Great Music of the Last Decade
This is by no means intended to be an exhaustive list of the best albums of the last ten years. This is simply me posting a few of my favorite albums. Most of them are probably well known in any sort of indie circles, but since I have been on a bit of a nostalgia kick lately in my music, I decided to make a list of some, in my opinion, must-listens.
BDFD: Low – The Great Destroyer
I decided to start out with one of my favorite albums of all time to get the ball rolling. What a masterpiece album. Before you write me off as a huge Low fanboy (which, I give you, I am) I should tell you why I prize this album so much. One of the things I value most in music is emotion. That seems to be an obvious statement, but I judge the worth of a song or album greatly on how much emotion is I can perceive from an album. And not all music conveys emotion effectively. As much as it fun to listen to and dance to, Katy Perry's E.T. evokes no emotion for me. I also realize that music like hard rock and metal very effectively communicates emotions like anger, fear, pain, and other things, but not only am I not inclined towards to the music, but their not emotions in which I care to indulge.
Briday Friday!
In an effort to inspire me to write more to my blog, I'm commencing Briday Friday. Every Friday, I'm going to highlight an album that I've really enjoyed thoroughly. It may be new; it may be old; it may indie; it may be the Spice Girls (okay, probably not.) It's just going to be something I feel that it merits being highlighted. It'll come out every Friday at 12:00 AM MST starting this Friday with an amazing album. It'll destroy you, greatly (hint, hint.)
Looking for study music? Part 2
Considering of all the traffic that come to my blog, over two-thirds of it come from my study music post, I figured I might throw out a second one as I have some new ones, including a new one that came out last week. By way of introduction, I love to have music when I study, but I typically cannot handle my normal rotation of music. Lyrics and music that is too attention grabbing distracts me far too much and is actually detrimental whereas I feel when I have music conducive to studying, it not only renders my experience more enjoyable but enhances the quality of my session. As such, I have compiled quite the library of study music. People constantly ask me for it, yet I can hardly ever remember on the spot, so here is a compilation of it all. If you would like to check out part one, click here.
Really? You ruined my favorite song.
Scouring the net for new music, I stumbled into this trainwreck. I saw some punk band had done a cover of The Postal Service which instantly piqued my interest. I have a special spot for covers especially when they're cross genre. Anyway, give it a listen. I warn you may not be hardcore enough.
Embedding is disabled, so follow the link.
Confide - Such Great Heights (The Postal Service Cover)
Turn up the sound for extra effect.
Inception Music Madness
This is just another reason why I think Inception is a fantastic movie. I'm going to write about it later this week, but here's a little tidbit for those that have already seen it. There aren't any spoiler for those who haven't seen it, but you won't really get it until you see the movie.
I love the little subtleties that Christopher Nolan throws in his movies.
This part is a spoiler though. Stop reading if you haven't seen it.
The music thing totally makes sense. In the movie, time slows down when they're in the dream, so when they're listening to that music through the headphones, it would be slowed down like that.
The Mountain Goats Concert
All I can say is wow. What an amazing show. I can admit to being to skeptical about how the intimate nature of John Darnielle's music would translate to a stage show but I was quickly impressed at what they did. They often put variation on the song which made me some of their music more live even more than the album versions (which is a rarity for me at least.) I also appreciated that the set covered a great deal of the rather lengthy life-span of The Mountain Goats, but they also did play a great deal from their most recent album.
Concert rating? 10/10. I loved it. I'd recommend it to anyone. I'll go out of my way to see them next time they're through Salt Lake. I posted below a YouTube video of them playing 1 Samuel 15:23 (at a different concert) just to give you a taste of what the show was like.
Oh, and to answer your question, yes, that is John Darnielle (of the Mountain Goats) holding a wombat. Yes, yes it is.
The Rescues – Let Loose the Horses EP
Just a quick plug a little known band I stumbled into the other day. Well, I assume they're little known because I'd never heard of them but I guess they're getting some pretty good press. They're called The Rescues and they just released their latest EP called Let Loose the Horses. It has bit of a earnest country vibe, but it's chill enough that it stimulates the pleasure center of the brain. They're playing in Salt Lake this week and I'd go if it wasn't on Sunday. Or if this wasn't finals week. Anyway, you can give them a listen on their website or enter your email address below the break and they'll email you an MP3 of the title track.
More new Broken Social Scene songs, “Forced to Love” and “All to All”
Just some more tunes for y'all to enjoy. I personally can't wait for the new album.
Looking for music to which you can study? Try The Album Leaf, Sigur Rós, and more.
UPDATE: Part 2 added with more study music added. Check it out here.
If many of you are like me, you have issues studying to the music to which you normally listen. Or at least for me, I have issues studying to music with lyrics. It tends to distract me and draw my mind into the lyrics and out of my study material. The silence of simply studying sans music just makes the experience worse. So how can we rectify the problem? I have compiled a list of my approved studying music complete with tracks for your sampling pleasure.