I now trying to host the music I describe, so you can hopefully hear the song I am writing about. Hopefully this works. We'll see. I'm not a super internet savvy guy, like others may be. But I am learning.
Well this is the start of my second mix cd.
I've heard of Band of Horses for a good while, but again never had the opportunity to listen to them. And this song pops up. Holy moly. The intro of guitar and piano is psychadelic. The elongated strums of that sweet sounding guitar to the smooth sounds of a simple riff combined with the right amount of keys. You can pretty much hear all 6 strings being played when they strum. It's a really cool effect.
Ben Bridwell really brings a sweet sound of vocals to the table as well. You might find some similarity with The Shins, as I really did. You could really just close your eyes and clear your mind to this song. Just sit back, contemplate.
I wouldn't of guessed, but the song not only does not repeat any lyrics or have a chorus. And talks about Christmas time twice. But this is definitely not a carol.
I think this might be the first song on my new mix. I'll decide later if the order fits. For everybody reading, I have a first cut of the mix I want to make. This helps me decide song order and if I'm going to keep a song. For example I had songs from the last mix cd that I had to cut because I didn't think they would sustain. The songs I cut from last album but should still get an honorable mention are...
Rock Kills Kid - Hide Away
I felt that this song could get old pretty fast. And while that could be said about any song, it just didn't fit my first mix. Although there is a drum beat that has some pretty sick triplets, that I really dig.
Howie Day - She Says
Howie Day had that one song Collide, that everyone knew. This song got my attention, but after a few times listening to the mixes, I found myself skipping it. I think the song is a little slow, has a more full sound during some parts and lacks in others. So dropped it became.
The New Amsterdams - A Beacon in Beige
I liked this song almost as much as the other New Amsterdams song on the mix. But I've decided that there is enough music out there to not place two songs by the same artist. I think that would be pretty easy and lazy of me just to put songs by the same artist on the same mix. Although it may appear on a future mix...WHO KNOWS??
That is it for tonight.
Thanks for checking out the blog.
Shake and Bake.
Mix Tape 17 Player
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
First Post and First Mix CD Made
Hey everybody,
So I just decided to use roman numerals because they make me feel like a renegade. My uncle was in a Japanese group called the Ronins, which in Japanese means Renegade Samurai. That is so bad A. They were basically a bunch of Japanese Fonzis, which is totally funny. I don’t know if I spelled fonzi right, but the guy from Happy Days with the thumbs up, leather jacket, and ‘HEYYYYY.’
II) Ingrid Michaelson - Die Alone - Ingrid Michaelson is a choice a little off the wall but I like it. It’s like when you discovered scrambled eggs with ketchup. At first you’re like what? That might be gross. But then you’re like this is delicious. That’s how her music is. Again simplicity is the theme in the song, a triplet guitar chord over and over, but then here the lyrics are more engaging. Just a little bit. The lyrics are quite simple, but it’s something about the first two lines that makes me think this song is a little proverbial. ‘I woke up this morning with a funny taste in my head, Spackled some butter over my whole grain bread.’ Maybe you agree or disagree but listen to the song, and then decide if I’m dumb. She has a uniqueness in her voice that’s not heard everyday, her and the singer of Plumb. Good times.
III) G Love - Back of the Bus - So you take a white boy, blues, and rap and you get quality music from G Love. G Love probably is most famous for his collaborations with Jack Johnson and Special Sauce, but this guy is legit. This song is true about life. All the cool kids do sit in the back of the bus. Someone needed to write a song about it, and he did and he does it with the crazy ability of rhyming the entire song. Although he does rhyme bus with Gus. That seems like a cop-out to me, but oh well. This is the only song that can classify as blues, rap, and hip-hop on the whole cd and at the same time.
VI) Blues Traveler - Run-Around - Whoa Whoa I know I know. Old School. Blues Traveler? What’s going on, didn’t they win a grammy for this song in 1995? The answer is yes. And it’s awesome. Cool Harmonica solo = double awsomeness. Sure it’s four chords through the whole song, but everyone remembers that chorus. And if you don’t here is a history lesson from the 90’s. I think some old school should be thrown in mix tape/ mix cd every once in awhile if not every mix tape. It’s funny because without looking up the lyrics most of us don’t know what John Popper is singing in parts of the song, but it’s all gravy since the song rocks.
VII) Phantom Planet - 1st Things 1st - So apparently the actor Jason Schwartzman was the lead singer of this band Phantom Planet. Sweet. To be honest before this song I only knew of the infamous California song, and I hated it because of the overplaying/it was associated with a horrible tv show. The show OC sucked, but that doesn’t matter because this is about the music. If there was a sound of cockiness or just exaggerated confidence, the singer would embody that sound in this song, in a good way. It’s as if this song could melt out of your headphones and give you a little swagger yourself. And we could all use that swagger sometimes especially after running into a girl’s restroom with a bloody nose and realizing that you’re in the wrong gender specific bathroom. I could have used this song right then.
VIII) Caesars - Throwaway Caesars is the name for this band. I never had heard of them before this song but I immediately wrote it down what it was when I heard it. Too be honest there’s not too much to be said about it. Good song quality stuff. I kind of feel compelled to write more. But……I’m done. Listen to it.
IX) Plain White T's - So Darn Clever - So this Plain White T’s song is my mix tape’s guilty pleasure. Some people probably detest this choice, and even though ‘detest’ is strong verbage I still choose to use it. This song is really catchy. I might not like it next year, I might not like it next week, but I really like it now. And when I haven’t listened to it in a few years, I will like it then too. This song is probably to catchy/pop-py for my own good, and I might regret placing in my first public mix. But you got to grow some cajones sometimes.
X) Better Than Ezra - At The Stars - So one of my favorite songs ever is Extraordinary by Better Than Ezra, but I never really got into their other stuff until this song. A little more laid back than the other tracks on this album, I imagine a slight breeze and a beautiful day. Hands in my pocket, I can walk to the exact beat of this song and not feel rushed. This song and the song following have some sort of chant, ‘Do Do Dooing’ is in this song and ‘Ba Ba Ba’ is in the next. And if you don’t know what I mean listen carefully. Do Do Doing is a part of music culture, and for the most part it stays the same. This song is cool too because it speaks to keep on driving. Away from home. Away from troubles. There’s a passionate side of us that wants to be able to pick up and drive anywhere but a rational side that brings us back. A lucky few follow that dream.
XI) Death Cab For Cutie - Soul Meets Body - So I’ve heard this song on the radio, at Starbucks, at a gas station, and at multiple restaurants. I understand that the person reading this has probably listened to this song. And if you love it, love it some more. If you don’t like it, try it again. But this song is bigger than overplaying because it is now on this mix cd, which means eternity. There probably are more intricate or balanced or more ‘indie’ songs from Death Cab, but I picked this one. So deal with it. When you pull out this mix cd to play in your car 6 months from now you’ll be like good choice. Right now you may disagree, but time will tell.
XII) The New Amsterdams - Wait - So I saw the New Amsterdams perform live at Chain Reaction, and I really got into their sound. Lead singer Matt Pryor plays an acoustic guitar and you don’t see that all that often. The riffs are simple but their folk-y sound sings to my heart. Initially I had two songs of theirs on this mix, but I decided a long time ago that a mix should be a mix, no songs by the same artists. Agree? Agree. There’s not another sound like it on the album. A lot of ‘indie’ has gotten more folk-y, and to an extent I really like that.
XIII) Rogue Wave - Lake Michigan - This song by Rogue Wave was definitely on a Zune Commercial. So if you’re listening to this song like this sounds familiar but…..Well here it is. Rouge Wave – Lake Michigan. My Dad’s from Michigan, and I did my diorama project in 4th grade on the Detroit Automobile Assembly Lines. So that makes this song even more awesome. Oh yeah, I also did my final project for social studies on Henry Ford, so that makes this song stupendous. ‘Get off my stack’ is a solid line. At first I didn’t know exactly what they said or meant, but when I linked it to get off my money it made total sense. So that’s the new phrase of the first mix cd. ‘Get off my stack, you pirate hooker with one peg leg. That’s a totally better line.
XIV) MGMT - Time to Pretend - I don’t usually listen to indie 103.1, so maybe they overplayed MGMT. But I did hear this song from the indie station and instantly digged the song. Kind of electronica, kind of not. Catchy hook that’s not a guitar or bass. The premise of this song is to live fast, and while I disagree with the song in that premise, I can understand the perspective and respect the song. I would prefer a wife to never divorce and would never leave my family, but I can understand why certain people would (even though I don’t think it’s right). Kind of complicated. I think sometimes I can like music for the musicality. I think music is meant to strike a reaction, like any art, and it does and I find myself in the middle on this song. Enjoy the song, don’t like all the lyrics. But it made it to the mix, so I guess over 50% of me really likes it.
XV) Annuals - Brother - Annuals is another new band for me but if I had to for some reason cut songs from the mix, I wouldn’t cut this one for sure. The intro starts with light guitar and some orchestration using a violin. Then soon out of nowhere, it becomes a rock anthem. Solid. My only critique would be that I want the rock anthem to continue longer. I felt like I was just finding myself in the song…then it ended. The song is almost 4 minutes long, so it’s not a short song but one that could have kept going. And if it was a true rock anthem it would have. But I just end up playing the song over and over. It was a good find, I’m going to check out more of the annuals stuff in the near future.
XVI) The Ting Tings - We Walk - So The Ting Tings have a bigger hit called, Shut Up and Let Me Go, but I really liked this track. Again a distinctive female voices are always enticing. It’s semi-singing, because she’s kind of talking in tune, but yet not rapping. So that make it interesting. This track also has cowbell, so anything with cowbell makes me think of Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken. And anything that makes me think of those two deserves to be on a mix cd. Well, I take that back because if Jonas Brothers played cowbell I would still think it’s garbage. So in other words, cowbell is an added bonus.
XVII) Eagle Seagull - The two parts of this group’s name rhymes. Eagle*Seagull. I don’t exactly know how a group decides on an asterisk in their instead of a simple space, but I guess that’s cool. “Hey Dave, let’s have an asterisk instead of a space.” That’s probably how it happened. I don’t know if they have a guy named Dave, but insert appropriate name there. If you think about it there are so many symbols they could have put there instead. I think I would pick a Hebrew letter to throw everybody off. Then no one could really write my band’s name unless they knew Jewish Code. That would be awesome. And that ends this cd.
Thanks for listening.
Email me at gkutnick@gmail.com to tell me about your favorite artists and music. Also email me to join my email list. Then I can send you an email letting you know when the next mix is coming out. I expect every 9 weeks or so.
Regards,
Geoff Kutnick
This is my first post. And as you can see this is not necessarily just a review blog, but rather commentary on what I have put on my last mix cd. I would have called the blog, 'mix cd 17' but that was not as catchy. 17 is for the number of songs that I will place on the mix. If you want a copy of the mix please email me at gkutnick@gmail.com, and I will do my best to send/give you one. Make sure you include your name and address please. I will blog twice a week, with a new song in each post. This means that I will have a new mix cd every nine weeks. And without further adieu, here are my first 17 songs for my first mix cd.
So I thought ladies first on this album, because I am a gentleman and this is so. Except for the Ting Tings, because I wanted them on the back of the album.
I) Plumb - Only You - I discovered Plumb awhile ago, but I have a tendency to love a song by a group but be lazy to listen to their other stuff. This is the case with Plumb. But with starting this blog/mixtape medium I will do my best to follow up with artists and more of their stuff. I thought this a great song to start off with a mix cd since its catchy and has woman vocals. The vocals aren’t great because of its extensive range or anything, but the fact that it fits the song and genre. They lyrics are really simple, but in some cases simple lyrics. In other cases when there is a lack of musicality simple lyrics or bad lyrics can ruin a song. But with the right blend of guitar riffs and melody, a simple direction is all you need.
I) Plumb - Only You - I discovered Plumb awhile ago, but I have a tendency to love a song by a group but be lazy to listen to their other stuff. This is the case with Plumb. But with starting this blog/mixtape medium I will do my best to follow up with artists and more of their stuff. I thought this a great song to start off with a mix cd since its catchy and has woman vocals. The vocals aren’t great because of its extensive range or anything, but the fact that it fits the song and genre. They lyrics are really simple, but in some cases simple lyrics. In other cases when there is a lack of musicality simple lyrics or bad lyrics can ruin a song. But with the right blend of guitar riffs and melody, a simple direction is all you need.
So I just decided to use roman numerals because they make me feel like a renegade. My uncle was in a Japanese group called the Ronins, which in Japanese means Renegade Samurai. That is so bad A. They were basically a bunch of Japanese Fonzis, which is totally funny. I don’t know if I spelled fonzi right, but the guy from Happy Days with the thumbs up, leather jacket, and ‘HEYYYYY.’
II) Ingrid Michaelson - Die Alone - Ingrid Michaelson is a choice a little off the wall but I like it. It’s like when you discovered scrambled eggs with ketchup. At first you’re like what? That might be gross. But then you’re like this is delicious. That’s how her music is. Again simplicity is the theme in the song, a triplet guitar chord over and over, but then here the lyrics are more engaging. Just a little bit. The lyrics are quite simple, but it’s something about the first two lines that makes me think this song is a little proverbial. ‘I woke up this morning with a funny taste in my head, Spackled some butter over my whole grain bread.’ Maybe you agree or disagree but listen to the song, and then decide if I’m dumb. She has a uniqueness in her voice that’s not heard everyday, her and the singer of Plumb. Good times.
III) G Love - Back of the Bus - So you take a white boy, blues, and rap and you get quality music from G Love. G Love probably is most famous for his collaborations with Jack Johnson and Special Sauce, but this guy is legit. This song is true about life. All the cool kids do sit in the back of the bus. Someone needed to write a song about it, and he did and he does it with the crazy ability of rhyming the entire song. Although he does rhyme bus with Gus. That seems like a cop-out to me, but oh well. This is the only song that can classify as blues, rap, and hip-hop on the whole cd and at the same time.
IV) Run Kid Run - We've Only Just Begun - From a few bars into the song, I always felt the need to jump. I can always be caught air drumming on my driving wheel/hybrid snare drum while listening to this song. Yes, it’s catchy, but when did we start to bag on music for being catchy. New Found Glory lived off catchy, and back in the day they were awesome except to emo kids. And it helps that the vocalist from Run Kid Run can really hold it down. A quality message from this song too. It’s not about love…GASP. It’s not about a girl/boy…..GASP. ‘Go make the best of everything you want to be / With ambition pushing forward / Your dreams upon your shoulders.’
V) Andy Stochansky - Wonderful - Stochansky. Andy Stochansky. His last name might be in the top ten of all time. The Stonch-Mister, Stonchy, Stonchy-baby. He probably has a lot of good times with his friends. You can pretty much be sure that his last name is on his birth certificate. I’m getting tired of people with one name or being known by one name. Prince. Madonna. Britney. Bradgelina. You can also be sure he didn’t change his name, like Puffy to Puff Daddy to P Diddy to Diddy to Big Poopy or whatever is next. It’s pretty brave to go out into the musical world with that last name. And I still haven’t talked about his song yet. I thought for a pop male vocalist, he stood out and let his personality show through his music making. I feel like he wasn’t created by a third party for our ears, which is most important to me.
V) Andy Stochansky - Wonderful - Stochansky. Andy Stochansky. His last name might be in the top ten of all time. The Stonch-Mister, Stonchy, Stonchy-baby. He probably has a lot of good times with his friends. You can pretty much be sure that his last name is on his birth certificate. I’m getting tired of people with one name or being known by one name. Prince. Madonna. Britney. Bradgelina. You can also be sure he didn’t change his name, like Puffy to Puff Daddy to P Diddy to Diddy to Big Poopy or whatever is next. It’s pretty brave to go out into the musical world with that last name. And I still haven’t talked about his song yet. I thought for a pop male vocalist, he stood out and let his personality show through his music making. I feel like he wasn’t created by a third party for our ears, which is most important to me.
VI) Blues Traveler - Run-Around - Whoa Whoa I know I know. Old School. Blues Traveler? What’s going on, didn’t they win a grammy for this song in 1995? The answer is yes. And it’s awesome. Cool Harmonica solo = double awsomeness. Sure it’s four chords through the whole song, but everyone remembers that chorus. And if you don’t here is a history lesson from the 90’s. I think some old school should be thrown in mix tape/ mix cd every once in awhile if not every mix tape. It’s funny because without looking up the lyrics most of us don’t know what John Popper is singing in parts of the song, but it’s all gravy since the song rocks. VII) Phantom Planet - 1st Things 1st - So apparently the actor Jason Schwartzman was the lead singer of this band Phantom Planet. Sweet. To be honest before this song I only knew of the infamous California song, and I hated it because of the overplaying/it was associated with a horrible tv show. The show OC sucked, but that doesn’t matter because this is about the music. If there was a sound of cockiness or just exaggerated confidence, the singer would embody that sound in this song, in a good way. It’s as if this song could melt out of your headphones and give you a little swagger yourself. And we could all use that swagger sometimes especially after running into a girl’s restroom with a bloody nose and realizing that you’re in the wrong gender specific bathroom. I could have used this song right then.VIII) Caesars - Throwaway Caesars is the name for this band. I never had heard of them before this song but I immediately wrote it down what it was when I heard it. Too be honest there’s not too much to be said about it. Good song quality stuff. I kind of feel compelled to write more. But……I’m done. Listen to it.
IX) Plain White T's - So Darn Clever - So this Plain White T’s song is my mix tape’s guilty pleasure. Some people probably detest this choice, and even though ‘detest’ is strong verbage I still choose to use it. This song is really catchy. I might not like it next year, I might not like it next week, but I really like it now. And when I haven’t listened to it in a few years, I will like it then too. This song is probably to catchy/pop-py for my own good, and I might regret placing in my first public mix. But you got to grow some cajones sometimes.
X) Better Than Ezra - At The Stars - So one of my favorite songs ever is Extraordinary by Better Than Ezra, but I never really got into their other stuff until this song. A little more laid back than the other tracks on this album, I imagine a slight breeze and a beautiful day. Hands in my pocket, I can walk to the exact beat of this song and not feel rushed. This song and the song following have some sort of chant, ‘Do Do Dooing’ is in this song and ‘Ba Ba Ba’ is in the next. And if you don’t know what I mean listen carefully. Do Do Doing is a part of music culture, and for the most part it stays the same. This song is cool too because it speaks to keep on driving. Away from home. Away from troubles. There’s a passionate side of us that wants to be able to pick up and drive anywhere but a rational side that brings us back. A lucky few follow that dream.
XI) Death Cab For Cutie - Soul Meets Body - So I’ve heard this song on the radio, at Starbucks, at a gas station, and at multiple restaurants. I understand that the person reading this has probably listened to this song. And if you love it, love it some more. If you don’t like it, try it again. But this song is bigger than overplaying because it is now on this mix cd, which means eternity. There probably are more intricate or balanced or more ‘indie’ songs from Death Cab, but I picked this one. So deal with it. When you pull out this mix cd to play in your car 6 months from now you’ll be like good choice. Right now you may disagree, but time will tell.
XII) The New Amsterdams - Wait - So I saw the New Amsterdams perform live at Chain Reaction, and I really got into their sound. Lead singer Matt Pryor plays an acoustic guitar and you don’t see that all that often. The riffs are simple but their folk-y sound sings to my heart. Initially I had two songs of theirs on this mix, but I decided a long time ago that a mix should be a mix, no songs by the same artists. Agree? Agree. There’s not another sound like it on the album. A lot of ‘indie’ has gotten more folk-y, and to an extent I really like that.
XIII) Rogue Wave - Lake Michigan - This song by Rogue Wave was definitely on a Zune Commercial. So if you’re listening to this song like this sounds familiar but…..Well here it is. Rouge Wave – Lake Michigan. My Dad’s from Michigan, and I did my diorama project in 4th grade on the Detroit Automobile Assembly Lines. So that makes this song even more awesome. Oh yeah, I also did my final project for social studies on Henry Ford, so that makes this song stupendous. ‘Get off my stack’ is a solid line. At first I didn’t know exactly what they said or meant, but when I linked it to get off my money it made total sense. So that’s the new phrase of the first mix cd. ‘Get off my stack, you pirate hooker with one peg leg. That’s a totally better line.
XIV) MGMT - Time to Pretend - I don’t usually listen to indie 103.1, so maybe they overplayed MGMT. But I did hear this song from the indie station and instantly digged the song. Kind of electronica, kind of not. Catchy hook that’s not a guitar or bass. The premise of this song is to live fast, and while I disagree with the song in that premise, I can understand the perspective and respect the song. I would prefer a wife to never divorce and would never leave my family, but I can understand why certain people would (even though I don’t think it’s right). Kind of complicated. I think sometimes I can like music for the musicality. I think music is meant to strike a reaction, like any art, and it does and I find myself in the middle on this song. Enjoy the song, don’t like all the lyrics. But it made it to the mix, so I guess over 50% of me really likes it.
XV) Annuals - Brother - Annuals is another new band for me but if I had to for some reason cut songs from the mix, I wouldn’t cut this one for sure. The intro starts with light guitar and some orchestration using a violin. Then soon out of nowhere, it becomes a rock anthem. Solid. My only critique would be that I want the rock anthem to continue longer. I felt like I was just finding myself in the song…then it ended. The song is almost 4 minutes long, so it’s not a short song but one that could have kept going. And if it was a true rock anthem it would have. But I just end up playing the song over and over. It was a good find, I’m going to check out more of the annuals stuff in the near future.
XVI) The Ting Tings - We Walk - So The Ting Tings have a bigger hit called, Shut Up and Let Me Go, but I really liked this track. Again a distinctive female voices are always enticing. It’s semi-singing, because she’s kind of talking in tune, but yet not rapping. So that make it interesting. This track also has cowbell, so anything with cowbell makes me think of Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken. And anything that makes me think of those two deserves to be on a mix cd. Well, I take that back because if Jonas Brothers played cowbell I would still think it’s garbage. So in other words, cowbell is an added bonus.
XVII) Eagle Seagull - The two parts of this group’s name rhymes. Eagle*Seagull. I don’t exactly know how a group decides on an asterisk in their instead of a simple space, but I guess that’s cool. “Hey Dave, let’s have an asterisk instead of a space.” That’s probably how it happened. I don’t know if they have a guy named Dave, but insert appropriate name there. If you think about it there are so many symbols they could have put there instead. I think I would pick a Hebrew letter to throw everybody off. Then no one could really write my band’s name unless they knew Jewish Code. That would be awesome. And that ends this cd.
Thanks for listening.
Email me at gkutnick@gmail.com to tell me about your favorite artists and music. Also email me to join my email list. Then I can send you an email letting you know when the next mix is coming out. I expect every 9 weeks or so.
Regards,
Geoff Kutnick
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
