Holy wowness, its been a good few weeks for music (for me that is).  My band completed one of the best shows we’ve had, I spent wednesday in Northampton MA at the Pearl St. Nightclub, to see one of my favorite bands, Blitzen Trapper.  I’ve been listening to their album Furr, for quite some time now, certainly when I saw they were playing 2 shows near me, I had to get to one.  For $13 ( I wouldve paid twice that ) I knew if I didn’t go I’d be paying quite a bit more when they come back around.

I think there are two categories of bands, ones who seem to be much better in a studio, and ones who sound fantastic live.  I prefer the band whose  craft is in playing live shows, and for me, Blitzen Trapper had far exceeded the expectations I had of them.  What’s so great about them is they have a very original sound and they certainly don’t pigeon-hole themselves into a specific category.  There is some crooning songs, some heavier southern rock styled jams, and some laid back country twang.

I had an absolute blast and was quite happy I made the trip out to Northampton for this; it was certainly worth it.  If they make it back I’d like to check them out once again.

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I’ve been sitting around trying to compile a good list of what I thought were my favorite songs ( i know i know, everyone does this ) of 2008.  So lets start here.  In no particular order, not even alphabetical…

1. I’ve Seen Enough – Cold War Kids
2. Revelry – Kings of Leon
3. Furr – Blitzen Trapper
4. The Greatest Man That Ever Lived – Weezer
5. Crying – TV on the Radio
6. Lost Coastlines – Okkervil River
7. White Winter Hymnal – Fleet Foxes
8. Street of Dreams – Guns ‘N Roses
9. California Breezes – David Vandervelde
10. Sawdust Man – Ben Kweller
11. Jack Killed Mom – Jenny Lewis
12. You Stood Me Up – Benji Hughes
13. Skies on Fire – AC/DC
14. Lovers in Japan – Coldplay
15. Oceans & Streams – The Black Keys
16. Mr. Pitiful – Matt Costa
17. Whatever – Gnarls Barkley
18. Do the Panic – Phantom Planet
19. You are the Best Thing – Ray LaMontagne
20. Mr. Maker – The Kooks

That’s it, enjoy them.

Epic failure, one day at a time.  I honestly am living up to this right now.  as per my blog, I should get back into it, hopefully I won’t get lulled into an abridged post.  Here it goes.

Seeing as I haven’t posted since November 23rd, I figure I’d update on what I have been doing since then.  I rarely get personal on this blog but here goes.

As promised, i’ll shortly go over what has been a serious time for new music the last few months.  Coming into a new year, obviously I’ll try to put together a best of list, but who knows how long that’ll take.  On to the Kings.

So at some point in november (early?)  I went to the Orpheum Theatre in Boston to spend an evening with the Kings of Leon.  Since releasing their new album it’s probably been on the top of my list as far as how many times I’ve played it, possibly too many.  Was I ever impressed by the vocals.  Caleb Followill is awfully impressive, he seems to be pitch perfect even live, sounding as if their records we’re live recordings.  The drums were absolutely huge, really putting the thud into your chest.

Equally taking up my sonic love; a few albums specifically my love for Jenny Lewis and all things she does, her new release Acid Tongue has been quite played.   AC DC’s Black Ice has been surprisingly good, and The Rural Alberta Advantage has piqued my indie folk interests.

Whatever I’m tired now.  Will post more soon.

Thanks Terry for shaming me into this.  There was little to no good content on this post. I hate posting my opinion.

Obviously songwriting is based in a perverse world, or everyone man at one point or another has thought about it, but for some reason there are many songs based in “jailbait” .

Winger’s – Seventeen Admittedly, I never owned the album, but I’ve always enjoyed a good hairband or two.  It made it to Guitar Hero 80’s edition, and it made for a great video, glam metal always proved to be quite raunchy and obscene, and Kip Winger knocked one out here.

Don’t Stand So Close to Me – The Police I have been a the Police fan for as long as I can remember the words to every little thing she does is magic, but this song didn’t stand out until I was a shade older, and more adult-like ( say around 2 months ago? )  This Lolita based song is a benchmark for teacher student sexual tension e.g. Mary Kay Letourneau.  So if you’re under 36, teachers…. stay away from girls half your age.

Stray Cat Blues – The Rolling Stones Who knew Mick Jagger would write a song like this really out of left field for him.  At the time when it was recorded (1968) the lyrics were considered to be quite risque, seeing as the man in the song is pining after a 15 year old girl, although who says it’s not a risque subject now?

So I guess, whats to say except, its a phenomena we may never understand, but at least some have tried to tackle it in a song.

It’s totally about to get weird, I caught this offa hearya and I thought it was quite hilarious.