Some Points on Music

My own thoughts of course.

I'm a fan of music, but not of headphones. Music is an element of the world around you, not an insulation from it.

Listen to tons of different music, even if it's crap. Yeah, you don't have to listen to the whole song, but give it a chance. It helps you define what you really do like and strengthen your opinions of music in general.

You're gonna change your taste in music numerous times in your life. Don't be embarrassed by what you used to like, and definitely don't be embarrassed by what you like right now. People might put you down for it, but remember that at least some other people all over the world are bound to like the same thing too. And obviously the people making the music.

I'm a music collector and appreciator, much like the art kind. I know how to play the instruments you had in band class and that's it. I wish I could play the drums well, or the guitar, but I can't. Just because you can't play music doesn't mean can't like it. But I imagine it wouldn't necessarily be in the same way as a musician might.

Research the music you like. Find out who makes it and who influences it. Wikipedia is your friend. Have something to talk about when you talk music. The only downside is finding out the people who make the music you like are a.) ugly b.) dead c.) a computer. But even then a.) you don't have to see them unless they're live b.) Tupac still puts out much more than his fair share c.) there's nothing wrong with electro.

Discover the HypeMachine. Sure it's full of remixes and a hell of a lot more dance/electro than is healthy for anytime that isn't a Saturday night out on the town, but it's a hell of an aggregator. You know what's new, what's popular, you don't have to download anything, and you can search some band's entire discographies if you want to get a taste for them. Bookmark it: hypem.com

Read blogs. Of course this ties in with hypem.com, but get out on your own, find music blogs you like, that are a bit out of your range, and that keep current. Check out rollingstone.com, pitchfork.com, nme.com, all the mainstream music sites. Make yourself knowledgeable. The radio is alright, but you're getting maybe 2% of what's really out there. Especially in Canada.

If you really like music, buy it. I'm not saying go out and download singles, but if you really love an artist, get out and buy their new album, and most importantly, catch their show if they come through town. Nothing makes you appreciate music more than live performances.

Sure your iPod is nice, but that's music you know you like. Don't play the shit out of it. Expand your tastes, keep finding new music and don't get complacent.

Personal feeling 1: rap really is going down the shitter. Hip-hop is close behind.

Personal feeling 2: noise rock is actually good.

Personal feeling 3: repetitive dance music makes for good, mindless background noise for writing.

Personal feeling 4: really good dance music makes you feel like...you guessed it. Dancing. If you want that Saturday night feeling on a boring Tuesday afternoon, get out and find some good bangers.

Personal feeling 5: current artist's interpretations of the 80's are much better than the actual 80's were.

Personal feeling 6: Old Kings of Leon is much better than new Kings of Leon.

I already mentioned Pitchfork. Sure it has its criticisms, but it's refreshing. You don't get a lot of ass-kissing, and when you do (and you're smart) you can pick it out. They're harsh, but if something is really so bad, give it a listen and see if it's justified. If you like it, pitchfork can go suck it. But guess what? Would you have even known about them if not for pitchfork? Probably not.

Remixes are rarely better than the originals. But when they are, they're pretty freakin' good.

Listen to at least a bit of old music. It's nice to know the roots and how we got to where we are.

That's all I've got for now.

Death Cab Concert Review. Mega Post.

Sooo, while it's still fresh in my mind...and I smell like crowded concert...

Alysse won VIP tickets, so we got to go early around 5 to the sound check. There was maybe 30 of us max there. We got to go in, right up to the stage, Death Cab played 3 songs I'd personally never heard, but they sounded good. Only downside was the mixing drowned out Gibbard's voice if you were too close, so standing further back woulda made it sound a little more balanced. The other thing was that depending on where you stood, you seemed to get only that bass or guitar's speaker. We were in the middle and it was nothing but bass.

Got to meet the band about 5 minutes after that. During the sound check everyone seemed really awkward, like we didn't know how to act. That was the weird thing about having so few people there: you don't really get that "concert" kinda feel. Anyways, we lined up, got to shake hands with all the band members, got our pics with them. Great guys, real laid back, introduced themselves and everything. Told the bassist I liked his beard haha.

After that we got to chill in the VIP lounge, got a wicked little buffet and everything. The Rogers people were there to whore out their new phones and the prizes you could win for texting...lucky us, we've been Telus customers for years. There were two girls there that for God-knows-why, changed their outfits in between the sound check and the concert. Go figure. Another couple there had won tickets from Nokia to fly down for the concert, plus they got a new phone.

We got to watch everyone line up, starting around 6:30-7 I guess. Shitty day outside, overcast, and it didn't seem like they even opened the Dal SUB, so everyone had to wait outside no matter how early they got there. Recognized a few people in line, til it started curving around the block. We heard there were 1000 tickets up for grabs...I heard 150 before that somehow, dunno where or why or when though. Judging from the venue (McInnes room upstairs SUB) 1000 was NOT happening.

We got to go in for the show earlier than everyone else cause of VIP, so we got front row views, but it was further back than sound check. The place started to fill up pretty well, but definitely didn't stretch to the back, and there was maybe 500 there, not even close to the 1000 available. It started getting pretty hot, but I couldn't leave my spot to get water cause I was sure to lose it. I ended up being second row with my friend Jocelyn in front of me. Pretty much 5 feet from the stage either way.

After about half an hour of waiting for the opener to show up, The Midway State finally got on stage. The time seemed much shorter either way though, they had two screens up from projectors with 4 texts showing at a time from everyone in the crowd who submitted one. Pretty funny ones, pretty lame ones. Lots of marriage proposals. Not many screams of "Yes!"

Frankly, The Midway State wasn't all too bad, but all their songs sounded the same. The lead singer was totally overdramatic...and his afro was appropriately inflated to match. They had a pretty good instrumental opener, they seemed happy to be there, but the songs just weren't doing it for me. There was no subtlety at all; they played every song hard, there was tons of noise and guitar and drums filled every noise crevice; no silence to kind of absorb it in. 

I really think the lead singer ruined them for me either way: drama queen, and his voice always sounded strained and like he was gonna cry, but in a really wussy way. The other part I really didn't get was the guitarist: they gave him a solo basically every song, no matter what. He ripped pretty well, but there was one particular solo I remember that was absolute shit; like literally it contained every single thing I hate when it comes to guitar. Low note to low note, chords that were really sad and didn't mesh well...think of something absolutely horrible and melodramatic from the worst 80's rock song you can think of, and then imagine this guy playing it. It was not only bad, but he repeated the same progression. Not impressed.

Anyways, they did their big song "Never Again" then I think one more about rain and why the girl didn't love him. Boo-hoo. I don't think they're going anywhere really; it'd be nice to have them make me eat my words, but I could care less.

Anyways, Death Cab came on after like a half hour of the crew playing around with the drums and the keyboards and guitars. What was the point of the sound check? Don't ask me. They had the set list up on one of the speakers and me and the people beside me tried for a solid 5 minutes to zoom in and find out the order, but the most we figured was that "Cath" was smack dab in the middle. I had a strong feeling they'd open with "I Will Possess Your Heart" cause of the awesome long intro which builds really well and takes a solid 5-6 minutes. Nope.

Ben came out solo with the acoustic and started strumming "I Will Follow You Into The Dark". The crowd went crazy and everyone knew the words which was awesome; especially big cheer when he sang "from Bangkok to Calgary". By the way, if I haven't mentioned yet, everyone was crammed together, the boards were bouncing underneath our feet, and it all smelled like sex. Don't ask. We all belted that song out anyways, but Gibbard never really looked amused. In the back of my mind by the way, I'm comparing this whole thing to The Weakerthans show I saw the other weekend. The whole show, their lead singer was happy to be there and looked amused/bemused by the whole idea of the show and everyone there to watch him/them. That didn't seem evident with DCFC; I think they've been doing it for too long in too many places to really be excited anymore.

Each time a new song would start, Ben would look at the set list and nod at everyone else. There wasn't much interaction during songs other than the bassist turning and playing facing the drum set for half of each song, and Gibbard exchanging awkward stares with the drummer. The other guitarist Chris was off in his own world on the far end (I was standing exactly between the lead singer and bassist, about 7 feet from each...Ben was sweating profusely and it was whipping off him onto the stage every time he twisted his body in the his awkward little high-stepping/prancing around the stage. Strange, but hey, he can have some eccentricities, he's allowed) and he seemed to be singing Ben's parts occasionally, though there was no mike around him to be heard.

I'd say they played 15 songs? and I knew around 6-7...one of the few who seemed to recognize a song they said came off their first album "Something About Airplanes". I think it was "State Street Residential" but no one seemed to know it and it's pretty dark and cynical sounding anyways, not really sure why they played it. You could tell the songs everyone knew and loved though, like "Summer Skin" and "Sound of Settling" which was upbeat and one of the highlights of the show. They never really slowed it down much, though when they did get around to IWPYH, the intro was nice and long, the effects were great, and it was very true to the album version. That's the one thing about DCFC though, they're not really about the effects, just straight up two guitars, a bass and drums (plus piano for some songs and a little drum-machine thing for others). Respectable and really well done, but nothing out of the ordinary. 

My favorite part of the whole concert though was them playing "Cath". They rocked it really hard, the sound was awesome and very true to the real thing...but sadly, two things happened. Not many people seemed to know it, and this was the time they started handing out water to anyone who needed it. Distracting, but I still had a blast during that song.

They didn't talk much in between songs, but they made sure to thank us for having them (greeted to raucous applause) and wondered why the didn't come earlier. I think the more the show went on, the louder we cheered and the more we appreciated them. When he announced the last song and finished...I have literally never heard anything louder in my entire life. The cheering, the screaming, the yelling, the whistling, the clapping, the "en-core!"s the "death-cab!"s, the insanity of it all...my eardrums have never felt like that, ever. We must've cheered our hearts out for a solid 3 or 4 minutes. We knew they were coming back anyways, but that didn't stop us from going berserk. It was astounding really.

It was just Ben again I think who came out. Right now, I honestly forget what song he started with though. They played about 4, maybe 5 songs. I was blown away though by the closer, "Transatlanticism". I've never heard it before, but the progression between the awesome start of Ben playing piano and the timbre in his voice, that great acoustic feel, his bandmates standing around taking it all in, giving their guitars a strum here and there for atmosphere...then him getting back to his guitar, the song picking up, and them just absolutely rocking it out for a solid 2 minutes instrumentally and the awesome, repetitive "I need you so much closer". It was easily the most "into" a song any of them were. The bassist was thrashing, getting on his knees at the end...the drummer was murdering the set, the cymbals were flying, it was just awe-inspiring. I caught myself actually exhaling when it was all done, one of the best musical experiences of my life. It really brought the concert up a notch in my mind and it was an amazing close to it all.

Overall, it wasn't one of the better concerts of my life. I frankly even had more fun at The Weakerthans. The main reason? I knew going in Death Cab isn't necessarily the best group to watch live; their music is great to listen to at home, chill to, really take in and appreciate the lyrics. It's not the best at a concert, where the words are drowned out and some of the music is too soft to even bob your head to. When they played their "rock" songs, you could see the energy pick up, and you have to wonder why they don't give that to all their songs. Even when it came to singing and the lyrics, you could FEEL it when John Sampson was singing, no matter what it was. You could feel the pain or the joie de vivre in his voice and you could see it in his face. That wasn't always there with Death Cab, which I felt took away from it a bit. I dunno if that's just how their show is all the time, or if it was just this one.

Disclaimer: I didn't buy the tickets. Alysse won them. There's at least 10-15 bands I'd put ahead of Death Cab that I'd love to see live, so this was more of a "they're in town, it's once-in-a-lifetime, why not?". I did come away impressed, but only by Death Cab though, not in terms of them compared to other bands I've seen live. Overall? 8.2/10 if I had to put a number on it. Would I pay $400 like I heard some people did though? Never.

Kanye West - Graduation Reviews

My breakdown, agree with me or not, but I'll let you know that Kanye's CD's are the only ones I buy when they come out and I've given College Dropout and Late Registration multiple spins over the years:

Good Morning - Starts off too slow, never really picks up into a banger. Jay-Z's part is alright at the end, coulda used even more of him.

Champion - Nice uptempo beat, alright synth I guess, but the repeating sample infringes on Kanye's voice a bit.

Stronger - The most original song on the album, and even though it doesn't feel authentic cause it's become whored out as a single, it sounds even better on the album cause the techno contrasts so well with the rest of the soul-sample songs.

I Wonder - When this beat drops in, it's great. It's a solid song but nothing spectacular or special. I do like his staggered delivery though.

Good Life - Wow, this is by far my favorite on the album. T-Pain doesn't annoy or dominate the track like he usually does on songs he's on. The chipmunky sample sounds great and the beat is one of the few that sounds happy on the album, which is something it's really missing, in the Gold Digger/Touch The Sky vein of his other songs. Feels longer than it actually is, but I could listen to a 5 minute version of this and still love it.

Can't Tell Me Nothing - This is where the album starts to drop off a bit, in theme and actual quality of the songs. The sample is overpowering and annoying, Jeezy seems really outta place, and he should've at least given him a verse (which is the other thing lacking from the album, more guest spots, it's not really a hip-hop album if there's not someone else on every second song).

Barry Bonds - Kind of a Drive Slow vibe anyone? That's what it reminds me of. I have to agree with a lot of the reviews I read before listening to the album, the fact that this is more appropriate for a mixtape. The puns are really good of course, but he used that same sample of "wheh-wheh-wheh-wheh" on the "This Ain't A Scene..." remix. Weezy's also done much better work.

Drunk and Hot Girls - Funny song, I'll give him that much. I read somewhere though that this song would sound much better at twice the speed, so I'd love to see a remix. The part where he makes fun of the girl's singing is the best for me.

Flashing Lights - Grew on me a bit, and reminds me of "Bring Me Down" from LR, except it eases in instead of dropping in. The mix of beats is really good, and I think overall he shoulda kept stuff more uptempo like he does here. Dwele definitely has the best cameo here aside from T-Pain and John Mayer. One of the better songs on the album and where it starts to pick up again.

Everything I Am - Cool style mixing Toomp's scratching with the soul, and this one reminds me of Last Call in a way. I'm a chump for any hip-hop with a piano anyways. Great message too.

Glory - Feels like Mo-Town to me, and it sounds great. He shows off a bit of the cockiness and has some fun in this one too, so I liked that about it. The sample really does it for me too, even though it loops kinda loud, it's girly enough that it doesn't interrupt his flow if you know what I mean.

Homecoming - This one really took me by surprise, I didn't know he was gonna re-use "Home", cause I remember that track from about 2 years ago and I loved it. For some reason both choruses killed it, whether it was that older sample or Chris Martin, who does a great job here too. The saloon piano? Pure genius, I don't even know where he got the idea, but it's really original and actually works out well.

Big Brother - I get the idea behind it, but it sounds like a muted version of a Jay-Z song, and it's nut-riding at its finest. His acclaim for Jay shoulda ended with "Last Call", where he pretty much explained the relationship as well as anyone woulda cared to hear. Kinda gets annoying too and drags on, and it comes to a point with the "No way jose" line that's really annoying.

*Bittersweet - Now why the hell wouldn't this be on the North American release? I'd call it my favorite on the album, but I can't really since it wasn't released with it. Could've easily replaced "Big Brother" as the last track or even came after it. Fits the theme of the album great, Mayer is great on the chorus, Kanye has some great, great lines (my favorite being "you talk about her family, her aunt's and shit/and she say "Mahfucka, your mama's a bitch") and the way the beat fades out at the end is a much better finish than Big Brother.

As for the other songs left off the NA release, I haven't heard them, so I can't say anything.

University

Whooo, first day and it's already going great. Every class is supposed to be 75 minutes long, but I took a microeconomics course with the "best professor you'll have" (it was on ratemyprofessors.com) and he was not only letting people in late, but he told us our textbooks were useless (a waste of reading and basically a $150 dictionary, which I'd thankfully not spent yet) and that we didn't have to take either mid-term, making our final worth 100%. Best of all, he let us out of 8:30am class after 20 minutes, and told us to "enjoy our first day of university".

It's much better than I thought in the first place, I've seen enough of my friends, and the atmosphere here is great. For anyone who's currently in high school, and relishes that kind of freedom, it's about tenfold here. You don't have to go to any classes, and you have more than ample time in between them. Best of all, I have every Friday off, and we're one of the few universities to have that.

Songs...

Two new ones I like:

"Perfect Gentleman" - Wyclef Jean
"Bad Girl" - Dave Spoon ft. Lisa Mafia

Dunno why I even like that last one, I used to hate techno with a passion, I'm not sure what changed, but it's got a great beat and alright lyrics, so go figure. I like it.

deviantART

Finally got around to getting one these. Check it out...

http://opaljagger.deviantart.com/

Cartoons?

Whatever happened to Saturday morning cartoons? It used to be all you could watch on most networks from like 7am-3pm every Saturday, but now you're lucky if they show any at all. What the hell happened to the idea of entertaining kids with cartoons on the first day of the weekend? I remember when I used to get so excited for all the shows on that day, the way I get excited for a Sunday of NFL nowadays. It's sad I think, and a lot of kids today are missing out on what was really a staple for anyone in my generation.

Whaat?!

Forgot to put this one the other day or anytime before this, but I was thinking about it at work.

Blender magazine (that Maxim/music mix one, which is actually a pretty decent publication, considering it comes from the same guys who bring you scantily-clad women and beer and barbecue tips every month) had a list of the "Top 100 Hottest Things Right Now", and I thought the list was pretty decent...until I got to number 1, and found out it was...Andy Samberg? Like what the fuck? I was literally shocked to see him there. Hot Rod looks stupid, and even though I enjoyed "Dick In A Box" on SNL, I really doubt it's been his year. Sure he got the cover...

Anyways, I got to thinking today, and it really shoulda just stopped at number 2, Lil' Wayne. To pre-face this, I'm not exactly one for gangster rap, and I used to just despise Weezy's voice and lyrics until I started hearing more and more of him, and he began using his raspiness and wit in a better manner. Now he's everywhere, seems to have a new song out every week, and it's actually quality and quantity. Plus I've read articles in everything from The New Yorker to Scratch to GQ about him and how he's on top of the hip-hop game right now. There's one guy whose year it's been.

The other thing I found rather amusing was that going through the UK edition of Esquire, they had the cover line of "The best comedy on TV you've never seen" so that kinda intrigued me. I get around to it, and guess what? It's Saturday Night Live. Like go figure, one of the staples of American television, and most Brits have never seen it I guess. I would've thought anyone who'd seen any SNL alums acting would've found out about the show, you know, after like 30 years, but I guess not.

Last Day of Work

So I finally finished work today after more than 4 months I think. Made a lot of new friends, who I might not ever see again, which kinda sucks. I learned old women can be cool (Trish) some can be annoying (Judy), and nothing beats being one of the only guys at a female-dominated workplace. I mean, I think I spent as much time flirting as counting cash at the end of the night (by the way, counting cash is basically free money...you sit there and just frigging count money...on company time).

I also learned that working 5am shifts suck. Yeah, you get out earlier, like 2:30pm, but waking up at 4am and being tired all day are some pretty bad trade-offs for that. Finally, I learned what it's like to have a semi-steady job. For one thing, I could never imagine doing that job day in and day out for years like some people have. Just working the cash, keeping the store tidy, all that stuff? Even for the brief summer that I worked there there were times when I felt I was gonna go crazy.

Alas though, I actually had quite a shitty day. I broke up with my girlfriend last week, and since I was the one who did it, I actually took it pretty well considering. Then I sent her an email last night apologizing for something that came to my mind, and she blasted me with the most bitter email I've ever got this morning. All day long I finally realized how she must've felt this whole time, and that took it's toll on me, cause up until today, I'd pretty much come out unscathed from the whole episode. Anyways, I guess you learn from everything, and that's all I have to take away from that.

Songs

Oh yeah, from time to time I'll post songs I'm listening to a lot of or that I really like right now.

"Rockstar" - Nickelback
"Sober" - Kelly Clarkson
"The Best Of You" - Foo Fighters
"The Take Over, The Break's Over" - Fall Out Boy
"Over You" - Daughtry
"Apologize Remix" - One Republic ft. Lil' Wayne & Bun B.
"Love Is Gone" - David Guetta
"Because Of You Remix" - Ne-Yo ft. Kanye West
"Sweetest Girl" - Wyclef Jean ft. Akon, Lil' Wayne and Nia
"Tongue Tied" - Faber Drive
"Teenagers" - My Chemical Romance
"Do It" - Nelly Furtado

3:48am

Wow, it's way too late to be up. Getting some songs to put on my new laptop. For one thing, this is pretty much gonna be dominated by my thoughts about songs among other things. Right now "Guitar" by Prince is playing, and all the reviews said it was a good, ripping, guitar-crazy song, but it actually sounds pretty muted, and Prince's voice is too far away in my opinion. Nothing will top his performance of "Best Of You" at the Super Bowl this year anyways, he killed what was already a great song.

"Last Night" is playing now, and that song'll probably never get old for me. Come on, how has nobody else used that beat as well as Diddy has? Bom, cha-cha, bom, cha/bom, cha-cha, bom, cha...like it's ridiculous, same way "We Will Rock You" seems so obviously good...obviously not as classic, but you know what I mean.

Last day of work tomorrow...by the way, never work at an airport like I did. For one thing...you never get regulars, so everyone you meet is only once, unless you're somehow scheduled for the time the people fly out and then amazingly for the time they come back too...it's happened though. The other thing...don't work in a toy store...with shitty toys you can't play with. You'd think that'd be a dream job, right? Everybody grows up loving toys, and then you end up working in a store full of them...and it blows. Maybe it's just a guy thing, all the girls seem to love working there.

I'd be surprised if anyone ever does read this regularily, but it's a good way to put down thoughts, and all I ever read is "blog-this, blog-that" in every single magazine. Elton John even thinks bloggers and the Internet are ruining creativity...but then again the man wears pink sunglasses and marries other men. But then again he did "Rocket Man" and "Candle In The Wind" so I guess everything balances out.

I wish this blog coulda been about all the random shit I read in the magazines at work, but that'll be over by tomorrow. You wouldn't believe the kinda stuff that's in magazines. Some article in the New Yorker about people with a condition where you eat off your own fingers cause you're deathly afraid of them, and where you swear and hit the people you like the most uncontrollably.

And then the trash magazines, all those celebrity ones...ugh. They happen to find the most appropriate pic for their outrageous headline, like "Angie crying out for help, reaches 28 lbs" or something stupid like that, where it's one of her head down, face scrunched up and not wearing any make-up, or using a pic from Britney Spears shooting a video where she's on a strip pole in like chaps along with a headline of like "Brit dances at club, gets drunk, gropes college student, all in front of her sons". Frankly, I think she got that kid to drive the first time just so none of her friends have to be the DD whenever all the girls go out.

Anyways, that's number one of probably a lot, and I guess I'm gonna be wasting hours of my life on this thing from now on. And you'd better read it.