Tag Archives: Music Blog

01.06.14
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I Apologize For The Hiatus

Hello music lovers! I apologize I haven’t posted since ‘Nam, but I am back!

I had been dealing with some personal issues, but I am back on track to be enjoying life. There may be a few more kinks ahead for me, which may cause me to take brief breaks from the blog, but please stick with me and I’ll produce for you! There are two excellent reviews from contributors Dan and Keith that I will be posting later today so stay tuned and tell your friends all about Chwomp!

Here’s a favorite song of mine for your listening pleasure:

It’d be great if you followed the blog on Twitter and Facebook, and if you became a follower on WordPress. It’d be wonderful if you told your friends about us too!

11.10.13
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Apology For Not Posting The Past Few Days

I apologize to those that follow this blog. I have been busy with family activities, job applications, and life in general. It has been quite taxing and I have neglected the blog, but don’t fret friends because I will be getting back at it as best as I can this coming week, with special care towards to the ‘best of’ pieces. Thanks for hanging around; it truly means a lot.

Here’s ‘Inside Out’ by Eve 6. It’s a great song and I hope you enjoy it, I assume that most ’90s kids’ have heard it though!

10.31.13
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AFI – ‘Halloween’

I felt that this Misfits cover by AFI was appropriate for today. Enjoy it, and tonight if you’re dressing up have a blast!

10.28.13
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I Asked Reddit: Where Do You Buy Music?

In this thread, I asked members of /r/Music where they buy music when they buy music since I wrote this piece on where I would buy music from. I garnered several good answers, and only one troll comment! Success!

Here are some good replies (names below are spelled as they are on reddit):

From roguedevil:

At the local store, though it’s not that local. I always make it a point to buy an album from a band’s merch table at a show if I do not have it already.

From ThatParanoidPenguin:

Usually from Amazon, because you get a digital version and the disc version if you buy the disc. I also sometimes buy it from Google Play because their sales are amazing. I picked up Licensed To Ill, 2001, and Late Registration for less than $10 for all of them. Target also is good for buying music as they sell the explicit versions and sometimes have special bonus tracks.

From johnny_christ:

I live pretty close to NYC, so I wait till I have a list and take the train. I used to go to Virgin Records in Time Square (it was like the Wal-Mart of record stores. They had pretty much everything). The best one’s IMO nowadays are Black Gold Records and Heaven Street.

I’ve also been making regular trips to Los Angeles (I’m thinking about moving there) and I love heading over to Amoeba. That place is pretty rad.

I like having the physical copy though. I don’t believe in buying off iTunes or whatever unless it’s the absolute only place I can buy a certain release that I’m looking for. I’ll order off of Amazon or eBay before I buy off iTunes.

From ashowofhands:

Almost exclusively amazon. Their prices for brand-new CDs are generally reasonable, and marketplace is amazing for out-of-print and import CDs, and just finding awesome deals in general. There have been a couple times that I’ve snagged stuff from the marketplace that I couldn’t find anywhere else on the entire internet.

If it’s a new mainstream release, I may just pick it up at the first place I see it (often Target, as they’re the closest store to my house that actually sells CDs). If I see something else interesting there I may buy it on impulse as well. Ordering them online is great and all, but no form of buying or otherwise acquiring music will ever beat the feeling of cracking open a brand-new CD case, popping the disc into your car stereo and listening to it for the first time ever on the drive home.

When all else fails, and I still really want to buy a hard copy, I’ll just order directly from the band/record label. I preordered the latest Reign of Kindo CD directly from Candyrat because it wasn’t for sale on amazon until a couple months later. I ordered Circa Survive’s Violent Waves directly from them because it was the only way to get it on CD (still isn’t available on Amazon, even now). It took them months to ship it though – by the time it came in the mail I had already forgotten that I even ordered it in the first place. That’s one of the disadvantages to ordering directly from a label, especially a smaller one.

Finally, here is a reply to a comment about buying through iTunes from Chill_Vibes:

Also, the band gets less money if you want to support them.

This is the mascot for Reddit.com, simply known as the 'Reddit Alien.'

This is the mascot for Reddit.com, simply known as the ‘Reddit Alien.’

Thanks again, Reddit for answering my question!

Where do you all buy music?

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10.28.13
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Band of the Week: OutKast

Here are the previous ‘Band of the Week’ recipients.

Right away, I want to state that OutKast isn’t necessarily a band, per se, but I think their music is of high quality and warrants ‘Band of the Week’ honors. We can argue the semantics of ‘band’ later on, but for now OutKast is staying put as ‘Band of the Week.’ Comment below if you feel otherwise.

Big Boi and Andre 3000 in a picture titled "Grillin'." (Source)

Big Boi and André 3000 in a picture titled “Grillin’.” (Source)

The group now known as ‘OutKast’ was formed in 1992 in Atlanta, Georgia by André Benjamin (André 3000) and Antwan Patton (Big Boi). The original name of the hip-hop group was Two Shades Deep, but quickly became named as OutKast. The group is known as a hip-hop duo, but the pair use many different genres in their music, including:  blues, electronic, funk, jazz rock, spoken word poetry, and soul. Not quite a hip-hop duo at all, but that’s what makes OutKast great – the inability to pin them down onto one genre.

The duo have created six total albums, but first struck mainstream gold with Stankonia (2000); specifically with songs ‘Ms. Jackson’ and ‘B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad). (The peculiar thing about B.O.B. is that the song was written before America had dropped bombs on Baghdad.) Three years later OutKast released Speakerboxxx/The Love Below – which I believe to be the best Hip-Hop album of the 21st century (I know it’s only been thirteen years into this century, but this album still holds up and will hold up).

This album was released in September 2003. (Source)

This album was released in September 2003. (Source)

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below  became Outkast’s most successful album to date (sold over 5 million albums and was the #1 album on the Billboard Top 200 for several), but that may be in part because of how the album was formulated. The album is actually a double album where Big Boi and André 3000 created several songs of their own without the other – the album includes 31 songs (including an ‘intro’ and an interlude). Other than Stadium Arcadium I can’t think of another recent album with this type of song volume. This strategy paid off because along with the commercial success, the group won the 2004 Grammy for ‘Album of the Year.’

The duo then created music for the musical film Idlewild in 2005/06. Idlewild set in the depression era of the United States in Georgia; the film was distributed by Universal Pictures and HBO Films. The group created the entire soundtrack for Idlewild and would be the last full album the duo did together. Since 2007 the two have gone on their separate ways with solo work (including acting as well as music), but neither has officially closed the book on OutKast so there’s still a sliver of hope that the group reconnects in the future for some more stupendous music.

Here’s one of my favorite songs by OutKast (though it’s André 3000’s song) in ‘Hey Ya.’ But please read after the video why ‘Hey Ya’ is actually a very sad song, and not the upbeat hit that you may believe it to be. I cannot embed the actual video from OutKast because of Vevo being very limited with where their videos can be posted, so here’s a lyric video. I hope it suffices.

Here is an excerpt from a 2012 Cracked.com piece on why ‘Hey Ya’ is a sound song:

At its core, “Hey Ya” is an incredibly sad song. The lyrics are basically an indictment of the entire idea of being in a relationship. Not just getting married, but being in a relationship at all. The “hero” of the song has found himself tied down to a woman that he no longer loves, and to make matters worse, it’s pretty clear she’s lost that feeling for him also. And that’s how, in the midst of one of the most deceivingly happy-sounding songs ever, a line like this found its way in:

“So why oh, why oh/Why oh, why oh, why oh/Why are we so in denial/When we know we’re not happy heeeerrreeee?”

If you’re not reading that and feeling bummed out, congrats on the contentment you feel about your current relationship or your belief that your current state of soul-crushing loneliness will someday come to an end.

Thanks for reading this weeks ‘Band of the Week’ piece. If you have any suggestions for a band that should be ‘Band of the Week’ next week, please comment below.

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