Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Tuesday Two-Fer

Sheena is a Punk Rocker-The Ramones(1977) & Husker Du(1987/1994)

Not going to lie this probably is my favorite Ramones tune right next to Pet Cemetery and I'm sure you guy's are aware of my ongoing quest to find Sheena and what not so I think like this song I'll keep this one short.

Husker Du are probably my favorite punk rock trio of all time people and the fact that they did a cover of one of the best Ramones songs has my inner fanboy just squealing like a bitch and while they honestly didn't do anything different with the song it doesn't fucking matter because it's Sheena is A Punk Rocker people....

The Ramones:




Husker Du: (note the year this was released was 1994 eventhough it was recorded on tour in 1987)


Monday, September 29, 2014

Song of the Day 9/30/14

Damn that anniversary post was a trip to type up people with all my cursing, bitching, and calling people out it's kind of crazy to think about but I digress because I might as well try to get some of these posted while I'm not so depressingly bitchy.

I've been on a steady diet of getting my life in order and listening to a boat load of either funky kind of electronic heavy tunes with female leads or all the punk rock my little black hole of a heart can take but last night I had the oddest desire to blast a kind of semi obscure tune courtesy of one Bleachers called "Wake Me," which in all honesty is one of the loveliest tunes I've heard in quite some time.

This song is kind of like an 80's teenage romance flick with it's heavy synthesizers and very dreamy vocals that kind of fade off in a chorus that's light and to the point it's a special sounding number that seems like the moment of spark and interest between two lovers looking to prove just how special they are to one another. Really this song kind of brings in the feels for me and it's kind of odd because I don't really much care for anyone at this very moment, but hey that's irrelevant when a songs that good...


Saturday, September 27, 2014

Happy 4 Year Sam's Song of the Day!!!!!

So I'm aware that I've been less then spectacular when it comes to posting because to be honest I've had to deal with a wide variety of stupid shit coming at me in a continuous wave of annoyance that's managed to both drain me mentally and leave me in a constant state of being on edge and just hating life as I know it which is really shitty people because I'd love to really make something out of this but when I can't fucking write I can't fucking write I'm not really in the mood to be apologetic or to lie to the world it's just the way I am.

Now all seriousness aside there's a realization I'd made earlier this month that I was quickly approaching this blog's 4th anniversary and I made sure to promise myself that no matter what happens that I'd post for that day because it's significant to me because I remember getting the motivation from my friend Verta to start a blog after I'd been posting these on the Smashing Pumpkins Forums and ever since I took the plunge I've loved posting on here it's legitimately something that brings me joy and I want it to truly become something because archiving the songs I've heard is just crazy especially when I look back.

All warm and fuzzies there I couldn't honestly pinpoint one particular tune to justify the whole post with and since I've avoided a Friday's finest or two in my process of having my 20th nervous breakdown I figured I'd compile a short hand list of 5 tunes kind of like when you get married your bride to be has something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue I'd instead post a classic, a newer tune, a song with importance, a song that's fun, and of course the first song I ever posted on this blog so before I link the playlist here's the 5 tunes for ya:

1. Something Old: Sheena is a Punk Rocker-The Ramones

I've recently been listening to an astronomical amount of punk rock lately and in the process I've kind of been thinking a lot about this band in particular because their first album is an amusing little insight of short tunes with no real song structure beyond a couple of chords and maybe a verse to accompany a very straightforward chorus but even so I've also noticed that they also seem to really have a knack for stupid simple love songs or at the very least making me think of the perfect woman.

I'm sure you're curious so I'm going to just say it Punk rock Girls as the Queers said who on a lesser note actually covered this song but that's irrelevant are in fact quite yummy as fucking odd as that sounds there's something unquestionably attractive about a girl who enjoys being a bit of a punk and loves this kind of music I know I'm still looking for Sheena and also on a lesser note Husker Du did a BAD ASS cover of this song on their living end live album.

2. Something New: Up We Go-Lights

So on the topic of attractive women I'm just going to say while I'm not necessarily sold on Lights music and would still rather completely obsess over the likes of Lauren Mayberry or Meg Myers this chicks a fucking babe people and this video is more than evident of the things that having a kid can do and the fact that she's managed to get an even more banging figure is just wrong in every right way and also oddly enough this semi-uplifting kind of anthemic sounding tunes really starting to grow on me people gotta give the girl credit she's both pretty and can make a damn fine tune.

3. A Song with Importance: I of the Mourning-The Smashing Pumpkins

You know any time my life's gone to shit or I'm in a crisis I usually find myself blasting Machina the Machines of God by The Smashing Pumpkins because in all honesty that album has a light at the end of the tunnel feel for me in that it oddly calms me and can really get my head in order as the songs progress with this song in particular being the truest expressions of loneliness, alienation, and the desire of that which is amazing and fulfilling to never leave your side.

I honestly find this to be the strongest instance of Billy Corgans post apocalyptic story of an album to actually give me a decent picture of the characters he attempted to paint and find something I can attach myself to because I'm not going to lie I never could get into the story of Glass and the Machines of god or whatever Billy's grand idea was at the time of their demise it's just that this album served as a better swan song then people gave it credit for especially in songs as amazingly done as this one and it's really a whole lot more joyful and positive then things appeared at that time and it has that effect for me because it's a small step in the right direction when I'm hopeless and this song starts hitting those feels.

4: A song that's Fun: Only a Lad-Oingo Boingo

What an awesomely overlooked band Oingo Boingo were people no seriously their names fucking dumb as shit but god damn did they make some of the best new wave tracks of the 80's and to think about just the amount of impressive soundtrack work their lead singers done since then it's fucking crazy people and while I wanted to post Little girls as a cheeky stab to my shitty ex roommate and his affinity for gloating about banging a 16 year old when he's 24.....yeah he's a fucking creep and a half....I just didn't want to go there people instead I want to enjoy something and this song's one of those things.

5: The First Song posted on this blog: Champain-Cee-Lo Green

Yeah I'm not ashamed to say that I got to love some Cee-Lo"Say the wrong thing" Green and while his comments on rape where dumb as fuck for him to say it doesn't take away the fact that his fat overly confident self isn't responsible for some truly great music and even though I'd be extra lying to say I gave any fucks for anything he made before The Lady Killer there was that one off Stray Bullets mixtape that housed some truly bad ass gems and this song probably the strongest of them all and I recall it being an early download for those who subscribed to his newsletter or something but really this songs just a serious toned track that's a good exercise in his range as a vocalist and the fact that it is so serious sounding and kind of modern in tone compared to the Lady Killers complete throwback tone is probably why the world didn't get a mass release of this gem but even now listening to it for the first time in quite a while even after the dumb shit is all said and done I'm not ashamed this song fucking kicks ass.

SO there we have it 5 songs for the 4 year anniversary of the Blog stay tuned though February is right around the corner and my favorite number is 5....thanks for sticking through people for those who actually read thanks a lot you keep me doing this and to my haters....Fuck off.



Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Tuesday Two-Fer

So for some reason or another as I work on getting shit done and this story worked out I find myself listening to a decent range of Pop Punk for seemingly no reason beyond maybe the fact that it's high octane sound and sometimes juvenile lyrics help me kind of mask the large amount of annoyance, anger, and utter disappointment that life occasionally throws my way without feeling like I'm being a whinny little bitch but that's neither here nor there really in the long run of things because for whatever reason my desire to not complain too much has lead me to motivate myself to semi crank out a Tuesday Two-fer for ya that's something interesting.

Apparently in the early 2000's there was this little pop punk outfit called SR-71 that seemed to have some minor success with a few singles according to their Wikipedia Page which isn't really much of anything really until you encounter the odd little bit of Trivia that is that they're responsible for one of the more amusing little Pop punk numbers of the early 2000's in the form of one 1985...

Wait I bet you're telling yourself that didn't Bowling For Soup do that song and you'd be right but if you look at these guy's they look pretty much exactly like Bowling for Soup minus one really heavy set member but even then that still doesn't really get us anywhere so let me inform you of something.

Yes we are all aware that Bowling For Soup had a good sized hit with 1985 but what's interesting was that it was written by SR-71's Mitch Allan and originally recorded by the band just before Bowling for Soup covered it and proceeded to make it a good sized hit by basically changing a few lyrics around but keeping the song pretty much the exact same as it was originally recorded.

So yeah today's a cover but I'm pretty sure it's obscured enough to were most of you didn't know that to begin with so like I do with it all I'm going to post the two versions down below and you can tell me what you think and of course like I enjoy doing make sure to go check out The Official Facebook Page where you can get updates every time I post...

SR-71:




Bowling For Soup:


Monday, September 22, 2014

Song of the Day 9/23/14

Man I've had the longest week in a while people and I honestly just kind of seem to not really know what to do these day's so last night I found myself working on this story I've been writing for a few years now and listening to The Offsprings and for some reason found this 2000 cut to just hit the fucking spot.

Want You Bad it's from Conspiracy of One which was awkward because it had to follow up Americana and that shows in that not too many songs from it are really remembered but there's a charming quality to this tune because while it's a very fast paced punk rocker that we all have come to expect from these guy's it's also quite a cheesy little bit of romance with subtle bits of offsprings themed humor and desire for Hollands partner to be a bit of a dominatrix to him.

It's a fun tune people and for some reason or another I've enjoyed it more than most of the things going on in my life so fuck it let's actually post about it considering I've seemed to of been hitting a bump when it comes to these things....

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Sam Reviews a Video: "Go" Meg Myers

So as i take a second to just kind of stroll through my facebook news feed I'm pleasantly greeted with a link to one Meg Myers newest video clip for her song Go and after viewing it I figured I'd have enough time to let you guy's know what I thought.

What we have here is a black and white performance clip with a lot of cut away shots and one FINE looking Meg Myers kind of crazily blasting through one of the more rock oriented cuts from her Make A Shadow EP which works for the most part because the song itself is a fairly dirty little number that kind of runs through and leaves you kind of high and dry at the end of it's 3 minute run time but I will have to say that this video had an overly 90's feel to it with a really hot female rocker kind of busting out a very under-produced video for a fairly aggressive rock number that's a good song in it's own right but overall doesn't really seem like much.

I guess while I'm impressed with the tune the video just feels kind of lacking but then again sometimes less is more and in this case I do think it's better that it's pretty much a performance clip of her erratic singing and playing rather then an overly complicated visual piece like her Hert Heart Head video.

Either way watch for yourself and tell me what you think...


Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Update time!!!!

Hey guy's I'm currently in the midst of dealing with an unnecessary amount of dumb shit so it might be a while before I can get to some legitimate postings on here so sorry if I don't update for a while....

Friday, September 12, 2014

Friday's Finest

So I didn't post yesterday for a variety of reasons mostly pertaining to the fact that I wasn't really in too much of a mood to write about a thorwback to a day that's one of the more important events to ever occur in my lifetime and out of the fact that it's difficult at times to come up with the right words to say so I instead decided to not say anything and for today it's still rather gloomy and cold outside so I kind of couldn't come up with too much for today.

Now it's Friday and that of course means it's time for Friday's Finest, but rather then writing about the normal 5 tunes I do instead I decided to only cover 4 because that's all I could come up with and also today I figured I'd write about a batch of songs that my local alternative station decided to post about being put into their rotation and give my two cents so let's quit bullshitting and get to the tunes...

1. Up We Go-Lights

So here we have a very electro-pop cut that in all honesty isn't anything original compared to the fact that a decent amount of these female fronted electronic tunes with large chorus' and sugary beats have been quite a thing recently on all radio mediums and while this Lights chick is pretty fucking hot I don't honestly see too many reasons to give this band much a look  beyond this one decently catchy number that's not a bad song per say it's just kind of generic in comparison to everything else..

2. Rollercoaster-Bleachers

Probably one of the reasons I feel so fondly of this group an excellent kind of swirling indie rock number that has a larger then life Sam's Town-era killers feel to it and I love it and can't wait to hopefully hear this quite a bit.

3. The Righteous One-The Orwells

This song sounds like some seriously old school grungy rocker people with the lowest production, the dirtiest guitars, and of course vocals that are very reminiscent of the early 90's with a slightly groovy kind of psychedelic movement to it that's also reminiscent of the doors at times so overall I can dig it and probably will grow fonder.

4. High-Young Rising Sons

So to round this out we have a very poppy kind of indie number by Young Rising Sons who like the first act covered aren't anything super original compared to what else I'm hearing on alternative radio atm but judging by the amount of comments that were positive I have a feeling this song will do it's thing and be something if not a one hit wonder.

So there's some new music for you guy's to go and listen to and here's the playlist so you can actually listen to them...


Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Song of the Day 9/11/14

So sometime shortly after I saw the 1975 live they seemed to have decided to make a music video for their song Heart Out which I"m more then ok with because it was amazing live and hopefully that'll translate to radio rotations.

The video in all honesty's a bit odd because it's young versions of them singing the song pretty much exactly like how they do it and it's both sweet and kind of cheesy at the same time and I guess they did that because the song itself is a very light number that's kind of a dreamy little love song about two starcrossed lovers and one of the best cuts on an already great album and oddly enough I also learned today that they'll be coming back to my area so I might just have to go see them again...

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Tuesday Two-Fer

So a few day's ago a friend of mine called me up and was like, "LISTEN TO THIS RIGHT FUCKING NOW!" and I was sitting there hearing a very blury sounding song that I couldn't quite make out before it finally hit the chorus and I came to realize I was listening to Maroon 5 covering Sex and Candy....

Sex and Candy-Marcy Playground(1997) & Maroon 5(2014)

So it's interesting when you come to realize this songs 17 years old people and in all honesty in that time there's not a whole lot I can say about the alternative rocker it's a straightforward kind of tongue and cheek kind of number that's still rather funky today but isn't anything to spectacularly amazing and the fact that it's managed to maintain some sense of groove all these years is about the best thing I can come up with.

Maroon 5 for whatever reason decided to take what's a fairly dirty number, slow it down, crank up the funk, and try to sex it up even more for a deluxe edition of an album that's both a not so cleaver method of saying it's their 5th album and also letting us all know what their target audience mostly possesses by this point. All jokes aside it's actually a pretty groovy cover that I don't dislike surprisingly enough and while it's not making this song any better it's doing what all great covers do and not making it any worse either and for that I raise a glass and let this funky little number kind of groove off into the sunset.

Listen below and tell me what you think...

Marcy Playground:





Maroon 5:


Monday, September 8, 2014

Sam Reviews a Show: Buzz Beachball 2014

So I went to a show a few day's ago and rather than immedietly coming up with a review the very next day I figured I'd take a few day's to kind of digest things and write about more what stuck out a few day's later and of course you know get over that convert haze we all have.

So this years Buzz Beachball was heald at Sporting KC over in Kansas and annoyingly enough it was raining the beginning of the day which combined with the hangover I happen to be nursing sucked balls people, but all those complaints aside there was some good thing's at the beginning of the day namely the Griswolds High energy performance to open the whole show which was like a good mix of INXS and most modern day indie acts which was good because they were fun as hell and got the show off to a good start.

After their set though that's when it started raining and because of that it was fairly easy to skip over Broods set which was a bit better compared to their prom set but they've still yet to sell me and from what i can remember the next act I actually watched was J. Roddy Walston and the Business who were a kind of Bluesy rock and roll act that actually do a very solid set but honestly felt a bit out of place because their music doesn't really feel alternative in a sense of what's to be expected from the vast majority of bands on the bill but they still held their own and did a great job.

So by the time the Mowglis hit the stage my hangover was starting to let up and from the small bits of their set I was able to catch they got a bad ass and Highly energetic performance of San Fransisco that was the perfect way to introduce the good weather and string of amazing performances to come.

Before I get to into things I will say that I didn't much care for how they organized the performances of this show by having the second stage perform during the main stage's set ups because I missed Meg Myers set due to the fact that she got the 30 minutes after Weezer and before the Arctic Monkeys which I didn't care to lose for getting an piss poor spot to see her again but form what I heard from her set she killed it.

OK now let's quit fucking around and get to the meat of the matter people the big 3 and first up was the 1975 who were fucking BAD ASS PEOPLE! They had a very solid tightly played set that was filled with all the strongest cuts from their album and tunes like Heart Out and M.O.N.E.Y. are strong when placed amongst hits like Sex and Girls which all sounded like the best New Wave record to not come out of the 80's. I'd definitely make an effort to see them again.

After them was the all mighty Weezer people and while I will admit some fault to the fact that their entire set list was nothing but hits and they noticeably didn't perform anything from Pinkerton which was minor in the grander scale of things because their set BLEW ME THE FUCK AWAY PEOPLE! Seriously Rivers Cumo and company where one of the tightest most well rounded group of performers I've had the pleasure of seeing live since The Smashing Pumpkins. They admittedly were a bit more straightforward but that didn't take away from the fact that the string of hits that they powered through didn't kick ass.

From the Woah-oh's of Perfect situation to the crowd chanting rumblings of Beverly Hills to the epic conclusion of Buddy Holly their entire set was a big string of awesomeness that was sure to satisfy everyone and reminded me just why in the hell I ever got into them because their songs are that fucking good, and that could have perfectly ended the whole damn show but they didn't and oh buddy did the act that followed just show why they did.

So I have to tell you guy's that with the opening chords of Do I wanna Know I was immediately slapped in the face with the overwhelming scent of wet pussy and marijuana and the fact that that was just the opening song kind of perfectly summed up what I was in for from the tour de force that was the all mighty Arctic Monkeys. In-between a large collective of women who were very vocal about their desire to start stripping and running to go attack one handsome fucking front man and the pairs of undergarments getting thrown at the stage this show was a trip people.

I can't lie I'm not really a convert and going in I wasn't and still am not the most familiar with this bands impressive catalog of material but they more then justified the fact that they closed this bitch out with a set that was just a mastered blend of progressive thinking numbers that expressed a large amount of tight musicianship and effort that was seemingly as if they just oozed showmanship. They without a doubt where a group of individuals that just left no doubt as to their expertise in what they do and completely and utterly impressed me in every way with just how well they not only made very progressive sounding numbers and could occasionally fucking pound you with rockers like I bet You look Good on the dancefloor which was just the bee's knees for me people because I loved their faster paced moments of musicianship and would of liked to see more but that's minor because they hit every hit I wanted and it was impressive and more then showed they deserved to close that bitch out.

Overall beachball was amazing people and all minor complaints I have towards the scheduling of performances can be considered minor because the quality of performances I got to see was worth it all and I can't wait to see if they can maintain this next year.

Below is a playlist of some of the acts listen and enjoy....


Saturday, September 6, 2014

Quick Weekend Updates

Hey World sorry For not posting yesterday I was actually attending 96.5 The Buzz's annual Beachball Concert over in Kansas and I couldn't find the time to get to actually posting something on here so I just wanted to take a second to let all you guy's know that the show KICKED ASS and Weezer are actually one BAD ASS live band but I think I'll save a more in depth review of things for later this week because today I'm just going to relax but until then why not enjoy this bad ass little cut from one of the other random acts I got to see that night just a little old band called the Arctic Monkeys...

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Throwba....wait a tick...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!

Like I said yesterday people today's a special day for me because well most simply put IT'S MY FUCKING BIRTHDAY!!!!!

So since that's the case people I'm a hella post two tunes that I want to hear today if not for the fact that they're great tunes but because I want to damn it so without too much rambling here's the songs in question...

What's My Age Again?-Blink 182




So in about 2 1/2 minutes this band managed to not only prove they're something more then a series of juvenile songs but also managed to encompass every 20 something individuals thoughts of life in one simple phrase, "Nobody likes you when you're 23," and with that like my sister told me....FUCK EM!

Dr Worm-They Might Be Giants





So from what I can remember watching Nickelodeon when I was a kid they played this music video and now being a grown up and having responsibilities and what not there's only one thing I can say about this song....It's still one of the BEST GOD DAMN SONGS OF ALL TIME!!!!!

I love this tune and it's simplistic tale of a worm looking to make a name for himself and with that in mind Dr. Worm you're my hero and I think you are in fact getting better on the drums so roll me out buddy because it's my birthday and I'll do what I want!!!!

ALSO happy Birthday to my wonderful twin sister!!!

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Sound Familiar?

So tomorrows a special day for me and if you don't know by this point I'll let you take the time to look that stuff up yourself but until then I wanted to point out this thing I came up with at work yesterday and feel like pointing out today in an article that isn't really likely to become a semi-re-occurring segment but rather an idea like the album/concert reviews, so bad it's good, lost great albums, and Greatest song ever where I just kind of make an observation and let you guy's take notice for yourself so without further ado let's get into this.

 Have you ever listened to a song and kind of thought to yourself, "hey this is really good but for some reason it sounds a lot like something else I've heard before," or have you ever listened to a song and noticed that any particular artist or group has decided to do something that sounds a little too much like another artist? Well that's what today's segment is covering in Sound Familiar I'll be taking a song and bringing up a similarity to another tune that might be a little odd and with today I figure I'd talk about something I recall pointing out a long time ago but feel like going a little more in depth with today and that's with these two tunes...

(Just Hold On) We're Going Home-Drake & Africa-Toto

So I recall a while back in one of the many times I've covered this smooth little throwback sounding Drake number that it sounds like a kind of modern day Africa and whenever I say that I mean that it's a very steady synth heavy number that kind of harkens back to going to a mother land of sorts whether it's home or Africa is one of a few things that kind of separates these two tunes lyrically, but whenever you kind of listen to them side by side you notice the intro's are very similar and they both are rather mid tempo pop numbers.

I know it's kind of random but it's a kind of funny observation none-the-less and the fact that I can hear the newer of the two tunes and want to go coast down the streets of Vice City kind of is probably the reason why I enjoy it so much..that and it's a pretty decent tune to make out with someone too but that's a whole different article for another time people.

SO go listen to these two tunes side by side and tell me what you think and of course if there's any two tunes that you think are a little too similar in sound feel free to suggest it in the comments down below or of course on The Official Facebook Page where you'd be real awesome to click that like button buddy.





 

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Tuesday Two-Fer

So I was talking to a buddy last night and she told me to check out this cover by Glass Animals of Love Lockdown and it was pretty cool actually because they took the song and kept it's heavy electronic assets minus the auto tune that so heavily carries the original and in turn along with these odd vocal samples gives the song a more old school kind of R. Kelly 90's r&b sound that's both sensual and kind of classy at the same time.

Love Lockdown-Kanye West(2008) & Glass Animals(2014)

West:




Glass Animals:


Monday, September 1, 2014

Song of the Day 9/2/14

So there's a fair amount of things coming up this week for me that will be covered in due time on here but for now I might be a bit busy or focused on other things.

I've recently kind of been getting excited for some upcoming shows and such and been writing things unrelated to this blog along because I have ideas that I'm looking to kind of flesh out and actually get written I just have a tendency to be a lazy bastard about these things and don't want to re-read over sloppy bullshit which is probably why I skipped out on the last Friday's Finest but that's a bit besides the point because it's the first day of September and I have a song of the day for you guy's.

Beachball's coming fast people and I'm hella pumped but not really wanting to burn myself out on most of the acts before hand because well I want to be excited about the show, but in the course I find myself listening to the radio every day and amongst the bands that I'm not too excited for they've been playing more Meg Myers and instead of having to hear Desire another umpteenth bajillion god damn times they've decided to start heavily rotating Adelaide form her Daughter in the Choir EP and even though I find them playing it coincidentally as I'm waking up I'm more then happy about that.

It's a faster number that kind of showcases more of a rocker side from her that I really enjoy and while I do enjoy a couple of other songs more I think this is a good tune to give you an idea of what she really seems to do musically...