The band I've just very recently have begun listening to has me wishing I would've started ages ago (while they were still together) and found them because a recently mentioned artist on this blog (Dan Black) was the frontman and while listening to his music I decided to finally look into this band he was in to see what he sounded like in a band but when I heard that first song, it floored me, I completely forgot about listening to how he sounded and was hit by how the entire band came together as one. The very first song I heard started with guitar that just immediately got my attention and drew me into the rest of the song as Dan Black's vocals entered as always distinguished but seemed to be in perfect balance with the music, then the chorus came in with a certain harmony that completely sealed the deal for me.. so I thought until later in the song came a guitar solo that didn't completely break away from the song to go on it's own path yet made it all the better and though other songs sound different they all share a distinct sound produced by the band that unify them. 

Here's the first song I heard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5YnMvW5E1Y

here's another, yeah they have a thing for abstract videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A5Z8HLjZl0&list=AL94UKMTqg-9B0PR9HJfC0MNgb5B_3kvbC&index=3&feature=plcp

another song, darker tone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLmIKWM1_Jk

In class we listened to some of the Rolling Stones' first album, .... and it wasn't too pretty.  They had a few decent sounding songs but my problem with the rest of them was the way it sounded; unbalanced, gritty (not in a good way), Jagger's voice comes across as plain but this might be a result of being it being drowned out by everything else and vice versa, making music that might have sounded at least clearer and defined to one large cluster of noise that overwhelms the human ear.  There were times however, where a certain song came on and it made you snap out of the zoned out trance of resulted of listening to the stones and you enjoyed the music because it sounded different, such a time was when they covered Chuck Berry's "Carol", the very first thing to wake you up is the way the guitar sounds and excites you for what's to come. For a first album it sounds okay but if you compare with later albums you'll be glad to hear they improve and find their sound with their own songs.

I'll be discussing an artist I've known for a while and still has me listening almost daily, partly due to his experimental nature with music and songs that vary not only in composition but also the way the message comes across. Dan Black, a British wonky pop artist who I first heard on a song named "Symphonies" that had Kid Cudi and for a while I viewed it as his song because of the quality of the song, and thought Dan was featured, but as I began to look into his music, I found that it was him that produced the entire song and Cudi featured. This drove me to begin looking at the rest of his music and found his songs varied great from slow, steady beats infused with acoustic guitar with calm lyrics to upbeat songs with fast lyrics and various covers and other experimental songs and visually interesting music videos.
 Symphonies ft. Kid Cudi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWWG75lLemA

 This is one interesting considering it's composed from covers and samples from Britney Spear's "Gimme More," Madonna's "Into The Grove," and Kate Bush's "Cloudbusting."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDMb00qtChg

An example of oneof his more techno-driven songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9QvyTZ_kZQ&feature=related

cover of Dizzee Rascal's "Stand Up Tall"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f1y8c9moZw

Use of acoustic guitar over slow beats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWkWVYKOthQ&feature=related

In class we watched a documentary over The Beatles and their first visit to the US and one of the first things noticed right away (besides it being in black and white, which frankly I didn't really mind) is the insanity of the fans throughout the film who can be seen completely losing their minds and apparently all bladder control (The Beatles are the only known entity at this time to possess such power) and sense of self preservation. I usually enjoy a good documentary over anything that's of my interest and especially ones over music, so I found this documentary enjoyable to watch not only people going crazy but the live performances such as on the Ed Sullivan show as well. One thing I noticed about their performances was that almost all of their actions were in perfect timing with each other and coordinated throughout almost giving a Motown vibe to them.

This post like last time, will be over a band I've been listening to for a while now (though I do need to catch up and listen to their newer albums) though their musical style is so distinctive that every time I hear one of their songs I instantly recognize their use of guitars and ....violin, so if you didn't instantly know who it was then you are new and I would like to introduce you to a rock band named Yellowcard and yes, they are a rock band that incorporates a violin into its music and it sounds great. So we're going to follow chronological order (sort of)  and start at their roots and not go straight to Ocean Avenue...yet. Their early work was notably different than any the rest due to their early hardcore punk sound with Ben Dobson's rough vocals compared to later years with Ryan Key's smoother voice that ultimately changed them to their current sound. Though the only major difference between the two eras was the vocals everything else remained somewhat the same minus a slight difference in guitar overdrive and greater violin presence which came to be a sound that could be instantly recognized. I keep addressing the use of a violin in this band not because of the "holy crap a violin in rock" aspect of it, but that it has a role in the sound of the band that rivals the guitars in importance because of the long, almost singing aspect of a violin which is extremely prevalent in many of these songs many of which altogether contradict their pop-punk genre genre label (they don't really adhere one genre and vary their sound) in which they'll utilize acoustic guitars with lyrics that were intended as an attempt to break into country music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=DFsmjMA0rK4 acoustic guitar use, violin prevalence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6eXIQ3f8Zw violin presence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqgxOfmLeU0 heavy country influence,violin prevalence
Compare these two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szNlPr78P5U early stuff off of Midget Tossing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5KZnzZZQ-s this is one of their better known songs off of Ocean Avenue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10-mEWsM72Y from newest album Southern Air

In class we listened to some of The Beatles first albums and talked a little about their history. One thing I noticed was how fast the songs and the album itself seemed to fly by. Their first album if listened to completely seemed short because well, the songs were pretty short but it was also due to their musical style and upbeat rhythm combined with constant flowing lyrics never left a spot that was more quiet or slower than the rest and even with considerably long song the combination of these elements made them fly by faster, one of the points being is the power of music itself to have such an effect on one's sense of time.