Christmas CDs. (Taken with instagram)
- He Lives in You
Lion King 2: Simba's Pride
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He Lives in You - The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride
This song is in the musical and I absolutely adore it.
- Your Hand In Mine
The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
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Your Hand In Mine | Explosions In The Sky
mmmm<33333
(Source: anitamortuary)
This is my current ‘Strength and Healing’ playlist on Spotify.
It’s a perfect blend of angst, hurt, hope and happiness for me.
The first song on this list (that isn’t seen) is:
- Do You Feel Better Yet? - The Swellers
This song through The Avett Brothers’ ‘Incomplete and Insecure,’ gave me the idea for this playlist. After class on Monday, those songs came on shuffle. They calmed me.
The last song on this list (that isn’t seen either) is this one:
- Into the Airwaves - Jack’s Mannequin
The big significance of ‘Into the Airwaves’ being the last song is because when I plugged my headphones into my computer last Monday, I forgot this was playing on iTunes, and the lyrics that I heard were as follows:
So hang on, it’s gonna be a hard day.
So hang on, don’t panic, don’t panic; there simply is no need.
It’s gonna be a hard day, it’s gonna be a hard day.
Don’t panic, don’t panic.
We are hanging here.
That, if anything, got me through the hell week that was last week.
Music just knows how to console me. It knows how to lift my spirits and make me feel better. It just understands me. There’s always a song and a lyric that works perfectly.
This is the first time in years that I’ve had to make a playlist like this. It curbed my anger and did make me feel better.
Tonight’s Playlist Includes:
- Mason Proper
If you haven’t heard of them, I suggest checking them out! They’re a very good band. I like them a lot, and like that they’re on Spotify! - Manchester Orchestra.
I have been in SUCH a Manchester Orchestra mood lately. They make me feel better. - More Vitamin String Quartet.
- MY RACING THOUGHTS BY JACK’S MANNEQUIN!
Yay, new song :D
Spotify!
This is my username: meghinm
If you have Spotify, wanna be Spotify buddies? :)
My Current Playlist:
- Bright Eyes
- The Stills
- Sherri Bemis’ cover of Kanye’s ‘Heartless’
- Mae
- Copeland
- Amber Pacific’s ‘Gone So Young’
- Adele
- Anthony Raneri’s cover of Bad Religion’s ‘Sorrow’
- The Decemberists
- The Rocket Summer
OKAY I’M FEELING MELANCHOLY TONIGHT.
Whatever Happened to Good Reads?
Now that I am feeling better, I sat down and read the latest issue of Alternative Press that has been sitting in my room for a few days. Well, this was the first issue I’ve picked up in a while that’s new, and I have to say I was incredibly disappointed.
Sure, there was a little blurb about Handguns and Title Fight in this issue, and yeah, Bayside had a nice interview. Plus I even learned that Austin Carlile suffers from Marfan Syndrome. However, I was still thoroughly disappointed.
Last week, when Kohl was here, we went to my favorite little vintage store downtown, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades. There, we looked at all sorts of vinyl, and while he sat down and played the NES for a while, I picked up an issue of Alt Press from 2004. Brand New was on the cover. I felt the excitement that I once got from picking up Alt Press, only to get more excited.
In this issue, which was one of many vintage Alt Press mags that were strewn across the store, was a treasure trove of bands, many of which I rarely see in music magazines or blogs anymore, if at all. There were amazing features written about various bands, and the “Albums You Need To Listen To That Are Coming Out (Hopefully) This Summer” section was INCREDIBLE. They had features on Straylight Run, Something Corporate, The Mars Volta, Brand New, Coheed and Cambria, etc. I was shocked. In fact, the magazine was full of quality writing as well, and quality music. It was also a HUGE issue, jam packed with interesting articles, and less ads about clothing that I personally could care less for. Actually, it just had less ads than the current issues have.
While I was casually flipping through the issue, one of the workers at the store and I had a lovely conversation about Alternative Press, and how we both loved what it once was. I said it’s definitely taken a turn for the worse, and I’m considering switching over my music magazine subscription to Spin, just because I’ve lost that much interest in Alt Press. He agreed. We discussed how most metalcore bands and other bands in general are so generic, and have lost their originality. He said he was disappointed as well, and even the bands he once used to listen to have lost their luster. “How many times can The Devil Wears Prada make band of the year? I don’t get it. They just don’t sound as great as they once used to.” He said that to me. I was floored. He had a point though.
Now? Well, even the feel of the magazine disappoints me. It just doesn’t feel like that glossy magazine you’d want to get in the mail. It’s even smaller than the one I read at the store.
I’m even disappointed with the cover star. I mean, Adam Young of Owl City, really? I didn’t even realize his music was still relevant amongst a sea of metalcore clones and shitty techno music, but apparently it’s still relevant enough to make him get his own cover.
I did read the “Oral History of Alternative Press” articles that were out in issues in the previous months, and I learned about how the music industry ebbs and flows with good music or bad music tastes. It’s all about the demographics, I suppose. Nonetheless, the “Oral History” articles were great. I enjoyed reading them. Everything else in the magazine after that? Well, not so much.
I have a HUGE stack of previous Alt Press mags from the past few years. They’ve travelled with me to school, and I just haven’t tossed them yet. Ove the years, I have seen the quality of bands in the magazine just go downhill. I’ve seen the music scene go downhill. The music I once listened to has lost its luster. The originality is dying. The music just doesn’t strike me the same way as it once did, but there are very few exceptions.
Maybe this is me growing up. Maybe this is me in an apathetic stage. Maybe I’ve just grown out of all of this, and am becoming an adult. Either way, I want to see a change in this. Hopefully one day Alt Press will be what it once was, in all its glory. I mean, I don’t spend more than an hour reading it anymore, and it now just takes me five minutes to glance through everything. It’s all the same. There’s more advertisements in it, and less on the music.
However, I must say that I enjoyed the back page of this month’s issue, with the “10 Essential Los Ange-Disses” of songs that essentially diss LA. It was great, and gave me hope that the magazine will soon start to turn around.
Perhaps I should go back to Horseshoes and Hand Grenades and see if I can pick up some back issues, to read those in place of the new ones. Those weren’t depressing to read at all.
Or even the magazine should consider changing its name to Generic Press for a while.
Daytrotter.
I just went on another one of my Daytrotter binges, where I go and download a bunch of stuff. I didn’t even realize a LOT of the artists I listen to did a Daytrotter session, or I just didn’t pay attention!
This is what I just procured:
- Matisyahu
- Rural Alberta Advantage
- Copeland
- Ida Maria
- Nellie McKay
- The Plain White T’s
- Noah & The Whale
- Architecture in Helsinki
- Phantom Planet
- Patrick Park
- Tilly and the Wall
- Steel Train (I already had one of their sessions. I didn’t realize they did more than one!)
- Fleet Foxes
- Meiko
- The Honorary Title
- Ingrid Michaelson
- Brett Dennen
The last time I went on one of these Daytrotter binges, I got the following list, haha. I REALLY LOVE MUSIC.
- Owen
- Dawes
- The Hush Sound
- Kevin Devine
- Andy Hull+Manchester Orchestra
- fun.
- Death Cab for Cutie
- Chairlift
- Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
- Cold War Kids
- The Get Up Kids
- hellogoodbye
- Thrice
- Lissie
- Biffy Clyro
- Ben Lee
- The Temper Trap
- Against Me!
- Vampire Weekend
- Best Coast
- Two Door Cinema Club
- Ra Ra Riot
- Rooney
- Hot Hot Heat
- Pete Yorn
- Guster
- Gold Motel
- Little Boots
- Iron & Wine
- Social Distortion
- Young the Giant
- The Gay Blades
- OK GO
- Old 97s
- Stars
- Fake Problems
- Bobby Long
- Tegan and Sara
- Miniature Tigers
- Circa Survive
Needless to say, at least 244 songs on my iTunes library were procured using this fantastic website. I love free music :)
Strung Out on Thrice
is a very good album. I absolutely love Thrice, and for Christmas I asked my parents if they could possibly get me the string quartet tribute to Thrice and/or Senses Fail.
Thrice won out, and even though it’s entirely instrumental, I’ve fallen in love with the album, and even more in love with the band. Oddly enough, it gets me pumped for tennis practice too.
First I blasted Plans, by Death Cab for Cutie, and then this came on shuffle afterwards, and I couldn’t be happier.
