's new song "International Love (Feat. Chris Brown)" on the radio today, and I instantly thought of Ricky Nelson's 1961 single, "Travelin' Man".

It just kind of proves how men will never change.

5.
ZOMG!!! SUNDANCE 2012 WILL BE OSSUM FOR MUSIC PEOPLES.

6.
I would not want to be Lana Del Rey right now.

And lastly:

7.
What can one do with a major in music history?

Is it one of the most pretencious majors ever and a waste of money/time/life?

Or could it actually get you a really cool job?

Alan Gilbert is Really Really Mean

2012-01-12T16:19:00.000-08:00

Bah, humbug!

Earlier this week, some poor old man's iPhone went off during the New York Philharmonic's performance of Mahler's 9th Symphony. To add to the man's embarassment, conductor Alan Gilbert stopped the piece immediately and waited until the elderly man had turned his device off.

Now I understand that the incident ruined the moment for all present, but it sounds like the audience reacted very harshly. It's not like the man whose phone went off was an ignorant twenty-something who had been dragged to a classical music concert by his parents. It was an older man, who had apparently only purchased the phone that day. The man was also a subscriber to the NY Philharmonic, so it wasn't that he didn't care about Mahler or that he didn't "respect the music". He simply didn't know that his phone's alarm had gone off, and once he had realized it, he didn't know how to dismiss it.

After reading quite a few news articles and blog posts about this unfortunate episode, I felt nauseous. People on both sides of the argument have said some extremely distasteful things. (While they all complain that the man had no respect.) I feel badly for the man whose phone went off. I really do. I obviously wasn't there, and this is only my opinion, but you see, perhaps his ringer ruined the concert for others, but Alan Gilbert and the audience's reaction may have ruined an entire musical genre for this man.

That is all.

I now await vicious attacks from self-righteous classical music aficionados.

*UPDATE* Article from nytimes.com: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/nyregion/ringing-finally-stopped-but-concertgoers-alarm-persists.html

Review: "Mac and Devin Go to High School (Music from and Inspired by the Movie)"

2012-01-07T09:19:00.000-08:00

Released in late 2011, Mac and Devin... is an ode to both high school and weed. But mostly the latter.

Nevermind that the movie hasn't even been released yet. Rappers Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa (ages 40 and 24, respectively) reminisce their own high school days on their new album, Mac and Devin Go to High School (Music from and Inspired by the Movie). While singers like Bruno Mars and Mike Posner make appearances on this album, don't be fooled; Mac and Devin... isn't anything like Mars' radio-friendly "Just the Way You Are". Every single song on this album, which is just under an hour long, is about weed, weed, and more weed. Did I mention it's about weed?

Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg get high... on music.

Over all, press reviews have been kind to Mac and Devin.... Spin Magazine gave the album a rating of 7 out of 10, while The New York Times called it "comfortable" and "uncomplicated". Snoop Dogg's slow, laidback rapping style certainly makes listening quite easy. His voice is even charming. For example, on the track "Let's Go Study", the rapper shyly asks, "You wanna study with me? That'd be nice...".

While Snoop Dogg is busy chasing girls, Wiz Khalifa only seems interested in hanging out and, you guessed it, smoking. In "That's Good", Khalifa sings the chorus: "I'm smoking everywhere I go/I always gotta keep one rolled/I'm blowing every gram I own/don't gotta understand, they know...". Well then. If that was his high school experience...

To be honest, I only downloaded this album last night after watching the music video for the hit single "Young, Wild & Free (feat. Bruno Mars)". (And yes, I did pay for it. I bought the entire thing off iTunes.) The video's recieved over 17 million views on YouTube because, well, it's pretty good. However, if you're not really into rap, the music video and it's corresponding song are probably the only things worth buying off the album.

Reppin' the Streets in 2k12

2012-01-01T06:28:00.000-08:00

What's your New Year's Resolution? I didn't officially make one this morning, but I was thinking about how I could use 2012 to my advantage in terms of getting more real-life experience. This year, I'd like to be more active in a street team.

See, technically, I'm on the Hanson.net ST (Division #3, to be exact). However, over the past two years, my participation has dwindled down to nothing. ("What?! Monthly reports were supposed to be sent by when???")

For those of you who don't know, a street team is a way for bands to get free promotion. Usually, this is an opportunity for younger, overly-zealous fans to support their favorite band by promoting their shows. If you're not old enough to intern at a record label, joining a street team is the perfect alternative. Other "missions" may include handing out flyers and demos, sending links, adding banners to a personal website, voting in polls, etc...

While STers are rarely paid, many street teams offer incentives for a job well done. Rewards can include free or discounted merch and concert tickets, meet and greets, exclusive videos and MP3s, redeemable points, etc... Sometimes a ST member can get promoted to a leader, which then means that they will have more serious responsibilities, like recruiting and organizating new members, communicating with actual people within the label, and overseeing new members' activity.

Participation on a street team varies in intensity, based on the specific team. Some street teams require an application, while others simply require signing up with an email address. Some teams require a monthly progress report to make sure you're actually working, while others seldomly check.

Here's a short list of some of the record labels that do maintain street teams. If you don't see your preferred record label here, just search around online. Also, consider that for whatever area you're interested in, there is probably some form of a street team. If you're anxious to work for a clothing line or a non-profit organization, it's a good idea to see if they have a street team you can get involved with.

It may sound like extra work, but there's nothing more rewarding than knowing you are directly supporting your favorite label and their bands. Besides, as a member of a street team, you can technically say, "I work for the band". ;-)

Review: "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever" on Broadway, starring Harry Connick, Jr.

2011-12-29T08:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my family took a day trip to NYC, where we waited in line for two hours to get Broadway tickets. While we didn't get there in time to snag tickets to see Mr. Radcliffe in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (*sad face*), we did walk away with tickets for a matinée showing of On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, which stars Harry Connick, Jr. (Independence Day, My Dog Skip, P.S. I Love You, etc.)

On A Clear Day is the story of a psychiatrist, Dr. Mark Bruckner, who takes on a special patient, Daisy Gamble, who has ESP. Daisy desperately needs to stop smoking so that she can be with her fiancé, Warren. During treatment, Dr. Bruchner discovers that Daisy has a past life alter-ego named Melinda Wells, and, as time goes on, he begins to fall in love with Melinda.

Broadway director, Michael Mayer (American Idiot, Spring Awakening, Thoroughly Modern Millie, ...) decided to mix things up a little; in his version of On A Clear Day, Dr. Mark Bruckner (Connick, Jr.) treats David Gamble, played by David Turner, a gay man who is struggling to quit smoking, to fix his relations with his boyfriend, Warren Smith (Drew Gahling), and to take credit for his wonderful flower arrangements. While treating his patient, Dr. Bruckner discovers David's past life alter-ego, a confident and outgoing '40s singer, Melinda Wells, played by Jessie Mueller, who was everything that David is not. Dr. Bruckner starts to fall for Melinda as David starts to fall for Dr. Bruckner, and heartbreak and hilarity ensue.

I would honestly give this musical 4 stars out of 5. The character twist is creative and unexpected, and the numbers are fun and exciting. The showstopper of the entire play is "Ev'ry Night at Seven" sung by Melinda (Mueller). On A Clear Day is Mueller's Broadway debut, and despite Connick Jr.'s celebrity status, I believe that Mueller is the real star of the show. There weren't any low points or awkward moments in the musical, even though it slowed down near the intermission.

Honorable mention goes to Sarah Stiles, who plays Dr. Bruckner's loving assistant, Muriel Bunson. As my sister says, "She just seemed like the only consistently sane person in the play".

doing my homework (the right way)

2011-12-25T21:11:00.000-08:00

I've taken my one-week Winter Break as an opportunity to do some "quality research". Since I haven't actually finished any of these yet, I can't really give a review of the books, but I thought I'd just share what I'm reading. Hopefully I'll post something more lengthy tomorrow. :)

- The Chitlin' Circuit and the Road to Rock 'n' Roll by Preston Lauterbach

- Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey by Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton

- Let It Blurt: the Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America's Greatest Rock Critic by Jim DeRogatis

- Music for the People: The Pleasure and Pitfalls of Classical Music (or the U.S. title, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Classical Music but Were Too Afraid to Ask) by Gareth Malone

real art (in the form of yet another video)

2011-12-03T15:05:00.001-08:00

Last night my good friend and I were discussing "real art". We both feel that in today's highly digitalized world it's harder for people to find things that really stand out. For example, with a nice digital camera, anyone can take professional-looking pictures. Everyone is looking for a way to be "artistic" and "modern", "hip" and "cultured". For aspiring artists, it can be really difficult to create something original that will catch people's eyes. It feels like everything has already been done.

As we were expressing our frustrations, I noticed a video that she had posted on her wall (with a note saying that the video was so awesome that she felt the need to "turn into a narwhal". Don't ask.). I watched it, and immediately thought to myself: "This is art."

Talk about mind-blowing...

I've never really talked about dancing as being a part of music, but this video is perfect proof for anyone who think's it isn't. Lil Crabe is a 20-year-old b-boy from France, and his video has spread quickly for obvious reasons. There's not really a lot of information about him online- he just seems to be a guy doing what he loves.

I found this video to to be truly inspiring. Just think: if everyone else in the world put just as much passion into what they were doing as this guy does... Well, that would be pretty cool.

re: a mind blowing question

2011-11-27T15:48:00.001-08:00

After posting that question on Thursday, I found a song on my iPod that might qualify for traditional Egyptian music mixed with light dubstep. (And when I say "light dubstep", I really mean what may or may not classify as a "break beat".) So, yeah. Tell me what you think?

P.S.- The song's artist, Beats Antique, is really ossum.

a mind-blowing question

2011-11-24T16:59:00.001-08:00

What if you went back in time and played dubstep for the ancient Egyptians?

ridin' the chillwave

2011-11-12T09:49:00.001-08:00

Hi guyz. Here are some chill MVs to watch on a chill Saturday afternoon. Interpret them as you will.

"Weekend" by Smith Westerns

"Believe (impromptu)" by Charlyne Yi

"Talamak" by Toro y Moi

*BTDUBS* I'm planning a chill partay and you may or may not be invited.

Suggested Listening

2011-11-10T15:39:00.001-08:00

In this post, I will tell you how I like to listen to CDs. I have (I think), almost perfected the art of listening to a CD. Maybe not. And by "CD", I mean an actual Compact Disc. You know, the ones that you have to take out of a case and put inside some sort of audio system...

How to Listen to a CD

BY OPOSSUMNESS

1. Make sure that you are not doing anything else (no essays, no paperwork, no whining children, no barking dogs, no television, no nothing). Taking the time to listen to music takes planning.
*NOTE: There is actually one exception to this, and that is if you are listening to music to find inspiration to write something personal. (personal = a story, journal entry, poem, list, etc... NOT an essay or report!)

2. Take the CD out of its case and place it into your CD player. (A CD player is preferred over a computer because if you are listening to music on your computer, you are probably doing 10 billion other things at the same time. Plus, computers generally have low quality speakers.)

3. Close the lid of your player and listen for the sound of the CD player configuring the disc.

4. Press play.

5. Once the music starts, turn the volume up so that the sound seems to be surrounding you. Do not turn the music up so loud that the sound is distorted or that you are wincing in pain.
*NOTE: Do not use headphones. CDs are not made to be listened to through headphones or earbuds; they are made to be played through larger speakers. Also, it is true that those who listen to music at high volumes gain a tolerance. Be careful that you are not playing your music too loudly.

6. At this time, turn the CD case over so that you can see the tracklisting as the album is playing. You should also take out the liner notes and read/flip through them, no matter how familiar (or unfamiliar) you are with the CD. The purpose of liner notes and album graphics is to help the listener understand the music as they are hearing it.

7. Once the album has started, assume a comfortable position. I recommend lying down on your back or stomach.
*NOTE: If you decide to lie down, you are at a greater risk of falling asleep. (Not that that's a bad thing, considering that it happens to me about 75% of the time when I listen to music.)

8. It is possible to enhance your listening session by lighting candles or incense or whatever (*cough*hopefullynotbytakingdrugsorsmokinganything*cough*), but after that, you should try to resist being distracted by your surroundings.

9. When the CD has ended (provided that you are conscious. lolz.), pause for a moment before removing it from the player.

10. After you have taken a moment to collect your thoughts, take the disc out of the CD player and appreciate how warm it is. (That part is important.)

11. Put the disc and liner notes back into their case and put the CD back on the shelf/in the pile/under your bed/etc...

Congratulations! You have just listened to a CD. By taking the time to handle music in a physical format, you ~~should~~ will come to value it more. Hopefully, you have been enlightened by this experience, and you will now share this knowledge with your friends.

☺

ossum sauce

2011-10-22T12:24:00.000-07:00

I have found a new favorite website! In the past few weeks, I've ordered several items from http://www.insound.com. Insound.com is an "indie-rock mail-order business" that was started in 1998, and continues to keep the underground rock community supplied with music from artists whose work you will probably not find at your nearest Target, Walmart, or even Barnes & Nobles. The first thing I ordered from them was Toro y Moi's newest EP, Freaking Out - EP. I was impressed with how quickly it was shipped and delivered (about 4 days), and also with the size/variety of their inventory. Insound's also got a ton of really awesome music geek t-shirts, accessories, posters, equipment, etc... One of my favorite shirts is their "Good Music Shirt" (a reference to the 1960's song, "Sweet Soul Music", by Arthur Conley).

Along with my last shipment, they also sent a copy of their Fall/Winter 2011 zine, "Insound". The magazine is super cute; it's put together by their staff workers, and has awesome graphics, little blurbs and interviews. I will have to keep ordering from them so I get the next issue! :D

I strongly suggest using insound.com to discover new music- and even better, to do some shopping (especially as the holidays are coming up)!

the trouble is (a note on cady groves)

2011-10-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

Just another punk-pop wannabe?

An article on Billboard.com about Cady Groves caught my eye this evening, and I have to say that after reading the article and then watching the music video for "This Little Girl", I am more disgusted than impressed with this artist. I understand that she is fighting against the typical "girly pop princess" image, but the music video just plays up her "innocence" and depicts her as the complete opposite of what she's trying to say about herself. Haven't we already seen enough of the stereotypical "my-boyfriend-cheated-on-me-now-I'll-get-revenge-while-looking-cute" storyline? If she wants to be seen as an adult with adult feelings, then she should drop the girlish act. The MV seems to be an outrageous combination of Miley's Cyrus' twangy vocals, Avril Lavigne's pseudo-punk routine, and Britney Spear's sex appeal. I mean, let's see: what could possibly go wrong there?

Personally, I prefer her vocals in Plug In Stereo's, "Oh Darling". After all, what's wrong with having a voice that is perfectly fit for making pop records?

I have no doubt that Groves will blow up in the next few months after being featured in Billboard, but it seems that she is limiting her audience by approaching the industry at such a strange angle. For example, she often uses expletives on her Twitter (@cadygroves), but dresses like a young teenager. It seems as though she is aiming for younger audiences with her physical appearance, but then pushing them away with the content of her songs.

If I had anything to say to Miss Groves, it would be, "Make up your mind. Would you rather be seen as a tween pop-star idol or an legitamite punk artist?". I sincerely hope that she earns true success with her voice, rather than becoming one of the billion semi-famous "whatsherfaces" on the internet.

F.Y.I. - RCA Music Group (the company who Cady Groves is signed with) recently shut down two of their branches, Artista and Jive, article here. :'(

AUTUMN = SRS BSNSS

2011-10-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

Ah... Fall is the perfect time to look for new music, plan parties that will never happen, and make a ton of lists. I'm a junior in HS now, which means I should be taking the SAT, studying for APs, visiting colleges, and running for assorted offices. In short, I should be mapping out my life right now. So, here it is ladies and gentlemen, my life-plan! (And yes, in this order.)

1. Publish "When I Grow Up: a Picture Book Featuring Attractive Male Musicians" before I turn 18.

2. Because of the success of "When I Grow Up: a Picture Book Featuring Attractive Male Musicians", be interviewed on Good Morning America.

the style rookie

3. Continue this headphones make me sleepy blog, and somehow gain enough attention to have Tavi Gevinson (http://www.thestylerookie.com/) guest blog on here. (She has an excellent taste in music.)

4. Meet the Australian kids who made the short film "to claire; from sonny", and try to make friends with them.

5. Graduate from NYU with a major in communications.

DJ A-Trak

6. Continue to write short stories and picture books.

7. Learn how to DJ and meet my favorite DJ, DJ A-Trak. Meanwhile, obtain and maintain a large music, headphone and boom-box collection.

8. Get involved with YouTubing, which in my mind will somehow lead to meeting and collaborating with my favorite YouTubers such as Michael, Phil, Kevin, Ray, and Stephen.

Charlyne Yi

9. Write and star in a short film for hitRECord.org alongside my celebrity look-a-like, Charlyne Yi. (Hopefully the film will be directed by Mr. Joseph Gordon-Levitt himself.)

Mr. Bundick

10. Because of the success of my film, be interviewed and profiled by Rolling Stone and NYLON.

11. Marry Chazwick Bundick (or an Irishman), and buy a large apartment in NYC. (In later life we will probably move to a nice suburb elsewhere in the U.S. or in the U.K.)

12. Adopt some kids.*

13. Become the owner of some sort of record shop in a city.

14. Travel a lot and live like Stuart Schuffman did in the IFC's series, "Young, Broke & Beautiful".

15. Die doing something awesome. (Acting as a Sherpa on Mt. Everest would be perfectly acceptable.)
*12 is optional

Of course, throughout my lifetime I will frequently attend concerts and throw hipster listening parties, and I will always have epic friends with awesome glasses.

exciting stuff! (i feel legit this saturday, sitting at the kitchen table with my laptop)

2011-09-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Here are some music-related things I thought were interesting this week:

1. Have you ever seen a short film directed by Jeanie Finlay? If not, you need to ASAP. This year, her documentary about the last record shop in Teesside (U.K.), Sound It Out was premiered at SXSW and was named the official film for Record Store Day 2011. Currently, Finlay is running a campaign to raise money to get Sound It Out shown in theaters across the U.K. To support the film, go here.

2. I want this for Christmas. Too bad it's $500. Anyway, if I put it on my Christmas/birthday wishlist, I'd only be looked at funny by my family, and my mom would ask, "What are you going to do with that?" *ultra sad face*

3. The Vitamin String Quartet's version of "Check Yes Juliet" by We the Kings is AMAZING. (Actually, all their covers are pretty amazing.)

4. This is an article for my friend who wants to know more about dubstep.

5. October 18th through the 22nd is the CMJ 2011 Music Marathon and Film Festival in NYC. I know I say this all the time, but I really wanna go. So badly. Arg. New York is my favorite city and it's so close! If I am going to do this music blogger thing the right way, I need to go to these things! (*cough* pleasemomplease *cough*)

6. One of my friends wants me to apply for this program at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, but I'm too ~~tired~~ ~~busy~~ ~~stressed~~ ~~lazy~~ scared to. :/

I think that is all for this week.

Oh. I forgot this one:

7. Listen to the playlist on this page. It's super-duper chill. (This is why Fat Possum Records is my favorite record company.)

english is boring

2011-09-21T18:09:00.000-07:00

While flipping through my French/English dictionary, I found that I had highlighted the word sonoriser, which is a verb that is defined: "1. to add the soundtrack to 2. to wire for sound". I often wish that the English language had words for such specific actions. Anywhoodle... now back to mes devoirs.... :(

I Am the Dance Commander + I Command You to Watch this Video

2011-09-15T16:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was made official DJ/Party Master 3000 of the Classical Music Club at my high school. (One of my BFFLs is the president, so it's not like I begged or anything...) One of my "duties" is to make a playlist of classical music remixes *gasp* (trust me, I know how unpopular these are) for the upcoming Fall Fest. Anyway, while searching for the unspeakable on YouTube last night (that just sounds wrong), I got a little distracted, and found this video that reminded me just why I wanted (want?) to be a DJ oh-so-badly.

P.S. If anyone would like to buy me tickets to the 2011 DMC World DJ Championships in London, I would gladly accept them. *hint hint nudge nudge*

"I Am a Paleontologist": a (Very) Brief and Boring History of Music in Commercials

2011-09-06T15:45:00.000-07:00

If you watched any TV at all this summer, it is very likely that you heard the song "I Am a Paleontologist" by They Might Be Giants multiple times in the Payless Shoes commercial. Initially, when I heard this song in the commercial, I was drawn to the simplicity of the sample the company chose ("I am a paleontologist/that's who I am, that's who I am, that's who I am"), and of course, the pure cuteness of the little kids running through a museum. The commerical got me interested in the history of music in television ads. Here is my boring and not-at-all-thorough (not to mention badly writen) history of music in commercials. You don't really even have to read it, I basically wrote it for myself.

Companies place certain songs in advertisements to evoke feelings of happiness, sadness, excitement and any other emotion(s) they are trying to convey. The first ever television commercial was broadcasted seventy years ago, in 1941. When companies were first starting to make commercials, they used music from classical composers, such as Strauss and Tchaikovsky. This is why parts from songs such as Beethoven's "Symphomy No. 5" and Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" are so familiar to us today. As time went on, advertisers began to realize that viewers remembered jingles from radio ads so they decided to take these to television. A good strategy was to take a well-known tune, and revise the lyrics to relate to whatever product or service the company was trying to sell. An example of this is given by the no-longer-existing automobile company Desoto, who, in the 1930s, took the song "It's De-Lovely", and turned it into a memorable song about their car. Later, in the '80s, companies began to use original recordings from pop and rock artists for their commercials. Today, many pop songs are heard in commercials for cars and technology. A really good example of this is the advertisements for any of the Apple products. Songs such as Feist's "1234" and Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" stand out in my mind. This also goes along with the idea of celebrity endorsement. As time goes on, a huge issue for advertising agencies is acquiring the rights to use mainstream songs in their commercials. Also, sometimes viewers are offended by the song choices that companies make.

I really hope you didn't read all that. :/

Two wonderful websites to help people find songs in television commercials are http://tunesontv.com/ and http://admusicdb.com/ads.html

I Have Written a Book!

2011-09-03T09:10:00.000-07:00

Hello, all 7-followers-but-actually-6-or-less-readers! This past Tuesday, the 30th, I spent six hours writing a (picture) book for a friend's birthday present. I have uploaded it to Google Docs, so please go and read it here!

When I uploaded it to Google Docs, the document's format got messed up a little around page 7. So if you download it, it should download as a Word 2003 document, and then you can read it in the correct format, and print it out if you want. Also, I believe that if you download the document, you will be able to edit it. Please don't edit it and then give it to people saying that it's yours. (I trust my 6 readers. lolz.)

If you'd like, you can tell me what you think in the comments of this post. If anyone actually reads it, tell me and I can give you a code for Spotify. I hope you enjoy it!

Music Trends: Whistling

2011-08-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else noticed that there has been a lot of whistling on the radio recently? Apparently whistling is HUGE at the moment. Four of the Top 10 in Billboard's Hot 100 feature (very) catchy whistled melodies. In order of when I first heard them, here they are:
1. "I Wanna Go" by Britney Spears
2. "Good Life" by OneRepublic
3. "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People
4. "Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5

So, who did it first? By album release date, it turns out that OneRepublic did. Their album, Waking Up, was released last November! I wonder if Britney's songwriters heard "Good Life" and decided to take a chance. Luckily, their "chance" turned into a big hit, and many other musicians jumped on the boat!

Billboard.com wrote a small blurb on this phenomenon last week, but I am here to say that me and my sister noticed it first. However, Billboard also mentioned that saxophones, like whistling, have been prominent in the Hot 100 in recent months. Hmmm.... (Link to the article here.)

BESTEST IDEA EVAR!!!

2011-08-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite pastimes is watching YouTube videos. Specifically, I enjoy channels such as WHATTHEBUCKSHOW, sxephil, and RayWilliamJohnson, who regularly report on pop-culture and world news. I admire anyone who is brave enough to make videos and post them on a regular basis, despite the dangers of being harassed by 10 billion faceless people. (Eek.) Recently I've noticed that there is something missing from the YT community: a personality who reports music news exclusively. I have done my research, and I know that theneedledrop, velocitiesinmusic coverkillernation and Threecreation review albums, but none of them are just music news. I would like to start a YouTube channel that would not only review albums, but report news from the industry. (Think Philip DeFranco, but only focused on moosic.) This goes very nicely with YouTube's new project, YouTube Music, which has gotten mixed responses since the company introduced it last week.

Now, I realized that this is extremely ambitious. I am far too lazy and consumed by schoolwork (lol) to even think of filming, editing, and posting videos on a regular basis. So, realistically, this will probably ~~not~~ never happen ~~in the near future~~.

It's just an idea.

oy

2011-08-05T16:00:00.000-07:00

What is my life?

When I try to make my CD collection look impressive, I just end up making a mess on my floor. It doesn't even look that big anyway. :/ However, keep in mind that on my iPod, I've got an additional 530 albums.... Plus (!), I just remembered that I have some more CDs at my dad's house! I just brought this up because today my sister walked into my room and observed, "You have a lot of CDs".

happy belated birthday mtv, spotify, best coast video, themerchdude and britney spears

2011-08-03T18:42:00.000-07:00

Hi guyz. If you haven't noticed, I've been posting mostly pictures, hoping to give everyone's eyes a nice break from my rambling on and on about my issues with iCloud. -_- This post should be longer and more... wordy.

So, two days ago, August 1st, was MTV's 30th birthday! (*insert cheering children sound effect*) I have to admit that I haven't really been around long enough to describe how MTV changed to music industry, etc., etc., but I'm sure you can read about that somewhere else. I just wanted to say that I am grateful that at one point, someone decided to take a chance and put everything that they had in making a television channel that would be devoted to music. Even though MTV doesn't exactly broadcast music videos anymore, the channel still has a huge monopoly over many aspects of pop culture.

In other news, I recently found a secret code to Spotify, which just arrived in the U.S. from Europe (exotic, huh?). I am proud to say that I am one of the few thousand people in my country who have an account at the moment. For those who haven't heard of Spotify yet, it is a music-streaming service that lets the user search and listen to an extensive catalogue of songs. Depending on your subscription, a user can stream songs while offline, and sync songs to a mobile device. I really like Spotify (it's totally better than iTunes). Actually, as I ~~speak~~ type, I am using Spotify to listen to Hot Chelle Rae's "Tonight Tonight".

The blogosphere is buzzing because Best Coast has just released a new music video, directed by none other than Drew Barrymore! It's SO good. Just watch it, and you'll see what I mean. (Click Here to watch, because blogger wouldn't let me put the correct video into this post.)

Next up: Looking for a new blog? Themerchdude offers an informal and entertaining, yet informative perspective of life on the road for concert junkies/roadie wannabes. If you've ever wondered what those merch people are thinking as they roll their eyes at the "hipster" kid whose pushing other kids in line or the parent who keeps pestering their child about what color t-shirt they want, here is the place to go. *WARNING* The guy who writes it is brutally honest and opininated.

On a personal note, I've recently gotten very into Britney Spears*. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!? I'm always about 10 years late. *fail* My favorite is "Toxic".
*note the SAT student's atrocious grammar

my favorite EPs

2011-07-31T15:22:00.000-07:00

You know when you have $5 or under left to spend on music, and you aren't really sure what you can buy with it? I've been in that situation many times, and I've come out with some pretty amazing EPs. These are some of my favorites that I've bought in the past couple of years. You'd be suprised at what gems you can find for so little!

1. Dharohar Project, Laura Marling & Mumford & Sons - EP

2. Ukelele Recordings - EP

3. Rock & Roll - EP

4. Damnit Anna - EP

5. Little Garçon + - EP

6. Why You Runnin' - EP

7. Such Great Heights - EP

TOPIC #1: Bert Jansch

2011-07-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

“Bert Jansch is the best acoustic guitarist; he's my favourite anyway. For electric guitar, I'd say Jimi Hendrix. But as for acoustic guitar, Bert Jansch is on the same level as Jimi.” - Neil Young

Scottish folk guitarist, Bert Jansch, is known for his solo career and his band, Pentangle. In 2001 he won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the BBC Folk Awards for his solo career, and in 2007, he won the same award for his success in the band.

Jansch has come a long way. As a young man living in London in the '60s, Jansch met fellow aspiring musicians, such as Paul Simon and Davey Graham. Jansch often played shows with these guitarists, and formed relationships with his soon-to-be band mates, John Renbourn and Jacqui McShee and producer, Bill Leader. Despite his talent, Jansch was very poor and in 1965, when he recorded his first album, he had to use a borrowed guitar.

Jansch became well-known as artists such as Donvan, Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin covered/used material from his early albums. (At one point, Jansch and Transatlantic Records almost sued Page for copyright infringement.) Over the next twenty years, Jansch would record and tour with his band and as a solo artist. At Pentangle's peak, the band's song "Light Flight" was used as the theme song for BBC series Take Three Girls. Following this, Pentangle made TV appearances across the UK and toured in America. However with their 1970 album, Cruel Sister, the band's popularity decreased, and in 1973, Pentangle decided to split. (They have since held reunion tours, the most recent being this summer.)

His most recent release The Black Swan (2006), has been praised by magazines such as Mojo and Q. The Black Swan is an album of collaborations, and features many singer-songwriters, including Beth Orton, Devendra Benahrt, Brendan Behan, and Paul Wassif.

At age 67, after major health issues, Bert Jansch toured with Neil Young this spring.

my life... so far

2011-07-24T19:05:00.000-07:00

Today was the 4th anniversary of my first ever "real" concert. (Which, you should know by now, was a Hanson concert). I thought I would look back upon my music-related obsessions in pictures.

2007

♪ "I fell in love with the lead singer of Hanson, and I'm so happy now that I'm dancin'"♫ What?

McFLY, my favo(u)rite British boy band EVER.

2008

In my Asian obsession phase, I LOVED Teppei Koike of WaT.

Jonny Lang, a true, badass guitar hero.

Ben Jelen, who apparently went to my high school. (The mystery remains unsolved...)

2009

What was I doing in 2009? *shrugs*

2010

Scary stoner dude who I saw live last summer, Never Shout Never.

The Ready Set, going along with the punk theme. He's also giving away FREE codes for Spotify. Get yours here. (I just made my account!)

The Morning Benders are just epic.

2011

Gareth Malone, British choirmaster and TV personality. (He sometimes yells at litte kids. And throws things. And curses... Oh well, he's still hot.)

Bad singers, excellent hair. JK, I ♥ JEDWARD! But no, seriously.

My new favorite guy ever, Toro y Moi.

So... there you have it: my music-related obsessions since 2007. I am proud to say that The Jonas Brothers and Justin Bieber never made the list.

don't judge me (iCloud, Rebecca Black and instrumental hip-hop)

2011-07-19T10:13:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I discovered Apple's iCloud, and at first I hated it. iCloud, released in early June allows anyone with an iTunes account to transfer all downloads to all devices, (including Apple devices and authorized computers). I was annoyed at first because my iPod had run out of room, so I was deleting stuff I was postitive I didn't want anymore. Anyway, with iCloud, I felt that I had to keep every file I had ever downloaded, so I was freaking out a little. Anyway, I decided last night that I would download everything to my laptop, which previously only had my Hanson stuff on it, and then I would sync my iPod Touch to that, and rotate songs. My obsessive thoughts are hard to follow, and GAH, I had a panic attack over nothing. -_- iCloud is now acceptable in my eyes. And.... it will take a billion hours to download all my files to my laptop.

My next topic is Rebecca Black's new single "My Moment"! I'm sure you all know by now, but to briefly recap, Rebecca's single "Friday" went viral in March, she was harassed, and everyone hated her. However, yesterday Black released a new single called "My Moment" (official YouTube video here). The new single is surely Black's way of calling her haters out, and promising to make the most of her newly-found fame. In my opinion, Rebecca isn't a horrible singer. She's actually quite good. It is just unfortunate that Ark's videos are so dang hilarious. I would compare "My Moment" to one of Hillary Duff's earlier songs, such as "So Yesterday" or "Come Clean". And, I mean, who didn't love Hilary Duff? Anyway, that's just my opinion. I think people will learn to love her if she sticks around. As a side note, Rebecca has been nominated for the 2011 Teen Choice Awards. You can vote here.

Now I was going to talk about instrumental hip-hop, which is what it sounds like: hip-hop tracks without vocals. However, I don't think it takes a lot to explain, and sometimes it's better to leave things where people can discover them on their own. So, here you are:

*This post may be a little unorganized (understatement: this is probably the worst blog post I've ever written), but I wrote it quickly because I didn't want to forget what I wanted to cover.

Everyday I'm Shufflin'

2011-07-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

I guess I'm a little behind the times, but I just saw the music video 60 seconds ago, I kid you not. I think it's ingenious. My favorites? Robot-man and Jesus.

Why am I here?

2011-07-07T07:19:00.000-07:00

While I procrastinate on those music-related essays I asked for here, I thought I would stall and write about something that will take no huge effort or extended research. Today I am going to explain why I am "here" (online), writing this blog that no one reads (As of today, headphones make me sleepy has gotten 69 views. Woot.) Hopefully someone will read this someday, and they might be happy for me. Or not. Whichever is perfectly fine. Maybe this will motivate me to start those essays! (and then again, maybe not)

As I've mentioned before, the first band I really got into was Hanson. In the July of 2007, I went to my first Hanson concert (my first "real" concert), and I learned something really important: after the concert experience, I knew that I wanted to work with music. Maybe I realized that I would never be a performer, but I knew that I always wanted to be in the know, finding new music and helping others find something too. For me, nothing beats the feeling of playing a song, and having someone say, "I liked that. Who's the artist?".

This year I started writing music reviews for my school newspaper. I was, and still am, so excited that I was finally doing something that I really wanted to do. For one article, I wrote a review of Deerhunter's Halcyon Digest. When I turned in the draft, the student editor wrote in the margins, "This is a pretty obscure band..." From that comment, I was really worried that no one knew (or cared) who the band was, but after the article was published, I was looking through that month’s issue of Spin, and the magazine had named Halcyon Digest the second best release of the year! That made me feel more confident in my musical taste, but it also told me that not many people my age were interesting in music in the way that I am. I feel like listening to and writing about music in depth is pretty much a lost art, especially in the pop world. Many people would say that there is honestly not much to write about because the quality of music has gone down the drain. However, I would like to look past that, and find new meaning in music. I know a lot of effort is put into producing a single track, and it would be great if people would realize that once more.

This year for another school newspaper article I interviewed my two choir directors. The question was, "What are you listening to?". One of the directors answered, saying, "I don't listen to music". Her response, to me, was surprising, but it told me that I, as a listener, had the advantage. What was the point of becoming a professional musician if you couldn't relate to the music? As an audience member, I can listen without bias, and I can find something new in every song. I don't want to become a performer if one day I will say, "I don't listen to music".

Realistically, this blog is just a practice for a job that I might look into the future. If I ever become a music critic, a music historian, a music curator, an artist manager or really anything else, it will be important for me to know what I am talking about, and also for me to be able to write about music in ways that others can easily understand.

Post-Concert Blues :(

2011-06-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

"The Bird and the Worm"

No concert review is ever complete without a crummy video taken from a cell phone!

Hey everyone! This is just a short update from last week. As you all (whoever reads this, if anyone even does) know, last Saturday I went to an Owl City concert at The Mann in Philly. Before the concert, I hadn't really been into Owl City, but ever since I got home, I've been listening to him non-stop! The two openers, Unwed Sailor and Mat Kearney were also AMAZING and I even got a group picture with two members from Unwed Sailor! It was my friend's first concert, so I was super excited to introduce her to the whole concert thing. I'm going to try to get her to write a review of the concert, as she is the one who is a huge Adam Young fan, plus, I want to know her reaction to the concert, and her reflection, now that's she's seen her favorite band live.

Having been to five concerts now, I've recognized something that I call "concert withdrawl". After attending a concert, you either listen to the band non-stop, or avoid listening to them at all. Both are ways to preserve memories, and savour what you remember. Also, after a concert, I usually feel as though I miss the performer. This is kind of difficult to explain, because of course, after a two hour event, you have not really "gotten to know" the artist personnally, but regardless, I often feel that I "miss" the artist's voice, facial expressions or onstage antics. I hope that run-on sentence made *some* sense...

Anyway, that is all I have on the Owl City concert experience for now. I will try to collaborate with my friend to write a more detailed review in the following weeks!

Thanks for reading!

P.S. I will also be working on those essays!

Review of "All Things Bright and Beautiful" by Owl City

2011-06-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

As I am going to an Owl City concert this weekend, I thought now would be an appropriate time to review the album All Things Bright and Beautiful, which was released June 14th. Let me just start off by saying that All Things Bright and Beautiful got horrible reviews from both Rolling Stone and Spin. From what I can tell, many music critics believe that Adam Young's music is barely music- he's just a kid with GarageBand beats and Auto-Tune. While I do think that Young's vocals are underdeveloped, his real focus is on the electronic genre and the positive lyrics in his songs. Music is truely Adam's escape from the real world, which he bluntly asserts in the opening song "The Real World", saying, "Reality is a lovely place, but I wouldn't wanna live there...".

Three songs on the album, "Honey and the Bee", "Alligator Sky (feat. Shawn Chrystopher)" and "The Yacht Club" feature other artists. The first, "Honey and the Bee" is an adorable duet between Young and Breanne Düren, who is part of Owl City's live band. Here, Adam shows his ability to write light, acoustic summery love songs. The song "Alligator Sky (feat. Shawn Chrystopher)", is one of two versions of "Alligator Sky" (both are very catchy). Young has successfully incorporated hip-hop into his act, which he once said in an interview was one of his influences (that is, hip-hop was). Lastly, "The Yacht Club" features punk-pop favorite, Lights, who opened for Owl City's 2010 tour. (Lights is also to make a cameo in the music video for “Deer In the Headlights”.) In my opinion, this was the only song Young went overboard on with cutesy, nonsensical lyrics. But then again, this is what he’s known for.

At the moment, my favorite song off the new album is "Angels". From the beginning of the song (Young screaming “Wake me if you’re out there!”) to the chorus (“I believe there are beautiful things seen by the astronauts…”), the feeling of extreme longing for something larger than life, can literally be felt through Young’s almost frustrated vocals. I think this discredits the critics who claim Young has no real talent. Any artist who can convey an abstract emotion through their music is doing something right. My second favorite is the song “Galaxies”, which has a heavy religious theme (“Dear God…” and “He is the saving grace of the galaxies”). The song was released as a single in April.

From listening to this album, I have really gotten the sense that Young has moved to the next chapter in his life, and has reasserted the fact that his sound truly is Owl City.

"Writing about music isn't especially difficult."

2011-06-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

The title of the post is a quote from the preface of Alex Ross' latest book, Listen to This. Ross is a music critic for The New Yorker, so I suppose he is a person I should follow closely. The whole reason for checking this book out is because recently (or not so recently, however you'd like to look at it), I've taken an interest in music history. This interest is a result of my realization that I will probably never do anything epic. Anyway, I think that a job as a music historian/curator would be a perfectly good career path for me. Now, I realize that there is not a great demand for music historians/curators anywhere, but for now, I won't worry about that.

ANYWAY, I've asked some of my friends to give me music-related topics to write about for this blog, so that I'll have some sort of "work" to do over the summer. I don't know if it will make me feel more accomplished, but it should be good writing practice, etc... Here is the "prompt" I gave my friends:

Give me ANY music-based topic, and I will write a short piece on it. This is purely for fun, and it will give me something to do over the summer. I enjoy researching/writing about music, so I think this will be a good challenge.
Example topics could be 1) a phrase (“the history of jazz music”), 2) an opinion I would have to justify, regardless of whether or not I agree (“Hanson is the worst band ever”) or 3) a question (“what exactly is an 808?”).
You can just comment on this note, and then when I finish the response, I'll give you an address for where to go to read it. I will try my best to write something informative and slightly amusing.
You also have permission to make fun of me for being so serious.

So, yes, I hope this will be a good learning experience.

the morning benders, concert news and daytrotter.com

2011-06-10T20:28:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite bands is The Morning Benders. I found out about them from a Rolling Stone article, and I would have to say that they are one of the best discoveries I have ever made. The Morning Benders are usually said to have a '60s pop sound. Personally, I adore the band's music not only because of their old-fashioned, dreamy sound, but also because they have a definate "indie-vibe" going on. (As an added plus, lead-singer Chris Chu is quite cute. ^_^) Whenever I listen to The Morning Benders, I feel as if I am in some warm, dreamy state between sleep and awareness. It is also comparable to being in that half-conscious state on a long car ride. If you search "the morning benders" at hypem.com, the playlist that comes up is excellent. In fact, I am listening to it as I type. My favorites from that playlist are the band's covers of "Lovefool" by Cardigans and Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion". I'd REALLY like to see them in concert at some point.

Speaking of concerts, there are only 15 more days until I see Owl City at The Mann with my friend! I'm really excited for this, and I'm hoping that it will be a different and very special experience. Also, today another friend told me that Paul McCartney will be in New York state this July, and she has invited me to go! I'm hoping I can go, but at this point, I realize it is a longshot. Seeing Paul McCartney live would be a once-in-a-lifetime ordeal, so I'm crossing my fingers!

In addition to finding hypem.com, I also recently found the website http://www.daytrotter.com/. Daytrotter is the recording studio, The Horseshack's, website. Many artists come to the studio, which is located in Rock Island, IL, and record a few songs, which are made available for free on the website. Artists such as Dashboard Confessional, Tegan and Sara, Iron & Wine, Vampire Weekend, The National and Tokyo Police Club have all been guests there.

Well, that is all I have for this week. My school ends on the 21st (pretty late, I know), so I am hoping that I will be able to write more interesting posts when I have more free time. Happy Almost-Summer!

REJECTION.... it's nbd.

2011-06-03T14:34:00.000-07:00

So last week I auditioned for my high school's highest choir (ya know, the big choir that wears robes and goes on international trips...), and I didn't make it. :'( While that was a really big bummer, I found a lot of comfort and inspiration in a copy of Rolling Stone Magazine's The 100 Greatest Artists of all Time.

This collectors' edition item is a collection of short essays by artists themselves on 100 artists that the Rolling Stone panel of industry experts voted on. The book covers The Beatles (by Elvis Costello) to Talking Heads (by Dave Sitek). I've been reading a few pages every day, and I'm finding it fascinating. Even if you don't agree with Rolling Stone's opinion, reading essays by musical artists is very interesting. The book also shows just how much history and networking the music industry as a whole contains.

After getting into this book , I feel better about not getting into choir. I mean, every big star in the music industry has met obstacles at some point. We all have to start somewhere, right? Plus, I realize that there is so much more to the industry than the artists themselves. I'd rather be DJing or writing reviews, maybe promoting or managing. Fortunately, I love all aspects of the wonderful world of music, so I have a lot to explore.

^ I know I end all my posts in a very cheesey way, but I totally believe in having an optimistic outlook on life. ^_^

Hype Machine - a newsfeed of mp3s

2011-05-31T15:14:00.000-07:00

As an aspiring music blogger, I often visit websites run by people who like music just as much as I do. Visiting all these sites has made me realize that hundreds of thousands of other people blog about music (and are doing much better than me). Going through blog after blog of all the same thing is exhausting and overwhelming. Luckily, the site Hype Machine has organized many of these mp3 blogs into a "library" of some sort.

I had seen the Hype Machine logo on several music blogs such as http://www.headunderwater.com/ and http://yvynyl.tumblr.com/ before, but not until today did I discover what the site actually was for. Founded in 2005 by Brooklyn-based Anthony Volodkin, Hype Machine takes posts from thousands of mp3 blogs and puts them into one large playlist/timeline-thing. Site users can "love" songs, which may appear on the Hype Machine Song Chart or Artist Chart. Basically, Hype Machine is like a Twitter of mp3s. Sounds cool, right?

This site is definately a work of genius. It seems to be a community of people who truely love sharing music. I'd love to get more involved with Hype Machine, and I can already tell that I will be visiting it daily from now on. Maybe someday you'll see me in their charts...

1 city, 5 (actually 4) record stores

2011-05-27T14:06:00.000-07:00

Today I went into Philly planning to visit a few record stores. Ever since Record Store Day, I've been obsessive over vinyl, and I thought this holiday weekend would be a good time to explore the city nearest to me.

The first record store we visited was Hideaway Music (8612 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, P.A. 19118). This one was my favorite. The place was neat and simple, and their displays were very organized. I didn't buy anything , but I picked up a free promotional sampler from Epitaph Records, and a free promotional 45' from Thomas Dybdahl and Laura Jansen.

The second store we visited was 611 Records (611 N 4th St, Philadelpha, P.A. 19123). Interestingly enough, the place didn't actually exist (anymore?). The building with the number 611 was there, but it was all closed up.

The third record store was AKA Music (27 N 2nd St, Philadelphia, P.A. 19106). AKA was my second favorite. There I picked up a free copy of Vice, which made me feel really cool.

The last two stores we stopped by were Noise Pollution Records (619 S 4th St, Philadelphia, P.A. 19147) and the Philadelphia Record Exchange (618 S 5th St, Philadelphia, P.A. 19147). Both places had multiple levels, each crammed from floor to ceiling with vinyl and CDs. If you are specifically looking for one thing, I would suggest looking at these places. Other than that, it's interesting to look around and shift through boxes of (older) records.

Overall I had a good time "record store-hopping" (I made that up), and I only wish that I could do it more often. The next time I plan something like this, I'd like to go to NYC and see what they have to offer...

how to get free music :D

2011-05-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

Because I am constantly looking for new music, and because I constantly want to buy everything I hear, I have spent some time figuring out how to get free downloads (especially from iTunes). I realize that many websites allow you to rip music from YouTube videos, but that is illegal, and you end up with a bunch of loose files all over your computer. So here are several ways to get free music, legally:

1. Every Tuesday check out the Free Downloads that iTunes offers.

2. Use the "Free On iTunes" app on facebook.com. Every month or so, iTunes offers free samplers, usually with 15 or more free songs as a playlist. These songs from iTunes are not the Free Single of the Week, they are usually focused on one topic, such as this month's "Made In Brooklyn Sampler" and "Sub Pop Summer Sampler".

3. Every month, Spin Magazine offers a free playlist. You can pick that up at http://www.spin.com/itunes. These playlists usually feature up-and-coming artists, so if you're looking for something interesting, download that.

4. Many artists post free downloads on their SoundCloud pages, you if you are looking for a specific artist, search for their SoundCloud page and see if they're offering anything.

5. Sometimes artists will send you a free download if you subscribe to their newsletter...

These are all the things I check monthly for free music- you just have to keep your eyes (and ears) open!

zomg, epic

2011-05-20T14:05:00.000-07:00

Last night at my town's middle school band concert, Robert Ferguson played trumpet as a guest on a instrumental arrangement of Jennifer Lopez's "Let's Get Loud" (1999), and let me just say, WOW. Ferguson completely blew the crowd away. I have never, in my life, heard anyone play trumpet like that before. All I can say was that it was amazing. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of videos of his appearance.

Jennifer Lopez performing "Let's Get Loud" in 2000

more vinyl!

2011-05-14T18:10:00.000-07:00

Today was my church's biannual flea market, and I walked away with 7 vinyl records for only $3.00! Admittedly, I did not know much about the records I bought, but after some research, I was able to identify what they are and what they are supposedly worth. (*note that the pictures may not be of that exact album*)

1.
Label: Victor Talking Machine Co.
Copyright: 1910
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Italian Street Song sung by Lucy Isabelle Marsh

Approximate Worth: $1.00 to $20.00

2.
Label: Columbia Record

Copyright: 1906

Tracklisting:
Side A

1. Mignon sung by Rondo Gavotte
2. Soprano Solo sung in French by Mararet Romaine
Side B
3. La Boheme: Musetta's Waltz Song by Puccini
4. Soprano Solo sung in Italian by Margaret Romaine

Approximate Worth: $20.00

3.
Label: Philips

Copyright: c. 1965

Artist: Le Grand Orchestre de Paul Mauriat

Tracklisting:Face A

1. L'Avventura

2. Oh Ma Jolie Sarah

3. La Decadanse

4. Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep

5. Jesus Christo

6. Etude En Forme De Rhythm And Blues

Face B

1. Un Homme Et Une Femme

2. Capri C'est Fini

3. La Banda

4. Alors Je Chante

5. Alouette

6. El Condor Pasa

Approximate Worth: $5.00 to $10.00

4.
Label: RCA Victor

Artist: I.R.T. (Interboro Rhythm Team)

Tracklisting:

Side A

1. When Bad Things Happen (Extended Dance Mix)

2. When Bad Things Happen (Acappella)

Side B

1. When Bad Things Happen (Dub Mix)

2. When Bad Things Happen (Edited Version)

Approximate Worth: $10.00

Album Title: "Piano Favorites"

Label: Allegro

Copyright:
Artist: Walter Klien, piano

Tracklisting:
Side 1
1. Sonata (Quasi una Fantasia) No. 14 in C Sharp Major by Beethoven
2. Op. 27, No. 2 "Moonlight" by Beethoven
Side 2
1. Spring Song, in A Major Op. 62, No. 30 by Mendelssohn
2. Waltz in D Flat Major, Op. 70, No. 3 by Chopin
3. Etude in E Major, Op. 10, No. 3 "Tristesse" by Chopin
4. Traeumerai Op. 15, No. 7 by Chopin
5. Liebestraum by Liszt
6. Waltz, Op. 39, No. 15 by Brahms
7. Chant sans paroles in F Major, Op. 2, No. 3 by Tchaikovsky
8. Clair de lune in D Flat Major from "Suite Bergamasque" by Debussy

Approximate Worth: $1.00 to $10.00

(Here I couldn't find a picture of the album, so I decided to use this as a replacement.)

Album Title: "Mix So I Can Go Crazy"

Label: Artista

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Mix So I Can Go Crazy

2. Rock It (Rock It)

Side 2

1. Mix So I Can Go Crazy (Extended Version)

2. Rock It (Rock It) (Beat Box Mix)

Approximate Worth: $6.00

Album Title: "Great Songs of Christmas by Great Artists of Our Time" (Vol. 6)

Label: Columbia Records

Copyright: 1966

Tracklisting:
Side 1
1. Silent Night sung by Barbra Streisand
2. Do You Hear What I Hear? sung by Andy Williams
3. The Christmas Song sung by Johnny Mathis
4. The Holiday of Love Caroling, Caroling sung by The King Family
5. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring sung by Pablo Casals
6. O Little Town of Bethlehem It Came Upon a Midnight Clear sung by The King Family
7. O Come, All Ye Faithful sung by Jan Peerce
8. Ave Maria sung by Barbra Streisand
Side 2
1. Frosty the Snowman sung by Ray Conniff
2. We Need a Little Christmas sung by New Christy Minstrels
3. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow sung by Steve Lawrence/Eydie Gorme
4. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing sung by Ray Conniff
5. Noel Nouvelet sun by Jan Peerce
6. March of the Kings Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
7. White World of Winter sung by Bing Crosby
8. Il Est Ne sung by New Christy Minstrels
9. Still, Still, Still sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
10. Away in a Manger sung by Mahalia Jackson/Percy Faith
11. We Wish You A Merry Christmas sung by Ray Conniff

Approximate Worth: $7.00

I only bought the Christmas album because it had Barbra Streisand on it. Anyway, as I was trying to find an accurate value for each disc, I discovered that many of them were sold for a wide range on the internet. Some copies of the same album were marked from a range of $1.00 to $29.00! So I think 7 vinyl discs for $3.00 was not bad at all.... However, that's not really the point. The point is, I am really excited to have found all this today (espeically the older records that I won't be able to use anyway)! Horrah! I think it's important for members of the younger generation to look back and explore the things that came before them, so that they can be inspired and also really understand the world as it is today. I know I repeat that a lot, so just learn to roll your eyes now....

passion for publication

2011-05-13T16:53:00.000-07:00

I realize I haven't been posting as regularly as I had thought I would. So I've decided that this post will not be focused on one topic, instead I will just summarize and update the musical-ness that I have found in the past week.

First off, my newest song obsessions are "Block After Block" by Matt & Kim, "Meheni Rachi" by The Dharohar Project, Laura Marling, & Mumford and Sons and "Oh Darling (feat. Cady Groves)" by Plug In Stereo (decidedly the cutest song EVAR). Even though these songs are from last year, they are at the top of my playlist, and I think everyone should totally check them out.

Secondly, my friend burned me a CD of "inappropriate" club songs, and I have promised to give her one in exchange. I fully intend to top songs like "Shots" by LMAFO and "Hotel Room Service" by Pitbull. Wish me luck? :P

If I were to compose a song, what would it sound like? I know I am changing the topic completely, but I can't help but wonder if I would be a good composer. Today in choir we actually got to practice transposing (only 4 bars... but still), and honestly, I thought it was hard. I am horrible at sight-reading and solfège, so it is no wonder that I found transposing difficult. It's really embarassing, actually. Plus, I'd like to take AP Music Theory my senior year, but it doesn't look like that will happen. :/

Lastly, I came across an interesting website last night. http://www.whymusicmatters.org/ is a campaign to remind people of music's real value, and to help people get music legally. I discovered the website through a link on the artist Jamie T.'s website.

Okay, this post wasn't very great, but no one reads this, so whatever.

too much music?

2011-05-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

Is it possible that one can collect so much music that it becomes meaningless? Of course for serious audiophiles, this isn't really a plausibile, but as I do not consider myself an audiophile, I have been pondering this question.

On a large scale, I don't even own that much music. I own about 900 MP3s, 60 CDs, 5 cassette tapes, and 1 vinyl record. Still, I feel like I spend too much time looking for music, and not enough time listen to the music I already have. This habit of constantly looking for the next thing started in September 2009 when I made my first Tumblr blog. I used my first blog for posting a different song by a different artist every day. I ended this blog this January, as I felt that posting a song a day was becoming more of a "job" than for fun. When I ended my blog, however, I did not end my obsessive search for music. I write down artist names when I come across them in newspapers and magazines. I go through the websites of industry resources and record companies to find new artists almost weekly. When music is released on Tuesdays, I always look through all the releases incase I will discover a new act that catches my ears. Looking for music takes up about 45% of my life at this point.

Anyway, my thought is that once you like all music, is music special anymore? Once you own 1,000 CDs, do they still hold as much value? Or does collecting music just become a habit? When I started listening to music, I was very picky. As I've said before, I used to listen only to my favorite band Hanson. From there, I started finding new bands occasionally. As time progressed, I would ask friends for names of their favorite artists and search for names in the liner notes of CDs. Now, with the internet and iTunes, I can find up to 30 artists a week! While a large collection of music shows commitment to a hobby and open-mindedness in musical taste, it could also reveal that you've lost sight of what first interested you. Once you think almost everything you hear is worthy of a spot in your collection, what is to become of that collection? The question I am trying to get at is: if you have too much music, does that detract from the value (material-wise and emotional-wise)?

I've also wondered the same thing about guitarists... Once you have 25 guitars, what does it mean??? (I'm starting to sound like the Double Rainbow guy. "What does it MEAN????")

I'm sure this entry doesn't make too much sense (lacking any sort of organization), but my thought/hope is that these are notes that will someday be turned into a larger project like a book. Or not.

you are loved

2011-04-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

No matter how bad it seems, you are never alone.

barbra streisand's birfday is tomorrow (a rant in disguise)

2011-04-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, I do say "birfday", not "birthday". Tomorrow Barbra Streisand is turning sixty-nine (!) years old. I will not try to summarize her life, as you can easily look it up on Wikipedia and educate yourself. (I've even provided the direct link to her article for your convenience.) I was super mad when she sang at the Grammys this year and people were being very sarcastic, saying, "She sang like she was relevant" because seriously, people, she is relevant. The music you enjoy today would not be here if the singers from the 50s, 60s, 70, 80s, and 90s never made the music that they did. To really appreciate an art, you must first appreciate it's beginnings. That is all I have to say about that; if I allowed myself to go on, I would probably write a book.

This brings up another topic: On Tuesday I went to see the animated movie Rio. In the film, there is a song called "Let Me Take You To Rio". This song is performed by the female artist Ester Dean, whose voice is very similar to that of Justin Bieber. Hear for yourself:

Many people on YouTube are absolutely convinced that Bieber sang at least some part of this song. They cannot imagine that anyone's voice could be similar to his, and that a female could be singing about a female. *gasp* Well, if they were truly concerned/interested/confused, they could check on iTunes, as I did, to see who performed the song. They could also listen to some of Ester Dean's other music to see if her voice sounds like Justin's in her other work. And maybe they would have enough sense to check Justin Bieber's website to see if his management had mentioned anything about him recording a song for a movie that would be in theaters. Trust me, if the song had been performed by Bieber, there would have been a lot of promo and a single and a music video, etc... The bottom line is: use common sense, and if you are unsure, research, research, research! I assure you, it doesn't take a lot of effort!

There are a lot of people on the internet who type without stopping to think first. These are only two music-related issues I've had with people who do not know what they are talking about. I guess this wasn't really a rant, but I do believe people need to use their good judgement before putting something out there for others to see and form opinions on.

a venture into hip-hop

2011-04-18T17:47:00.000-07:00

In the neighborhood, everybody has their role. So-and-so is the bug out; so-and-so is the tough guy; so-and-so is, you know, a good dancer or whatever. And then there's the boombox guy. And you hang around with him because he has a boombox. - Trevor Clark

I've been reading two very interesting books on DJing and boomboxes. The first book I purchased over a year ago. On the Record: The Scratch DJ Academy Guide by Phil White, Luke Crisell, and Rob Principe gives a very detailed history of DJing, and contains some tips on how to get started. The Scratch DJ Academy is a real place in NYC. Founded in 2002 by Rob Principe and the late Jam Master Jay, the academy teaches regular lessons and holds workshops for aspiring DJs. The second book, The Boombox Project: The Machines, the Music, and the Urban Underground by Lyle Owerko, is more of an extended art project, with beautiful pictures of the boombox culture from the 1980s and wonderful insights from an array of figures in the music industry.

It is amazing to think that our "modern" music is not so old. Rock, of course, was invented in the 50s, while hip-hop started in the 70s. As I've stated before, DJs are amazing artists. They take what they can find, and they interpret their music selection so others can get more out of it. Before, my DJ hero was DJ A-Trak, who in 1997 won the DMC World DJ Championships at the age of 15. A-Trak proved that practice DOES make perfect, and that age shouldn't hold anyone with talent back. Here is his winning routine from 1997:

Impressive for a 15 year-old, huh? ;D

However, after reading, I realized that I should probably make myself more familiar with the pioneers of DJing and hip-hop. DJ Kool Herc, often called the "father of hip-hop" or "godfather of hip-hop", was the first ever DJ to use two copies of the same record to elongate breaks in a song, so that dancers would have more time to show off their moves. This allowed for breakdancing and MCing over the breaks. In short, hip-hop was born.

Unfortunately, this year, at age 56, Kool Herc developed kidney stones and did not have the financial means to pay for medical bills and such. At his website, he asks for people to donate money so that he can afford to have the correct medical treatment.

The history of music is fascinating, and I hope to learn a lot more throughout my life. However cheesey that may sound, it's so true.

my first record

2011-04-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, April 16th, was Record Store Day. This is a day where people are encouraged to go buy music at a record store to support the independent record stores. As an incentive, many artists release/rerelease special editions in vinyl. I went to my closest record store and bought All I Want by A Day To Remember. Sadly, I do not have a turntable to actually play my new 7", but I am going to look for one at my grandparents' this evening. However, my purchase from Victory Records came with a little card that gave me a password for a free download of the content on the record. I'm extremely happy just looking at the (purple!) record, and I really wish I could have stayed in the store longer and bought more. As my friend said, "That place is like heaven".

So starts my vinyl collection....

animal farm... but not really

2011-04-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

Gold Panda

Have you ever noticed that a lot electronic/rave/techno/dance artists have animals names (real or mystical) in their stage name? Deadmau5, Owl City, Gold Panda, Duck Sauce, Unicorn Kid, Swimming With Dolphins, 2 Bad Mice, Little Dragon, Kicks Like A Mule, etc... If anyone can explain this trend, please let me in on the secret. :P

I am actually quite new to the world of electronic music, but I think it's an art that deserves to be recognized. I hate that some people (*cough cough*) claim that any music that contains computerized sounds is not "real", because honestly, in today's world, nothing remains untouched by technology after it is recorded. I believe DJs and such have an amazing knack for reaching to thet souls of their audience and invoking emotions in unexpected ways.

Deadmau5

I don't know anything more about electronic, so to avoid embarassing myself, I'll leave off here...

a little opera goes a long way

2011-04-08T17:56:00.000-07:00

My choir went to Vassar College yesterday night and saw their Department of Music's Opera Workshop perform scenes from the Mozart operas Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, Bastien und Bastienne, and La Nozze di Figaro, and let me just say they were amazing! It takes a lot of guts and training to perform opera, and all the college students were very talented! I have to say my favorite piece was "Voi signor, che giusto siete" from the end of Act II of La Nozze di Figaro. In this piece, many contrasting characters come out to sing and this part of the plot is the most hectic, so it is the most fun to watch!

This is a pretty lame connection to opera, but Danny Jones from the lovely British boyband McFly was on a British TV show called Popstar to Opera Star in January of last year. He didn't win, but I still think was brave of him to try! :D

story time with a great soundtrack

2011-04-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

Last night I saw the movie Once (2006, directed by John Carney). The movie was filmed in Dublin, Ireland, decidely one of my favorite places on earth (even though I have never been there). This movie stars Glen Hansard (The Frames) and Markéta Irglová, both who are professional musicians in real life.

In the film, Hansard is a street performer who meets a woman (Markéta Irglová) one night while playing his songs. They soon become friends, and find out that they can make beautiful music together. Over one week, they have the chance to make a record while they both work out their feelings for each other and sort out the other romantic relationships in their lives.

I'd give this movie 5 stars out of 5. The plot was adorable and it's European origin makes the movie even better. However, I am only writing about this film because the movie has a brilliant soundtrack. Once's soundtrack earned a Grammy nomination in 2007 and the song "Falling Slowly" won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Even if you have not seen the movie, the soundtrack is a great album in itself.

As I am always looking out for new music, I did some additional research on Glen Hansard's band The Frames and Markéta Irglová. As of 2011, The Frames have been around for twenty-one (!) years. Their most recent album The Cost was released in Ireland in 2006. As it turns out, Hansard and Irglová also formed a band together called The Swell Season. The band's Wikipedia page says that they are on hiatus, but their official websites says they will make an appearance at Coachella 2011 in two weeks. Their most recent album Strict Joy (2009) recieved four out of five stars from Spin Magazine. I don't have the time to review each album, but in closing, I'd suggest you watch the movie Once and buy the original sountrack.

my theme song and more

2011-04-01T15:18:00.000-07:00

Now who'd have thought, that after all,
Something as simple as rock 'n' roll would save us all.
And who'd have thought, that after all, it was rock 'n' roll.

This song "I Still Belive" by Frank Turner, is my theme song for sure. The lyrics are perfect, or as close to "perfect" as a song can get. Also, going along with the theme of the lyrics, the actual music truly represents rock 'n' roll. Ah, that doesn't make much sense does it? I can't explain, just listen to it. :D

In other news, the April issue of my school's (somewhat) monthly newspaper came out today. Woot! My article "The Album that Changed My Life" (about Hanson's 1997 album Middle of Nowhere) was a total hit! Not. Always so excited when the newpaper comes out. I was under the impression that nobody actually read the Arts & Entertainment section, but my algebra teacher tapped me on the shoulder and said that she had read my article. Not gonna lie, it kinda made my day. So I will continue to slave away over articles for the newspaper, hoping that someday, I will write album reviews for magazines that thousands of people like me will read and appreciate...

It doesn't hurt to dream, right?

Hope is Music is Hope

2011-03-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

"We are a generation that could save a generation." - Hanson

I wasn't always so interested in music, but when I found the band Hanson, my life was changed. Hanson opened up the world of music and art for me. They were my first love, my first obsession, my first concert, my first everything. They introduced me to the music-loving community, to people who had real passion, to self-confidence, to interest in pop culture, to TOMS Shoes, etc... Basically, I am who I am today because of a band. With Hanson, I discovered that I belonged somewhere; that there were people outside my small town who believed in the world like I did. This was huge, and from there, I became an individual who was part of a larger movement. I will never love or owe any other band as much as I owe/love Hanson.

If anything, music gives me the most hope for the future. Hanson, of course, led me to this realization. When Hanson went to South Africa in 2007, they took every single one of their fans with them. Their journey was solid proof of the fact that music enables (at least parts of ) humanity to become one. Even if the music does not have that purpose, or is "horrible", it can connect so many, even those who normally would not get along. Regardless of whether a song is being praised or ridiculed by millions, it is connecting and raising some type of awareness. A certain artist, album, song, lyric, memory can have a special meaning for thousands of people. There is something beautiful and exciting in being part of a small or large group that is united by music in some form.

In the same way that we use music to unite people in sections of our culture, we can use music to unite continents, countries, states, cities, races, generations, people. Let's not wait for someone else to be that generation.

we we we so excited

2011-03-23T14:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my family ordered tickets to see Owl City in June in Philadelphia! I'm going with a good friend, so I'm super-psyched. Owl City's upcoming album, All Things Bright and Beautiful is dropped on May 17th, so be on the lookout for that. As for me, for the next ninety-three (!) days, I'll be catching up on all of Adam Young's music. Last night I was listening to "Fireflies", and I came to the conclusion that it is probably one of the best songs ever created in the (relatively short) history of songs ever created.

a new generation of music

2011-03-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

I believe music is changing. I mean, it's always been changing, but this time, it's special. In the past few months, I've noticed a theme in a few Top 40 songs. First, "Firework" by Katy Perry, "F**kin' Perfect" by P!nk, and then "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga. These songs all encourage us to believe in ourselves, and to love ourselves as we are. Is it possible that people are becoming more accepting of, well, people? Can the music industry, one of the most brutal environments in the world, be encouraging audiences to love their imperfections? In today's world, "normal" and "perfect" are going extinct. This new wave of inspiring songs has the power to reach many and to change perspectives. The general message? Love. I think these songs give us, the listener, the chance to realize that our generation is not killing music (despite what many believe). Our generation is making music better.