Pearl Jam (PJ)

Yup their intials are mine. Anyway, I've definitely liked a lot of their songs, though these tend to be the more popular ones (Even Flow, Yellow Ledbetter,  Alive, Jeremy, Better Man etc.) So I'm definitely going to try to listen more and get deeper into their music. Even Flow I particularly like because its something you automatically start torso nodding to (whole upper body moving to the beat) and just a song that is driven by the guitars and the awesome intro riff, I've seen the video of their live performance like the one Mr.A showed us and I always find it great how much they get into their music and the moment along with Eddie Vedder's voice that chooses when it wants to be understood.

STRFKR

On Wednesday instead of playing music Mr.A asked us what we were currently listening to so I decided this blog will be about that. Lately I've been listening to lots of STRFKR or Starfucker and definitely to their new album that I keep in my car along with the rest that are in my phone. What I like about this band is how varied their sound is, going from chilled out music to dance-focused beats, straight rock and electronica. They use lots of synthesizers but in a way that doesnt drive you insane along with some pretty sick base and guitar lines. On vocals you'll find that the way its mastered will muffle them out or make them sound far off almost making it seem like they're trying to direct your focus elsewhere or when they sort of want you to pay attention to the vocals they'll make more audible while still keeping them slightly muffled, they also have some pretty good harmonies that help drive home the song. Also to wake you up after  a chilled song, they'll hit you with something a bit more upbeat, like the transition between Isea and YAYAYA, yeah you can see difference just in the text. One thing I really like is that no matter how minimalist the lyrics are, the rest of song covers it though I suppose it's a preference thing with lyrcis, for example I can live with songs without lyrcis (or bands ahem, Explosions in The Sky) while some prefer lyrics like Ann yesterday in the car said there wasn't any lyrics or they weren't easy to follow, so lyrics is definitely a personal preference.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?feature=plcp&v=1EL03Pl4oL4 Atlantis

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?feature=plcp&v=_YsjVTdq5og  Beach Monster

These are the videos they have so far and on each one you'll see the different sounds described.
A cool thing I found on Miracle Mile is that if you run it without a gap between the songs  they all (almost all) connect perfectly. I would put up more links, but I would end up listing every song they have so I suggest going to spotify and start at Reptilians, move to Miracle Mile and then go back to the older albums like  Jupiter and Starfucker and Heaven's Youth which is cool because it's the Reptilians demos and you can see how the songs changed and progressed. So my advice is listen to EVERYTHING.

On an off note I'm going to listen to Phoenix's new album!!

Unplugged

I've always liked the unplugged series/acoustic performances with very few electric aspects minus the mics for any band or group that does it. I find it interesting how certain songs sound without any overdriven guitars or bases and how they adjust the song accordingly, for example some guitar solos may sound amazing when everything is set up and the notes tend to have a longer sustain and they probably have some pedal to adjust it (wah pedal for example) but when they play unplugged they may have to throw out the entire solo because it doesn't have the same effect unplugged and fill it in with something else (usually boring compared to the solo). Overall, unplugged performances are usually pretty good.

Nirvana

Please refer to blog name for most accurate statement referring to today's fanbase. (not the title of this post)

It speaks for itself and I'm tempted have that alone as a second blog but I imagine it's not enough, so we'll go a bit further. You can't mention a band like Nirvana around people not expect to a couple of these situations: people who don't know much about them: "I've actually never listened to them" (at least they're honest) -internet trolls/idiots:" LOL DEY SUCK LEAD SINGER KILLED HIMSELF CURT-GO-BANG, CURT COCAIN", and the most common: person 1- "oh man I love their music, smells like teen spirit is amazing" (then the following happens) -person who also likes Nirvana and wishes to further discuss them* "cool what other songs do you like?" Person number 1:"uhhhhhhhhhhhhh" -and this is where my blog's title "smells like the only song you know" came from/comes into play as its usually the only song they know besides other big ones commonly listed like Lithium. There are people who don't actually care about the music, just looking cool because they "know" certain bands, very much how Mr.A refers to ACL  and that its "Austin casual listener" (may be a couple words missing because I don't remember) and that people go to music festivals ACL particularly  because "it's cool to be seen there" -Mr. A instead of being there for music itself, same goes for Nirvana or any other band: listen for music's sake and listen to the other great (or not great) songs they make. That's all for today (yes it's very ironic that I didn't even get to adress the music itself).

NWA

   NWA, when you hear or see these three letters there are a few things that instantly pop into your head, these mainly being heavy profanity, angry lyrics and strong beats that are repeatedly pounded into your head and where most are deterred by taking these at face value instead of focusing on their seemingly constant message against/about the injustices faced by people living in poorer neighboorhoods mostly at the hands of the police and instances of heavy abuse, namely police brutality along with common issues such as racial profiling. Though the profanity may get extreme, it works in driving through raw emotions of anger and frustration in a way unmatched by most other means. Think of the profanity as brick that is thrown through the window of predisposition to get inside to deliver its true message (suiting I know); it's not cursing just to curse, (something common in most of today's top 40 radio rap, ahem, lil wayne) it's cursing to snap you out of the passive listening that artists of lesser skill rely on to stay afloat and that keeps you from seeing a larger picture or the intended message.

I recalled Mr. A telling us in class about U2 and how before in the 80's they weren't nearly as popular while they were essentially making the same music they are today, only difference being the time period and the popular genre of that era (80's mainstream primarily glam rock) and how it affects the way even bands like U2 were (and still are) recieved by the public. I found this interesting how the the popular of today is anchored down and holds stubborn, even against the superhuge of tomorrow knocking when it's not within the right spot in time.

Since 7th period only had you for one day this week I don't have much to draw from but we watched a little bit of U2's documentary. Even though it was interrupted every 5 minutes or so by ads as the videos were split up, their actual performances weren't bad aside from occasional drops in sound quality and the resulting inability to make out some of the lyrics.