Sunday Music Guest Post #1

In celebration of reaching the halfway point of my (50) Sundays of Music countdown, I wanted to do something to celebrate. I figured what better way than to turn the tables around and hear about other people's favorite music. So I asked some of my blogger friends (and a special guest) to give me a week full of guest posts talking about one of their favorite artists, albums or songs and to give the reason why. Today's guest post comes from...

jeanette! I don't know if you guys are getting tired of our declared friendship, but she wins the award for the longest, most consistent follower that I didn't already know in real life. But that sort of changed last month when she became the first (and to date, only) blogger friend that I have met in person. And wouldn't you know, as we ate our Mellow Mushroom pizza the conversation was dominated by music talk. Enjoy her music talk about one of her favorite artists, and one of her favorite releases from said artist, below:

Hello everyone, I'm so excited Mr. O asked me to participate in this,
I love reading his top 50 albums every Sunday, in fact, I tried my
hardest to get him to reveal the top of the list to me when we met up
in Georgia recently (I figured out a few!). Anyways, when Mr. O asked
me to do this post I'm sure he could've guessed the direction I've
decided to take. He gave me quite a bit of freedom telling me only to
pick a favorite artist, song, or album and talk about why I love it.
So here goes, my pick is actually a DVD of a concert that has an
accompanying CD.

Tegan and Sara : It's Not Fun Don't Do It : released 2006

It's no secret to anyone who has read my blog or knows me in real life

that Tegan and Sara are my favorite band. I've been listening to them
since 1999, since I was 11, that's insane! As you can imagine it was
tricky to choose my favorite cd, which is why I sort of cheated and
chose this live cd. It's got quite the track list, as it's from a
concert so it covers songs from several of their c.d.s. I also prefer
this album because it's live recordings and let's be honest with good
bands, live recordings are the way to go. I love being able to feel
the emotion in songs and KNOW that the artist really feels what
they're singing about.

There is one downside to this album, the Canadian duo is known for
their on-stage banter during shows.. it's kind of their thing. And for
some reason (probably to make it a reasonable length) they cut out all
of the on-stage talking with the exception of some song intros.
However, this DVD was a totally awesome buy because not only does it
include the whole show, it also includes the making of a record, as
well as some tour videos, and every music video made up to that point
along with commentary from the band.

If you've never heard of the band I definitely recommend checking them
out, if the first songs you check out aren't your cup of tea, keep
trying, every c.d. is so different and you can usually find at least
one that suits your fancy. And if you ask my friend, once you find the
one you like you fall in love with the rest of them.

I'm sure Mr. O expected a Tegan and Sara post, but what can I say,
they're some of the most talented lyricist of our generation. Over
their 15 years of touring they've written songs for everything. Before
I go here's one fun fact: Up until the latest album Sainthood, Tegan
and Sara had never collectively written a song. They both write
separately, when recording they alternate singing on their respective
songs. What are the odds that sisters, let alone twins are that
talented. If anyone knows how to get in touch with them, let them know
I want to be friends.

Thanks Mr. O for letting me do this! Can't wait to find out the last
part of your top 50 albums!

(50) Sundays of Music: #26

#26: Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory

I believe there would be no argument that Linkin Park's "Hybrid Theory" deserves its place in music history. However, for it to arrive on this countdown it has to have a place in my personal history. And that time period was high school.

Though it's release actually came out when I was in 8th grade (I remember seeing the video for "One Step Closer" on a Honor Society trip to Atlanta in middle school), "Hybrid Theory" was a huge part of my four years that people either love or hate.

Since I'm almost out of college, I truly feel like it goes like this. High School is the time period where you start to branch out on your own musically. You no longer listen to what the radio tells you nor do you only listen to just what your friends listen to. College is a whole different ball game, but that's for a different post.

I entered high school in 2001, a time when a lot of important things were happening. For one, I will never forget that my freshman year is when 9/11 happened. Weirdly, it makes me remember the music I was listening to at that time (a strange of combo of System of a Down and Jay-Z). But musically something else was happening: Napster.

I got caught up and that's how I got a majority of the songs off of the "Hybrid Theory" release. I started listening so much that eventually I bought the actual cd (a process I feel is still used with file-sharing today).

This cd had everything. Hard rock mixed with some rap mixed with some turntable beats. I didn't know it at the time, but it was almost like an angrier, a much angrier, Incubus. Seriously, go back and listen to "S.C.I.E.N.C.E." and add a little bit more anger and try to tell me that these sounds aren't at least in the same unexplored category.

I'm sure I don't need to talk about "One Step Closer," "Crawling," or "In My Head." It's a contradiction to my earlier statement about not exactly listening to what we are told to listen to as these songs are what catapulted the band. It's what got you to show up, but "Papercut," "With You," and "Pushing Me Away" are what made you stay.

I think one of my favorite tracks has to be "A Place for My Head." 2001 was also a big year in my life because it was a year that my dad was divorced and then re-married, causing me to say goodbye to one family and hello to another. When my sister and I could convince her mom to take us to school instead of taking the bus, we would play this song and jam out.

Enjoy the following videos, but don't close this window just yet...

While their latest release, "Minutes to Midnight," didn't hold a lasting impact with me, their second album "Meteora" did. It's rare in the music industry that a band will come out with a debut release to critical acclaim and follow up with something equally as good. But they did it with "Meteora" that came close to getting its own spot on this countdown. Below are a couple of my favorites.

Hard to come up with a catchy title now

Well, I have to admit. That 30 days thing was fun. Now it's back to random blogs when I feel I have something to share.

And the Sunday countdown. Can't forget that. It's nearing the top 20, does that make you excited? Because to me it does.

Want a hint about the next one? Let's just say it's a hybrid of sounds.

But on the subject of the music countdown, #26 is this Sunday and #25 is the weekend after that. To celebrate getting halfway there, I decided to turn the tables. The week leading up to the 25th selection will be full of guest posts from other bloggers talking about some of their favorite music.

As of right now, I have three entries turned in and ready to go. I have made contact with a few more but only time will tell if we have a week full of guest posts or just three. It should be great either way.

For those of you who weren't contacted, don't be offended. I plan on doing it again and I was just trying to space it out.

So in my time as a blogger I've realized that guest posts don't normally get that much attention. My challenge to you is to prove me wrong on that theory.

To my fellow Americans, have a happy 4th!

To my international friends, go crazy and light some fireworks anyways.

30 Days of Me: The Finale

*I have to start off by saying: Wow. This took literally all night. I never knew these things were so hard.

I wanted to do something special for the end of this 30 Days thing. Unfortunately, jeanette kind of stole my idea in the whole thanking people thing.

So I decided to do something I hadn't done before. I want it to be known for the record I did this about 4 hours ago. But it decided to be complicated all night.

I present to you, my first official vlog.

Here are some notes:

*I mumble. There's no way around it.

*I know I forgot some people and for that I'm truly sorry. It was kind of a "one-take" thing. I didn't want to have to worry about editing it and all that jazz.

*I don't really know why I picked that song. I just kind of saw it and went with it.

Hope you enjoy this idea that may or may not make a return.

30 Days of Me: Hopes and Dreams

In the next year I hope to...

*be happy by making the best decisions for myself.

And I hope to take part in (and feature) more guest posts like this.

30 Days of Me: Detailed Year

Man, to be honest... I am really unprepared for this.

*I met some cool new blogger friends.

*I made decisions that will affect my future, in hopefully a good way.

*I saw some cool concerts, including an international band, Pendulum.

*Found some new artist. That never gets old.

*Completed my last semester of classes. Started an internship.

*Got the ball rollin on a project that if it works out right will be really great.

*There is honestly probably A LOT more, but I am trying to get this in before the day is over. And today was not a good day, so I feel like this is an accomplishment.

(50) Sundays of Music: #27

#27: Kings of Leon - Only By the Night

I have to admit. I was really late on this bandwagon. I am the kind of the person that fans of bands like Kings of Leon hate as my first taste of them was "Sex on Fire" and then the hugely popular "Use Somebody." However, I had heard their name in various outlets and when my friend mentioned how good this cd was, I gave it a shot.

I wouldn't say I was immediately hooked, but I was immediately intrigued. I felt really late to the party when I realized they have had like 3 or 5 albums before this release, but no matter. This one stands alone, even without the commercial success of "Use Somebody."

I think I started realizing I liked this cd when I realized how amazing the beginning is. Seriously, name a better introduction song than the ironically named "Closer." The alarm-type sound, the emotional bass line... I love how every instrument introduces itself, even the vocalist with the lyrics "Stranded in this spooky town / Stoplights are swaying and the phone lines are down / This floor is crackling cold / She took my heart, I think she took my soul / With the moon I run / Far from the carnage of the fiery sun." It sets the stage for how the rest of the album is going to feel.

Then it jumps right into "Crawl" and it kind of tells you "look, this is going to be slow at some parts, but we are going to jam in others." And I really dig that. "Sex on Fire" is still a classic and little trivia: it wasn't till I played it on Rock Band that I realized he said "Head while I'm drivin." Awesome.

I don't know how this is going to come across, but I love his voice. It's like he knows just how to use it and draws you in. Specifically, he knows when to use it, in one of my favorites, "Revelry," when he croons, "Just know it was you all along that had a hold of my heart / But the demon in me was a best friend from the start."

Kind of random, but another of my favorite tracks is "17." No big description, I just really like. And the other highlight is the closing track, "Cold Desert," when it sounds like the song is over but they come right back and hit you with instrumental emotion.

This cd is classic and has inspired to listen to their back catalog. Grammy well deserved.