meandthestereo

Many people want to make certain changes to their lives.  There is a huge self-improvement section of the bookstore, where I can sometimes be found.  From better scheduling to better eating, from more thoughtfulness to more action, change and improvement seem to be popular.

Maybe it’s just me, but people seem to rely on music to unleash some of the emotional neediness that arises in everyday life.  We interpret as we please, and seek reassurance in the cryptic lyrics.  The haunting melodies evoke either energetic times or sorrowful times, pensive times or forward-moving times.  We chose what we listen to, but maybe we can’t always control how exactly a particular song will affect us on a particular day when we listen to it.

When I listen to Mates of State, I feel a lot of energy from the upbeat piano lines and drum rhythms.  I want to feel enthusiastic about something when listening to Mates of State. Read the rest of this entry →

When Vodes posted his Desert Island list last week, Joey and I thought it was a good list and a great idea.  Joey immediately commanded me to write up my own list for this week’s article and since I had begun thinking up my list immediately after reading Vodes’ post, I thought, “Woohoo easy article!”

Unfortunately, this article was not as easy as I thought it would be.  It turns out deciding on only five songs that I will listen to for the rest of my life (as in as long as the supplies on the plane last cause I’m not much of a survivalist) was not that easy.  My first list mostly represented music from the late 90’s and early 00’s but then I realized I would eventually get tired of all that angst.  I needed to diversify my list and include some more toe-tapping numbers.

My new list is better.  It includes music from more time periods.  It includes some singable songs (for when I get tired of simply talking to my volleyball) and is more of a broad sampling of Rock and Roll.  So here’s my list in no particular order and without any references to LOST.

Come On Lets Go – Ritchie Valens
Its singable, danceable, and gets bonus points for being sung by a Mexican.

Read the rest of this entry →

Artist: Radiohead
Album: Kid A (Collector’s Edition)
Label : Capitol
Release Date: August 25, 2009
Decision: 5/5 Amazing
Favorite Tunes: All of them.

1. Background:

It’s been a big year for reissues.  Along with the Beatles’ reissues last week, Radiohead has been staggering reissues of their entire discography all year.  These special edition reissues have been double-sized affairs with the remastered original album and extra discs with live performance, b-sides, and a DVD with video performances.

When it comes to film, I’m not a fan of collector’s edition DVDs with extra material that wasn’t included with the first release so that fans have to buy their favorite movies twice.  But when it comes to music, it actually makes sense.  Remastering technology helps give listeners a new appreciation of the music they thought they were familiar with.  And the extra material wasn’t really available when the albums were released since performances and music videos don’t often happen before an album is released.  Still, I was skeptical about the Kid A collector’s edition CDs. Read the rest of this entry →

A large leak...kind of...

It has been a big couple of weeks for leaks.  Radiohead and Weezer both experienced song leaks last weeks with varied results.  Radiohead’s song, “These Are My Twisted Words”, was a very good song reminiscent of Kid A, which is my favorite Radiohead album by far.  Weezer’s leak a few weeks ago was less successful musically.  “The Girl Got Hot” was just more run of the mill Weezer from the Green Album rather than brilliant Weezer from Pinkerton (will we ever see that Weezer again?).

More telling than the quality of the songs, though, was the reaction to the leaks or the almost non-reaction.  Leaks have become almost commonplace these days.  Its the price of doing business in these modern times.  And both bands seem to have come to terms with that. Read the rest of this entry →

Another version of the events of May 11th, 2008, in which Radiohead played a concert during Noah’s Second Flood, can be read here.

Go read the bloody thing!!!!

Artist: Radiohead
Venue: Nissan Amphitheatre, Bristow, VA
Date: 05/11/2008

Radiohead is powerful. It’s amazing stuff. It’s moving and uplifting. Forceful and exciting. It grabs you by the shirt collar and says, “Hey. It’s time to pay attention.” Radiohead is the visual and physical equivalent of Kurt Vonnegut’s trademark phrase, “Listen:”.

Radiohead was almost able to save last night, but it was just far too miserable. Read the rest of this entry →