Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Mates of State, Santogold, and more.


Goods - Mates of State



Featured above is one of my favorite songs by Mates of State, who I will be going to see in concert on Friday!!!! SO EXCITED to finally be seeing them live. I've loved their music for quite a while, they are seriously one of the few bands I can listen to over and over and it just never gets old. And I've probably said this before, but their music totally puts me in a good mood. It's all upbeat and happy sounding, which is something you don't find much of nowadays. And I find their whole husband-and-wife-touring-together-with-two-toddlers story completely inspiring (you can read more about that on their blog). It's pretty awesome that they make such good music with an organ and drums...totally unique sound, and I love the harmonies they put together. I have several live videos of them on my youtube channel that are definitely worth checking out. :] And in honor of my upcoming MOS concert experience, here are my current ten favorite songs- a mix of new ones and old ones:

1. Think Long
2. Like U Crazy
3. Open Book
4. Punchlines
5. Proofs
6. Gotta Get A Problem
7. Great Dane
8. My Only Offer
9. Running Out
10. The Re-Arranger

You can probably listen to a couple of those on their myspace, and of course you can find them on itunes.

I am still loving Santogold right now (I unfortunately missed the tour that featured her AND Mates of State). Her entire self-titled album is so great. I can't get enough of singers/songwriters who have their own styles...seems they are few and far between these days. "Lights Out" and "L.E.S. Artistes" are my two favorite tracks right now. awesomeness. I also saw the Sex and the City movie this weekend- loved it and I'm enjoying the soundtrack (Fergie's "Labels or Love" has pretty much been dominating car stereo this week). That's kind of old news but I just got around to seeing the movie.

On to other things. Pink's "So What" is growing on me. I really don't understand, because I hated it when it first came out. I really do believe that songs you listen to repeatedly, for whatever reason, eventually grow on you somehow. That song is on the radio ALL THE TIME. Maybe it's some kind of subconscious white flag...like you can't get away from the song, so your brain figures you might as well start liking it. One song that I do not like and hope that I don't start liking is "If I Were a Boy" by Beyonce. Like seriously...I think that dead horse has been beaten one too many times. Supposedly even Ciara stole the idea for her song ("Like a Boy") from someone, but whatever, let's get past this whole writing-songs-about-being-the-opposite-sex. Although I never hear many songs from the opposite perspective. Point is, it's getting old. I don't care what you would or wouldn't do if you were a boy because, well, you're not so it doesn't matter!!! And this whole Beyonce alter-ego thing..."Sasha Fierce"...I mean, seriously? Seriously. Sasha Fierce. I can't not laugh at that.

I'm going to see Twilight tomorrow night at midnight (a decision I think I may regret on Friday morning)! YAY!!!! I've been wanting to listen to the soundtrack but I haven't really had time. Any soundtrack that includes bands like Muse, Collective Soul, and Iron & Wine can't be bad. I heard a clip of Rob Pattinson's song (Rob Pattinson plays the main character in the movie, for all you non-Twilighters) and it sounded good I think. I didn't really picture his voice sounding like it did in the song, doesn't really sound like a British person's voice if that makes any sense.

Also, I am enjoying all the Christmas music. I've decided that it is not too early. When November 28th rolls around, you only have 27 days left to celebrate Christmas and that comes and goes way too fast. I'm an advocate of celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas together. I was happy when Wham!'s "Last Christmas" popped up on my ipod today. :]

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

real men

If you know me, you know I am a huge fan of Tori Amos. That's an understatement. Anyway, her album entitled Strange Little Girls was released in 2001 and consisted entirely of cover songs originally recorded by male artists...so the album was more or less her musical take (as a female) on each song that had been written by a man. And of course it's a brilliant album, as all of her albums are. I really love all the songs from the SLG album, but the song "Real Men" (originally recorded by Joe Jackson) fell through the cracks and I just recently listened to it all the way through. I love it, the lyrics (which I have posted below) are just really thought provoking. It seems like, among Christians especially, everyone is always trying to define what a "real man" is...seems like there's so much confusion, so many labels that society has created. I could probably write a fifty page paper on this thanks to the Gender & Society class I took in college. But it's a good song for however you choose to take it, and you can find it on itunes. The video is a live performance of the song by Tori on the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn.




take your mind back
I don't know when
sometime when it always seemed to be just us and them
girls that wore pink
boys that wore blue
boys that always grew up better men
than me and you

what's a man now
what's a man mean
is he rough or is he rugged
cultural and clean
now it's all changed
it's got to change more
we think it's getting better
but nobody's really sure

and so it goes, go round again
but now and then we wonder who the real men are

see the nice boys
dancing in pairs
golden earring, golden tan
blow-wave in the hair
sure they're all straight, straight as a line
all the guys are macho
see their leather shine

you don't want to sound dumb
don't want to offend
so don't call me a faggot
not unless you are a friend
then if you're tall
handsome and strong
you can wear the uniform and i could play along

and so it goes, go round again
but now and then we wonder who the real men are

time to get scared
time to change plan
don't know how to treat a lady
don't know how to be a man
time to admit
what you call defeat
'cause there's women running past you now
and you just drag your feet

man makes a gun
man goes to war
man can kill and man can drink
and man can take a whore
kill all the blacks
kill all the reds
if there's war between the sexes
then there'll be no people left

and so it goes, go round again
but now and then we wonder who the real men are
and so it goes, go round again
but now and then we wonder who the real men are
and so it goes, go round again
but now and then we wonder who the real men are

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

opinions, opinions

Sidenote about this post: I wrote most of this way before today (and had it saved as a draft), so keep in mind I did not write this post-election except for the last couple sentences.

So, since my degree is in political science, we'll visit that realm for a while. Especially since this whole election thing has been going on. I suppose I can go there. I don't really like discussing politics actually...mostly because I have developed a strong distaste for how people approach it. I mean, it's great to have beliefs and strong convictions, but those always seem to overshadow peoples' ability to discuss and debate intelligently. If that made any sense. And that's why we never get anywhere. It's like people don't know how to take a step back and look at things from both perspectives. All people want to do is bash the opposing view and automatically label it as ignorant or unintelligent. I can honestly say that I always try to respect anyone who has different views than me, and I always try to remember that just because we have a difference in opinion doesn't mean that either side is less intelligent. Just because candidates have two different ways of handling issues doesn't mean that one is less intelligent than the other. I find it kind of ironic that we preach tolerance and acceptance all the time but can't get through an election without throwing around completely mind-numbing bs in all directions that displays anything BUT tolerance and acceptance of differing opinions. That was a really long run on sentence. Anyway, it's completely ridiculous, and I suppose it's why I have always been uninterested in the election side of politics. Furthermore, I think I have a very strong case in saying that people should be ashamed of themselves in regards to the treatment of Sarah Palin. Neither McCain, Obama, or Biden experienced anything like the biased, unfounded attacks that Sarah Palin weathered. See, here's my thing. If you think that she is completely wrong in her views, that is great, we're supposed to disagree with each other. But respectfully disagreeing with someone and just completely (and ignorantly) attacking them are two different things. I'm glad I can honestly say that I respected all the candidates in this election and will continue to respect the winners. Is that what you can say? I hope so.

In other news, Santogold is awesome. Check her out on iTunes. I'm planning to go see Mates of State on Nov. 21st at the Handlebar in Greenville, SC. SO EXCITED. And the Holiday season is upon us! Time to pull out Sarah McLachalan's album Wintersong...one of my favorites by far. LOVE IT! the end. :)