So much time, and so much music!

Since I have been on here there has been so much good new music that I feel I should comment on, however I’ve gone through some life changes recently and haven’t had nearly enough time to listen to it all! Some of the new CDs that have been released recently are:

Fall Releases 2010

Something For The Rest Of Us by Goo Goo Dolls (August 28th)- unfortunately I have not had a chance to listen to this yet, and regret it deeply.however I’ve been told it’s not as good as their older music, which is probably true. Their new music doesn’t carry nearly as much emotions and deep meanings as in Dizzy Up The Girl.

Asylum by Disturbed (August 27th) – I haven’t heard much about this album, although supposedly it was supposed to be pretty epic. That remains to be seen, although coming from them it most likely will be.

Time For Annihilation by Papa Roach (August 31st) – I don’t tend to listen to a whole lot of Papa Roach, although this is probably worth listening to, they are very talented.

Dark Is The Way, Light Is A Place by Anberlin (September 7th) – Of course I went out and bought this the week it came out, expecting nothing less then pure musical ecstasy. While it didn’t quite live up to my expectations, it is still genius.

Hurley by Weezer (September 10th) – Not an album I’d run out and purchase, but might be worth listening to. With such a unique cover and title it is bound to be interesting.

A Thousand Suns by Linkin Park (September 8th) – Cannot wait to listen to this one!

Hands All Over by Maroon 5 (September 15th) – This is another of those bands that I have been eagerly waiting for a another CD from, especially after hearing their new single, Misery. Hopefully this will be a great followup to their last album!

My Darkest Days by My Darkest Days – A new band that almost nobody has heard of, but has a lot of potential.

The Dissent of Man by Bad Religion (September 24th) – Bad Religion without fail manages to crank out great punk, however after listening to so many of their albums, they are all starting to blend into each other just bit. Good none-the-less though.

Invented by Jimmy Eat World (September 28th) – I tend not to listen too much to Jimmy Eat World, however this will probably be good.

Life Turns Electric by Finger Eleven – This is pretty great

Some new CDs to be coming out soon to keep an eye out for:

Punk Goes Pop 3 by Various Artists, What Separates Me From You by A Day To Remember, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys by My Chemical Romance and Life in Motion by 3 Doors Down

Concerts I’ve Been To!

Ok, so I’ve been to a fair amount (90 to be exact) of concerts over the last several years, so I thought I’d post them and tell you what I’ve thought. There some bands I’ve seen multiple times, so that will be listed in parenthesis. In future posts I’ll have to explain some funny stories that happened, because you never exactly know what kind of things can actually go on a at a concert…..but anyways, back to my main topic!

Sarah Evens – eh, nothing special

Kingston Trio – If you like folk music, then this might be your dream come true. When I saw them it was actually their last concert with any of the remaining members of the original band, so if you go to see them now they are all replacements.

Skillet (5)- One of my all time favorite bands, they put on a great show. Especially if you like headbanging, screaming like an idiot, and flames. They put on what is probably one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen.

Bethany Dillon – Not really my type of music, she plays more tame girly stuff

Aaron Shust – Good worship music, if you’re into that

Britt Nicole – Pretty good, fun bouncy music

KJ-52 –  This guy is amazing, even if you aren’t into rap (like me). If ever have a chance to go to one of his concerts, DO IT. It’s like a giant party, you’ll have the time of your life!

Disciple (3)- Really rockin’ metal band, lots of fun

Salvador – Unique latino worship band, good if you’re into that type of thing

Tim Hughes – Another worship band

David Crowder Band (4) – Kind of a worship band, but absolutely fun! He brings in all kind of weird stuff, last time I saw him we all ended up square dancing in the mosh pit! Definitely recommend seeing him.

Third Day (2) – Ok

Storyside B – Don’t really remember this one

Parachute Band (2)- I don’t really remember, but I think they were really good

Starfield – Good

Grits – Umm….good I guess if you like heavy rap

Thousand Foot Krutch (5) – Love, love, love this band. Totally awesome in concert!

Leeland (4) – Also a worship band, but very good. I used to be in love with the lead singer

Tobymac (3) – This guy is a blast. Another very fun and upbeat concert

Casting Crowns (4) – A really nice worship band

Phil Wickham (2) – Worship

Mandisa – Great voice and very inspirational

Barlow Girl – Preppy girl music, really not my type

Kutless (2)- They are pretty good rock, but just not my favorite

Newsboys (with Peter Furler as lead singer) (2)- One of the most fun shows with a lot of singing, jumping, dancing and drum wars. Really, really great!

Newsboys (with Michael Tate as lead singer) – Pretty good and funny, just not the newsboys I know and like. They actually are more like a Newsboys cover band then the actual Newsboys, because they sing mostly new music, with very little of the old and well loved hits.

Limeliters – Another great folk band, although they have none of the original band members left

John Waller – Another worship type, good but kinda weird

The Afters – Great concert, great sound

Red (4)- One of my all time favorite bands, amazing metal sound and vocals, and literally to die for in concert! LOVE THEM!

Flyeaf – Pretty good, although you really couldn’t understand a word she was saying

Paul Baloche –  yeah, another worship band

Hawk Nelson (2)- Tons of fun, really cute boy band

Worth Dying For (2) – Not really worth dying for….or showing up to watch

Jeremy Camp – Just ok, although a lot of people love him

Blushing Well – Nobody knows who they are for a reason, cause they suck (although they might have improved since I saw them last, not sure. If you’ve listened to them recently and have a different opinion, please let me know).

Ryan Payne Band – Cute and funny boy band, pretty good

Ryan Star – Wasn’t a huge fan of the music, but he was hilarious

David Cook – Spectacular, although was quite the snob. After the concert he went straight back to his trailer and refused to sign or even associate with anything.

Josh Gracin – Country music at it’s best

Natalie Stovall – Good if you are into fiddle music

A Rude Revolution – Local ska band, fairly good although all the songs sound exactly the same

Reel Big Fish – Foul, obnoxious ska music at it’s best, although they do sound good

Remedy Drive (2) – Cute, good sound, and they do all kinds of insane and crazy stuff on stage

Bluetree – Nobody knows who this band is for a reason…all I remember is they they are Welsh

Michelle Bonilla – Don’t remember much except it was not stuff I liked

Chris Tomlin (2)- Some of the best worship music to be found

Group 1 Crew – Poppy upbeat stuff, not really my type

Lincoln Brewster – A very talented worship singer

Unspoken – Don’t really remember

Relevant Worship – More worship, what else can I say?

Family Force 5 (2) – Another of my favorite bands to see live, they are a blast. It’s like a total dance party, and impossible to dislike

House of Heros (2) – Excellent

Anberlin – Of course since they are one of my two favorite bands, I have to love them. But they were beyond spectacular in concert, and there isn’t much I wouldn’t do to see them again

Taking Back Sunday – Very good, great sound

All-American Rejects – Where do I even start? They were crude, filthy, vulgar, offensive, raunchy, obscene and plain disgusting. They only good thing about the entire concert was them performing Gives You Hell, which kinda rocked.

Breaking Benjamin – Ah, my other favorite band. They were so amazing live, and just really rock their hearts out. Being able to sing Breath live totally made my whole year (yeah, it was that good)

10 Years – I had never heard them before, but was pretty impressed, good sound and lyrics.

Carlos Whittaker – not that great worship

Downhere – ok I guess

Switchfoot (2) – Not one of my favorite bands, but they put on a really good show

Deluge – worship…

John Mark McMillen – pure acoustic-y goodness, with really intriguing lyrics

Sons of Day – they rock, and do a really good U2 cover

B. Reith – this guys is crazy fun and looks like Ashton Kutcher (bonus)

December Radio – Just as good as I thought they would be (which is pretty crazy good)

Tenth Avenue North – I’ve head a lot of raves about them, but they honestly didn’t do much for me. Except for the song By Your Side, which is just a good song

Brian “Head” Welch (co-founder and lead guitarist of Korn) – This guy rocked my socks off!

Free Legal Punk Music (What could be better?)

We all know that usually downloading music from the internet is illegal and wrong, right? (please just nod and say yes) However it can be legal if the music is downloaded from a group that has the right to distribute it such as the band itself, the recording company, or maybe a sponsor. Yesterday I was doing some research and found several totally awesome sites where you can get free and COMPLETELY LEGAL music downloads. Many of them are punk, because it seems that most punk artists are a lot less comericialized and a lot more generous than other genres of music. (seriously, it’s true)

So check out these awesome sites! All of them are linked in the sidebar

1.  Altsounds – You have to scroll around to be able to find all the artists, but once you do it is totally worth it! Most of these bands are emo/screamo. Includes Anberlin, Panic! at the Disco, UnderOath, Red Jumpsuit, etc

2. iLike – Most of the downloads from this site are from bands without recording contracts yet, but there are still a few pretty amazing ones! Check out Brokenfall and Superbeing, they totally rock!

3.  GarageBand – Another great site for discovering bands without recording contracts. Also a great site for new musicians to promote their music

4. Fat Wreck Chords – Punk recording label, and they have some pretty great downloads if you are into real  punk. Includes NOFX, Rise Against, No Use For A Name and Propaghandhi

5. Hellcat Records – Punk and Hardcore recording label, and more rockin’ MP3s. Includes Rancid, Nekromantix, and Horrorpops

6. StereoKiller – Umm…Interesting. But they do have several good downloads including a few by Underoath

7. Anti-, just a really cool site with downloads from Greg Graffin (Lead singer of Bad Religion – I love this guy!) and Michael Franti

8.  3hive – It has a few  pretty cool downloads including Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly

9. Mp3.com – Millions upon millions of songs and downloads, but I didn’t recognize even a single artist. However you might be able to find some good stuff in here

10. PureVolume – I love this site! There is a ton of music, and much of it is by popular mainstream artists. I have found free downloads from Demon Hunter, Paramore, Anberlin and other awesome bands. You can find music from pretty much any genre ever created!

A few other sites that I didn’t find worthy enough to put in the sidebar: Stereogum, bt.etree.org, SoundClick, Honc. biz, Jamendo, Epitonic, SubPop records, MTV, and iSound. You might be able to find something good on them, it just takes more effort than I am willing to spend!

Death Cab for Cutie

Death Cab for Cutie was created in only 1997 though they have the sound of a much older polished band. They were named after a 1967 song by  the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.  They started as a small little known band from Washington state, and produced their music through Barsuk Records.

Then in 2004 they signed a deal with the large Atlantic records, and their fame continued to grow. Their music can be found all over in soundtracks, including their new song “Meet Me on the Equinox” which is one of the main singles for the movie New Moon.

Death Cab has a very unique sound that is entirely their own, but not everyone likes it. Many of my friends for some reason seem to hate them with a deep loathing that I cannot understand. Another interesting thing is that the a new band called Owl City seems to have taken the same musical approach as Death Cab, in fact they sound very similar.

Musical Pet Peeves

I am a musically obsessed person, so when someone uses music in the wrong context, or talks about something they know nothing about, it really, really, really bothers me. As you saw in the last post I wrote about the whole Green Day/pop-punk mistake which is a perfect example of this!

My sister and one of my friends both have a habit of finding music, then talking about clulessly. It is disturbing to say the least. The other day my sister came home from some activity and was talking about how she heard a song by Weezer called Beverly Hills (until this point she had never heard of Weezer in her life, even though I had been listening to them for the past 6 months). She then went on the next day about how Weezer was a great “rap band”. I spent 15 minutes arguing with her trying to explain that in no way was Weezer a “rap band”. Does anyone else see a problem with this?? They are nothing like rap!

The second incident was with a friend of mine who is beyond clueless and is already getting on my nerves. For whatever reason whenever I discover a new band or song she automatically latches on to them, and then runs around telling everybody how much she loves them. Anyways I by accidentally mentioned the song Thorns by Demon Hunter in a conversation. So now she is saying how much she loves the song, and how great it is. When I asked her if she even knew what it was about she answered “no, but it’s really cool”. The song is about self-injury, and if you read my post about it before than you know how special it is. It just really bothered me to have her talk about it this way, especially since that song has really changed my life.

Stuff like this happens all the time, people like to talk even if they have no idea what they are talking about.  A very common mistake is mistaking song genres. Nobody even knows how to tell the difference between punk and pop, hip-hop and rap, and rock and metal.

 

Emotive, Unstable…..

Music changes lives, and there is one band that single handedly changed mine – Anberlin. My blog name (Unwindingcablecar) is named after their song Unwinding Cable Car, which is a beautiful and inspiring song.

Stephen Christian’s vocals soar, and contain so much raw emotion it’s impossible to make it through an entire cd without digging deep into your own feelings. Surprisingly enough, they are not well known, which somehow makes their discovery a rare and precious surprise. In a culture of trashy, unrefined, and boringly repetitive music, a band like Anberlin is rare indeed. While they aren’t the typical style of music I usually listent to, they have remained my favorite band consistantly!

Here is a link to their site, I would highly encourage you to read the biography. I would have posted it, but the site wouldn’t let me! Anberlin‘s site

One of the other amazing things is that no two of their Cds are alike, each has it’s own style and themes. They range from screaming (The original Feel Good Drag), to very indie sounding acoustics (acoustic A Day Late). Yet another spectacular thing is that they do “doubles” of some of their songs, meaning they have both a original version, and an acoustic or new version.  Most of the songs off of “Lost Songs” are different versions, and they recently remade “Feel Good Drag” off of one of their other Cds!

Reviews from Amazon:

Never Take Friendship Personal (2005) – There’s only one word that comes immediately to mind when describing Anberlin’s Never Take Friendship Personal release. The word? Amazing. This is one of those truly remarkable releases that is so refreshing, so defining, and so well done, you will feel a need to let every know about it. Much like Switchfoot’s The Beautiful Letdown and D.C. Talk’s Jesus Freak, Anberlin’s second release captures the musical styles of the day but recasts them in a unique and exciting way. Much credit up front should go to producer Aaron Sprinkle, who never lets the music overshadow Steven Christian’s emotive alto vocals. Joseph Milligan’s guitar work is nothing short of phenomenal and propels such blistering tracks like “Paperthin Hymn,” “Runaways,” and “Feel Good Drag.” Let’s not forget the rock-steady rhythm from drummer Nathan Young and bassist Deon Rexroat that continually lays down a concrete foundation. Also worthy of note is the intelligent songwriting that prevails throughout the release, showing that Christian-based bands don’t always check their brains at the studio door. Moody at times, exhilarating at others, this is a giant leap forward for a relative newcomer in Christian music. It’s also a release worthy of widespread acclaim and a breath of fresh air in a genre that is sadly growing all too predictable

Cities (2007) – Unlike most emo bands that merely offer a laundry list of personal hardships over the sound of loud guitars, the members of Anberlin know that they can seek salvation in a higher power, so the songs on Cities aren’t so much about self-pity as self-preservation. It’s a refreshing twist on the formula, especially when paired with the industrial-strength hooks the spiritual Florida band knocks out on tracks like “Dismantle. Repair.” and “Godspeed.” On the latter, the group’s frontman Stephen Christian lashes out against the bad habits of his secular counterparts: “Tell them who you were, who you really were/Kill yourself slowly over time, fashion statement suicide.”

Other Cds include New Surrender (2009), Lost Songs (2007), and Blueprints for the Black Market (2003)

About the Artist

In today’s instantly downloadable and quickly consumed culture, bands like Anberlin are a dying breed. Over the course of six years and four full-lengths (including last year’s B-side compilation Lost Songs), the band have established themselves as one of alternative rock’s most exciting acts and as a band who refuse to limit themselves to one specific scene or sound… and it’s paid off. If the band reinvented themselves with last year’s sprawling album Cities–which debuted in the Billboard Top 20 and sold 34,000 copies its first week of release–they’ve transcended that sound with New Surrender. In fact, their latest album that shows the band reconciling all of their seemingly disparate moods into a cohesive blend of music that will lull you to sleep with gentle harmonies one minute and shake you to the core via raw, distortion-drenched rock riffage the next.This control of dynamics has embodied Anberlin’s music since their 2003 debut Blueprints For The Black Market which instantly caught on with fans of emotional music who didn’t want to be fed the same musical clichés–oh, and touring alongside acts like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance to support that album didn’t hurt either. After playing literally hundreds of shows and growing as both musicians and people the band released their sophomore album Never Take Friendship Personal in 2005. Markedly more mature both musically and lyrically, that album established Anberlin as more than another underground sensation and showed that there was no limit to what the band could achieve. This same trend was evident with last year’s mainstream breakthrough Cities, which showed the band progressing even more and expanding their musical vision exponentially.

All this brings us to New Surrender. Although the album retains the Anberlin sound that fans have grown to love, in many ways it’s also an album of firsts that marks the next chapter in the band’s illustrious history. For example, after working for years exclusively with longtime producer/friend Aaron Sprinkle this time around the band decided to enlist legendary producer Neal Avron (Fall Out Boy, Yellowcard, New Found Glory) to capture their sound. Additionally, after selling 435,000 albums on the well-respected indie label Tooth And Nail, with New Surrender the band decided it was finally time for them to step up to a major label–and although they had been courted by various majors for years, the band decided to go with Universal Republic. “At Tooth And Nail there was a glass ceiling and there was no way to get our music out to all the people we wanted to reach,” Christian explains when asked about the band’s decision to change labels. “To us, Universal Republic represents a sense of stability in this turbulent

era for music: The staff is going nowhere, the label is here to stay and they have proven time and time again that they can take bands to the people–and that is where we belong… among the people.”

“The whole album is conceptualized around the theme of a new surrender in the sense that everyone in their lives has something they know they have to give up,” responds Christian when asked about the title of the band’s latest opus. “There’s something that’s holding each of us back from who we could become, so I think each song kind of tackles that theme of surrendering parts of life whether it’s a person or a vice.” In order to capture this idea, the band–which also features guitarist Joseph Milligan, bassist Deon Rexroat, drummer Nathan Young and new addition and former Acceptance guitarist Christian McAlhaney–spent three months in the studio with Avron carefully crafting their most fully realized effort to date.

In fact, from the equally cathartic and melodic track “Breaking” to the soon-to-be summertime anthem “Haight Street” and acoustic ballad “Younglife,” New Surrender is the most varied album of the band’s career–something they credit largely to the new addition of McAlhaney, who has solidified the band’s lineup and become an integral part of the songwriting process. “I think it just felt right,” McAlhaney responds when asked when it was like to be thrown into a songwriting team of Christian and Milligan, who have been writing together for nearly thirteen years. “There was no trial period, we just went for it,” he continues. “It definitely helped having someone else to bounce ideas off of,” Milligan concurs, adding that he’s confident that New Surrender is undoubtedly the band’s strongest album to date.

Although both of the band’s guitarists have completely different styles, they perfectly complement each both rhythmically and melodically on New Surrender–and this sonic interaction has added a new level of depth to Anberlin’s already powerful sound. Additionally, this renewed sense of enthusiasm doesn’t just apply to the guitars but also carries over to Stephen’s vocals, which manage to achieve almost religious levels of grandeur on the falsetto-fueled “Retrace” or soaring, operatic ballad “Breathe.” “Neal [Avron] did not let me get away with anything,” Christian explains, noting that every vocal part on the album is sung individually without relying on studio trickery such as auto-tuning. While this unorthodox approach required additional work on the band’s part, the result is a vocal performance that shows Christian extending his already impressive range and solidifying him as one of the strongest frontman in the genre.

New Surrender is also the first Anberlin album to work the band’s well-documented humanitarian efforts into the lyrics, which have included going to Kenya to teach about AIDS prevention or traveling to Calcutta, India, to educate the masses about the danger of human trafficking. “I live in Los Angeles now, so

I wrote a song [Disappear] about homelessness because that’s something that’s so prevalent in my life,” Christian elaborates. “There’s also about another song [Burn Out Brighter (Northern Lights)] about living unselfishly and the lyrics say, “‘I want to live and die for someone else / the more I live, I see this life’s not about me,'” he adds. “I’m really excited that we’ve got to the level lyrically where our fans don’t listen to Anberlin for just the basic, `Oh girl, I want to hold your hand,” he says, noting that the supportive nature of Anberlin’s fans gave him artistic license to challenge himself and take his own writing to the next level this time around.

However, the band are quick to stress the fact that New Surrender is ultimately an album that’s made to be listened to instead of analyzed–and songs like “Feel Good Drag” are so infectious that it’s likely that listeners will be too wrapped up in the majesty of the music to waste their time worrying about how to pigeonhole Anberlin’s sound. “In some ways I don’t think we have that much emotional attachment to music nowadays,” Christian says, noting that music seems to be such a ubiquitous part of our daily lives that it’s easy to forget the passion that initially drew most of us to it the first place. “I want people to feel like they belong to this record; it’s their record and I want them to treat it like that,” he explains. “Hopefully New Surrender doesn’t just have one single that everyone attaches himself or herself to,” he summarizes, “I really want all twelve songs to be a part of their lives.”