Tuesday, September 30, 2008

randomness for this week

Ben Folds new album entitled Way to Normal was released today and I'm sure it's great. Ben Folds doesn't put out music that isn't awesome. AND one of the songs features Regina Spektor. Such a great combination. Can't wait to listen to more of it. Anberlin also released an album, I'm not sure what to expect there- I don't really understand why "Feel Good Drag" was re-released on the album. I liked Cities a lot...so I don't know if this new one will be quite as impressive.

Ok so, the Kings of Leon album...just keeps getting better. It came out last week and I've had more time to listen to all the songs and they are ALL great. It is so rare for me to find an album that I actually like every song from. My favorites right now are "I Want You," and "Manhattan," and "Notion." I would LOVE to see them in Atlanta in November, but I doubt I will pull that off. Why can't they just come to Charlotte?


I've also been listening to some older favorites recently, a couple of them being songs by Milla Jovovich. You probably know her better as a model and/or actress. I've always seen her mostly do modeling for L'Oreal, but she's done a lot of acting too. If you've seen The Fifth Element, she plays Leeloo. Anyway. She also has a good voice, which is surprising because usually I would say that models/actresses need to stick with their respective careers and stay away from attempts at making albums. But I think Milla's attempt turned out semi-successful. She obviously didn't have much mainstream success, and most of you probably still have no idea who she is. Her sound is kind of quirky, but I definitely think she has a pretty voice. The songs I like are "Gentleman Who Fell," and "It's Your Life"...you can check them out on itunes. In an interview, she described the album as "a mix between Kate Bush, Sinead O'Connor, This Mortal Coil, and the Cocteau Twins.
" I love Kate Bush and the Cocteau Twins, and like Sinead O'Connor a lot...so I suppose that explains why I like her sound.

Anyone remember the song "Kiss the Rain" by Billie Myers? It came out in 1997-ish I think and was on the radio quite a bit...a pretty typical cheesy pop song. It popped up on my ipod a couple weeks ago and I've been listening to it fairly frequently since then. I don't really like her voice, but somehow it sounds good for the song. I liked it in the seventh grade for whatever reason and I still like it!

In other randomness, Halloween is getting closer and I am so excited! I love decorating for the fall season. :) yay pumpkins!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

new love.

Kings of Leon!!!

I stumbled across them on the United Kingdom iTunes store, and I am loving their music. Something I like to do every now and then is search around the iTunes stores of other countries. If you're on iTunes, there's a little place at the bottom of the main screen that tells you which store you're at (i.e. "United States") and you can choose to go to a different one. I always find it interesting to look at what songs/artists are popular in other countries...there are albums that have been released over there that haven't been here, that kind of thing. And personally, I think the United States is lacking in the ability to appreciate good music (for the most part). Back to Kings of Leon- I had heard of them, but not heard any of their music. I'm glad that the UK seemingly has an appreciation for good southern rock. Well, Kings of Leon is at least southern rock-ish (the UK store classifies them as "American Southern Rock")...I might not entirely classify them as that. Alternative/southern rock. Whatever. I like that half the band is from Tennessee. My favorite songs by them right now are "Fans," and "Sex On Fire." The latter is only released as a single right now but will be on their album that's set to be released on Sept. 23rd...this Tuesday! sweet. I really love the lead singer's voice, too. All the songs on their myspace page are good and they have some good live videos on youtube that are worth watching.

Speaking of youtube, I have a channel that I save all my favorite videos on and you can check them out at www.youtube.com/aubsmiles03.

So I also saw on iTunes that Jessica Simpson has gone country...bahahahaha. I am not a fan of Jessica Simpson. I always feel like her vocal chords have to be in agony when she is singing, it sounds like it takes so much work for her to wail the way she does. It's like...just quit while you're ahead. I'm aware there are some very talented country musicians, so I'm not saying this is the case all the time. but sometimes it seems like the country music genre is a popular back up plan for when artists aren't received well anywhere else. Country or children's music. Haha. I guess it's just the way everyone tries to dabble in everything else, which is fine I suppose. Country music artists try to go pop, vice versa, they all cover each others' songs, yada yada yada. I digress.

Well, to end this, here's my "recently downloaded" playlist for the week...fyi. :)

1. "Fans" by Kings of Leon (love this one!)
2. "Second Chance" by Shinedown
3. "Flying High" by Jem
4. "Swingset Chain" by Loquat
5. "Rise Above This" by Seether
6. "Take On Me" by a-ha ...I've been watching too much "I Love the 80's" on vh1, and I was surprisingly lacking this song on my ipod 80's playlist
7. "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town" by Pearl Jam
8. "Finding Me" by Vertical Horizon
9. "My Name is Trouble" by Nightmare of You
10. "Better Than Me" by Hinder
11. "Rattlesnakes" by Tori Amos
12. "Wreckage" by Ben Jelen

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Twilight and good covers!

So, I trust that over the last month or so you all have started reading the wonderful series that is the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer. Best books EVER. Well, for those of you who aren't reading the series, this will be meaningless to you. Not entirely meaningless, so keep reading. I recently downloaded Charlotte Martin's album entitled Reproductions and it is fantastic. "Reproductions" meaning all the songs are covers. Really good covers. One of my favorites is "Bizarre Love Triangle" (originally performed by New Order- think 80's), and it totally belongs on the soundtrack for the first Twilight movie. Hands down. I think it would be more fitting if it were the Charlotte Martin version...only because the mood is a little different sounding because she slows it down a lot. Beyond things relating to the Twilight series- she also covered a Kate Bush song!!! I love Kate Bush. My current favorites from the album are (original artist's name is in parentheses):

1. "Bizarre Love Triangle" (New Order)
2. "Cloudbusting" (Kate Bush)
3. "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter In a Small Town," which, I had absolutely no idea was originally done by Pearl Jam until just now
4. "Song to the Siren" (Tim Buckley)

I'm sure I will eventually love every song once I listen to them all thoroughly. I've been a fan of Charlotte Martin for quite a while, most her songs are piano-heavy which I love.

other random songs that I am liking right now:
"In Your Atmosphere" -John Mayer, from his Live in LA album
the entire Rearrange Us album by Mates of State
"My Love for You is Real" -Ryan Adams