You know what we need here? Another song I know nothing about.
This is another song that we tossed on a playlist the other night and it really caught my ear while I was just listening to music to try and get some inspiration. As with the other song it's really catchy and such, ya know?
This was released 2 years ago though so I'm sure everybody heard it ages ago and I'm just late to the parade, right? I do this a lot, I don't suppose I should really be surprised anymore. This is my own fault for listening to fringe music, ya know? Heavier Metal stuff and hardcore Rap songs don't tend to make friends. At least Rap has a wider fan base though, a lot more people have heard of Future than have heard of, say, Bloodbath.
Artist: Big Data feat. Joywave
Genre: Indie Rock
Content: Graphic Imagery
I'm really not too sure what's going on in this video. I was hanging out with friends on Saturday and while we were playing cards we tossed together a quick playlist of stuff we all wanted to listen to. Chelle suggested this song and I thought it was really catchy. That bass thing? Kinda cool.
Then I saw the video. I'm really really not sure what's going on, but I do know it's weird. I could probably figure it out if I wanted to, but I got home at 2:30 am Sunday and only slept for a couple hours so I'm gonna be sleeping as soon as this is done.
For context, my friends live in Cleveland and Erie is about 2 hours from there. I had to play in church so sleeping in wasn't an option. No matter though, it's been a great day so far and I wouldn't have changed a thing.
Speaking of Disturbed you want to hear a catchy little song?
I really loved this album when disturbed put it out. In fact, I loved it enough to include it in last years A to Z Challenge. It was one of my earlier Metal albums that I picked up after a dude game me about 200 random Metal songs to check out. Maybe one of these days I'll do a theme week about all the stuff he gave me, we'll have to see about that.
Whether I end up doing that or not though you can still enjoy just a little bit of this song, yeah? There's a reason that a lot of people have Disturbed on their workout playlists and such. I personally have them on my "crappy work day" playlist when I need to inject a bit of energy into the day, ya know?
Band: Device feat. Serj Tankian, Geezer Butler
Genre: Alternative Metal
I was really excited to see that Serj had done a song with David Draiman. Why you ask? Why because Serj flocks to social causes like a moth to a flame and Draiman has always been far more political than a musician should be. When I saw the title of the song I knew it would be a preachy yet wonderful tune and it really did deliver.
A low, one of my favorite bass players is also here! Geezer is the bassist from Black Sabbath and his stuff is what I learned to play initially. It was simple enough that I could pick it up and just kinda go with it and feel all accomplished with myself. Then boom, he slapped some low end on Device and helped cement a solid song together.
First time I had heard these guys was when my brother was learning how to play this song. It's one of the songs that his band covers so he was practicing it a lot.
It took me straight up ages to actually listen to them, but I was really glad once I did because one of my favorite Metal vocalists did a song with them which really makes me happy.
And for real, the intro to this song is freaking solid. That synth thing that sits with the main guitar riff just gets me for no real reason. I mean sure, they have a little bit of a generic sound and all, but it's still fun to listen to, ya dig?
Yo, so it's kinda bragging time here. My brother managed to land the lead guitar gig for this group some time last year and has spent a ridiculous amount of time practicing since then. I'm honestly not really joking when I say I really don't see him outside of work, he's out with these guys so often.
That's not really important, just something I thought I would mention.
Anyway the really cool thing is that they are playing Creation Festival this year. They managed to swing playing last year but my brother wasn't fully part of the group then so he didn't actually go play with them. This time though he's been in the group long enough to actually know all of their material and he's gonna be one the stage with the rest of them.
I'm freaking pumped about this as any older brother would be, so I had to tell somebody about it. I suppose it made sense to tell the entire internet, right?
He's not playing on this track, but they are writing new songs that he has a hand in so there's some more stuff to be hype about. If you want to see his work you can hear our songs on Soundcloud or his solo stuff on his Soundcloud.
I think every kid goes through an emo phase for a small time in their life. Maybe not a long one, but I really think that almost everybody has this happen.
I was once an emo kid. I was in denial of it of course because I didn't know what being emo meant, I just knew I didn't want to have that label. I was a really terrible emo kid though. I wore only black shirts, I had some chains as bracelets and a necklace, but I wore khakis. Yep. Cargo khaki pants. Hella emo.
When I was being all emo and such I felt all connected to this song. It was all like, "Oh look at me, I'm so emo and nobody can relate to me. Life is so hard as a mean person." Since I was being all internalized emo kid it really spoke to me.
Now I can look back at that time and laugh, but gosh. I was so freaking cringy. Better now though, so there we go.
I almost got drunk at school at 14. That's the censored line for all of you who actually want to know what he said. It's hella awkward sounding that they censor it, but whatever.
I really enjoyed this song a lot last summer and then I totally stopped listening to all these guy's music. I don't really know why I didn't because their music is actually pretty enjoyable and such, so here's my attempt at a self revival in listening to them. Sounds like a good idea, right?
If you haven't heard these guys before look up their song 1985, I guarantee you've heard that one a couple times.
Band: Carach Angren
Genre: Symphonic Death Metal
Themes: Extreme Horror
I always regret not listening to song lyrics closer. There's songs I've posted here that end up having some really cool parts in the lyrics when I'm listening to them later that make me wish I had heard it before so I could drop some nifty little insight on one of the lines in the song. Remember Lindeman's song Skills In Pills? After I listened to it almost every day for a solid 2 weeks I had a couple thoughts about the song as a whole but it's not like I could post it again. I missed my chance to pretend to be deep.
Not so with this song.
Actually the only reason I'm as familiar with this is because I did a review on the album when it came out and I thought it would be appropriate to have actually listened to the album in depth. Listened to it, checked the lyrics, all that jazz. You know what you get when you look too close into Black Metal lyrics though? You get a horror story that anybody would be proud to make a movie about.
I would actually advise checking out the lyrics on this one while you listen to it, it makes it a lot more intense. Honestly I'd rather you give the whole album because it's a horrific story to follow. I wouldn't hesitate to call it my top album of 2015.
I freaking love this song. It was one of the first A7X songs I had ever heard and it really made me enjoy what they had to offer.
Unfortunately they don't really sound too much like this all the time. By like this I mean the intro solo, the rest of the song is mostly the same as their other stuff.
Man that intro is freaking solid though, ya know? Then the way the whole song changes up at the chorus? It's really cool.
I really wrote these guys off a little early honestly. They aren't' as bad as I always say they are, they just bug me sometimes is all. Also they all look like huge d-bags.
Some bands I have a legitimate connection to, other bands I have only a nostalgic connection to. Unfortunately, The Cure is a group I really only have a nostalgic connection to. They've got a killer sound to them that I really enjoy, but I can't for the life of me actually name any of their songs.
I mean, I clearly have a song right here, but that was totally picked out of a line of songs in the suggested YouTube list. One of those things that bums me out, but what are ya gonna do.
Cover songs can be wonderful things, but they can also be terrible things. Luckily for all of us this is a wonderful cover or one of those Gangster Rap songs.
Who could say no to a total genre swap? I mean seriously, this went from a hardcore Rap song to a fun little piano Pop ditty. I'm glad songs like this exist, because otherwise I might not have found out about guys like Ben Folds. His style of music isn't really something that I'd usually come across myself but when he crosses onto the stuff I'm familiar with it makes it a lot easier to find.
Because of finding him with songs like this I've started listening to his own stuff and am kinda stuck on it right now. Good piano work is really hard to come by in the circles I travel in and lo and behold if I didn't manage to find some here.
I tend not to be too up to date on a lot of pop culture stuff, but this is something I actually managed to keep up with.
So I have a friend who keeps me up to date on Rap gossip, and one of the interesting things recently was the whole Birdman thing.
There's a radio show hosted by this dude named Charlemagne. He get's a lot of rappers and such on his show, interviews them, gives them crap, and promotes their stuff. A while ago he had Kanye flip out on him for almost no reason and recently he had some issues with Birdman, Apparently Birdman didn't feel that Charlemagne addressed him with enough "respek" when he talked to him. to quote, "Next time you say my name you better put some respek on it!"
I found the whole thing hilarious and the jokes that followed were great, but then this song came out. I'm assuming that Birdman knows that most people feel the whole thing is just a huge joke but he's definitely not going to miss out on cashing in on it while it's still current. Not a bad financial move from a guy called Birdman, eh?
The first time I had heard this song I thought I had accidentally shuffled to a live song and I was kinda ticked. Nothing against live performances at all, but I'm not a fan of live Rap stuff unless I'm actually there to enjoy it, ya know?
Luckily though this wasn't a live thing, it was a recorded thing meant to sound live. Yo, this song is really freaking catchy basically right from the get go. The chorus just goes and you can't help but just kinda groove along.
I swear, sometimes I feel like all I do is throw different people's singles at you talking about how catchy they are. I promise that I hear more than just how catchy things are. Maybe I'll post some sort of intricate piece that is musically complicated and just pretentious in how technical it is.
Till I find that song, please enjoy the load of fun that this song is and the freestyle at the end of it. Also if you don't like political stuff skip the end of the song, it's kinda about stuff like that, ya know? No. You don't know, you haven't heard it yet. Or you have, not my job to judge.
I love knowing people in bands, it's honestly one of my favorite things. I kinda feel like I live my dreams of being a rock star out through them, ya know? I don't really know any of these guys well, but I know the guitarist's sister in law and brother, and the other guitarist is who I buy my tickets from.
Well these guys were the better of the two opening bands for the Whitechapel show the other day. Ya, when I say that show was good I don't think you appreciate how much I loved it. Ah well though, that's that. Done till next time.
How'd the weekend go for you guys? Also does anybody know how to remove the freaking white border from all these pictures....
Now you know I love all my trashy music, it's one of the things that gets me up in the morning.
Let's go way back to one of the first songs I ever had on my MP3 player, Don't Worry, By Happy.
I feel like everybody has probably heard this song a billion times to the point of hating and being tired of it, but it's still a fun chill song that you can tolerate enough to listen to me ramble about it for a minute.
It's a cool little ditty that matches my feelings right now. Got the rest of the day off, got only one job tomorrow, and all I have plans to do today is play like, 6 hours of Starcraft.
I've never played Starcraft before so I'm pretty pumped about this. RTS (real time strategy) games are things I really enjoy when they're done well and from what I hear Starcraft is one of the games that does it the best.
Gonna be a good day.
By the way, this is all about Sunday cause that' when I 'm writing this.
I used to despise Johnny 3 Tears lines because they seemed kinda dumb and oversimplified. I really like them now though for no other reason than what once bugged me now amuses me.
I mean let's be real, the line So many dollars stuffed in my wallet, chain so bling yeah you know that I'm a balla is a line very few people could get away with. Lo and behold though, Johnny manages to do it.
Honestly all the songs these guys have released make me laugh a little bit. The songs that focus on Charlie are generally the funniest, but there's gems like that line all over the place. In the song American Tragedy Johnny uses the phrase "wolf among the sheep" like, 3 or 4 times in the span of 30 seconds. It's pure gold.
This one though? You'll have to settle for a straight killer beat (my favorite part is when the high synth comes in near the end of each verse) and some solid, if amusing, lines.
This song is off of one of my favorite albums when I started listening to Metal more. My dad gave me a digital copy of it when I had asked him for music once and it quickly rose to the top of a lot of my playlists at the time. Honestly, a lot of that was probably driven by the fact that my mom hated Sabbath and, since I really didn't rebel that much as a kid, I wanted to do something to "stick it to the man".
Stupid reason to listen to a band, but it's not like it's the first time anybody's done something like that and it sure won't be the last.
Solid song though, I would call it reasonably ahead of it's time in the sense that it could have been released at any point between when it was and about 20 years later and still fit. Thing is though that's just because Sabbath's style was mostly unchanging over the course of their entire careers. They have sounded the same of at least similar since they started.
Yoooo, I get to see these guys live tonight. I've wanted to see Whitechapel live for some time now and they're actually in town today. Phil Bozeman, the singer, has a straight fantastic vocal range. He can go high and he can also go really low. Gonna be a good time.
Also I saw the new Captain America last night. I'll give it a solid 8.5. I might rate it higher, but I'd have to see it again. All in all a solid movie that made me really excited for the supportign characters getting their own movies.
Back in the day when my brother and I were first starting to listen to more Rock and Metal stuff my brother really got into Pillar. I always thought they were ok, but I never really listened to them much. I was a lot more into stuff like Black Sabbath and some heavier things but he was into the Christian Rock group.
Now let's get one thing straight, my brother has always been at least a little worse than me. He's just better at hiding it is all and I'm more obvious. All my tattoos are on my arms, all his are under his shirt. I listen to bands out loud, he listens with headphones.
Well he's bringing home stuff like this and I'm listening to Sabbath and my mom keeps telling me I should try to be a little more like him and stuff. Total BS.
Long story short I work in a church now, so who's really coming out ahead, eh Jeff?
Artist: Tech N9ne, Krizz Kaliko, Audio Push
Genre: Rap, Hip Hop
It's been a really long time since I posted a Tech N9ne song, so I feel like it's time to post one again, right?
This song is great for many reasons, but I'm gonna focus on the ones I can think of off the top of my head because I'm lazy that way. Who knows, maybe I'll get all deep or whatever on it, we'll see.
First things first, the beat. The beat sounds similar to something like a Black Sabbath song. It's got a fun gritty sound to it and is a decent riff in general. Real bluesy and smooth. On top of that Krizz's hook is tight.
And there's the guest vocalist on here. He's got loads of decent lines throughout his verse but I have one that really kinda speaks to me. He says "Every time you cut a corner you make 2 more." I know this probably isn't original or anything and it's possibly just a rehashing of an old proverb or whatever, but I love it. Out of everything in this song it's just a really fun thing that stuck out to me for whatever reason.
Honestly I feel like the album was a bit of a let down in the long term. I liked it a lot when it came out but after a while I just kept returning to a couple of my favorite tracks here and there. There's a lot of songs on the album, but for the most part I just really like about 5 or 6 of them which isn't really a great thing. This song though is one of the ones I like a lot though and that's what's really important, right?
Give it a listen, I'm sure you'll like it at least a little bit.
I know I posted Mr Cash kinda recently, but I was listening to a totally unrelated song the other day and it made me think of this. I figure it's not a bad plan though cause I like the song and as usual, that's what counts.
I'm gonna use this post to promote my social media platforms though real quick.
I've got a Facebook Page which is a nifty little way to keep up with this. I currently only post links to these posts, but someday I plan on doing more there since, ya know, I can.
Also something I'm kinda proud of is my gigantic freaking Spotify playlist. It's got every song I've posted for the most part. There's a couple missing because they just aren't on Spotify, but that's ok. It's a rather decent playlist though, not too bad to shuffle.
That's all guys, see ya tomorrow.
Oh, I've got a personal Twitter you can follow. It's mostly either me being all emo or retweeting memes that don't even make sense to me half the time.
Ok, that's it for real. Tomorrow will not be all self promotion, it'll be a real post again, haha
Disturbed is one of those bands I have a love hate relationship with. One one hand the music is really the generic angry sounds of everybody's middleschool highschool days. On the other, the guitarist is actually a really underrated player who's really good at being a busy yet simple enough to not sound busy. Draiman, the vocalist, is a fantastic singer who manages to bring an aspect of melody to a band that otherwise would just be another hardcore band.
For all this though they are still just kind of... Meh to me. Don't get me wrong, all the things I just said about them are true. I do think they are a really powerful group and have some great things going for them, I just don't think it always comes through.
That is, up until this song.
Disturbed has decided that, in addition to Draiman's usual preachy stance on literally everything from weed to the holocaust, they are going to show a softer side.
There are very few cover songs that I think are legitimately better than the original. All Along The Watchtower would be a good example of a cover song that's leaps and bounds above the original.
Well who would have figured that Disturbed would not only cover a Simon & Garfunkel song, but actually do it well? Nobody basically. The fact of the matter is though they managed to take a song and turn it into a power ballad that would make anybody proud. The message of the song manages to shine through much strong than it did in the original without actually taking away from it. The edge that Draiman's voice takes on when he get's more emotional in the song helps to drive in the point in a way that the original just wasn't able to.
Don't be scared by the fact that I labeled these guys as Heavy Metal. That's their general genre but it's not how the song sounds. They didn't speed it up and add a pile of guitars to it. Take a listen and enjoy it.
When I was first showed this band I really didn't care for them. While I'm still kinda like this to a point back then I really hated songs longer than 4 minutes. I felt like they were way too long with all their jamming stuff. It's really good, but I really didn't have patience for it.
I'm mildly more patient now though and can enjoy this stuff like I should and it even has the added benefit of almost feeling nostalgic! Boom, goals.
Also I'm really freaking pissed because I only just realized yesterday's post was freaking post 600! THat's a rather large number that I'm really proud of and I missed it... Ah well, there's always 700.
Yo yo, I'm in Baltimore today for my cousins wedding! It's gonna be a good time I'm sure, cause this os one of my favorite cousin's weddings here. He and his brother are always a blast so I can't imagine that his wedding is gonna be dull, ya know?
Anyway though, as we were driving down yesterday we all started talking about music that we had been shown recently and such. Somebody my mom works with had showed he this guy a little bit ago apparently so he was basically the talk of the trip with how cool his stuff is. Like, who actually manages to play stuff that complicated live the whole way through? Not too many. Most live Electronic artists will play parts of their songs, but with how complicated a lot of the tracks turn out as they generally rely on a lot of loops and such. This guy had the drums on a loop in the background but that's it, the rest was a single live take. That impresses me a lot and that's why he made the post today.
Bye bye, gonna go enjoy my cousins wedding now, catch ya tomorrow!
Band: Betraying The Martyrs
Genre: Deathcore, Symphonic Deathcore
I was looking through some of my playlists deciding on a song today and I got distracted by the internet. You know, as ya do.
Anyway I was browsing reddit and as I scrolled down my feed wasting my time I found this song. I already have enjoyed the music from this band that I've heard before but I hadn't heard this before. You may remember these guys, they covered Let it Go? I posted it ages ago, but I'm banking on you not remembering it.
Anyway though, it's a good song as far as Deathcore goes. If you don't like that then ya may as well skip this one, we'll catch ya on the flip side.
This song really speaks to me. Through the chorus at least, not the verses. I'm just really freaking tired cause I'm getting sick. Wednesdays are long already and since I'm gonna be out of town this weekend for my cousin's wedding I'm a little stressed about getting all my work done.
Also it's another late night that I wasn't able to make the time to get this written earlier in the day. I need to be awake in about 6 hours but since I'm *Slippin* with my time management I'm stuck doing this now.
Get it? I just complained about all this for the sake of a stupid joke? No? Ok, I'll stop.
Enjoy DMX and be excited that he's coming out with a new album soon. Especially since he almost died in February. Talent like this guy doesn't come around all the time. Not joking either , I really love DMX's voice.
Band: Scorpions
Genre: Hair Metal, Power Metal, Hard Rock
"Ah hem.. *cough* Ah... The 80s." *drop mic*
I feel like that's one of the primary feelings toward 80s music. Some people call it the worst stuff on planet earth but I'd say that a large portion of the community is head over heels obsessed all over 80s music.
Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy a lot of 80s music. It's got a very defining sound though that just sounds like the 80s in a way that nothing today has. Even bands that try to mimic the sound like Steel Panther don't always manage to nail it. Technology has simply advanced to the point that the crappy synths that we had back then just are gone.
Actually it's just the synths that we can kill. The rest is killer and all that.
Anyway, please enjoy one of the anthems of the 80s, the glory of Hair Metal.
We're gonna do a lovely thing here where I ramble about how I bumbled my way through another year of the A to Z.
I managed to not have the time to visit almost anybody's blog this year. It really bummed me out actually cause I really liked the visiting aspect of last year's adventure.
Post wise though I feel like I'm a better writer than I was last year. Yeah, my grammar sucks. Yeah, my punctuation sucks. Yeah, these short little sentences suck. It's the way I talk, I was never really good with writing. My bad.
Theme wise I liked this year's theme of going with a band and a music video as opposed to the albums from last year. I think it was a better idea that was more streamlined in its execution.
Honestly though I already blog every day. Daily blogging is something I'm used to so the hardest part of the challenge was actually managing to keep it all in order. I ended up keeping a running list of all the stuff I wanted to post but couldn't cause it didn't fit the theme. That would be a load of Death Metal, Rap, and a few album reviews if you're interested. Soon........
I've gotta go though, I'm writing this on 4 hours of sleep rom the show on Sunday and I have to be up in 5 hours. Still though, thanks for reading and if you visited, thanks for visiting. I'll still be here, so swing by again some time, eh?
EDIT 5-9-16: Well dang, this sounds so much weirder reading it again. I don't really know what I was thinking trying to write this at like, 11:30 at night instead of earlier in the day, but I suppose that really manages to sum up how I had been managing from the rest of the A to Z as well.
Congrats to all else who made it by the way, forgot to say that. Cheers!
Talking about Sex Pistols last week made me remember a "lot" (read 2) of Punk bands I liked. One of them is The Clash.
Actually it reminded me enough that I decided to actually learn to play a few of their songs. This is a big deal for me since I never actually follow through with learning almost any songs that I think "Hey, I should learn this song". #Goals.
So yeah. I didn't learn this song, but I wouldn't mind it some time, ya know? This is probably one of the most well known songs by The Clash though, and as such you might have heard it before. It's a really solid tune with a catchy as crap bass line that rocks through the song. I almost learned that line, but it turns out that a different one was easier for me and my brother to knock out.
The guitars in this song are really cool though. The way they just keep hitting over the melody of the rest of it and it's a really cool sounding thing. I really need to upgrade my wording so that it doesn't sound so freaking copy and pasted all the time.
Ah well, eventually.
Honestly I picked this song because London is foggy and right now is the foggiest I've ever seem Erie. Like, total white out of fog at 5pm. It's intense.
Band: Dark Sermon
Genre: Blackened Death Metal, Deathcore
Yo man, got through that A to Z like it was nothing, right?
Ok, not really. Wasn't as prepared this year so it was rough. Hey though, I delivered and that's all you can ask, right?
So I decided to change up my usual hum drum one job straight to the other thing I've been doing and go do something fun today. I'm going to see a pile of Deathcore bands live and it's gonna be awesome.
There's this show which should be sweet, and another one in a couple weeks that, in my opinion, will make this month about a million times better than last month.
I've never seen Dark Sermon before, but my brother says they put on a fantastic show so I've got high hopes. Good times and all that cause live music is always good.
For real. I really don't like Country music but I don't mind seeing it live, ya know? Even if it's stuff I really don't like the live aspect is always something I can get behind. And I like this, so that'll make it better.
