Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Fail as a Reviewer

Now! I've failed and have not posted for some while... Alas, it is because of my last 2 posts. Hey Monday, Tobymac and 3OH!3! :D They did what I needed them to do, they brought back a dead soundtrack and for that I am ever so grateful. Sooo... in the spirit of reviewing! I will now switch to Games! as in Video Games, console games. Now, I am no Yahtzee (Zero Punctuation, if you've heard of him. if not and you're a gamer, WATCH IT... it is priceless!), but I feel I can review a game just as well as him. AND I'm slightly less bias, slightly... I am also not a fan of Nintendo, unless it's a gameboy color game... (and yes! I do still own mine :D) soon I will post a review on a game. :) so have fun gaming my fellow nerds!!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Hey Monday!

I know it's been while since I reviewed on a band. So I'll do Hey Monday today. I saw them on a commerical while I was waiting to see Sorcerer's Apprentice. The song I heard was How You Love Me Now, needless to say I was instantly intriqued. Though Cassadee Pope does have a distinct similar feel that Hayley Williams from Paramore has. The power house vocals, awesome rocker hair and of course a sense of spunk and energy that makes you just want to get up and move. Yet as much as one does love Hayley Williams for her remarkable musicianship I feel a closer draw to Cassadee, and no, not because of her name since my name is Cassandra (Cassie), that's not even fair to Hayley.
Now back to Hey Monday. For the past week I had been trying to get a taste of their music then finally today I had the chance. And needless to say, I LOVE Hey Monday. They're a little softer than what I normally listen to, but I love it nonetheless. How You Love Me Now and Homecoming are quickly soaring to become some of my favorite songs, even Candles is quickly winning me over. And amazing as it is, they've started bringing my soundtrack back. Other than 3OH!3, I could rarely be seen dancing in my car, until now. I suggest listening to this group if you have not yet, and especially if you're a fan of Paramore. Though everyone says that Hey Monday is just like Paramore, I do have to say that other than the leading ladies being quite similar, the bands are not. Hey Monday is a pop/rock band while Paramore is much more a punk rock/ rock band.
Now granted I'm a couple years behind finding Hey Monday, but I'm very happy I did. I'm anxious to hear more from them and I look forward to the many repetitions I'm about to do with their CD Hold On Tight.
Now for the stars, I give them 4 outta 5. Only because some of the songs aren't quite as good as the others, but that's it. I really like the feel of Hey Monday and I love seeing strong female vocals out there with all the boy bands. I give them a good two thumbs up and a strong suggestion to check them out if you have not! Well, that's all for this week! Happy Music Hunting!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Summer Saradise!

So imagine it, sitting online, talking with your best friend and watching Joseph Gordon Levitt, you get an IM from your best friend telling you she's gonna be busy, nearly ten minutes pass and in worry something happened you ask if she had died (as a joke lol) then she comes back with i'm entering a rad contest!!! Holy CROW is this contest awesome!!!! Torment!?!??! Clockwork Angel!?!?!?!? I about crapped myself... Seriously... This is AWESOME!! I know my chances are slim, but at least this way my friend gets an extra two points, so she has a better chance :). But yes! Thank you Sara for giving us avid readers a chance to get these awesome books early! Woot!

Saturday, July 10, 2010

TobyMac and 3OH!3

TobyMac. A christian rap/rock artist. I can't express how much this man has changed my outlook on so many things. He's a brilliant artist and I can't even BEGIN to review his newest CD Tonight. Every song takes my breath away and invokes so many emotions. Take Funky Jesus Music, a great song that makes me want to dance. Then on the other end of the spectrum there's City On Our Knees, which (without fail I might add) makes me cry.
There's just something about what TobyMac sings about that makes my heart and soul rejoice. All I have to say is Toby is by far one of my favorite artists and I hope and pray he continues to sing to the masses, because everyone knows we need better influences out there. In short, I give TobyMac a full 5 stars. I love knowing there's a great artist out there who loves to sing for God and his fans and doesn't do it for the money. And we all know that is a rarity to mankind. So I say, give TobyMac a round of applause for his brilliance.


And now for 3OH!3! A band that a friend had me listen to before my German 2 class one day my senior year. Don't Trust Me was my first experience with Sean and Nat. I remember listening to it secretatively as the morning announcements played in the background and realizing, not all rap really is that bad. (Granted, TobyMac doesn't count in this, he plays in a different ball game). Then I begged for her to burn me the cds and vulah! A new addiction! I danced and sang whenever I listened to Want or 3OH!3. Then I saw them live and it blew my mind how crazy and spazzy these boys could be! Sure I wasn't a huge fan of all the cussing and talking about sex, but the beats had me hooked every second of every song. THEN Streets of Gold came out and then you see their maturity.
We Are Young and Deja Vu are my personal favorites at this time, perhaps this will change with more repetitions of the cd. But as it goes, I love the lack of cussing and the fact that Nat and Sean are using their singing voices more and more instead of the talk/sing voices they had going on in their earlier albums. But All in all, I love these guys. They're hilarious on stage and they blend slow and fast songs together on albums that helps you see into their minds. Now as for their stars, Streets of Gold gets a solid 4 and a 1/2 stars while the older albums both get 4s. I love listening to these guys and can't wait to see more from them. If they ever mosey on over to my city again I'll most definitely be there to sing and dance again.

All in all Toby and the boys of 3OH!3 are my musical heroes. They inspire me in ways they probably don't even realize. I can't wait to hear more of their amazingness and I can only hope it'll just get better and better, setting the bar high for all the other bands out there. I've not heard of many bands that get me moving like these two do. So in closing, I just want to say, TobyMac and 3OH!3 will forever be on top of my list of favorite bands. Also, I'll hopefully be posting on another band or two within the next week. Until then, Happy Music Hunting!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

30 Seconds to Mars

I suppose I shall start my reviews now, since I honestly have nothing else better to do. So I begin with 30 Seconds to Mars. A band well known for it's very strange lead singer, Jared Leto, whom my sister is completely infatuated with. My first taste of 30 Seconds to Mars was The Kill. A brilliant song that I have always liked. And sad to say, only one other song has caught my ears since then. Kings and Queens, and the only reason I like it is the chorus part. Of course my sister was devestated when I told her her favorite band, to me at least, wasn't that good. Yet, I gave the band one more try and listened to, by request of my sister, Night of the Hunter. Personally, I don't want to listen about wombs and ripping people apart. The music itself was well done, but the lyrics to me didn't match the song. It reminded me distinctly of a Predalien. As much as I love a Predalien, I don't want to hear a song about one. So out 5 stars, I sadly say they get 2. one for each song I actually like. Maybe in the years to come I'll find their songs more appealing, but so far, I highly doubt it. So as for the first band, it does sadden me to say, they have not helped me restart my dead soundtrack. I'll post again probably before I leave about another band. So again, until then Happy Music Hunting!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Silence

For once my life soundtrack has fallen silent. I can't seem to find the song that represents how I feel right now. I don't know many songs about being confined, unwanted, feeling like a burden. Not even watching Grease could bring my soundtrack back from the silent grave. Nothing seems good to listen to, not even Basshunter or New Found Glory could revive it. So here I sit, my lifeless soundtrack in my lap. Maybe I need a new band, a new song for the newness I have weighing upon me. Something needs to restart my silent soundtrack. My love of music has begun to twindle, I pray for help. Because I desprately need some guidance in this. But alas I must find my own band, restart my dead soundtrack, I must do this by myself. One must find oneself, so I must get my soundtrack playing again. So for the weeks after I get back from my trip (AHHHH YAAAY KATIE!!!!!) I'll keep posting if I find that band, whether it's underground or a well known band and I'll review the bands the catch my eye. Until I find the one, the one that brings it all back for me. So until then. Happy Music Hunting!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Pursuit Of Happiness

No one can understand what it means for someone to be on the pursuit of happiness, because everyone's different. Mine begins with a night of talking to my best friend and followed with a few hours of talking with my favorite guy. I always knew I'd need him at some point and for the past month or so he's gone above and beyond the call of duty. And here I say, I am sorry girls, but this guy is a rarity to man kind. I don't know many straight men who actually gives a fuck and then proceeds to talk with you about his own troubles and thoughts. I know, is he honestly straight? And I tell you, yes, he is very much straight. But he has a big heart and gentle soul. Anything he says I take at face value, because how he put it, him talking is like a UFO sighting at the vatican. And yet for some reason he's chosen me to be the one to confide in. I don't question it because I love it. My pursuit of happiness is making sure my friends are happy. If they're happy I'm happy. Talking with him and my best friend makes me happy. So when I am on my Pursuit of Happiness, I listen and watch in awe as I see a young man unfold his brain to me. Every time I speak with him, my breath is always taken away because of the vastness and brilliance hiding behind his bright blue eyes.
There is a reason I do not wish to disclose any names, for I do not want anyone to be swarmed. To shatter the confidence between me and him is a horrible, an unthinkable thing. And also because, in an entirely selfish way, I want to keep him to myself. Those of you who know me, should know who I am talking about, but again, he could still be a mystery to you. As he is a mystery to me. A man who acts more mature and thoughtful then most of the guys my age. In almost every way he is my perfect guy, which scares me honestly. How could this guy be so perfect in my eyes? Maybe I'm just seeing a mask, someone he wants me to see. But, I feel we have an understanding between us. Our nightly come clean ritual is a time for us to vent, let it out. Feeling like a burden, wanting to disappear, starting over. His theory of relativity, and his fuck it theory. These are theories that took him years to come up with then he disclosed them to me and helped me see what I needed to see. My life is in my own hands. What happens happens. And if people dislike what I've got to say, well then is it really worth it? Because, again like he said, I don't want to look at the world as all these people who choose to have nothing to do with me, but as a select few who can't live without me. So I do need to thank him, my self esteem is at the highest its been in years. Though still not as high as I would like, but it's better. And him and my best friend are the ones that bring me back from the brink, every time. So, after this mass of ramballing, I have one question to ask, what is your pursuit of happiness? A good book? music? a long talk at the dead of night? whatever it is. Don't let it go. Follow it, pursue it, if you will lol. I now know mine and how to do it. Make yourself happy. Don't let someone else's happiness come at the stake of your own. Be you. No more masks, fakeness is no longer permitted. If you're fake, I'll let loose my gangster guy on your ass. You have been warned. lol Seriously, leave me a comment letting me know what your Pursuit Of Happiness is. Everyone has one. It's time to embrace it.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Music: The Meaning of

Music, what does it mean to be a music fanatic?
Some people like music. Some despise it. But there's a select few out there who are fanatics. Yeah, the people who live, breathe, eat, even crap music. (though the last is obviously unwelcome and rather disgusting) And I happen to be one of those so called fanatics. The kind that plays a video game or watches a movie eight hundred effing times just to listen to the soundtrack, when i could just get the soundtrack (illegally or legally, i shall never tell lol) and listen to it whenever i dang well please. But, of course I make myself watch the dang movie or play the game to listen to it. Take Elder Scrolls V: Oblivion for instance, it has hands one of the best video game soundtracks known to man, but people would rather play a ridiculous rap song, because it's simple, easier to comprehend. If I told some random person to sing Movement III of Second Suite by Gustav Holst, I've got 300 bucks in my checking account that says they'll just look at me with wide eyes and walk away. (of course, who wouldn't? A random crazy person shouting for them to sing a sing they've never heard of and probably never will actually hear in their lives, that would invoke a look of wide eyes and terror and to leave the area as fast as humanly possible.)
But that's not the point, the point is, people are losing their love for the classical arts, such as symphonic band music or phillharmonic. It saddens a music fanatic such as I that people no longer carry the same love I have for the classics of classics or even those rock classics. For I am only human and I do love a good rock song on my way to and from work. Such as St. Elmo's Fire by John Parr, a song the described a generation in the eighties. Or even Turn Back Time by Cher (I believe Katie will understand why I put that particular song on here :))
But alas the main reason I consider myself (as it is a self-given title) a music fanatic is because whenever I listen to a song I see a story unfold in front of me. A rough and rocking Skillet or Wavorly song invokes a fight scene, dripping with blood and remains of the vanquished. Or a softer, sadder melody like My Immortal shows me a scene of still body and someone crying over them. Perhaps I am insane and should go to a doctor. But I like to look at music as my inspiration, it's the meaning of my life as it is. If I could I'd go through life with at least my right ear plugged with an earphone connected to my iPod, so I can be given my daily dose of music.
I live, breathe, eat, drink, and yes, even crap music. It's the best way for me to tell my story. Look at your music device (be it an iPod or Zune or some other mp3 player, or even you retro people with their cd and cassette players), and think of all those times you've sat deep in thought and all you could hear was the pounding of Back in Black or Seven Deadly Sins and how those songs were who you were at that moment. I don't play music to say I love a song because it's cool. I play music because in some way it orchestrates my life. If I'm sad, you can bet I'll be listening to emo music, if I'm hyper, a hard rock song with a kick ass riff and a killer bassline. Or even a beautiful classic such as Requiem For a Dream. Music=life as best put by a friend of mine, without it, I don't know what my life would be like, dull and drab I would assume. But with it, my life is full of rich textures that only music lovers or fanatics could understand. So the next time you ask what the meaning of music really is, it's a reason. A reason for living. My reason I drag my ass out of bed to go to work. I get to listen to my music on my way to work. This is my reason for life beyond my best friend and family. Music is my life and my blog is about my life, so I would say it's safe to assume it will be mostly about music. All kinds. Just Music. Just me.