So, Quietdrive is one of my favorite local pop/rock bands - they got a little bit of radio play a few years back with their cover of “Time After Time,” and apparently have enough fun doing covers that they did a Kickstarter fund to make an album of cover songs picked by the fans. It came out last week, and it’s kind of amazing. :D
This is the cover of Bruce Hornsby’s “Mandolin Rain” - which is one of my favorite guilty-pleasure type songs from my childhood, so it makes me grin just to see that they recorded it. And it’s awesome!
Continuing posting some of my favorite music of 2011 - a break from full albums, though, as this one won’t be out until February. But this song has been out for a few months, and it’s made my top 10 list for the year.
fun.’s “We Are Young” just got a huge bump in popularity due to Glee - I don’t watch the show, but the publicity couldn’t happen to a better band, because fun. is amazing. MTV just posted this video today, so check it out!
The new album, Some Nights, comes out on February 21st - if you like pop music so catchy that you’ll be singing it for days, keep your eye out for it!
Butch Walker & The Black Widows - “Summer of ‘89” (by butchwalker)
The beginning of the new year seems like the perfect time to highlight my favorite albums and songs of 2011! So, I’m going to go through my favorite albums of the year, one per day.
The Spade, by Butch Walker & the Black Widows, is probably my #1 album of 2011. Butch is probably better known in the general music-buying public as a producer - he’s written and produced for Pink, Avril Lavigne, Weezer, Katy Perry, and Panic! at the Disco, among many others. But he spends that hard-earned money making his own music, and he’s getting better and better as the years go on. Butch has been one of my all-time favorite live acts, and this is maybe his first album that really captures the energy of his live show. Absolute Punk’s review of the album says:
The Spade is catchy enough that other pop artists should almost be frightened. Walker seemingly writes ridiculously soaring pop hooks as easily as you or I drink water. This record puts to shame many of the highly advertised pop albums this year, and it does so with resounding force.
This is the video for “Summer of ‘89,” the first single off the album and a song I’ve been blasting in my car for the past 4 months or so. The title (and the lyrics) may reference Bryan Adams, but this song is really Butch’s nod to Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days,” an ode to younger days and a less complicated view of life. I dare you to listen and not get the chorus stuck in your head.
If you like the song, I encourage you to buy the album!
… and for my second trick, how about the song that I took the blog title from?
My love for Frank Turner knows no bounds. His lyrics kick me in the gut every time - it feels like he knows me, or people like me and my friends, and sings the sorts of things that remind me of what life should really be all about.
Yeah I am sick and tired of people who are living on the B-list
Yeah they’re waiting to be famous, and they’re wondering why they do this
And I know I’m not the one who is habitually optimistic
But I’m the one who’s got the microphone here so just remember this
Yeah, well life is about love, lost minutes and lost evenings
About fire in our bellies and about furtive little feelings
And the aching amplitudes that set our needles all a-flickering
And they help us with remembering that the only thing that’s left to do is live
I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous by Frank Turner (by benmorse)
One of my resolutions for 2012 is to give maintaining a music blog a shot. Thus … here we are! Another Tumblr named for one of my favorite songs, because that’s apparently how I roll.
And for my first post, it seemed only appropriate to share the song I took this user name from. Carbon Leaf has been one of my all-time favorite bands since 2004. They’re the band I’ve seen live the most times - 20-something and counting - and they’re the band whose music I always return to when I need inspiration. This song is from their 2001 album Echo Echo, and remains one of my favorites.
Carbon Leaf - Desperation Song (by Craicbaby21)
