Lookit Lookit

I'm back! After a month. =/  Yeah yeah, I know.  Sorry.  I just got busy doin' other stuff and never really had a whole lot worth actually babbling about.  But now I have a few things that I can mention. (=

Okay! So first up, I'ma give you a glimpse into one of my... well, you could call it an obsession if you like.

I have 318 CDs in my possession.  (Well... I'm not sure of the exact location of a couple, but that's beside the point.)  As of today, anyway.  (I bought 3 more when my mother wasn't looking.)  Now, I have not bought them all.  I've been given a number of them, won a handful, and... somehow acquired others.  (I didn't steal them.)
Anyway.  Of these 318 CDs, I have many artists that make multiple appearances.  30 Seconds to Mars, Alesana, and Anberlin all have 3 albums that have made their way into my collection; AFI and Kutless appear 6 times each (though Kutless is a cheater because in order to get one album, I had to rebuy another.  One of those 2-disc deals? I didn't want to but I wanted that dang album! hahaha).  Just to name a few.
And a lot of my music is really random, but most of it's pretty good.  I still actively listen to most of it. (=

Don't judge me.

The albums I bought today are as follows:

Forever Ended Yesterday: These Hearts

This is a "pop-core"--at least I think that's the proper term...--band from...wait for it... Fargo, North Dakota! Oh my gosh, right!?  They're signed to Victory Records with A Day to Remember (who totally rock if you didn't already know that) and Hawthorne Heights.

(By the way... all of these bands have hyperlinks to their websites.  So you have no excuse to not go check them out, unless you're A) lazy, B) lame, or C) really just don't care... in which case you probably kinda suck. (just kidding))

Anyway.  Pop-core.  Basically... power-pop/alternative pop/rock music with some screaming here and there.  That's the best way I have to describe it.  Sorry if that's not good enough.  Go listen to These Hearts if you wanna know! They're a great example.  And I really mean that.  Fo' realziez.
Oh yes. Yes, I just went there.

*Ahem* Right.  Anyway, so These Hearts are actually a Christian band, but they're not all up in yo' face about it, which is something I really like--as I'm positive I've mentioned before.  One of the tracks is titled Romans 15, so I mean, it's kind of obvious they're sending a message, but even still, it's not all "praise Jesus, or you're going to hell, you sinner!"  Which is annoying as hell; no lie.
They're more like "Accept and welcome Jesus/God into your life and good stuff happens because God is an awesome, all-powerful (omnipotent--to get some vocab in there) God and He loves us all very much.  So love the life you live because you're obviously doin' something important."  And it's not up in your face!  It's just there. (=
Who doesn't want to be told that someone big and really important totally loves you even though you're a real screw up?
Don't answer that.

Anyway.  I watched them live in Minot last fall at Rock the Leaves (our website if you're curious) and they put on a really fun show.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching them.  That being said:
The message is good.  The songs are fun and energetic.  The band is great.  Give 'em a shot; what have you got to lose?  Time?  Come on; you're here... reading this... Gimme a break. hahahahaha

 Anyway.  Moving along toooooooooooo

  All Things Bright and Beautiful: Owl City

These days, who hasn't heard of Owl City?  Adam Young is everywhere.  And with good reason, in my opinion.
The guy is cute, creative, fun, energetic, amusing, and has a great voice.  He writes feel-good songs that get stuck in the head relentlessly, but it's okay, because they're easy to bop to.
Yes, I just said bop. As in a verb. Shut up.

*cough* "What was that...?  Oh, sorry."
Anyway, the joy of Owl City lives on with this new album.  I really like it. (=  Not sure I've ever not liked anything of Adam's, though, sooooooo... ya know how it goes. hahaha

Warped Tour Compilation album 2011: Various Artists

It has Paramore on its cover! Yayy Haley Williams!
I like her, okay?  She's cute.  Kind of a girl-crush thing goin on there, but that's another story...

Anyway.  One of the things I love about Warped Tour compilation albums is that they're always totally loaded with music and are super cheap to buy.  Like, it has 50 songs on it (therefore 50 bands) and it was $7.  And I'm 100% for real.  It's great!
I <3 Hot Topic. (=

Anyway.  It's got everything from metal and screamo to power pop to acoustic stuffs (I think...) to whatever.  It's fun.  Definitely worth $7.  Even if half of the music is... well, not amazing. hahaha.  Which happens...frequently... Anyway...

Lemme think... Oh! I know who else I should talk about!

Wires...And the Concept of Breathing: A Skylit Drive

This is actually ASD's first album (well, studio album, and as far as I know--but I'm pretty sure).  I really really like them.  A lot, as a matter of fact.

I don't really know how to tell you what they sound like, to be honest.  There's some screaming, but there's a lot of singing.  There's fast stuff and kinda slow stuff.  Pretty intense guitars.  Good drums.  I really like them.  And this album in particular.
I don't have Adelphia, but I do have Identity on Fire, which is the newest album.

I would like to tell you to go look them up.  And yes, by all means, do it.  If you don't like them what are you out?  A minute and a half?  You're out more than that just by reading this thing.  It's so full of useful information, after all.  (It could be, realistically, but I digress.)

Anyway.  Yes.  A Skylit Drive.  They're interesting.  Good, though.  I rather like them.  Give 'em a shot.  What the hell?

Next up:

Vices and Virtues: Panic! At the Disco

Okay, so they've got the exclamation point back now.  I don't really get what's up with it exactly, but I don't feel so alone, because I was watching an interview with Brendon, and neither do they. hahahaha.  How's that for ya?

Anyway, this is the album that is what resulted post-splitting.  Ryan Ross took Jon Walker and went in a different direction, leaving Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith to run Panic on their own.  And quite frankly, I think it's working out a little bit better.  Don't get me wrong; I totally loved Ryan.  But... he really wanted to take Panic in a direction that I personally didn't feel Panic going.

They split amicably, as friends, before they hated each others' guts.  So at least there's no split-drama.  That's always annoying.

Anyway, the album itself is really fun.  It's got some really good tunes and the video for The Ballad of Mona Lisa is really great.  It shows a side of Brendon that I just love.

Me? Crush?  Nooooooo that's ridiculous.

*sneeze* Continuing on...
OH!!!
That's right. I just exclamation pointed times three.  Badass.  Be excited.

Dirty Work: All Time Low

I am absolutely positively 100% irrevocably in love with this band. (And Alex Gaskarth. Oh wait.)  If you haven't taken my serious advice and looked them up yet, do it.  Just bloody trust me and go listen to them.  This is album 5--including the live MTV thing--and I have them all and frequent the music on them.  All of it, not just most of it.  I don't think they have a bad song, honestly.  I'm in love with them.  Can anybody say favorite band?  Because I totally can.  (Well, one of a few, but I think this one may have hit tops.)

I've had the entire album--not just a song or two, but the entire album--stuck in my head all week.  It's been great.  I love hearing Alex Gaskarth in my head all day. hahahah.  (That was actually halfways sarcastic, but only half.)

I could really keep going on about music for quite awhile.  And then I also need to do a pretty major update on my reading material too.  I just don't have the energy to do it tonight.  So I'll hit you guys up with that... tomorrow... but that's probably a tad ambitious. hahahaha.

So, quickly before I go, life updates:
1. As of today, my face is adorned with glasses.  I shall post a picture with my literature post.
2. I dropped my phone in the sink in the mall today--full of water, of course--and now it's kinda...freaking out... I've got it in a bag of rice because I've been told it's supposed to suck out the moisture, but... I'm having some doubts.  And I'm nervous that I broke it. ='(  Here's hoping otherwise.  I'll keep you posted.
3. My brother is getting married on Saturday.  How cool is that?  I even like the girl.  That's cooler. (=  The in-laws?  Egh; not so much.  We've had issues.  But I guess ya can't have everything, huh?  (Long story; not getting into it.)
4.  I register for classes for college on the 21st.  I could post a schedule, but that might be opening myself up a little too much to creepers... stalkers... ya know. stuff like that.  So if I say anything, I'll say what I'm taking.
6. I have nothing else to add, which is why I skipped 5, because I only had four things to say and so #6 is that I have nothing to say for #5.  Is that lame?  Too overdone?  Sorry. My bad.

Anyway, it's late; I'm tired; I have a crazy weekend.  I'm out.

Ta ta!
--Emily Renae <3

Music Monday

Goodness gracious, it's been a disastrously long time since I've posted anything here.  Two weeks, a little more?  Something along those lines.  September 29-October 12; that makes 14 days--exactly two weeks.  Damn it, I'm good! haha.  Anyway, moving along.

So, in the past two weeks, I've bought 10 CDs.  [scratches back of neck in slight sheepishness] Oh, who am I kidding?  I'm not ashamed of myself in the least.  Other girls buy clothes, makeup, shoes--I buy those, too, just not as much--with their money, I buy music.  It's a damn good investment, if you ask me.  So there.
I figured out one day last week--Wednesday, actually; the day of my dentist appointment--that I have bought at least 59 CDs this year.  And those are the ones I recall buying in 09, not 08.  It's give or take, but I'm pretty sure I'm right.  From here on out, I'm counting. I've already spent $600+ on music alone this year.  And I have bought clothes, makeup, shoes, notebooks and writing utensils, food, et cetera.  That adds up to a fuckload of money I've spent this year, dude.  My teacher gave us some statistic about how much money teens spend in a year, but I never really believed him.  I think, starting January, I might start keeping receipts and adding shit up.  Talk about a very scary endeavor. =S
Anyway! Back to the music I've bought in the past 2 weeks!
The albums consist of:
AFI--Crash Love
Breathe Carolina--"Hello Fascination"
Never Shout Never--The Summer EP
Jeffree Star--Beauty Killer
Saosin--In Search of Solid Ground
Mayday Parade--Anywhere But Here
Relient K--Forget and Not Slow Down
Skillet--Awake
Thousand Foot Krutch--Welcome to the Masquerade
All Time Low--Put Up or Shut Up
Paramore--Brand New Eyes

AFI's is abso-fucking-lutely amazing as HELL.  I love it a lot.
Breathe Carolina's is definitely an impressive progression from "It's Classy, Not Classic."  Both of them are awesome albums, full of the cool electric stuff that I love so much and poppy/punky screamo.  I'm quite impressed.
Never Shout Never was surprisingly adorable, and pretty much exactly the opposite of what I was expecting.  It was double cool with knobs, as the Brit in my book (Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison) puts it--meaning incredibly cool, just without all the "very"s that people might throw in, like "very very very cool"--anyway--and "I Just Smile" when I listen to it.  I'll definitely have to be on the lookout for their other albums.
Jeffree Star's album is pretty much as fricken awesome as I was expecting it to be.  Jeffree is as beautifully cocky and....somewhat violent...as always, but this time in a full-length, 12-tracked CD available in stores like Target, in bigger cities than where I'm at.  Which is okay, because we have a Hot Topic, which is where I buy 95% of my music anyway.  Lollipop Luxury, which was on the "Cupcakes Taste Like Violence" EP has been redone just a bit and placed on the album.  Prisoner, found on the Warped Tour Compilation Album 2009, is also on Beauty Killer, along with the title track, Louis Vuitton Body Bag--which taught me how to correctly say the name of that designer, oops, haha--and Getting Away With Murder, all with their fair share of "I'm beautiful, love me!" and violence.  For example, Louis Vuitton Body Bag starts out with "stab you with scissors, and let's hold hands."  Friendly mix of "I hate you" and "let's be friends =)!"  Only...haha, not so much.
Saosin's new album is...a completely new ball game from the last, and I really, really love it.  It seems as though my musical tastes are evolving along with the bands' that I listen to.  Anyway.  There's not quite as much screaming on this album as the last, and I'm 100% okay with that.  Don't get me wrong, I like good screamo, but... I prefer singing in my music.  I'm sure all the "metal-heads" (listening to screamo, which is pretty much an emo rip-off of metal--an opinion for which I'll get ripped up by others for) out there are glaring at their screens when/if they read this.  But like I said, I like my fair share of screamo, but there's just something about being able to SING along with my music... I'm not so big on screaming along...just saying.  ANYWAY.  The album is really good, and I recommend at least going and looking at it.  I thoroughly enjoy it.  All of it.
Mayday Parade's new album is definitely my favorite along with AFI's.  It's absolutely amazing.  Bruised and Scarred is in my mind constantly, and I don't mind at all, because I completely love it.  There's a certain hope, or...something...on this album that the last didn't have--in respect to the words, I mean.  There's just a completely different feel to it, for me, at least.  I don't know about the rest of you.  But then, I'm in a different state of mind than I used to be.  Maybe that has something to do with it.  I don't know.  Regardless, Anywhere But Here is a beautiful, inspiring album.  I've used quotes from a couple of the songs in my messenger displays already.  Definitely a #1 recommendation.  Go buy it! NOW! haha. Kidding.  But seriously.
Relient K's new album is all right.  I mean, it's Relient K.  Has their sound ever changed?  I'm not certain.  Regardless, the vocals are still nice, and the guitars are still pretty good.  They're still Christian, still pretty soft, still Relient K.  But I like them that way.  So "just another RK album" is still a plus.
Skillet's new album makes me think that they had all of this planned out.  Collide, Comatose, Awake.  Hm.  Sensing a pattern?  I don't know.  I sure as hell am.  Anyway, it's a really amazing, powerful album.  Lucy made me teary-eyed, but I didn't actually cry.  I was on the road to work, actually; crying wasn't much of an option.  But Monster is really moving, Awake is strong and fast, and it's just reflected in the entire album.  It's Not Me It's You is another really good listen.  I give the album a solid 4.5 stars, lacking the final .5 because, still, though Skillet is amazing, and so is Comatose, Awake is just a touch of a repeat on Comatose.  I mean, the sounds are so similar.  Actually, on second thought, I'm going to make it a 4.75, because it's different enough to make another quarter point.  Also a #1 recommendation.

Thousand Foot Krutch's album is definitely just more TFK.  I mean, shit, don't get me wrong, it's good and all, but it's just another album of the same-old.  I'll like it a lot for awhile, and then it'll just be more music, and then I won't even feel like listening to it for awhile.  Just like the other albums.  Not a good track record... Oh well, they put on a really good concert.  I was impressed.  One of the first live bands I ever saw, so it's still a fond memory.  And I have a hat. ^^  haha.  I like it.  Don't wear it much, but I like it.  The one really interesting thing about this album is that the "chick" on the front cover, looks strangely like a man. Seriously!  Look at that jaw line!  It's intensely masculine. Maybe it's me?  But inside the cover, it's got a chick holding the mask, and she looks fine.  I don't know.  I know that "she's" got long hair there, and her lips are...somewhat plumpish but so what?  Guys have long hair! And some have nice lips!  It's just weird, that's all.  I'm terribly sorry if I just offended some chick with a strong, masculine jawline.  I also unfortunately have some strangely masculine traits, too... but I prefer to think that most are personality wise, haha.  =S  shutting up now.

All Time Low's sophomore album, Put Up or Shut Up.  It's fun.  Definitely as fun as the next two, which, of course, I do own.  I don't have a lot to say about this album, except that Jacie Ray is definitely my favorite song on it.  Oh, and I still rather love Alex Gaskarth.  haha

And lastly, Paramore's newest, Brand New Eyes... It's good.  They've gotten really, really, REALLY big since Twilight, because they've got a couple of songs on the album.  I need to go get that, speaking of which.  The soundtrack, not the movie.  I didn't like the movie.  The soundtrack rocks, though.  (Oh, and just saying, I was a fan of Supermassive Black Hole and Muse LONG before Twilight.  So there.)  Anyway.  Paramore.  It's a good album, but I don't have to say a lot about it since "everyone who's anyone will have this album anyway."  Maybe not.  I don't know.  But Hayley's voice is still awesome and fiery red--I see voices in color to clear things up--and the guitar is still moving and clean.  I like it.  The drum beats are pretty damn cool, too.

Thankfully that wraps things up, because the bell for the end of the day rings in 2 minutes.  Hah. SO!

Until next time, with love

--Emily

~xoxo~

Post Playlist (courtesy of first my Zune and then http://www.pandora.com/):
End Transmission--AFI (Crash Love)
Miseria Cantara-The Beginning--AFI (Sing the Sorrow)
When I Get Home, You're So Dead--Mayday Parade (Tales Told by Dead Friends)
Like a Knife--Secondhand Serenade (A Twist in My Story)
Heels Over Head--Boys Like Girls (Boys Like Girls)
Running From Lions--All Time Low (Put Up or Shut Up)
When I Grow Up--Mayday Parade (Punk Goes Pop: Vol. II) [Pussycat Dolls cover]
Sweat the Battle Before The Battle Sweats You--Cute is What We Aim For (The Same Old Blood Rush (With a New Touch))
I Want to Save You--Something Corporate (Leaving Through the Window)
Your Call--Secondhand Serenade (A Twist in My Story)
Myspace Girl--The Afters (Never Going Back to OK)
Everything You Ever Wanted--Hawk Nelson (Smile, It's the End of the World)
Captain's Chair--Sanctus Real (Fight the Tide)
Letters to the President--Hawk Nelson (Letters to the President)
Gone--Switchfoot (The Beautiful Letdown)
One Real Thing--Skillet (Alien Youth)
When Our Hearts Sing--Rush of Fools (Rush of Fools)
Sing--Sanctus Real (We Need Each Other)
Meant to Live--Switchfoot (The Beautiful Letdown)
We Change, We Wait--The Maine (The Way We Talk)
The Way She Moves--Forever the Sickest Kids (Underdog Alma Matter)
F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X--The Fall of Troy (Doppleganger)