July 29, 2006

Blogging on location....

in Midway Utah. SHINE conference this week. Work, more work, with occasional Five Dollar Friend musical intermissions as I finally acquired XOXORx.

Song Lyrics of the Day:
If I could find the words to make this better I would
They'd be simple and sweet coming from the brilliant side of me
I know I could
Five Dollar Friend -- "XOXORx"

July 17, 2006

Because I'm not wholly opposed to idea theft...

With Mike laying the groundwork for mid-year music review summaries, I will now take the baton and run with it (though not quickly nor very far).

These comments are not in any order in terms of date or recommendation level.

Evans Blue -- The Melody and Energetic Nature of Volume
Yes, I am a fan of Canadian rock groups in general but these newcomers warrant consideration for musical consumption. The single "Cold (but I'm still here)" is a solid radio effort the disc is about a 7/10 on my review scale in total but "Quote" and "A Cross and A Girl Name Blessed" are worth noting.

People in Planes -- As Far as the Eye Can See
In competition with fellow brits Snow Patrol for my unbiased favorite album of the first half of the year (Foiled excluded of course). My favorite tracks are "Falling by the Wayside", "Token Trapped Woman", "If You Talk Too Much (My Head Will Explode)", and "Narcoleptic". I have an actual review post half done but it may or may not get finished.

Faktion -- Faktion
I like this album a bit more than Mike. While not a standout, there were a couple of addition bright points. "Who I Am" and "Letting You Go" are worth significant listening and, if not the song, the guitar intro on "Maybe" is very solid.

Blue October -- Foiled
While it won't top Consent to Treatment in my opinion, It's still a solid album throughout. "She's My Ride Home", "X Amount of Words", "Drilled a Wire ..." , "18th Floor Balcony" and "Sound of Pulling Heaven Down" make up a solid core for the album to support the singles.

Panic! at the Disco -- A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
Much like Fall Out Boy, a disc I acquired for the humor and humorous song titles. A very much hit or miss effort. "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" and "Build God Then Will Talk" and worthwhile listens along with "...Martyrdom..."

Pearl Jam --- Pearl Jam
Solid and entertaining effort though again not as strong as their original works.

Tool -- 10,000 Days
Half of the CD is very similar to Lateralus which is solid; however, the other half is far enough out there that even for Tool I couldn't follow it.

Snow Patrol -- Eyes Open
This is a disc that I have no problem playing from beginning to end without skipping any songs. Songs like "Chasing Cars" and "It's Beginning to Get to Me" and "Open Your Eyes" stand with the lead single "Hands Open" as standouts within the solid efforts

Three Days Grace -- One-X
See previous review

James Blunt-- Back to Bedlam
Despite "You're Beautiful", A solid effort. The Tracks "Wisemen", "So Long Jimmy" and "No Bravery" stand out among the 10 tracks on the album.

Tomorrow, Texas and Oklahoma music of 2006... (Preview contained in the lyric of the day)

"Digging for sounds that’ll take us
To a place we’ve never known
And if you’re not down, just you stay calm
’Cause you’ve got your radio"
Edgewater -- "Digging for Sounds"

July 14, 2006

A rare news comment...

So the world has initiated it's apparent auto-destruct sequence. I can't add any particularly pithy comments to the Israel/Palestine/Lebanon situation other than I have friends with family in Lebanon. I ask them to stay safe and I will continue to keep them in my thoughts and prayers.

Hopefully tomorrow I will return to my baseball comments and potentially a review of As Far as the Eye Can See by People in Planes.

July 07, 2006

Music Review: One-X not a sophomore slump

Canada's Three Days Grace had provided a fair amount of entertainment with their debut self-titled effort in I believe 2003. So it was with a degree of trepidation I looked forward to 2006's One-X. While some bands have been able to build off of solid debuts to craft quality follow-ups, the numbers are small. And for every one that comes to mind for me, I can name several TrustCompany-esque collapses.

One-X is not thematically ground-breaking for the genre. Thus it must rely on musical ability to separate it from others of its kind. Right from the beginning, with the mediocre "It's All Over", it's clear that 3DG is still addressing to sense of isolation and relationship failures that permeated the self-titled. After the average opener, One-X picks up with "Pain", my new personal theme song, the lead single "The Animal I've Become" which should be an audience participation hit on their supporting tour. The melodic and slower tempo "Never Too Late" caps that very solid trio and shows a degree of musical range.

The second half of the disc beginning with the anthem for the angry "Riot" is in my humble and oft misguided opinion outstanding. "Riot" is very solid and up-tempo with a good deal of energy. "Get Out Alive" seems more mediocre to me than it should because of its positioning between "Riot" and the biting, sharp "Let it Die". I think a majority of the listeners can put themselves in the scenario provided in "Let It Die" which makes it quite possibly the most solid song on the album. After a change of pace with "Over and Over", 3DG provides a possibly uplifting song with "Time of Dying" which was very strange given the title but worth much praise for it's construction.

Finally "Gone Forever" is a nice penultimate song which reminds me a lot of "Just Like You" from the debut. The title track "One-X" is a decent ending though middle of the pack in terms of overall musical quality. Each version depending on music retailer has a 13th track so I will not discuss these in detail.

All in all a very solid and commendable effort I will be enjoying for some time to come. While there are no "I must be running out of luck..." lines, the music and lyrics allow for a strong, cohesive collection,

8 of 10

Song Lyric of the Day
"I swear I never meant to let it die
I just don't care about you anymore
It's not fair when you say that I didn't try
I just don't care about you anymore"

Three Days Grace -- "Let It Die"

July 05, 2006

A memo to any Houston visitors listening to the news this morning...

We're not all vindictive psychos and conspiracy loons. If like me you were tuned to our local news/talk programs today you'd think differently. It all starts here, but that's where the sanity parts ways with the reaction. I listened to about 10 callers this morning. 3 of them said nothing less than Ken Lay faked his own heart attack and is now free and out of the country. 3 or 4 were convinced the heart attack was a cover story, and the others... their reactions ranges from utter contempt to downright celebration.

Let us remember, regardless of his involvement in the scandal, a man is dead. Can the news pirahnas and reactionary callers at least let him achieve room temperature before treating his death as either a momentous occasion on par with terrorist capture or twisting it into one final betrayal of the Enron stockholders. Mr. Lay will get his judgement by higher authorities and though I know some of these individuals would not have been happy without playing executioner, we should at least give the family and friends some time before turning every show into the "Let's pile further condenmation on Ken Lay's memory show".

Those of you that know me know I wasn't a supporter of his. I thought his actions (or inaction in some cases) was reprehensible but in the interest of civility just relax.

Song Lyric of the day for the delusional celebrating Houstonians (since I don't have a good counterexample)
"I feel so much better
Now that you're gone forever
Tell myself that I don't miss you at all
I'm not lying, denying
That I feel so much better now
That you're gone forever"
Three Days Grace -- "Gone Forever"

Today's song lyrics contains a hint to my next post which should be up prior to the start of football season given my punctuality with this blog posting thing.