radio.
July 11th, 2009 § 1 Comment
I want to take some time to talk about radio [no, not the lovable mentally challenged man portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr.]. The radio has declined an incredible amount over the past couple years, I blame the rapidly changing popularity of songs [instead of songs being popular for months, they are only popular for days/weeks [trifflin.]
Variety Defined.
In comes The Music Genome Project, or Pandora. [website] Pandora may be the single greatest invention as far as internet radio goes. The variety it offers is impressive to say the least. And guess what America, it’s free. It costs $0 a month to listen to all the music your heart could possibly desire with limited limited limited commercial interruption. [see the bottom of this post for sad news].
Pandora offers listeners the ability to create their own radio stations based on either a band or a song and it impressively finds songs that are of the same lyrical family as what you originally chose [it's like magic!!].
For example: You want to listen to “Just Let Go” by Mae. So you type in “Just Let Go” in the “Create a Radio Station” and boom, it did it. It then played other songs by Mae and then it found other artists like Dashboard Confessional, The Fray, and Jack’s Mannequin. And the best part about this is that they don’t play the band’s most popular songs, they play songs from their entire catalog so it’s a nice mix of songs as well as a good way to explore artists you’re not familiar with.
My only gripe with Pandora is the fact that it has an hourly “skip limit” which is basically a limit to how many songs you can choose to not listen to. If a song you don’t like comes on, you can skip it, but you’re limited to only a handful [six or seven] an hour. But that isn’t too inconvenient.
[SAD NEWS] – Pandora is soon going to limit their “Free Accounts” to only 40 hours a month but will ALSO soon offer Pandora One, which is essentially Pandora sans advertisements but with a $36 a year subscription fee [which isn't terribly awful if you think about it realistically].
So what do I think of Pandora? I think that if Pandora were a women, I would marry her because she offers a bit of variety and she gives me exactly what I want, while remaining relatively low maintenance.
I’ll probably subscribe…maybe.
Cody.
big announcement.
July 10th, 2009 § 1 Comment
Well, here is my big announcement:
In the coming weeks/months, I’m going to turn this blog in to a full blown website. I’m going to [hopefully] get some other people to write about other subjects and become a legitimate media news/review/info site.
What this means:
1. I CAN ADVERTISE!!!
2. I can reach a wider audience.
3. YOU REALLY NEED TO LEAVE FEEDBACK OR COMMENTS!!!!!
4. I’m finally doing something I said I would do [hooray personal growth!]
I’m not quite sure how the whole…transition is going to go, but I hope it goes well. If all else fails, I can just stop doing this site and start writing on the other, but hopefully everything just transfers and works well.
Who knows.
That’s my announcement, you may go back to your day now.
Cody.
artists i’d recommend – july 9, 2009.
July 9th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
I felt that it was a good idea to do one of these today [don't ask me why, it's just what I was feeling]. So I have two artists that I highly recommend to anyone I meet [not exactly true, but I should start doing this].
So…enjoy?
#1. Death Cab For Cutie – There is so much that I could say about Death Cab For Cutie…but I don’t know where to start. DCFC is a Seattle, Wa based indie-rock band of the epic nature. [OH MY GOD DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE IS ON TV WHILE I'M WRITING THIS!] Founded in 1997, they’ve been cashing checks and breaking necks in the musical community ever since. They have six full length albums, five EPs, and one demo. They are basically the epitome of indie-rock success. [if you haven't figured it out yet, I sort of have a thing for Death Cab]. I highly recommend them to you, yes you, right now. Go listen. Please.
Albums-
Something About Airplanes (1998)
We Have The Facts And We’re Voting Yes (2000)
The Photo Album (2001)
Transatlanticism (2003) <— This is my favorite album by them
Plans (2005) <— This is when I really discovered them. I heard “Soul Meets Body” on the radio and thought it was The Postal Service (due to Ben Gibbard’s voice)
Narrow Stairs (2008)
Miscellaneous links-
Website!
iTunes Store!
“Transatlanticism” <— This is my favorite song by them I think.
#2. Mae- Mae is an alternative band from Norfolk, Va [So basically they are my hometown heroes, if you will] founded in 2001. I’ve met 2/3 of the band [their drummer for an interview I did for my college newspaper and their bass player at the concert a few months ago] and they are really nice, really cool people to have a conversation with. Their music on the other hand, is also phenomenal. Their music is…hard to describe. Each album [of the three] has felt different in the way the music is delivered. The Everglow, for example, feels kind of like a story [it has a prologue and an epilogue] while Singularity isn’t really story-driven, but the songs seem more romantically directed. I highly recommend Mae for anyone who likes music.
The two guys on the right, are no longer in the band.
Mae is doing a special charity project where they release a song every month for the entirety of 2009. So far they’ve released six songs and raised over $47,000. You should support them and what they are doing.
Albums-
Destination: Beautiful (2003)
The Everglow (2005) <— I want this album cover tattooed on my arm.
Singularity (2007)
Miscellaneous Links-
Website!
iTunes Store!
“Just Let Go” <— By far my favorite song they’ve ever produced, ever.
There you go. Listen and enjoy.
Cody.
songs you should have on your iPod – july 7, 2009.
July 7th, 2009 § 4 Comments
I’ve been so ridiculously busy lately that I’ve barely had time to breathe. This is my first day off in a week, so here is your list of songs to get you through the week.
#1. “Open Your Eyes And Look North” by Dance Gavin Dance off of Downtown Battle Mountain. Good song, relatively mellow for a hardcore song. One of my favorites from DGD. Enjoy. —> Download!
#2. “All Is Full Of Love” by Death Cab For Cutie off of The Stability EP. This is by far one of the greatest songs Death Cab has ever created. It is practically perfect. —> Download!
#3. “The Wanting Comes In Waves” by The Decemberists off of The Hazards of Love. The vocals on this track are pretty great. You get to see the incredible talent of both Colin Meloy and Shara Worden. —> Download!
[I just realized that all of the songs are by artists beginning with the letter "D". While "D" is a fantastic letter in and of itself, this seems rather biased. No more "D"s for this list]
#4. “Mr. Pitiful” by Matt Costa off of Unfamiliar Faces. This song has been featured in several commercials [one for Kia and now one for the new Apple iPhone 3G S] I like this song a lot and I trust you will too. —> Download!
#5. “Thriller” by Michael Jackson off of Thriller. Yeah, I know it seems cliche to put a song by Michael Jackson on here, but the guy was talented. And regardless of whether he touched little kids or not, he was a musical genius. —> Download!
#6. “Float On” by Modest Mouse off of Good News for People Who Love Bad News. This is not only a good song, it’s a good way to live your life. Just “float on” if bad things happen instead of dwelling on them[yes, I'm speaking from experience]. —> Download!
#7. “The Island” by The Starting Line off of Direction. This feels like a love song. Everyone loves a love song. —> Download!
#8. “Colorado Sunrise” by 3oh!3 off of Want! It’s no secret that I like this band, they’re music is catchy. And this song, kind of reminds me of myself. —> Download!
Anyway, that’s it for now. I hope you enjoy. As always, email me suggestions.
Cody.
P.S. Yes, I realized they were in alphabetical order unlike all the other ones.
