I'm a bad blogger

I told myself I'd keep up with this over the summer, but I haven't. But here is a brand new post just for you: the reader. You've probably heard all about Christopher Nolan's "Inception". It had a lot of hype going for it. When I saw this:



...I pretty much wet my pants. So you can imagine how I felt when I watched the movie. Let's just say it is pretty darn epic.

Anyways, what made the preview really work for me was the music. I'd like to know what kind of horn makes that "BWAAA" noise. Cause I'd like to play that instrument. This little track is called "Mind Heist" by Zack Hemsey, someone new to the world of movie music. He hasn't done much, but was hired to make the music to this preview and has earned my respect.

Hans Zimmer, probably best known for his work on Pirates of the Caribbean, did the movie's soundtrack and it is pretty beast. Sadly, I can't share it here because there's not even a decent youtube link. You'll just have to take my word for it and pick it up if you're a fan of movie music.

Junior (Senior) Year

Fall 09-Spring 10 was... interesting.

Short version:

Fall 2009 (the suckiest quarter ever - lame)
I got mixed up in the Architecture program (which I hated). I fooled myself into thinking I could salvage a friendship with the only girl I've fallen in love with, but realized she wasn't who I thought she was. I overdrew my bank account by $500 dollars (overdraft charges for... ice cream... and... ATM fees. Yeahhh). On the positive side: I got my golden retriever, Captain Awesome. He ate my house, but continues to be awesome.

Winter 2009
I got into the Writing program and discovered that I was actually good at something that I also enjoyed. I tried to take a sculpting class and got one of the worst teachers ever. Withdrew from sculpting class and I took a 2-class quarter and loved the free time. I learned how important my family is and how much they mean to me. I saw a lot of friends really mess up their lives and that made me sad. It turns out that people who I thought had it all together, really didn't. Meanwhile, people who I thought didn't have it together turned out to be some of the most down to earth people I know.

Spring 2010
I got a cool job working for District. I started this blog. I watched a lot of friends back at TFC graduate while I remained in school because I transferred, but wasn't as jealous as I thought I'd be. I met some really cool teachers (Concepcion, Newell, and Griffith). Speaking of which, I did not get into a knife fight. However, I did see a 18-wheeler explode into a fireball on I-16 and it is a mental picture I will always have. I obsessed over Lost and actually felt a little sad when it was over. I spent WAY too much time in Arnold Hall. I came home and I slept for 2 days straight.

Long Version:

New Arcade Fire singles: "Month of May"/"The Suburbs"

Arcade Fire has been in the works of a third album due out sometime this year. How awesome is that, right? Well as we wait for an awesome album, the band has released two singles.

I was more impressed with "Month of May", but both "Suburbs" was also pretty solid. If it is a shape of things to come, their next album is going to be as fantastic as their previous two.

You can listen to both over at 130 BPM.

You may have noticed the autoplay...

I subscribe to the school of thought that a autoplaying playlist on a blog can be borderline obnoxious. I don't know why, but there's something about unexpected music (particularly metal, hard rock) that throws off your entire day.

So I have avoided using autoplay because I didn't want to be that guy and scare off my loyal followers (hi mom). However, this is a playlist blog, so it seems permissible. I've decided to go ahead and enable it. What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea?

EDIT: After input, the autoplay has been sentenced to life imprisonment in some dark corner of the world.

#7: Coldplay

#7: Coldplay

It seems that if you are a fan of the English pop group you lose all kinds of indie cred (at least in my circles). I don't know why. I've heard Coldplay is weak music because they are largely popular, because they get a lot of radio play and because frontman Chris Martin is successful (or some other logically coherent argument like that).

But for me, Coldplay has a place in my heart forever.

I've listened to them since "Parachutes" came out in 1999. I went to their concert (almost) and buy all kinds of Coldplay memorbilia (almost). I even met Chris Martin (in a dream). I might even name my child after a random fruit or vegtable.


Lesser known fact about my life: Coldplay convinced me to come to SCAD (in a way). I was the Hunter Museum of Art in Chattanooga. I was just spending a rainy, quiet day there looking at art and listening to music. "Death and All His Friends" came on and it was one of those rare moments where life made sense and I got some clarity about the decision.

Over the past quarter I have learned a lot (less on an academic level, more on a personal).

I've realized that I put a lot of anxiety into school and how, at the end of the day, it's really not worth the energy (anxiety, not school). I'm not saying abandon your work ethic for hakuna matata. But thinking back to two years ago has made me realize: wow, what a waste of time stressing over temporary things like finals is. So don't. Do your best and be done.

#8: The Shins

#8 The Shins

The Shins are another love and loss indie band. They have a very unique folksy sound that I love. I'll admit, there aren't a lot of songs I've listened to outside of "Chutes Too Narrow", but that album is usually on repeat when I get in my car.

I actually discovered this band in 2008 when I discovered I could get Pandora Radio over my Blackberry. So I just set it to Arcade Fire and listened to my phone as I drifted to sleep one night. They got a lot of play and I found myself relating to a lot of their songs. Take a listen if you haven't. If you have, you are probably a fan.

Apologies for the overlap. Some of these songs did play on previous posts, but they are really good.

Volume II: Childhood (Part 2)

Volume II: 1990-2000.

Pictured above is my super small hometown - which is now no longer super small.

This was a weird stage in my life. I wasn't big on music. I was big on outdoor adventures. Seriously - that was the only thing I did when I grew up was just go outside and explore and get into dangerous situations.

So instead of leaving you with a playlist of nature sounds, I'll give you those few songs I did listen to. This was a really difficult playlist to make though and I'm a little bit more interested in my countdown.

Seriously though - its kind of awesome that people are actually visiting what is becoming an increasingly self-focused blog! I got a lot of hits recently. Not to brag or anything, but I also picked up a creeper from Massachusetts. Be jealous.

#9: Death Cab for Cutie (and the Postal Service)

#9 Ben Gibbard of "Death Cab for Cutie" and "The Postal Service"

Meet Ben Gibbard, lead lyricist and vocalist for "Death Cab for Cutie" and "The Postal Service".


Not to be confused with...


...Colin Meloy of "The Decemberists", his evil android twin.

Ben Gibbard writes songs about love and loss. Mostly loss. He gets right into the core of what any indie boy has felt after rejection. His obscure but thought out lyrics are honest and you can tell he writes from experience. Really. He just writes from the heart.

Oh wait...
...there he is making sweet with wife Zooey Dreschanel.

Really?

Dude's songs should be sounding like they were written by The Carpenters. Just sayin'.

Here's what they actually sound like...

Mm. Warm fuzzies.

#10: Train

#10 - Train

Train. The most underrated band of all time. You know why? I think it is because every time you google "train" you get info on... trains. You have to google "train band" to actually find anything on the San Francisco rock group.

Here's why you should like train.

Cool Cover Art
They have really awesome cover art.


Pat Monahan
Lead singer, Pat Monahan, is a fun dude at concerts. He's also pretty down to earth and his solo album, "Last of Seven", was fairly solid. His songwriting is really unique and actually kind of all over the place. He writes poetically in some songs (like the aforementioned "Drops of Jupiter") then very folksy and conversational tone later ("Meet Virginia", "Her Eyes").

And of course, the music
Most people think "Drops of Jupiter" is all Train has to offer. I disagree. I'll be the first to admit they have A LOT of filler songs on their albums. However, if you combine all the albums together and pick out the filler songs and you get a pretty awesome playlist. Here it is.

Volume I: Childhood

This week's playlist (really should be last week's) is Volume I... childhood!

Mostly stuff from the 80's and 90's. I mostly get this playlist from my parents (especially my dad, who is a huge influence on my musical taste).

1990. I was in the back seat of my parents Dodge Omni with my brother Steven. We had "our" songs. Mine's was "Red Rain" by Peter Gabriel and "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden. Yes, we listened to that kind of music when we were little. Because our parents were hip.

Update

Sorry for the late post. It's crunch time.

So, here's what I have decided my blog is going to be for the remainder of the quarter. I'm going to begin a countdown of my top artists and explain why I like them so much.

Meanwhile, I will still have a "playlist of the week".

The playlist is going to be past off something me and some friends did a few months back where we made albums based on moments in our lives. Like... what songs did we listen to as kids, what songs did we listen to when we had our first crush, what songs did we listen to our first year of college. Stuff like that.

Nice whether we're having.

Sort of off-topic, but had to share.


I was just quoting The Office. Not looking for a civil war debate.

Apparently I make music...

So as A&E editor for District I got this nice office drop box thing. I've never had one in my life so it must mean I'm on my way to big things, right?

Anyways, last Tuesday I got a mysterious present. A CD. Just sitting in my box.

On this CD was my name.

Weird.

So I listened to the CD since my name was on it. I'm pretty good. Not great, but not shabby.



You can listen to more here.

DeVotchKa

So, I mentioned a few posts back that Little Miss Sunshine was one of my favorite movies ever. Little did I know, the entire soundtrack was based off one song.

DeVotchKa, an four-piece indie gypsy-rock band, was brought in to do the soundtrack for LMS and pretty much used their single "How It Ends" as the foundation for said soundtrack. The song itself is really striking with surprisingly spiritual overtones.

I'm instantly a fan. Give them a listen: