akrish

I haven’t written anything about music since I re-started writing here. That’s mostly because I haven’t been listening to that much music when I’m at work, and I’ve been running with other people so no music there either. But Kevin gave me a lot of music recently and I’m slowly processing and filtering through all of it and have recently found some cool no artists. Anyway, here they are:

1. As Tall As Lions – Definitely favorite artist right now. Both albums that I have (“As Tall As Lions” and “Lafcadio”) are pretty mellow but upbeat and very very catchy. They’re kinda indie and the fact that they’re up here means that my tastes have changed over the last year or so.
2. Bayside – One of my all time favorite bands. Last year I listened a lot to “The Walking Wounded” but more recently I’ve been enjoying “Acoustic” and “Bayside” which are also pretty amazing. I hear that they’re releasing another album at the end of September which I’m looking forward to.
3. 10 years – A think they sound kinda like the old A Perfect Circle, which I like a lot, so naturally I dig these guys. Kevin again introduced me to them a long time ago, but recently I’ve been listening to them a lot and really enjoying.
4. Jake Shimabukuro – Apparently a lot of people know who he is, but I just started listening to this guy and his ukelele playing is pretty insane. Really good to listen to while working because it’s kinda ambient. (actually I’m listening to him right now)
5. Evans Blue – So I’ve had “The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume” for about a year or so and have listened to it but never really got into it. Then Kevin gave me “The Pursuit Begins when this Portrayal of Life Ends” and I found this album much much better. I really like the vocalist (not the lyrics) but his voice is kinda unique.
6. Butch Walker – Pretty famous for “Take Tomorrow” but I also like a lot of his other songs. He’s a solid generic rock artist. A lot of songs are pretty catchy.
7. Portugal. The Man – Saw these guys in sf in April without ever having listened to them and really enjoyed the show (Their bassist is like crazy cool). Then I got one of their albums and listened to it like non-stop through finals and the beginning of summer. Got another of their albums recently, but haven’t listened to it yet. Pretty good music to work to, but they’re not very ambient which makes them kind of different.
8. Minus the Bear – The reason I actually saw Portugal. The Man in sf. Went to the show with Kevin and these guys were awesome. They were definitely my favorite band in April and May but I think I’ve listened to them too much and am taking a break. They’re in a similar genre to Portugal. The Man, like heavy indie… if that means anything.
9. The Shins – When I was listening to Minus the Bear like all the time I also started listening to the shins and started to like them. I find they’re music like really relaxing and a comforting change to my car playlist which has a lot of heavier stuff on it.
10. Audioslave – Kind of a classic, pretty popular band, but I’ve started to like them more and more recently. Tom Morello is a pretty sick guitarist and I really like Chris Cornell’s unique singing style. As a side, Chris Cornell has release a couple of solo albums that are also pretty good.

I’ve also been listening to a lot of classical music, rap, and acoustic guitar (yeah I’m all over the map). Didn’t really want to write much about any of them because I don’t distinguish much between the different artists.

As always my last.fm profile has more of my favorite music.

So I don’t know how many people actually read these music posts but music is a pretty big part of my life. I spend a lot of my time listening to music, playing music, thinking about music, etc. And I kind of want to keep track of what I’m interested in so maybe this is more for me than for any reader. Anyway, Lets move on…

I’ve kinda started to realize that my musical taste is all over the map. Since about middle school, I’ve been a pretty avid rock listener, but now I’m starting to enjoy a lot more instrumental music as well as the latest hits from the ever-so-catchy hip-hop  genre. Of course, I’m still sticking fast to my rock roots, but as I exhaust a lot of the general music there, I’m also experimenting with different sub-genres of rock and finding that I like a lot of them. I think the conclusion here is that I really like a lot of different kinds of music and really enjoy listening to whatever I can get my hands on.

What I listened to in December:

•  Acoustic Alchemy – These guys play some really soothing instrumental stuff that I listened to a lot when I was studying for finals. It also helps that guitar is the emphasis here and I’m learning how to play some of their songs.
• As I Lay Dying – An Ocean Between Us – name is pretty morbid yeah, music is pretty heavy but I really like their guitar riffs. They’re pretty technical and fast which I really like and many of their riffs are really fun to play. I like that they added more singing on this album in relation to the previous ones.
• Atreyu – Lead Sails Paper Anchor – A catchy album, but ultimately it doesn’t really have any flow and direction, I listened to it a bit earlier in the month but I don’t see myself coming back to this album very much. “The Curse” was much better in my opinion.
• Daphne Loves Derby – Good Night, Witness Light – Not as heavy as the previous two (shows some diversity in my tastes maybe) but really catchy and fun to listen too. I’ll probably continue to listen to this album for a couple of months.
• Lovehatehero – White Lies – I recently found out about these guys and from the couple of times that I’ve listened to this album they sound really good. They’re similar to other bands that I enjoy but have very interesting guitar parts that seem to be the focus of their songs.
• Counting Crows – I always enjoy listening to these guys. Actually watched a concert of theirs on tv with my brother which was pretty interesting. Also, my brother, his friends and I played one of the songs (“goodnight elisabeth”) one day, which was fun and has inspired me to play guitar with other people more.

I’ve been playing guitar a lot, but not so much playing songs. I think I’ve gotten to the phase where I can just play around on the guitar and sound decently good, so I’ve been doing that a lot. I also have been doing more technical exercises and playing out of a jazz book that I happen to have. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my electric guitar home for the break so I’ve just been playing a lot of acoustic. I miss my les paul though…

I mentioned this in my previous post, but I started playing my clarinet again. Unlike the last time I did this though, I’ve been diligent in practicing over break and am starting to sound decent again. Now I just need to prepare an audition and hopefully I’ll get into the wind ensemble at school.

until next time then…

Another month has come and gone. Wow time really flies when you’re at school and have tons of work to do every day. I spent a decent amount of time listening to music, but not much of it was really new.

I’ve been listening to a lot of “plain-old” rock the likes of Dead Poetic, Lorene Drive, Chasing Victory, along with some other stuff like Muse, The Mars Volta.
I also found out that a lot of the bands I used to listen to have been coming out with new albums so I’ve been listening to some of that too. In list form we have:

• Thrice – The Alchemy Index: Volume 1 & 2: Fire & Water – this is actually very different from older Thrice stuff (which I’ve been enjoying for a couple of years now, but also very good. I really like the “water” part of the album which is really nice and mellow)
• Thursday – Kill the House Lights – This albums all right, I really liked their older work, but recently they’ve been starting to slip in my eyes. I’ve been listening to it a bit mostly because I hoped this album would be like the old albums.
• Jimmy Eat World – Chase This Light – I’m starting to like Jimmy Eat World a lot more, I’ve only listened to this album a couple of times since I got it, but it sounds pretty good. I should probably listen to it a bit more.
• Coheed and Cambria – Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV: Volume 2: No World For Tomorrow – Coheed and Cambria continue to amaze me with creative and new work. I really enjoy all of the albums that I have of theirs and in particular like almost all of the songs on this one.
• Brand New – I have a couple of their albums and like all of them. These guys are probably my favorite band right now.
•   The Mars Volta – Amputechture – I’ve had this for awhile but never really listened to it. One of my friends played some Mars Volta in his car recently and I decided I’d give them another shot. I actually really like the songs on this album, even though they are a little out there.

Despite not having a lot of free time, I’ve been trying to play as much guitar as possible (which unfortunately hasn’t been much). I’ve shifted even more into the world of acoustic guitar and barely played my electric this month. Here’s what I’ve been working on:

• Acoustic Alchemy – The Wind of Change – a short little song that sounds really good when they play it. It sounds ok when I play it but it wasn’t too hard to learn. It’s also really fun to play.
• Acoustic Alchemy – The Alchemist – this is a fun, kinda fast song that I’ve started to learn. It’s harder that songs I’m typically ready for but I’m working on it.
• Andy McKee – Rylynn – If you haven’t seen/heard of Andy McKee please check this out. He’s absolutely amazing and Rylynn is a really awesome song. It’s ridiculously hard, but I’ve been making some steady progress and have the beginning parts of it down.

I’ve also been freestyling/jamming with one of my friends a lot. He ends up playing the electric and I’ll play some stuff on the acoustic. I find this a lot more fun than just playing by myself so hopefully we’ll keep doing that.

On a really random music note, I started listening to mainstream rap a bit this month. Yes it’s very uncharacteristic for me and recently I haven’t been listening as much, but I found a couple of songs to be pretty catchy.

Anyway, that’s the November Music Recap

I didn’t do this for September but my music hasn’t been changing that frequently (mostly due to school). Here’s the recap:

Albums Chiodos – Bone Palace Ballet

Daphne Loves Derby – Good Night, Witness Light

Brand New – The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me

Brand New – Deja Entendu

Brand New – Your Favorite Weapon

Scary Kids Scaring Kids – Scary Kids Scaring Kids

Nural – Weight of the World

What I’m playing

Coheed and Cambria – Always and Never

Dashboard Confessional – The Good Fight

And some other songs that I can’t think of off the top of my head. I’ve also been spending a lot more time just free-styling rather than playing songs. It’s a good way for me to be creative and it’s also moving me in the right direction toward writing my own songs.

Unfortunately I haven’t had too much time to play guitar, but I’ve started using music as a way for me to relax which I’m really happy about.

A quick summary of my musical interests in August

What I’m Listening to (Albums):

Paramore – Riot

Mae – The Everglow

Lorene Drive – Romantic Wealth

Saetia – A Retrospective

Bring Me the Horizon – Count Your Blessings

Circle Takes the Square – As the Roots Undo

Daphne Loves Derby

Dashboard Confessional – A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar

What I’m playing (Acoustic):

Jimmy Eat World – Hear You Me

Taking Back Sunday – New American Classic

Dashboard Confessional – Standard Lines, This Old Wound

Daphne Loves Derby – Hopeless Love, Come Winter, Midnight Highway

Three Doors Down – Here Without You, Away From the Sun

What I’m playing (Electric):

John Petrucci – Glasgow Kiss (some of it), Wishful Thinking

Joe Satriani – Love Thing

As I Lay Dying – Confined

I’ve been playing a lot more acoustic guitar recently. I think it’s because my acoustic is on a stand right next to my desk, while my electric is in it’s case hidden away in the corner. At any rate, I’ve started playing and singing a lot more; it doesn’t sound that great but I’ve noticed improvement.

I just got the new Chiodos album today; September looks like it’ll be another good month for music!