old fashion ladies

This is a band that I found out about through a guitar-nerd forum (shout out to the SDUGF). They are a French rock band caught me way off guard with how awesome they are.

Sounds like Foo Fighters, Rage Against The Machine, Guns & Roses, Muse, Porcupine Tree, Radiohead, Our Lady Peace.

Kind of puzzling to nail down a style, because each song seems like it's by a different band. My guess is that the players in this band are all highly musical in their own right.

Example? Here's their guitar player doing a particularly badass Britney Spears "Toxic" cover.



Anyways, their EP came out on Tuesday, and it kicks ass. you can stream it in full here.

-Hunter

new beastie boys coming 3 may 2011

-Hunter

foo fighters - wasting light

This album is BAD-ASSED. With a D.

Recorded entirely on analog tape in Dave Grohl's garage or something, this album sounds like what made me like the Foo Fighters so much when I was in the 5th grade. Not that I had great taste in music back then, but hey, maybe I did.

When I was 10, I was not influenced by the ridiculousness of genre and what the bloggers are blogging about and who is on what label.

I didn't do any thinking about music - I just heard stuff and thought either "THAT WAS BAD-ASSED!" or "NOT GNARLY." Those were the only two types of music.

Well the Foo Fighters have really BRUNG THE THUNDAH with this one. In so many ways.

How about less words and more rocking? Listen to this.



-Hunter

what I've been listening to recently

Here are some of my recent music purchases. I am putting them out there this way (ugly formatting, no tactful descriptions) because I don't have much time to write like I used to. I still like sharing music, though, even if I can't pack my descriptions and reviews with metaphors and lulz. I didn't take the time to embed the YouTube videos(I barely took the time to write this disclaimer), but don't be a lazy ass - just scroll-wheel-click them. Especially Bernhoft.

Jarle Bernhoft's "1: Man, 2:Band" 2 disc set (one solo, one with a band)

He is a Norwegian soul singer, who has an amazing voice. Actually amazing. He is a badass acoustic guitar player and loop artist as well - he does the whole one-man-band thing really well, without the gimmicky feel of some other loop-heavy solo acts.

Watch this video first: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjEsAEsYCw4
Watch this video second: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAnC7RTAMok

 


Sam & Dave's "The Best of Sam & Dave"

Timeless classic stuff. Makes me feel good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeL8EPBZN6M
 








Peter Frampton's "Frampton Comes Alive"

Turns out that his stuff is awesome, beyond the talkbox lesson that is "Do You Feel Like I Do." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKmVFB3bcZM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fitz & The Tantrums's "Pickin Up The Pieces"

New soul --- motown vibe, with more modern subject matter. Cool New York swagger. I hate that word, but I'm trying to take its power away by using it properly.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb6cBKE3WzQ

 







Further Seems Forever's "Hope This Finds You Well"

Remember the time that Dashboard Confessional frontman Chris Carabba had a badass alt-rock band with one of the best drummers ever? Then he left and the new singer was even better than he was? This band is long defunct, but for some reason, I wanted to listen to them recently so I grabbed their greatest hits, which, thankfully, exists. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOHi4x1po0s

 







Warren Zevon's "The Best of Warren Zevon"
Jimmy Buffett thought Warren Zevon was a badass. Jimmy Buffett's always right. Zevon wrote "Werewolves of London" but has a lot of other great songs. Cynicism and macabre all the way, but dressed up in breezy, plucky summer strummers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opXCOUgjOOY

 







Foo Fighters's "Foo Fighters"
The original debut album - recorded entirely by Dave Grohl in his garage almost 20 years ago. So pumped for their new album - it sounds like this old album. This is very 5th grade nostalgic for me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfXIR9lOlXQ

 







Bright Eyes's "People's Key"

This band just keeps getting better and better. That never happens. You either love or hate 'em. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLAMg6o5w2s










Woo, that felt good to get out. Sorry I don't write (very frequently) any more.

-Hunter

circa survive - dyed in the wool

after leaving facebook, now I know what it's good for

 In the earley tymes, friends would catch up on a boat, over a beer and some fishing

After not using facebook for about 3 months, I now understand what things it is good for.

Business / blog / music promotion - get your friends to become a fan, then they get updated every time you post a new blog post or release a new product or post a new song. I tried to promote my blogs and guitar building venture with RSS (subscribe to my blog and stay updated!) and Twitter, but it is overwhelmingly apparent that only nerds use RSS (approx. 3 of my friends, all of whom are much smarter than all of my other friends) and many less people use Twitter than facebook (approx. 5 of my friends vs. ALL OF THEM). Facebook is clearly the best way to fly as far as commercial or non-commercial promotion.

Picture sharing - again, I use Picasa, lots of people use Flickr, some newbs use Photobucket, but none of these services are as good at photo sharing as facebook. Why? For one, everyone's on facebook, so whoever you're friends with on facebook is your pool and/or audience. For another, the "Follow Hunter's Picasa" or "Subscribe to Hunter's PhotoStream" (paraphrased) functions of the other big photo sites are all half baked compared to facebook's super integrated approach. I miss out on seeing my friends' cool pictures because I am not on facebook.


This last one kind of goes without saying, but staying up to date with what's going on with your friends / keeping your friends up to date with what's going on with you. I realized this when I moved recently. I moved from Northern VA to Central VA (where I was born and raised) and so I have a lot of friends in the area. I have slowly, little by little, been running into friends at the grocery store and such, and when they see me, they all look as though they've seen a ghost. Why? Because they had no idea I was back in Central VA. My thought, when leaving facebook was "If you don't know where I live or where I went to school, then hey, that's fine, because everyone who's actually really my friend knows where I live and where I went to school and other trivia. Well, I was wrong about that. My real friends don't know where I live.

I guess in the olden tymes, you would notify all your friends that you were moving, by letter or phone call or through the physical social network (parties, softball games, church). But these days, my friends aren't going to parties and church to find out what's going on with whom --- they go to facebook for that kind of info. The very human, social "see and be seen" compulsion is dying because you don't have to "be there" to catch all the juicy gossip and stay up on your friends anymore. It was shocking to me that one of my best friends of all time had no idea I was living 2 miles away from him. But it's my fault - I didn't call him or send him a letter. Any way you slice it, facebook has become the way the world stays in touch. I don't particularly like it, because I still like ye olde ways of going to church and going fishing with your buddies and going out to bars you know your friends will be at to stay in touch with each other. But nobody else is doing it that way, so I find myself fishing alone, sitting with just my family at church, and never running into anyone I know at the bar. That church/party/bar way of staying in touch only works if everyone is doing it. Well, they aren’t and so I’m not in touch with anyone.

I will not wax philosophical / ol' prospector with the standard "when I was your age, men kept in touch by shaking hands at the hunt club," because I believe that, in general, change over time is good. But I also believe in understanding the difference between change and progress. I don't think that facebook is progress, societally. Really, all I can do to fly that flag is to simply be me - go fishing with the guys, invite my buddies over to play music, send Christmas cards, go to church. I know that my idea of socialization is not consistent with the modern model, and I do not resent the change in the model. It's like when Jeep got rid of the Cherokee in favor of the Liberty. Whether or not the Cherokee was a better truck is subjective, but what is a fact, is that I like the Cherokee better, so that's what I'll stick with.

-Hunter