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| Sweaters For August
| | Heartless? Alexander Pope is a Gay Fish. |
Understand that it is late and I'm in a state of delusion that could only be described, "Thoughtful, but not thinking." I'm listening to Kanye West's 808's and Heartbreaks. Great album. During my listening the works of Alexander Pope came to mind. more specifically, his poem "EPISTLE II. To a Lady."
In this work Pope writes, " A Youth of Frolicks, an old Age of Cards / Fair to no purpose, artful to no end / Young without Lovers, old without a Friend" (lines 244-246). It's odd to think, but these few lines put into perspect one of the bigger themes in 808's and Heartbreaks (Of course I could never prove this considering I never talk to Mr. West on a regular basis to ask him). To put more simply, the line, "Young without Lovers, old without a friend" refers to the idea that someone refuses to settle down with a love at their youth until it is too late that you find yourself old and alone. Of course, I'm kind of generalizing the poem to fit into a more comtempory perspective.
On the track "Welcome to Heartbreak" West sings in the first line, "a friend showed me pictures of his kids, all i could show him was pictures of my cribs." The idea of living life in purstuit of a dream and adventure could potentially lead to a life with no one close. "chased the good life my whole life long, look back at my life and my life's gone; where did I go wrong?" The price of fame is a high and it seems that Pope understood this in watching the elite group of Britian in the seventeen centurey.
The lyrical depth and themes in West's 808's and Heartbreaks baffles my tired mind. It's not the lyrical cleverness of the writing, but the real emotions in the effort of the album. This is a truley honest album. Pope wrote his peice as a reflection to the pompus female race of his time. Their elite mentality looked down at Pope's hunchback like appearences and refused to look beyond superfical materialist mentalities. Maybe these neon girls that run around Club Ave. took a page from british history.
Again i'm just rambling. I'm tired, but not sleepy. If you read this and feel I wasted your time. I'm not sorry. Because blog entry involves two very quality works of art; k. West and Pope. Maybe they should collaberate in some like of literary hip hop master piece. it will be called "The Rape of Heartbreaks." | | Tags: kanye west, alexander pope |
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| | The Divide of a Scene and Music Integrity |
It seems that the scene has finally come to its dramatic fall. In the casual listener's eye, what was once a stereotyped genre that lifted it's childish methods of cutting, crying, heavy makeup and hair straighteners has now become a stereotype of childish methods involving drinking, clubbing, heavy makeup and hair straighteners. This truly is the end. Of course as an actual listener of music, I know that these are just stereotypes and that their was more depth to acts like My Chemical Romance than just, "Emo songs about getting dumped." But instead of war between bros and emos the scene has now grown divided into a civil war of club hoppers and music integrity.
music enthusiast are now growing divided over the dispute of Brokencyde and warped tour. Boards are flooded with back and forth bickering over why this band sucks or why they are great. The truth is that you can not petition a band to get kicked off of warped tour just because you think they are terrible. Of course a majority can not do this either. Warped Tour is merely giving into demand for this band. Of course by doing this they are completely isolating an entire fan base that despises the methods of Brokencyde, but they seem to not care.
This is where we finally come to a halt. The scene that developed in the early nineties of emo has now evolved into a club hopping, short skirt wearing, alcoholic who lives in white suburbia.
It's odd that most people defend this movement by saying, "Hey man fuck you, you can't judge music." But where does the gauntlet fall when music becomes such an obscenity as Brokencyde or Millionaires? Not only are you giving into gender discrimination and alcoholism, but also disrespectful racial slurs that are completely ridiculous. This isn't music. If you need to dance their are many other actual talented artist who pen themselves as dance/techno. These artist actually keep within realm of music integrity are respected by their fellow peers.
Some argue, "Well you're just a hater! If they're so terrible why do you talk about them all the time." This is true about this movement. It has gained popularity in recent months because of the damage it has caused to the music scene. But to say that a band is good just because people argue over them all the time is ridiculous. That's like arguing that Hitler was a great person because he was popular. Hitler just did what all these bands are doing, manipulated an entire generation and destroyed an entire culture of people. Only instead of a culture of people, these bands are destroying the culture of music.
Labels will soon look at this trend in music and try to exploit it. Myspace will become home to millions of crunk hardcore rap artist who used myspace add generators to find unsuspecting kids who don't know any better, sign them, then make their money, thus shifting the entire culture of our scene. This is exactly what happen during the early 2000s when so-called emo bands were being signed left and right. Only this time the genre is not quite positive influence that Taking Back Sunday was.
The scene has finally grown and changed into something that is not ours anymore. No longer do have to power to not buy a CD and watch a band disappear. With the myspace generation a band can stay in the spotlight just as long as it has the money to pay for the production companies and keep the myspace adder adding. This is truly a sad day in music. | | Tags: brokencyde, warped tour, music integrity |
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| | My Teeth Hurt From The Breakdowns |
The other day I was having a conversation with Judcody about a new movement in music. Well, it's not really new. It's been going for quite a while; it's just beginning to go mainstream. Pop-punk-core, happy-hardcore, pop-core, whatever the fuck you want to call it was the topic of our conversation. You see, Judcody was arguing that the genre can only go so far and has no real room to expand on the music. This is very true actually. I cannot argue with him over that fact. I guess the only way to defend this genre is to say that, although the music cannot go very far other than catchy chorus and breakdowns, the lyrics and style is where you can find the depth of this type of genre.
Bands like Set Your Goals or The Wonder Years have taken this genre and applied smart writing that does not stay in the realm of girls and broken hearts. Four Year Strong have some lyrics too, but they come at you so fast and in such great amounts it somewhat destroys the uniqueness of them. Bands like New Found Glory, or Hit the Lights, do not have much depth in their lyrics, but none the less have great melodies and catchy songs. Nothing amazing, just perfect for when you're in the mood to dance!
Listening to these bands, I have come to this conclusion. Pop-core is a lot like eating Sour Skittles; they taste really good those first couple pieces and possibly even the entire pack, but once you eat too much you begin to grow sick of the sweetness and sour flavors. Pop-core is great music, but in large doses it can become very repetitious. In Judcody's case, Sour Skittles just aren't for everyone. Just like the genre of Pop-punk before it, not everyone likes the sour goodness.
I'm a man with a sweet tooth, but even I can get sick of Sour Skittles after too much of it. With this style of music becoming more and more popular, one over stay their welcome very quickly. Lets hope this genre does not become over abused. | | Tags: happy hardcore, pop-pun-core, pop-core |
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| | That is a good idea (absolute classics) (my top 10) |
It's tough to try and capsulize my entire music library from when I was kid. Picking a few titles that made an impact on me during my life is fucking difficult. I'm going to try my best noting ten releases that made a real impact on my music taste. These picks will range to a few years back to over ten years back, but there importance is great. Here we go:
1. Everclear - Songs From an American Movie Pt. 1 - 2000
Everclear played a great role during my junior high years, This album in particular conjures up great memories of playing final fantasy 9 and going camping in Big Bear. Although these memories seem random, this album always makes me smile. Everclear were at the top of their game with this album. Right before their epic fail with part 2, SFAM PT. 1 was a great combination of pop music and dark lyrical content surrounding leading man Art's divorce. The single "Wonderful" even made it to Now that's What I Call Music part one trillion. So i guess that's cool.
2. Rufio - Perhaps, I Suppose... - 2001
I remember I had friend who lived down the street from me named Johnny and he had a friend who's name was David. When I was a freshmen in high school, this kid David introduced me to a local band called Rufio. This album was amazing because it showed that local talent can succeed. The opening riff and introdion to the first track, "Above Me" set the trend of thrashing in pop punk and became a regular talent to cover in our area. The day I saw Clark (their guitarist) working at guitar center after the band broke up was the day pop punk died for me. :(
3. The Get Up Kids - Guilt Show - 2004
This pick is more a general choice. I'm picking The Get Up Kids as a band rather than just this album. The reason I chose this album over the rest was because this record really turned me on to The Get Up Kids. I was never really that interested in them until Guilt Show came out. Sadly soon after it came out they broke up. so that sucked. There is so much to note about this record. Every track plays out like a pop anthem that echos through halls of my great teenage memories. I love this album.
4. Brand New - Your Favorite Weapon - 2001
Now that I'm looking at this list, I'm realizing that 2001 was a great year! anyway, Brand New is an amazing band and with every album they introduced a new sound. The best part of these transitions was that it seemed that Brand New was growing up with me. As my music taste grew beyond pop-punk Brand New did the same. When I all angry about life and death in my adult years, Brand New was in the same boat. Jesse Lacey sure knows how to hit the heart. An odd fact about this cd was that when I was getting my license when I was 16 or so I would go out and take these driving lessons behind the wheel with a teacher. The best part was that this guy loved Brand New too, so we would listen to this album and talk about music while I was crashing the driving school car.
5. Oasis - What's The Story Morning Glory - 1995
I remember my brother gave this album before he went off to college. I wasn't very music savvy when I was nine years old, but I remember loving this album. I would listen to while playing video games (Jet Set Radio on Dreamcast in particular). riddled with amazing melodies and catchy drum beats this album really set the tone for my younger years. I remember singing, "Where were you when we were getting high" to my Mom and I would get in trouble.
6. Ben Folds - Rockin' The Suburbs - 2001
Ben Folds is hands down one of my favorite musicians. I admire his ability to create songs with comedy as well serious topics. He knows his audience and always pumped out great songs through out his career, solo or in the five. His recent releases were never quite on par with this album, but in between his albums he released a three EP set that was amazing. Rockin The Suburbs still hails as one of my favorite albums to this day. Songs ranging from happy pop songs ("Zak and Sara") to a serious dark tone ("Fred Jones pt 2") Ben Folds really shows his range in his craft with this album.
7. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends - 2002
Holy Crap! how can anyone deny the greatness of this record!? This album opened up my eyes to the concept of duel screaming vocals, amazing rounds, and melodies that stuck in my head for years to come! Taking Back Sunday set the ground for the 2000 emo culture with this album and with only seven years after it's release this record still falls into my listening rotations. The fun part about this album was when it came out I was really into downloading music illegally, so when I downloaded this album all the songs were low quality or were not even the songs that they were listed as. But I still loved this record.
8. The Starting Line - Based on a True Story - 2005
This album really is not very old. In fact, four years after its release would not seem qualification for a classic. But this record did so much for the genre of Pop-Punk that few people really even realize it. The Starting Line had something truly special with Based on a True Story. Raising the bar for the genre in every category, Based on a True Story was built with amazing musicianship, lyrics, and lasting appeal. The album was so well crafted I could not even believe my ears when I first heard it. It saddens me that The Starting Line did not get the recognition they truly deserved for this album. That is why I would classify this record as a classic.
9. Midtown - Save the World Lose the Girl - 2000
Midtown was a great band. Although they seem to lose their steam the further they went into their careers, Save The World, Lose the Girl was a great album that really stood out to me. This album came out when I was in eighth grade, I think. I was really into comic books when I found Midtown, so things were really up for in my social standing during these times! Anyway, Although Corbra Starship seems to be doing fine, the chances of a reunion are still hopeful and would make this guy a very happy man!
Blink 182 - The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show - 1999
Well here is a pick that will probably fall into so many others' list of practically anything they list about. Blink 182 inspired a generation that you can suck and be awesome all at the same time! Some argue that Blink 182 was not a great band, and although some are blinded by their sheer Blink patriotism, there is some truth to that statement. They are not musical gods, but blink had something way more than just musicianship. They were able to write catchy anthems that could follow any teenager through his or her entire school career. I'm sorry, but if can't see the appeal of Blink 182's music you take yourself way too seriously and you need take that snobbishness to your Deerhoof concert and leave the kids alone.
Well that is my list of classic albums by me. This list was pretty tough to compile, but I think I did a okay job attempting to show my favorites classics. Their are some that did not quite make the list but they are still oh so important. Bands like At The Drive In, Thursday, Thrice, The Promise Ring, Tears for Fears, and a whole bunch of other were just shy of being on this list. Most of these title were released not too long ago. This is probably due to the fact I'm not much of a 90's kid. I went through high school at the start of the millennium; this period was music did way more for me than anything from the mid to early nineties. In the words of the Wrestler, "The 90's sucked." | | Tags: classics, top, 10, music |
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| | Blink 182 and Grammy Blog #2,354 |
blogs are lame
blink 182 is back
the Apocalypse is upon us!
go out and celebrate for god's sake! we have some good music to look forward to in 2009!
just as long as The Used does not release anything!
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| | computer pwned by malware |
I suppose life goes on. perhaps this could be the pivotal point in my life where my sick dependence on technology will subside. Of course there is no way that could happen. I have a laptop! Yes, my desktop computer was consumed by a malware virus called, "Antivirus 2009." That sick bitch will not let me open the proper programs such as malwarebytes, etc. to fix the issue. Looks like Ruban is going to have to fix it! In the mean time I'm going to stick to my laptop.
Well on a music related topic I'm going on a mini tour this week which is very exciting. We (the motel life) are going to play four shows with The Ready Aim Fire in Arizona, New Mexico, and San Deigo. This is of course my first time playing shows out of state which is too cool!
So that's my current day pwned computer, hot tour this week, and I played tennis!
fun times for all! | |
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| | Hey! That Lil' Wayne Song Was Pretty Bad |
So I'm sitting here playing Call of Duty 4 and Nick begins to play the new lil' Wayne song. I must admit, it had no catchy melodies, he used terrible chords, the drums were boring, the lyrics were bad. To be blunt, "Prom Queen" was nothing special other than the fact that it was lil' Wayne playing the song. When Kanye did the entire experimental thing, he had some damn catchy melodies. Kanye knew what he was doing! lil' Wayne is playing like a 12 year old kid just learning "iron man." He sucks
But I might be being too hard on lil' Wayne. The Carter III was an amazing rap album, but this stuff needs to improve mad status to reach the type of quality that Kanye achieved. | |
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| | School & Band Plug = Fun Reading For All! |
Oh how I have felt the firm bitch slap of these winter days. It has taken its toll on me. My school has a small time frame of classes called "Jan Term." They jam a semester of material in a four week course. Luckily I only have about one week left. The course is Short story and film, which is just what the title refers. We read short stories then watch movies based on the short story. The class is not difficult, but the constant reading and four hour lectures four days a week tend to drag on. In honor of my class I would like to take this time to plug my band's show this weekend:
My band is The Motel Life ( http://www.myspace.com/themotellife). So if you live in the rancho area come out to the show! all the bands we are playing with are super nice guys with great music! the cost is ten dollars; so it is a little much, but what else does one have to do with their money in this recession of ours?
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| | The Similarities of January and Sundays |
Well, today was a historic day that was witnessed in my Lit class. I felt like some kind of proud American, which is very rare for me; of course I shouldn't get ahead of myself. The chance of change is, of course high, but still not one-hundred percent.
As i sit here listening to the sounds of the press following Obama's every move on this important day, I wonder to myself; Gee, now that the inauguration is over what else to I have to look forward to? I suppose the simple answer is not much. You see, January is a very anticlimactic month. Filled with bad movies, lack luster cd releases, and limited shows, Janurary proves it self to be the Sunday of the year.
Now when i call January Sunday, I mean that silimar to Sundays in a normal week, Janurary does not hold much excitment or refreashing new updates on life. Of course Sunday is the only day of the week where I don't recieve mail (so that means no Gamefly, NetFlix, Magazines, ect.) and Internet sites do not recieve many updates or any at all. This means I'm pretty much cut off from updates until Monday.
All in all, life goes on I suppose. I can live without a good CD until febuary, or new game from Gamefly, or govermental change until the new stimulus bill is put into motion; I guess.
Yay! America! | |
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| | The Most Important Track on the Album |
It's odd to think that I am old. It seemed like only a few years ago that I was listening to lame bands like Lit and Smashmouth (although the game rock band has enlightened me that I was not alone). I didn't really care about image when I was in Junior High or Elementary; I just listen to whatever sounded good. I had cool cred albums in my library too, like What's the Story Morning Glory and Dookie. One album in particular I remember was The Offspring's Americana. I remeber this band in particular because I used to love the cool secret track at the end of the alubm that included horns and what not. It was cool stuff.
I suppose lightharted secret tracks arn't really the norm anymore. I used to love that one extra song you would find on a great album. For example, New Found Glory's Sticks and Stone had a really great secret track that was very interesting. I recall it scared the crap out of me in my car one night driving alone. It began with a loud scream and other assorted creepy ramblings.
I think the last CD I remeber having a good secret track was Steel Train's Trampolene and Astronautlis' Pomegranate. Of course I'm just going off the top of my head their could be many more that just don't come to mind. I guess some albums are too sophsiated to have secret tracks; but regardless, secret tracks are timeless tradition that I'm sure will never be forgotten. | |
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| | This is Crazy |
I have had this account since three years ago. I never posted on it, I never commented, nor did I blog. Well, now I feel is my time to finally begin posting things on this site, although I doubt anyone will have any real interest in what I say. But whatever; it happens.
Currently I am listening to Rilo Kiley's More Adventurous
amazing album, very personal telling of poetry and down right good musicianship. I'm sure most people have well heard this album, but then again why not give another listen. Best Track: "A Man/Me/Then Jim" | |
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