56 posts tagged “music”

So, have I ever fully expressed my love for Eisley?  It's funny, when I think of my absolute favorite bands and musicians, they don't always leap to mind for me, but truthfully, I think, if I had to rank my top ten all-time faves, they'd make the list.  I just can't think of many bands that produce NO songs I dislike.  Even R.E.M., which is probably my #1 all-time favorite, has some songs I'm not thrilled with (mostly, ahem, on albums they've produced in the last several years; I think they began to lose me with Reveal, and I haven't bought an album of theirs since then, which for me and R.E.M. is a huge deal).  But Eisley, I don't know.  I love every song I know by them, and I think it has to do with three things.  One, they make some absolutely beautiful multi-part harmonies.  Sherri DuPree and Stacy DuPree (and, I suppose, Chauntelle DuPree, too; I don't honestly know how the singing shakes down on most of the songs) sound pretty amazing together.  Two, there seems to be an exceptional amount of care and effort put into the writing, arrangement, and production of each song.  I'm always impressed.  And three, I think the band has quite a gift for melody.  Lovely stuff.  So, because I'm on an Eisley kick tonight (happens once every week or two these days), here's a song I love from the Room Noises CD:

Dude, the album art appeared!  Rock on.  But yeah, I love that.  A lot.  My favorite part comes at 1:04 into the song.  One of my favorite parts of any song I can think of.  I'm a sucker for that.  Aaaaanyway.  There you go.  My gushy Eisley post!  I want to see them in concert.

In other news, I seem unable to pull the trigger on a camera purchase.  Not sure why.

So after listening to David Cook's cover of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" a few more times after last night's American Idol, I'm thinking I like that as much as anything he's done all season.  I think it's my favorite song of his since "Hello," which is saying a lot (because that performance was amazing, and was certainly the song that convinced me of David's talent).  I think I like "Looking For" equally as much.  I really do.  And watching him sing it, it makes it even better.  The (moronicasinineridiculous) judges like to talk about, you know, star-making moments and crap, and for me?  Watching David Cook completely own that audience during that performance, it was pretty great.  He looked like a veteran up there.  By comparison, David Archuleta, to me, wasn't even close.  The kid can sing.  He truly can.  I won't deny that he's a fine singer.  But he's just not as good as David Cook in any number of ways.  He's not as creative, his voice isn't as powerful, he's not as good of a performer, he's not as versatile, and he's just plain ol' dull.  I suspect that may be just what most Idol voters want.  He's a safe, boring choice.  But I don't see any way that David Cook won't be the more successful artist in five years.  If we're talking about David Archuleta in 2013, I'll be shocked.  I won't be surprised if we're still hearing Mr. Cook on the radio then.  On the radio we'll be listening to in our homes, because gas will be $17 a gallon then, and we still won't have cars fueled by anything other than gas, and no one will be able to afford to listen to the radio while driving around.  But I digress.

Yeah, I expect Little David to win tonight, but David Cook's the best this season.  One of the best in any season.  He's helped (with Brooke) restore my faith (or establish a little faith) in this show.  If he wins, it's extremely well-deserved.  I hope it happens.  And not just because he's a Royals fan (though that, of course, proves his awesomeness more than anything else, ha).

(Also, I think "Dream Big" wasn't bad at all last night.  I liked it.  I admit it.  And oh yeah, the judges SUCKED last night, did I say that?  They did.  Blech.)

I was going to post the mp3 of this, but I think I'll go with the video for the song I'm listening to endlessly today:

Tift Merritt!  I love Tift.  And this is my favorite song of hers since her Bramble Rose album (which I looove).  I thought the Tambourine album was good, but yeah, this is what I want from Tift.  I dig it.  Love the lyrics, too.

Yay artists who went to my school when I went there!  She has a Holga in the video, too.  Oooh.

Dude.  Duuuuude.  It's fun to find new music (or new to me, anyway!) that I love.  The following is the sort of track I'd like to save for a mix CD for someone, but I'm not especially good at finding enough songs to fill up whole CD's anymore, and I want to share this one, so I'm going to go ahead and put it up here for you to enjoy!  Yay!  I hope you enjoy it, anyway.  Because duuuuuuuuuude.  I love it.  Big time.

Jaymay!  Jaymay is awesome.  I love her.  I do.  She's new to me.  I don't know if she's just the biggest thing in the world and I'm late finding her (wouldn't be the first time!), but I think she's great, and I couldn't love this song more.  So yeah, there you go!  My Saturday gift to you.  Ha.

I either missed this one or I don't know where to look to find it, but after seeing it on Sara's page just now, I have to answer...

What was the #1 song on the radio when you were born?

And like my pal Sara, I'll post a video reply!

Seems like Paul's a pretty popular guy when it comes to #1 songs through the years on my birthday.

Yay 70's.  Ha.  Makes me look so old!

So I've begun watching American Idol again.  I've held out long enough.  I've been getting to know the contestants over the past few weeks, and yeah, now I'm gonna start watching regularly again.  So, we'll make my first Idol comment of the season this:

Danny Noriega's movements tonight while singing (uh, yeah, "singing") reminded me very much of the way the velociraptors moved in the first Jurassic Park movie.  Short flailing arms and odd strutting.  Ha.

And much to my surprise, David Cook was kinda great tonight.

One of my favorite musicians/artists/singer-songwriters has always, always been Kelly Willis.  Well, "always" in the sense that, yeah, ever since I first heard one of her songs, I've been very loyal to her.  I think I probably got hooked upon the release of her awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome album What I Deserve.  "Not Forgotten You" may have very well been the first song I actually knew from her (though there's a chance that a little "Whatever Way the Wind Blows" - one of my favorites - was in the back of my brain somewhere before that).  So, okay, always is a strong word.  I was a sorta late-comer in a sense.  But from the moment I became aware of her, I've been hopelessly attached to her and her music.  Kelly is:

- The only artist I've ever seen in concert twice.
- One of two artists for whom I've won tickets to see in concert, but the only one whose concert I actually attended (sadly, the Allman Brothers didn't have me excited enough to show up, ha).
- The only artist whose record I've bought direct from the actual record label (Ryko and their green jewel cases rule).  Which I did twice.
- The only artist whose autograph I have (twice, though I admit, I didn't get them in person, sigh).
- The only artist who recorded a song that I actually almost learned to play on the guitar when I still had a guitar.  That song was the ever so great "Heaven Bound."  I'd say I ended up with a Takamine guitar because of her, even.  The guitar was sold (I'm a banjo man now!) to fund ... shockingly ... my first digital SLR camera, the old Canon 300D, the Digital Rebel.  Which I had for a month before going to a Nikon D70.  Which I had for a year and a half before I went to the Canon 30D.  Which I've had for a year and a half, give or take a few months, and which I shall have for the foreseeable future, as it has triumphed over the Nikon D200 in this week's insane Photography Indecision 2008.  But THIS ISN'T A CAMERA POST.  I have an illness.  A camera illness.

ANYWAY.  There may be more things to add to that list, but whatever.  The point is, I love Kelly Willis.  I do.  So last June, when she released her most recent album, Translated From Love, I should have been first in line to buy a copy, no?  In fact, I should have ordered my copy from the woefully overpriced FYE, when they had some autographed copies to send out.  But, I didn't.  I didn't order right away, and then I didn't order down the line, either.  I listened to the album many times over on Virb, and I was very strict with myself about the songs.  No downloading in ANY way.  No iTunes purchasing, no finding them on a webpage somewhere, nothing.  I wanted the CD to be the way I got these songs.  I wanted a pure CD listening experience.  I've had none of the songs from the album on my computer, period.  Not one.  But months passed, and though I kept looking for a good price, I didn't buy.  Until ... last weekend.  I finally, FINALLY ordered my copy.  It arrived today.  And yeah, I hate that I waited so long, but it's so good!  I love it.  I really do.  I love everything Kelly does.  And this means I have all her albums again!  Even the brilliant Fading Fast EP.  Except hmm, I don't have that Christmas CD.  YET.  Hmmmm.  I need to fix that.

Anyhow, yeah, thanks, Kelly Willis!  A new album from her is like hearing from an old friend.  Yay!

I just found a new artist that I LOVE.  A singer-songwriter artist, I mean.  SO GOOD.  And yet, I can't tell you her name ... yet.  I just can't.

I'm such a tease.

Once in a while, I like to come here and embarrass myself.  Sometimes, I say something weird about, say, how much I kinda like Marion Cotillard (she was completely alluring in A Good Year, though, c'mon).  Sometimes I just rant about something, then later I feel bad about it and delete the post in hopes that no one actually saw it.  And sometimes I come here and confess that I like songs or something that I probably shouldn't like so much.  The latter is the case here.  So, I give you, ahem, Ashlee Simpson...

Yeah, I'm pretty awesome, it's true.  But yep, I admit it, I really, really like that song.  I just do.  I mean, I really do.  I even like the weird video, kinda.  I don't like all of Ashlee's stuff, but yeah, once in a while she puts something out that I dig.  This one actually reminds me of some kind of 80's thing.  It just flat works for me.  So there you go.

Furthermore, Ashlee's more attractive than her sister.  And she's far more talented.  So there.  AND, I'm no fan of plastic surgery (at all), but you know, the nose job turned out quite nicely in this case.  Ha.

Okay, now I'm done.  Ha.

I seem to post here in spurts.  Two or three posts in a day, then nothing for a few days.  Anyway, to keep up that trend, I bring you .... SONG OF THE DAY, old skool.

First of all, wow.  That's quite an album cover.  And second of all, awww yeah, kickin' it 90's style!  I guess I was in the earlier stages of high school when this one came out.  I'm so old.  Haaaa.  But yeah, somehow it still appeals.  I think the Spandau Ballet song from which it so heavily samples is a superior song, but hey, this has that weird 1991 appeal.  You go, PM Dawn.

This post bumps my last one down the page, but if you need a webcam, seriously, look at that other post.

I would like to post another song here, Gang of Four's "Natural's Not In It," but I think I only have it in the iTunes format.  So, no go.  But I'm digging that one now, too.