Beatles kinda

So I went to the Macklemore and Ryan Lewis concert tonight (awesome) and Talib Kweli was one of the openers (not too great) BUT one of the cool things about his performance was he played "Eleanor Rigby" and kinda remixed over it! It was super cool! Wasn't expecting a rapper to play a Beatles song but it was a nice surprise! It just goes to show that all genres have respect for the Beatles' music (which is of course obvious) but it's evidence of the Beatles long lasting impact on music.

The Head and the Heart

The song "Lost in My Mind" is a song that I have always known and heard but never added it to my playlists! A few months ago I began to listen to both of their albums all the way through. This has been one of the few artists that I can find the time and patience to do this for. As I have mentioned before I love it when there are both male and female vocals harmonizing and the Head and the Heart have that! Their music reminds me of the weather for some reason, mainly autumn. They also remind me of the Avett Brothers a little bit. My favorites include Rivers and Roads, Summertime and Let's Be Still! 

I read this somewhere: 
The name of the band was chosen by Johnson and was explained as 'your head is telling you to be stable and find a good job, you know in your heart that this [the band] is what you're supposed to do even if it's crazy'

The Eagles

"Well I was standing on the corner of Winslow Arizona" -Take it Easy
This lyric inspired my father to pull the car over as we entered Arizona and made us pose by the Arizona sign. We then continued to listen to this song in the car.
Take it Easy was the first song of the Eagles I heard. I learned to play it on guitar for my dad's birthday one year and have loved the Eagles ever since. I love the girl vocals added to the chorus of this song, it really makes the song. Jackson Browne also does this song and I can't decide which version I like better. Jack Johnson helps Jackson out on the chorus and I like that (but maybe I'm biased because I love Jack Johnson).
Hotel California is another one of my favorites and it is 6:31 minutes long and it feels so long (I think it's because of the introduction). "You can check out but you can never leave" is my favorite line.
I just realized that the Eagles have been around for a long time. I'm pretty sure they started in the 70's? and last toured in 2011? I saw them at ACL a few years back and I really enjoyed them.
Desperado is another great one. I love playing it on the piano, it's one of the Eagles best slow songs and most popular.
Another one of my favorites is Take it to the Limit. I love how during the chorus, their voices seem like they are straining while they hit the high notes of "take it" (literally taking their voices to the limit)
My mom would probably like me to add that she was at one of the shows where they filmed the Eagles documentary.

Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton is my mom and dad's music. Whenever I listen to him I am always with my parents or their friends. Eric Clapton has a variety of songs with some interesting lyrics. I'm really into the Bob Marley cover of I Shot the Sheriff. His band, Cream, introduced this combination of pop-bluesy-psychedelic-jazz sound to music (at least that's what I think).

Sunshine of Your Love is just so incredible. The guitar riff at the beginning (and throughout the whole song) captures your attention and I find myself singing to the guitar parts (which is not possible but it happens). This song is one of the most covered songs I've ever heard. (at least all the guitar camps my brother does this song always comes up).

Andy Grammer

Andy Grammer is all over the radio for his overplayed songs "Fine by Me" and "Keep Your Head Up." The rest of his album is amazing. I love love love it. It's his first and only album and fun fact about him is he started out on the streets playing for change (Biggest Man in Los Angeles talks about that). I saw his show live last night (FOR FREE AT FAN FEST) and I am so impressed! He beat boxed a little bit, did some remixes of Rihanna's We Found Love song as well as Macklemore's Thrift Shop song and for his encore mixed Ho Hey with one of his songs, Slow! He played a majority of his album and was a huge crowd pleaser. His voice reminds me of The Script or Gavin DeGraw, kind of crisp. A song of his called Lunatic is pretty funny. It's basically saying to do whatever you want, don't listen to what other people say about and tell em to shut the hell up! My favorite right now is Crazy Beautiful! It's catchy and I like it.. except his whole album is catchy but also very very good!

Pet Sounds

So the only songs of the Beach Boys I know are their most popular songs including the first track of this album (Wouldn't it be Nice). When I heard this album, I have to admit it did not appeal to me. I don't know if it's the high pitched voices or the slow nature of this album. The songs were not capturing in my opinion. However, listening to some of the songs now they are beginning to grow on me and I dislike them a little less now. I think my least favorite is You Still Believe In Me (kind of felt like I was going to fall asleep) but I really really like I Just Wasn't Made for These Times. I can see how this album was inspired from Rubber Soul but Rubber Soul was a lot better album in my opinion than Pet Sounds.

Freewill versus Destiny

As a Christian, I have been taught that God has a predetermined plan for each and every one of us, whether that plan includes when you will actually accept Christ as your Lord and savior or not. But I am still learning so much about Christianity and who Jesus is and was. I do not have any of the answers nor do I think there is an answer to this question. However there are opinions. It is a spectrum. No doubt. I think that destiny is made up of little spasms of freewill. I believe that God does have this greater plan for us but we have the choice to decide which path we take to our destination. Personally, I believe that Americans love the idea of freewill and being completely independently minded. We love having the power to do what we want, no doubt about it. I think that when people hear that their choices aren't really choices it messes with their minds and that is something the typical American does not want to hear. But then there is the other type of person who needs to believe in something to get them through the day. Unlike you, I don't believe that this is a lazy person. This is a person who has faith and has someone to glorify and work towards. This debate is never ending because there is no proof, there is just faith.

Jason Isbell

So this summer, my parents and their friends introduced me to Jason Isbell. I really liked his sound but never really committed to listening to his music. Even after I saw his recording I was still not super inspired to listen to him (he is so good live though but he talks a lot it's funny). Every weekend, my neighbor comes home super late (after I'm already in my room for the night).He has a super old soft red bronco meaning I can always hear what he's listening to. He also went to the Jason Isbell recording so he is a huge fan. Every night he comes home he is always to him and I swear he keeps his car running for like 5 minutes after he pulls up in his driveway. I used to get so annoyed because it was so dang loud but now I really appreciate the lullaby jams. Laying there, I got a chance to listen to Jason Isbell's lyrics and that's what got me hooked because WOW. Those are some sad songs, well at least on his new album they are. I love listening to him but sometimes it puts me in a tired sad mood that I don't want to be in. Even if the lyrics are somewhat happy, his voice just makes it sound so sad! His voice is so crisp but raspy I really enjoy it. Elephant man, that is a sad song! It's about a guy and his wife (?) and his wife has cancer. To cope with this they drink, smoke, laugh etc and they try to "ignore the elephant." My favs include Cover Me Up and Different Days. Next on my music adventure I think I'm going to try Drive-by Truckers and compare.

Soundtracks

Since I have been sick for a majority of my History of Rock classes this week I have been watching and listening to a ton of movies  and I watched The Great Gatsby today and I am in love with the soundtrack. All of the songs played are upbeat remixes that fit perfectly with every scene. The job of scoring movies seems very hard because the soundtrack sets the tone for the movie! I also watched the Hunger Games and I noticed that none of the songs from the soundtrack played during the movie. I don't get that.

Timeflies, Sammy Adams and Radical Something

On Wednesday night, I went to the Timflies, Sammy Adams and Radical Something concert. From a previous blog post you know I am obsessed with Radical Something. Well, I was listening to their new album on Sunday and looked up their tour and they came to Emos on Wednesday so I spontaneously bought tickets. My friend and I just walked up to the front row, it was not crowded at all. Radical Something opened for Timeflies and Sammy Adams so they only played for 30ish minutes. But let me tell you, it was the best 30 minutes. Their stage presence was so down to earth and they really connected with their crowd, something that I think is really valuable for artists these days. Sammy Adams was not as impressive because he used a lot of his recorded soundtracks, which I don't think is a admirable aspect. But he had a very energetic stage presence and it was a lot of fun. Both him and Timeflies did a lot of dubstep remixes to popular songs. Timeflies was VERY impressive. He freestyled twice for us about topics that we gave him and that was impressive. Overall, VERY VERY impressive line up (except for Sammy Adams who was just a fun performer)
The lead guy of Radical Something stood on the gate right in front of me and this was a picture I took!