Album of the Week: Blues Pills
Blues Pills – Blues Pills (2014)
I happened to come across this band when I saw they were supporting another favorite band of mine, Orchid (a band I highly recommend with obvious influences from Black Sabbath). I saw a picture of the band and was immediately interested.
Their appearance alone has a very late 60’s/early 70’s vibe. As everyone knows that style is definitely my jam, so I was very interested to hear what they sounded like.
Their debut album Blues Pills was released July 2013. It has been fairly successful and well received. It’s a combination of blues and rock. It totally has a late 60’s vibe, so if you are into that sort of thing this is for you.
Lead singer Elin Larsson has a beautiful voice that will remind you a bit of Janis Joplin. Not only that, but I have taken to following her on Instagram and I most definitely envy her look. I adore her style. I seen several interviews with her and she seems to be a great positive influence for other females who pursue rock music as their passion.
Please check this album out. It has great music, great vibe and pretty sweet album art!
Favorite Songs: High Class Woman, Ain’t No Change, No Hope Left For Me
Album of the Week: Great Western Valkyrie
Great Western Valkyrie – Rival Sons (2014)
Day 1 of 2015. I decided to start off this year in style. Everyone else is out trying to make good on their New Year’s resolutions and I’ve been just sitting in bed. All day. Seriously, it’s 4pm right now. I have accomplished nothing. A day off work, and nothing to show for it. On the other hand I have been listening to the newest (released in June 2014) Rival Sons album for about 5 hours now. This was easily one of my top 10 favorite albums of 2014.
It’s just gives off such chill vibes. I blame it for my lack of productivity.
Rival Sons are the kind of band I would recommend to anyone because their sound is just so universally pleasing. I think its something that any fans of rock could get into because it harkens back to the classics. It’s reminiscent of the bands that lay at the foundation of our love for the genre. It has all the riffs and the flow of all those bands we heard when we were first getting into music. You heard your dad playing The Who and The Doors and you knew you were going to be in love with this stuff for the rest of your life. It takes you back to those days, but it doesn’t copy it. Their sound is a bit of a throwback to the 1970’s, but it still sounds very modern.
These guys are originally from Long Beach, California (represent!). They formed in 2009. Hopefully they get a bit more popular within the next few years, but I think this album has launched them exponentially forward. It has some massive tunes on it.
There are great riffs and fantastic vocals. The lead singer Jay Buchanan has a great voice. Very soulful. I get lost in it. (Hence why I have barely left my room in the last 10 hours).
So if you’re one of those people who like old stuff and have a hard time getting into the new (you know who you are!) them maybe Rival Sons is for you. If “Open My Eyes” doesn’t sound like the intro to a Led Zeppelin song, then I don’t know what does.
Favorite Songs: “Electric Man,” “Good Things,” “Open My Eyes”
Throwback Thursday: Blue Oyster Cult
Throwback Thursday: Blue Oyster Cult – Blue Oyster Cult (1972)
Yes, let us go back in time to the self titled, first Blue Oyster Cult album. I know this may be surprising to some (sarcasm), but Blue Oyster Cult actually does have other songs. It has always irked me that people just dismiss them as “that cowbell song band.” As much as I may enjoy that sketch, I am quite sick of any cowbell related jokes in regards to BOC. They are so much more than that.
I never really listened to BOC much in the past. I had heard “the song that shall
not be named” and “Burnin’ for You” 5 million times on the radio, but I had never bothered to see what BOC was really about.
On a side tangent BOC is a good example of how classic rock radio is doing a major disservice to amazing classic bands. You would be doing an injustice to yourself if you believed that Black Sabbath was only “Iron Man”, “Paranoid” and “War Pigs”. Is there no more to Metallica than “Enter Sandman”? You wouldn’t say AC/DC had 16 albums (14 international and 2 in Australia) by the 5 songs the radio continuously plays over and over again. Apparently Deep Purple has no more to offer than “Smoke on Water” and do we really need to hear “Don’t Stop Believin” again? These bands have so many other songs that are just as good, if not miles better than the few songs the radio keeps senselessly beating into our heads, and yet they don’t play them.
There was once a radio station in Southern California called 105.5 KNAC. KNAC was a hard rock/metal station that went off the air in 1995. I was not old enough at the time for this sort of thing to be in my sphere of thought, so I obviously never listened to the station when it was on the air. I did however find old recordings of the final few on air hours of KNAC online (now available on YouTube).
On that final day James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich of Metallica were in the studio chatting about old times and choosing songs. Lars said something that really struck me and I have still remembered it years later. He chose to play a BOC song and commented, “I guarantee this is the last time a Blue Oyster Cult song that’s not Don’t Fear the Reaper” will ever be played in Southern California.” That comment really stuck with me, because he was right. Ok, you could also throw in “Burnin’ for You” and “Godzilla” onto that list, but besides those three songs, that’s it.
I feel that I have given classic rock radio its fair chance. I grew up on it for goodness sake. My early years as a music fan were formed on the tunes they played, but at some point it becomes tiresome. Why does classic rock radio insist on playing the same songs year after year. How will the public be exposed to the gems of the past if they don’t receive any exposure?
So we throw this one back to you Blue Oyster Cult, because you are so much more than just one song.
Album of the Week: New Religion
New Religion – Crazy Lixx (2010)
The truth of the matter is, I’m a very lazy person. I am far too lazy to take albums that I own on CD and put them onto my iPod. This is a real life struggle for me. You have to like, put the CD in the computer man, and then like wait for it to download, and then dude, the worst part, you have to upload it onto your iPod. Way to much work for me. And don’t even get me started on vinyl man! (I don’t know why that explanation took a weird
California surfer stereotype turn. I’m sorry. It just felt right.)
Due to my lack of ambition, if it’s not on Spotify, it’s not on my iPod. I don’t know if other people have noticed this, (or possibly you have and just don’t care nearly as much as I do) but there is no Def Leppard on Spotify. Everybody knows that Def Leppard is my jam. So how the hell am I supposed to listen to Def Leppard when I can’t make a playlist of their music on Spotify? What is my life without High ‘n’ Dry!?!?!
This fact saddens my inner 80‘s party. So being the evidently logical person that I am, I knew I had to turn to something different. I knew there had to be someone I could turn to, to quench my glamish (not a word) sleazy hard rock/metal thirst. Then I thought, well, if we are talking dirty LA Sunset Strip style metal, I should turn no further than Sweden right?
Sweden. Makes total sense right?
Yeah, I didn’t think so at first either.
For those who aren’t aware, there is an amazing group of sleaze metal bands that have come out of Sweden is the past decade. Crashdiet, Hardcore Superstar and Vains of Jenna, just to name a few, but today we are talking purely about Crazy Lixx. They have released three albums since 2007 (all very solid), but New Religion is my favorite.
It’s just straight forward melodic hard rock, that is insanely catchy. I remember the first time I heard these songs, I was singing along with them as if I had heard them a million times. The choruses are huge. Seriously. Vocally the arrangements scream Def Leppard. It brings a tear of joy to my eyes. Everything from the lyrics down to the riffs is just music you know you will be singing to at the top of your lungs in your car. You will. Don’t deny it.
For those people who haven’t left the 20th century that think, “they just don’t make good music anymore,” you have been proven wrong once again. If it is the classic sound of 1980’s sleazy LA metal that you want, it is what you get with Crazy Lixx.
Favorite Songs: “Blame it On Love”, “My Medicine (R.O.C.K)”, “21 ‘Till I Die”
List of Pixar Films From My Least to Most Favorite
List of Pixar Films From My Least to Most Favorite
Now let’s be totally honest, there haven’t really been any bad Pixar films. All the Pixar films have been good, it’s just that some haven’t been nearly as good as others. This is my list of my personal favorites and least favorites.
14. Cars 2 (2011)
- Ok here is the thing about Cars 2, I just didn’t like it. Unfairly I went into assuming that I wasn’t going to like it and that probably made it much worse. I hold the first Cars film close to my heart so the sequel had a high bar set and sadly to say, it did not come close. I just have never been a fan of animated sequels. Of course there are always exceptions (this list contains those very exceptions), but generally speaking I’m not too interested. Much like the 4th Indiana Jones film and The Blues Brothers 2000, I like to pretend this part of franchise doesn’t exist
13. Ratatouille (2007)
- I liked the rat. He was fun to watch, but Ratatouille ended up being one of those films for me that I forget it’s actually a Pixar film or that it really even exists. When I made this list I named all the Pixar films off the top of my head, except for this one. I knew I was missing one, but for the life of me couldn’t remember what it was. Cars was the film that came out the previous year so for me this one had a big film to live up to and didn’t really come close to the mark. Like I said before, it’s not bad, it’s just forgettable.
12. A Bug’s Life (1998)
- This is a cute film, with very cute characters, but much like Ratatouille I have seen it (probably several time) and I will never really feel the need to see it again by choice. Also the Bugs themed It’s Tough To Be A Bug 3D show at Disneyland (specifically DCA) is genuinely frightening so that probably also lowers the film in my books.
11. Monsters University (2013)
- I love those monsters. The tiny school version of our favorite monster characters are way too cute. This was a solid sequel. Not Toy Story brilliant, but solid.
Friday Night Netflix Pick: The Trip
The Trip (2010)
Ok, so two guys (just friends) in their late forties go on a road trip together in northern England with the purpose of going to different fancy restaurants to eat ridiculously fancy food. One guy is married the other guy is single. They drive around, they eat food, sometimes they
walk, and they talk a lot. Basically it sounds like the most boring film of all time, but it’s not. I failed to mention that those two guys are Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon and it’s a a mockumentary. Well now that changes everything.
Everyone has that one really good friend that they are just on the same level with. You know, you two are such good friends that you can be blatantly sarcastic and make fun of each other and other random stuff just for laughs? This is what this film is like except way funnier because let’s face it, Steve and Rob are professional and we are not. You always think you’re funny until you see someone else who is actually funny and then you realize how unfunny you really are. Luckily my best friends thinks that puns about fruit are funny, so I’m hilarious.
Lot’s of hilarity ensues during the entirety of this film. Steve Coogan does this whole bit in a graveyard about what he would say at Rob Brydon’s funeral. Oh, and before I forget I must warn you, there are a lot of Michael Caine impressions in this film. Like a lot. If those offend you I would not suggest watching this movie.
The Trip was released as a TV series in 2010 but in 2011 it was edited together to make a full film and that is what will see on Netflix. The next series will come out later in 2014 and it will be set in Italy. You’re excited. I can tell.
So go watch The Trip because it’s Friday night and sitting on the couch is so much easier than anything else you could possibly do.
25 Thing I Learned From Arrested Development
25 Things I Learned From Arrested Development
1. There is always money in the banana stand
2. Tricks are things whores do for money
3. It will fly out on its own
4. The Blue Man Group is not a depressed man’s support group
5. It’s not easy being brown
6. The pet shop dead dove return policy is terrible
7. You cannot throw a letter into the ocean
8. Never charge the Aztec tomb to the company account
9. Swallowing keys is not easy
10. Always leave a note
11. Don’t touch the Cornballer
12. Never walk in front of the poppins
13. Don’t do the chicken dance in Mexico
14. Breakfast is the most important thing
15. Don’t call Orange County the OC
16. Free scrapbooking classes are always too good to be true
17. The prosecution is not a CBS show
18. Watch out for hop-ons
19. NO TOUCHING!
20. Don’t give up animation rights
21. Hot cops are not a good substitute for real cops
22. Children should neither be seen nor heard
23. The blue on the map is not land
24. There are ice cream sandwiches in prison
25. Some things are for British eyes only
Album of the Week: Scorpion Child
Scorpion Child – Scorpion Child (2013)
I was really excited when I heard this debut album by the Texas band Scorpion Child. I always get excited when I hear something that is a total blast from the past. At first listen I instantly thought to myself, “this is so Led Zeppelin it’s insane.” I knew I was right, so I played the song “Polygon Eyes” for my friends. I hyped the song up a lot. I told them I would play the song for them and then they had to guess what band they sounded like because it was totally obvious. They listened to it and had confused looks on their faces, followed with, “ummmm I don’t know, maybe Ozzy Osbourne.” I then gave
them my “what the hell” face and said, “No, it sounds like Led Zeppelin!” To which they responded, “ummm I guess a little bit.”
Whatever. I know I’m right. I’m right, right?
This album totally rocks from beginning to end. It’s the kind of music that makes you feel like you’re on an open road (I’m going with Route 66). Now, just picture it, you’re out there driving to no place in particular with the windows down, your hair is blowing in the wind and you don’t have a care in the world. Just listen, you’ll feel it.
I would say this album is very 70’s bluesy rock sounding, but a bit heavier. They are a serious throwback to the 70’s and if you dig that era of rock I think you can enjoy the fresh take that Scorpion Child has on it.
This is the kind of thing I wish rock radio would play. Rock radio, at least in Southern California, is bent on just playing the same 3 songs from the same group of artists, from about 1960-1990, over and over again. It’s like the don’t realize that there are new bands out there, like Scorpion Child, that have that old sound the radio loves, but takes it in a new direction and raises the flag for the new millennium of rock music. Don’t get me wrong, I love the past, but we also have to look to the future.
Favorite Songs: “Polygon Eyes”, “Liquor”, “The Secret Spot”
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