Music So Good You Can't NOT Listen to It

It feels like genuinely good art, music, films, etc are few and far between these days.  I sometimes wax poetic about my middle and high school days when I would buy a album and listen to the whole thing, start to finish, for days on end until I knew every line in every song.  Fond memories of the days when I could listen to an entire album without skipping a single song are recurrent in my mind these days because I'm not sure why I compulsively hit the forward button on my iPod and skip a song (or multiple) on most albums.  It begs the questions- 1) Are bands losing sight of what good music is and what makes up a complete album? 2) Have we become so ADD that we cannot wait it out and see if a song it good?


No and No are my answers.  It seems that while the answers in some band's and people's cases may be Yes, in general no.  This revelation came to me a couple weeks ago when the Foo Fighters released their newest album, Wasting Light.

I can't even begin to describe how this album made me feel; song after song I was lifted closer and closer to my utopian remembrance of what a "good album" is.  I didn't skip any songs; I find each one has it's own likeability and qualities that make them listenable. 

I should stop here and say that if you aren't a fan of this type of music, you probably won't get what I'm saying or like the album at all.  So there's my caveat.

But really, this album brought me back to all that is good in my mind.  There are a range of songs on here, from the throaty yells and driving tempos that Dave Grohl is famous for to the melodious ballads you want to slow dance to with your prom date.  Seriously, it gives me those fuzzy-framed flashbacks when I listen to it.  The lyrics are genuine and unpretentious and relatable.  The music pulls you in and makes you feel the lyrics.  Also, you can sing along to most of the songs, even if you are a little tone deaf.

So despite being INSANELY busy at work and in life right now, I'm enjoying this album daily.

Weezer, How I Love Thee... Again.

It hasn't been super publicized, but Weezer came out with a couple new albums recently.  Before I left on my work travels I picked them both up as I figured if they sucked it would be mildly entertaining and if they were good then I scored some good new music.


Well guess what. 


Weezer, you have won me back.  After your tragic "Raditude" release (I'm not saying it was complete garbage, but I can only listen to 2 songs on that album) I was a little hesitant to even give you another chance but I'm sure glad I did. 

Death to False Metal was quietly released earlier this year without much notice by anyone really.  I LOVE this one.  Ripe with catchy beats and humorus lyrics that evoke bands of the nineties I feel like this album was a fun tribute to some token groups that are no longer making music... or have evolved far off from where they started.  As always, there are a couple of off the wall tunes that I skip over, but the album as a whole is pretty enjoyable.

Hurley, recorded in part at the Hurley offices in Costa Mesa, CA but named after the Lost character, is as enjoyable, but not as fun in my opinion.  There are a couple of heavier songs that aren't outright sad, but aren't the normal style of melancholy nerd-rock I'm used to.  Still, it's a big step up from the aforementioned 2009 flop that is now on my cd rotation (yes, I still actually use my cds... odd isn't it?).

At any rate, I'm glad Weezer is back (somwhat) and this is enough to tide me over for a bit.



Muse and Silversun Pickups

...blew my face off.


It was the awesomest concert EVER.



EVER.


And our seats were amazing.





I was afraid the evening wasn't going to be that great because Saturday was a little bit hectic and I was a bit grumpy. I ran errands and cleaned and worked out at the gym, then had to stop at the grocery store on the way home from the gym. At the grocery store I quickly perused the make up aisles because I needed a new moisturizing foundation (my skin is drying out!). While trying to make a quick color match an old grumpy lady came up behind me and said, "Hey, your purse is unzipped... so, you know, anyone could just walk by and stick their hand in it."


So my purse was unzipped, but the only thing I had in my purse was my chapstick and glasses case. My wallet was in my jacket pocket on me and so were my keys and my cell phone. Also, I had my purse wedged between my body and my arm and NOT GAPING OPEN... it would have been pretty hard for someone to come by and just stick their hand in and grab away.


Anyhow, so I said, "Thanks for noticing. I think it's ok."


To which she replied, " Well, you should zip it up."


To which I replied, "Ok, well, thanks, but there's nothing in there worth anything so I think I'm ok."


And then grumpy old lady said, "Just zip up your purse... people these days... don't know what's good for them."


Oh. No. At this point I just lost my mind. I will not tell you what I said but I said something to this little old lady that I've never said to an elderly person IN MY LIFE. I'm not that proud of it, but it felt good. I sort of wanted to push her over.


Lesson- don't walk around giving strangers unsolicited advice. Also, don't keep telling people, especially strangers, what do... with their stuff or with themselves.


Anyway, so I was a bit grumpy eating dinner and getting ready for Muse. But then BF ran an errand for me and I finished getting ready and looked SUPER CUTE (in my favorite outfit, thank you very much). Then we got to the Rose Garden Arena and found our seats (section 102, row D).


I almost died when I saw our seats. They were perfect. We were just above the GA section that had to stand and sweat on each other, and we had the perfect view of the stage, just to the left side where Matt Bellamy was situated.


Silversun Pickups was superb and I LOVED the bassist's outfit. She definitely has this rock chic/glamour with a bit of romantic style that I love.

When Muse came out I realized that I had forgotten my camera in the rush of getting to the concert. BUT my mind was officially blown in the first 2 minutes so I would have forgotten to take pictures of it anyway.

Such a great show! I don't even have words to describe how fantastic it was.

PS- Silversun Pickups warned us that our minds would be sufficiently blown by Muse and they were correct.

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

I'm so excited I don't know what to do with myself.

You guys, MUSE is TOMORROW.

TOMORROW!

I know, I can hardly believe it myself. I'm so anxious I'm itchy.

Also, today I visited BF's elementary school and talked to the kids about Native Americans. Plus I got to give them little swag bags from work. It was sweet. Kids are adorable. I may want to start volunteering to do reading groups at the school. I think I'll wait until next year when BF has an actual job at an elementary school. That would make more sense. I sort of forgot how cool elementary school is. Bulletin boards! Star stickers! Crayon smell! Hall passes! It really brings me back.

Lastly (maybe) I'm fighting off another cold/flu thing I think. At first I thought it was allergies but then my throat started hurting so I've been downing Ocillococinum, Vitamin C fizzy drink powder and herbal tea like it's going out of style. It still may be allergies. Who knows.

Oh wait... THIS is the last part. I got new shoes.

They are like little wetsuits for your feet. You can wear them rockclimbing, boating, hiking, running, kayaking... you can pretty much wear them for EVERYTHING. I'm excited to try them out. The only downside is that I cannot wear them to work. Not because we have a strict dress code or anything, but I'm pretty sure my coworkers would freak out if I wore any active shoe not made by our company or one of our affiliates to work. So instead I wore these the other day, with my new favorite outfit:

My new favorite outfit being my new black skinny jeans and my white v-neck Hurley t-shirt with these shoes. Black, white and red. Perfect. I need to wear red lipstick with it, but I don't really do lipstick. Maybe for this outfit I should start.

Happy Friday!

It's Official...

BF and I are going to see MUSE. IN. APRIL.











BLISS!


Got our tickets at 1:01pm PST today... Presale sold out at 1:05pm according to the site. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Not My Favorite, But Not Terrible... A Review

SO...

I bought the new Weezer album, Raditude.



Yes, I actually spent money on it. And I actually went to the store instead of downloading it. Can I just take a little detour here and tell you something? It's much better to buy a physical compact disc than to download an album. I feel cheated when I don't have a physical token of something I've spent money on. This is why I don't like spending money on food, because the only physical thing you get from that is usually indigestion and extra weight. Anyhow...

I walked myself down Burnside to good old E.M. and bought it. Because NO ONE ELSE has it and I'm morbidly curious about it.

I asked the guy at the counter if it sucked. His response was, " I honestly haven't even listened to it because I've been way to busy with movies."

Ugh.

I popped it into the CD player in my car (which I've forgiven for blowing up on me, that's another story) and drove around for a bit just trying to get the feel for this new album.

Ok, so it's not bad. I was really prepared for vomitously horrid, but I got mildly entertaining so I'll take it. I'm not letting Weezer off the hook for their venture into all things crappy in the past decade, but this was listenable. Mostly I just thought the lyrics were funny and the melodies a bit sophmoric, but then I realized that there are a handful of songs that I will be putting into playlists so it wasn't a failure.

Not the next big album, though. To sum it up in one word, "Eh".


...so I guess I'm still blogging. Deal.



*** UPDATE*** (11/15/09)

So BF says I'm being too nice and that my "Eh" rating is far too generous. He may be right.

How Can You NOT Want This?

www.newmoonmoviethesoundtrack.com

Ok, so maybe you're like, "I don't like vampires, or teen girl books and movies, or sappy stories so why in the heck would I get a soundtrack to a movie ALL ABOUT THIS NONSENSE?"

And I would tell you a couple of things.

First, the list of artists on this particular soundtrack includes Bon Iver, Death Cab for Cutie, Muse, Thom Yorke, Grizzy Bear, Band of Skulls, Ok Go, Sea Wolf, The Killers, Hurricane Bells, must I go on?

Second, see First.

Don't be "too cool" for this because you will miss out.