Singular

One of the things that seems to be coming around is new music constantly on the horizon. However, this blog post is going to deal mostly with single tracks.

One of the albums that seemed to escape my attention is the new album by Josh Ritter, So Runs The World Away. Upon hearing that this new album was out, I became floored. His last album, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, was a masterpiece. The only song that I have listened to thus far from the new album is the track "Change of Time." From hearing the track, it seems that Josh Ritter has stuck to what he does best. He provides some soft acoustic notes, with a country twang to his voice at certain moments, while also sticking to his multi-layered lyrical style, making historical references and allusions. Definitely a track worth checking out, and a track that definitely makes me eager to listen to the rest of the album. (Full review comin' soon).

Another track that caught my attention is the new track by M.I.A., "XXXO." I was deeply disappointed with this track. Upon hearing the first single she put out, from her new album, which is to be titled /\ /\ /\ Y /\ or (MAYA), I was excited. Hearing her sing, "My lines are down and you can't call me as I float around in space odyssey," was like traveling through the galaxies on a crazy acid trip that would never end, and I never wanted it to. Then, she came out with single #2, "Born Free," which was a bashy thrashy mess of angst, anger and madness. I knew the album would be great. Then came "XXXO," which sounds like an over-done club bit by someone like KE$HA. It's ridiculously monotonous, and nothing original. Really M.I.A.? Have you run out of steam already?

That's all I got for today. It's a singles world out there right now, hop on the love train.

Monday, Monday

I woke up this morning with that sweet, soft tune in my head this morning. The beautiful harmonies from the wonderful Mamas and Papas swaying through my cerebral cavity, igniting a spark befitting a nerd on his first day of school.

I usually wake up on Mondays severely depressed and sad that another week has to begin and the weekend of relaxation and debauchery has to end. Fortunately, there's only two official weeks of class left, meaning I won't have to do this for much longer, at least until summer classes start.

On to a musical train of thought. If you don't have a Grooveshark account, GET ONE! This thing has saved my life many a-time when I thought that some random obscure song by some obscure band from some obscure place would never be found online. Grooveshark seldom lets me down. Seldom, not never. Ha, love double negatives. Seriously, Grooveshark is amazing. I dedicated a day to making more and more playlists from bands whose CD's I want but can't necessarily afford. I have a list of about 75 artists, whose albums I want, but since that would put a deep hole in my spending dough, I gotta settle for the one web site where I know I can find them. Side Note - It was even talked about in an issue of Rolling Stone last year as one of the top-5 free sites to listen to music.

After a long-drawn-out mishap that I don't want to go into, I finally have my first record player. (Depressing, I know. I'm fucking 22) Either way, my long, postponed obsession of buying records can now be salvaged and retained. I've already stolen my records back from my roommate, all two of them. I've borrowed about 6 records from a friend, and recently bought the The Fifth Demension's Greatest Hits on vinyl. It's shaping out to be a good obsession.

No new music news for me except how upset I am that the new Hole/Courtney Love album, Nobody's Daughter, is out, and I haven't even given it a listen. I'm not being good lately. The only song I've heard is "Skinny Little Bitch," and I thought it was pretty good. It has more of the rock n' roll feel of her solo album America's Sweetheart than her work with the original Hole. But, it still took me back to the 90's, when I first became introduced to the magic of grunge. Back in the days when Nirvana was prominent, Babes In Toyland became nonexistent, and Mudhoney was the silent genius in the background who helped pave the way. Those were some good times. But mind you, from what I've read on the web, most fans are disappointed that the original line-up of Hole is not involved, so really, it's just another Courtney Love album. However, it's still an album I'd like to dissect more.

That's all I have for today. Good day and good things!

Just Not Fair...

Don't you just hate it when you have your heart set on a particular purchase, and right before the moment of retrieval, you find out that you lack the funds in which to pay for them. Now, a kleptomaniac wouldn't even blink at the prospect of not being able to pay for something; however, for someone who likes to spend money on objects, no matter how useless or obsolete, it is a pretty upsetting thing. Having said that, I was BUMMED when I showed up at Cheapo's, and went straight for the pop/rock section, delved into the M's, found The Monks Black Monk Time, dashed toward the counter while checking my balance on my phone, only to find out that I had insufficient funds.

Depressing...

I had to walk all the way back, head hanging, place the CD neatly where I found it and promised myself that the second I had enough money, I would be back for it. Unfortunately, I do not see that day in the foreseeable future. I feel like a coke-head who just found out the bag was filled with flour!

Nothing too particularly new in the music world, and if there is, sorry I'm a little below the radar. I found this cool interview on Pitchfork with She and Him, and it seems somewhat appropriate seeing as how I talked about them in my last post. The link is below. Have fun!

http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/7770-she-him/

A Storm's A-Comin'

Well, these past couple of weeks have been busy busy busy. I seriously do not even have a break to breathe. I'm hooked up to an oxygen tank. Okay, that was a lie, but I may very well be soon if something gets added onto the list of things I already have to do. So, as far as what is going on in the music world let's see...

Okay, from what I've read, Crystal Castles is going to be headlining the traveling HARD fest, which is wonderfully making its way through the Austin area on August 11th, so mark your calendars if you are a fan. Also, Erykah Badu made an appearance on the Wanda Sykes show to defend her music video to the song "Window Seat," which is on her newest release New Amerykah Pt. 2: Return of the Ankh. She paid tribute to John F. Kennedy, calling him one of her heroes, and stating that "that's what performance art is all about."

On a personal note, lately, I have been obsessed with the song "When They Fight, They Fight" by The Generationals. I think I play it at least once daily. It definitely has an old-school feel to it, something that would make a lot of people wish they grew up when the days was sunny and the music was groovy.

Also, I recently gave She and Him's Volume 2 a listen the other day on NPR, and I thought it was a pretty good album. All of the songs flowed very well together, and the entire album, as a whole, is very reminiscent of their first release. They didn't really do anything different, merely taking on the same aesthetics and inspiration for their second release. Some of my favorite tracks include "Thieves," "In The Sun," "Me and You," "Home," and "Sing."

Another thing, I recently submitted some work to a music web publication called Jupiter Index, and I have a meeting with the editor tomorrow. Hopefully, I will make a good impression and be able to write some more. But, this will mean that I will be even more busy than I already am, but we have to make some sacrifices to get where we want to go.

I think that's about all I got for today.

Mer

So, having a blog - by definition - is basically the equivalent to having a public journal online...in which case people can write about whatever fascinates them, be it food, music, culture, clothes, pets, wigs, what-have-you.

As a blogger, I tend to use mine as a second-hand news-source about music, music reviews and such. That being said, I've kind of slacked on being able to actually provide links to insight and writings from where I tend to get my information. I can say basically repeat what I've read in other music news magazines, or I can provide links and give thoughts on what their articles consist of. I think I like that second one...

SO! Music-wise, I haven't been listening to much lately besides Joanna Newsom's "Have One On Me," which I've already blogged about. Now, we don't want old news, am I right? However, the album is amazing and seeing as how it is just over two hours long, it does take time to really let it sink in and get to understand the methods and madness lurking within every song. Give it a try!

Now, music news! I got this link off of Pitchfork, and it's actually the first single/video for The Dead Weather's sophomore release, Sea of Cowards. The song is titled "Die By The Drop." The video is pretty dark, both sonically and aesthetically, but after watching it, I am pretty excited for the album, which is supposed to be released some time in May, but that's subject to change. SAD INSERT - The link I provided for the video came up faulty due to it being removed from the web site. Sorry.

Also, MGMT has put their entire second album on their web site. I listened to the first three songs, and found myself drifting to sleep, which cannot be a good thing. Really, MGMT? Really?

Another thing, I have never gotten into Broken Social Scene as much as I should have; however, I've listened to the three songs they have available on their web site, from the upcoming album, Forgiveness Rock Record, which is due out on May 4th. Judging from these three songs alone, I am pretty excited for their new release, I think it's going to be a good one.

Now, this is also probably old news, but the second I read it on pretty much every major music mag, I almost leaped for joy. Belle and Sebastian has gone back into the studio for an upcoming album, which, after hearing The Life Pursuit, I am majorly psyched for whatever they come out with.

That's all I got. Very tired.

New Sky

Don't you just hate this Texas weather? It makes me want to crawl into a drainage system and be flushed away to an ocean that coordinates its own axis within my own frame of mind...okay, that was a little far fetched and weird, but I'm hungover, tired and still have a crapload of homework to do. Either way...music on the mind.

Lately, I have been listening to Joana Newsom's new album. But, I don't have a track-listing, so cannot recommend certain songs. Horrible journalism, I know... But the CD is great, typical Newsom at work here; however my roommate summed it up perfectly by saying, "I'm waiting for he climax..." I know exactly what he means because the album tends to stay on a particular wavelength of harp, strings, horns and piano, but the album itself keeps the same tone throughout. To me, what has made Newsom a household name is the fact that she plays on whimsical moments throughout the duration of her releases to the point where you cannot help but become engrossed in her sacred moments. What made Ys so brilliant was that everything had a purpose, and at moments, the music just blasted into your unconscious and you can picture everything happening. Have One On Me is by no means a bad album, it's great. Her vocals are different, but good. She sings with more clarity, but at the same time, with this clarity comes an obsession with structure. Not saying that everything she came out with before was unstructured, but it was more spontaneous. THAT'S IT, it lacks the spontaneity of her previous efforts. But still, check it out. Who can resist a three-disc 2 hour 17 minute album???

Also, I recently wrote an article for the DT Weekend on this band called White White Lights, which are a local band here in Austin. They are great, and they got me when they said their inspirations were Nirvana, Sonic Youth and The Pixies. Who wouldn't love that shit? Honestly. Anyways, here's a link below for the article. That's all I got for today. Peace!

White White Lights Feature:

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/dt-weekend/new-album-of-sonic-stripped-sound-1.2169448

J-j-j-just tryin...

Well, it's been a long time since I have contributed anything to the blogosphere, but it's not because I've stopped caring. It's because I'm so damn busy. Just to give you a glimpse of my schedule, I go to school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Not bad, huh? Well, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I go from 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM. Still not worthy of complaint? Well, screw you then...

As far as music goes, I wrote a piece in the DT Weekend about a band called The Blue Hit, consisting of three members (A guitarist, a cellist and a vocalist). They have a cool, smokey, classic sound. Definitely playing on minimalism, this band still has enough personality and spunk to attract any music lover.

CD Purchases: NONE! I'm sad because my funds have been dwindling; therefore, I do not have enough cash to buy as many CD's as I want. So, like any desperate music lover, I have resorted to downloading. I started off by downloading albums that I already had, but lost in the transportation of music from computer to computer, so I had to re-download Joanna Newsom, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and for some reason, I can't find "Psychocandy" by The Jesus and Mary Chain. Oh well... I also downloaded Chelsea Girl by Nico, but I haven't gotten a chance to listen to it, except for the instant replays of "These Days," but only because I became addicted to it the first time I heard it on The Royal Tenenbaums.

This is all the music shiznit I got for today. I have to start my lab project...ZZZZZZZZZZ Peace!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

It's three in the morning, and I can't sleep. I've watched enough videos on Hulu that would warrant me to seclude myself in a cabin with no electricity and be completely fine with it. I've put on some music in the hopes that maybe my mind will go to a place where it feels at rest and permit me to fall asleep.

However, The Sonics is usually not a good choice of this type of endeavor. Maybe a little Ray Charles? I should probably play something that is soft, acoustic and sweet. I'd play Blue by Joni Mitchell, but I'm not sure if my mind can handle her voice right now. Don't get me wrong. It's beautiful when she hits those high notes, but sometimes, it can be a little much to take if you're not prepared for it.

This is just battered rambling, but I am such a shit. I still haven't fully listened to the CD's that a friend gave me for Christmas. And that's because both of them are really good albums, at least from what I've heard. I still can't get "The Boys Are Leaving Town" by Japandroids out of my head. I had never even heard of this band before he bought me their album. The other CD he bought me was Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys. That one was on constant replay in my iPod; however, being on vacation, I did not take on my journalistic habits and study the track listing or read the liner notes. You could say that I've become extremely lazy this past month. Maybe school wiped me out. All I know is when I hear the beginning of "Wouldn't It Be Nice," it makes me want to close my eyes, nod my head from side to side and just be comfortable in the moment and know that everything is going to be okay.

Finally, the eyes are getting tired. Typing is becoming a chore. And I think a new CD for sleeping is in order. Good night world.

All I want for Christmas...

This is an article that I wrote a few days ago. It's going to be in the Holiday issue of the KVRX Call Letter. I'm not sure where exactly they publish it, or if it is just an online call letter, but either way, if you want to check it out on their web site, it can probably be found at http://www.kvrx.org. But here's the article:

All I want for Christmas is a CD.

You remember those? Those shiny plastic encasings that held a compact disk and had sleeves containing the cover art, “thank you’s,” and album credits?

As a kid, I remember coming home with a brand new CD, going straight for my parents killer sound-system, adjusting the equalizer and then popping in that shiny disc that held anywhere from 10 to 15 tracks.

I would read the lyrics, sing along with the songs, hoping that the mastery of my own voice would become something to be desired among record executives and disc-jockeys.

The immense sound of rock and roll emanated through my house to the point where my dad would cringe at the sound of an electric guitar and booming drums. Thank you Nevermind.

The stockings have been hung. The tree has been decorated, and the family tradition of opening one present early in anticipation for Santa’s later offerings is about to commence.

I open my stocking, anticipating a shiny, glossy encasing which holds the all-black album cover of The Monk’s Black Monk Time. I reach into the stocking, only to find a gift card granting me 20 free songs on iTunes.

Three words enter my mind: What the hell! When did a card which gives you free music online pass for a musical offering? Santa has a major blow-torch of a thank-you letter coming his way. A cool, classic vinyl would have sufficed, even though I don’t even own a working record player.

I would curse the holidays, but now, I have to find a computer.

When Is When?

Well, I haven't written in some time; however, it is always time attributed to school, which is not necessarily time wasted. Either way, much musical things to jabber about.

But before that, I'd like to give a shout-out to my Dad, Manuel Lopez. Happy 51st Pa! Enjoy your new guitar! Maybe we can jam out together.

Okay, first, Regina Spektor. Okay, I have been a fan of Regina Spektor for a few years now, and have had opportunities to see her in concert, which were always botched by inconvenient situations of which I had no control. However, a wonderful friend gave me a Regina Spektor ticket for my birthday, and the show coincidentally fell on Nov. 11th, which was last night. Awesome, because I did not have class today. The show was at Stubb's, here in Austin, and what I've noticed that has become a common trend is that bands truly love performing in Austin because the crowd here gives excellent feedback and there is never EVER a dull moment.

Having said that, Regina Spektor put on a great show. She played a mixture of songs from Soviet Kitsch, Begin To Hope and her latest endeavor, Far. She played some of her best, and most popular, stuff. She played songs like "Samson," "Us," "Apres Moi," and "Poor Little Rich Boy." I was kind of saddened that she didn't play my favorite song, "Summer In The City." Either way, the show was excellent, her performance was beautiful and she has a smile that radiated amongst the crowd that all one could do was gush and beg for more. Thank you, Regina Spektor, thank you!

On a CD Purchase Note:

I've recently made three CD purchases, but I haven't gotten the chance to listen to them fully. Here are my verdicts so far.

Devendra Banhart - What Will We Be: This CD is great. Devendra Banhart is one of my all-time favorite musicians, and this album just proves that he's getting better and better. He's reaching toward different inspirations and finding himself making music that suits his constant changes in mood, but always staying truthful to what drives him musically. This is not his greatest album, but it is still a solid, excellent piece of work. So far, my favorites are "Can't Help But Smiling," "Angelicka," "Baby," "Chin Chin & Muck Muck," and "Brindo." Check it out, it will not disappoint.

The Stooges - Raw Power: I had already heard a few tracks from this album, which prompted me to buy it. I haven't listened to the whole thing all the way through, just spontaneous song-picks riding on the bus to and from school. However, everything I've heard so far is raw and powerful which, for rock n' roll, is never a bad thing.

New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies: My favorite New Order song is "Age of Consent," so I decided that my first New Order album would have to be the one that had this song on it. Which happened to be the same album that has "Blue Monday" on it, which is probably their most famous songs, at least on the mainstream scale. However, I think their earlier work is probably the greatest. This album is very spacial and experimental, but I like it nonetheless. It still has a few songs that haven't grown on me, so I wouldn't necessarily recomment it; however, I feel like I will love it once I listen to it more.

That's all I got for now. Time to read. Peace.