My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson

Song: My Life Would Suck Without You
Artist: Kelly Clarkson
Album: All I Ever Wanted

I think this is a great song! It's pretty decent, but coming from the legendary Kelly Clarkson, I definitely think she could have done better. The first few lyrics don't rhyme very well, but I think she was hoping on the melody carrying that little fact through. It didn't work very well for me, but nonetheless, a good song to listen to!



And is it me, or did Kelly get fatter or something?

Oh Mandy - The Spinto Band

Song Name: Oh Mandy
Artist: The Spinto Band
Album: Moonwink

WOOT! First post in 2 days! :D
Also, I finally did one of my most favourite indie bands ever!
The Spinto Band is a collection of college friends in Boston who found old names of record songs that were hiding in the attic of their grandparent's house. All of their songs and even the band name derives from those old record songs. The Spinto Band has that mandolin playing, which gives it a lively tone. The music video is really cool. The animation was extensive in order to make the paper animations, burning buildings, and "winter wonderland". The whole basis of the music video is psychological, and shows the theme of an everlasting home. Every year, Mandy is built up, and then is burned down. During the winter it is recreated, and thaws. But when spring comes back, they recolonize, and revitalizes Mandy. It's also a very sweet song. :)

wow. that's one of the longest summaries i've ever given o.O
anyways, really really cool song!

Mood Rings - Relient K

Song Name: Mood Rings
Artist: Relient K
Album: Two Lefts Don't Make a Right... But Three Do

Ahh... Relient K. Pop turned Christian turned slightly mainstream. I hate their newest songs, but anything by them before 2008 is great. Mood Rings was released 2003. Apparently this song talks about the artists' troubles with girls with mood swings, hence the lines "Let's get emotional girls to all wear mood rings. So we'll be tipped off to when they're ticked off, cause we'll know just what they're thinking." And while not in the chorus, the singer explains his reasoning for his ingenious plan. Relient K songs are usually very deep, with maybe the slight exception of this one and a handful of others. In fact, I like to think that their album MMHMM defines my life. Maybe I'll do another Relient K songs soon. They do take up about almost 10% of my music library.

I wanted to do "This Love" + Justin Timberlake

HEY! I wanted to do "This Love" by Maroon 5! ARGHHH! Which just comes to say, this is a really weird cycle: I did a song Jeffrey wanted to do, Jeffrey did a song Ethan wanted to do, and Ethan did a song I wanted to do. Which is odd, if you're asking me. It must be... what goes around comes around, Christina! That brings us to the next song I'm blogging about...

Song: What Goes Around Comes Around
Artist: Justin Timberlake
Album: Futuresex / Lovesounds

This is one of Justin's less "poppity" from his album Futuresex / Lovesounds (which came out quite a while ago, by the way.) It's definitely different from his smash hit "Sexyback", but it has the same special JT addictiveness! (If that makes any sense at all.) The beginning has an unique guitar part; it catches your attention immediately. The moral of the story? What goes around comes around, my friends. Which means, if you break someone's heart, yours shall be broken too.

Milk Crisis - The Go! Team

Song Name: Milk Crisis
Artist: The Go! Team
Album: Proof of Youth

This songs has that sense of childhood fun that everyone likes. The song is catchy, and has really good rhythm to it. It's very kiddish, and is a great "get-and-go" song. The music video does seem a bit old, but it gets better to the end. The pixels in the video are hypnotizing to the eyes. o.o During the second verse they go off singing Japanese, and eventually into some sort of hip-hop lyrics and what-not. The Go! Team is an admiring indie rock band, and has been on the UK charts for quite a while in 2007.

Come on. Admit it. Dancing apples, teddy bears, trees and flowers are pretty awesome.

This Love - Maroon 5

How long has it been since this came out? Nearly five years? I'd be almost surprised if you didn't know it. I first heard this in my Chinese school with this guy two years older than me continually singing the chorus. Uh... well let's just say he wasn't the best singer ever, but despite that, that catchy chorus still got stuck in my head. I had an idea it was called "This Love" and heard it several times on the radio before, but uhh... never really heard it or knew who it was by until quite recently. The band goes together quite well, especially fitting of their style: pop rock. The video involves the band playing in front of an orange backdrop with cherry blossoms, interesting video effects, and the main singer and his girlfriend-at-the-time touching each other inappropriately.

Warning: video consists of slight nudity. Nothing that would get it banned from Youtube though.



Several covers of this song have been made, and it was even featured in Guitar Hero: On Tour, the Guitar Hero game for the Nintendo DS.

Korean boy band Big Bang's G-Dragon covered this song using its trademark beat in the background, despite rapping/singing in Korean (even in the English version, the lyrics are different.) Several times during both version, the words "this love" is said, and the song is as a matter of fact called "This Love."



Recently, Natasha Bedingfield also did a cover for the Yahoo Pepsi Smash.

Dance Like There's No Tomorrow - Paula Abdul

Song: Dance Like There's No Tomorrow
Artist: Paula Abdul
Album: Abdulmatic

Lyrics are fun, the beat is nice. One problem. One big problem : Her voice.
The voice is the same in each place; not much of a different note with each word. It's rather flat and it sounds like she got fed several pounds of special effects too. Although Paula is a famous judge for the show American Idol, that's probably the only reason this song is well - known. If she tried out for American Idol herself, she would probably not have made through the third, or maybe even second round. Other than that, it's a pretty good song, but it's not one you will find on the iPods often.

Such Great Heights - The Postal Service

Song Name: Such Great Heights
Artist: The Postal Service
Album: Give Up

Such Great Heights is a wonderful little song created by the Postal Service, which is actually a side-band created from Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie (DCFC), and Jimmy Tamborello from Dntel. The song is quite cheerful, and has a very light tone to it. Even with this, it still contains that indie rock and electronical pop sensation in it. The music video is quite strange, but it basically is a computer-chip processing plant. The bright and considerate tone to the music video helps give it a great feeling to it. This is one of my most favourite songs. :)

A Blast Beat - Dúné

Song Name: A Blast Beat
Artist: Dúné
Album: We Are In There, You Are Out Here

This band is really awesome in this song, Blast Beat. Also, most pronounce the band by the English term "dune", but it is actually pronounced "Do-na", since it is an indie band from Denmark. The song starts out very electro and techno, and then goes into this full-on scape with rock. The song mainly features the lead singer Mattias Kolstrup singing and wearing massacra, which would seem pretty goth o.o". But the song is really cool, and sounds pretty sweet on a rainy day like today. Note that lots of Dúné's songs are not avalible in the U.S.

That Girl - Plain White T's

Song Name: That Girl
Artist: Plain White T's
Album: Big Bad World

I really do seem to like songs in albums with much more popular songs don't I? First She Says, then Gone, and now this. Naturally, the singles released for this album, 1,2,3,4, and Natural Disaster reached a higher publicity level than this. This song besides of tells a story of an evening with "that girl." Besides that though, not much that that's too interesting about this song, but it's catchy and might get stuck in your head.

Gone - Switchfoot

Ah, Switchfoot. Having the most songs in the soundtrack perhaps one of the sappiest movies ever, A Walk to Remember, the band reflects this in its music. Despite this song being kind of old, I like it. The album it was released in, The Beautiful Letdown, came out in 2003, and this great song was overshadowed by its more popular brothers, mainly Meant to Live, This is Your Life, Dare You to Move, and The Beautiful Letdown. Due to its subtle Christian lyrics, it was however quite popular in the Christian music community. In my opinion, I don't see how popular it could get with Christians with its relatively depressing lyrics basically telling us to commit suicide. But that's up to you to decide.

Caramelldansen (Speedycake Remix) - Caramell

Must I say any more!? This is the CARAMELLDANSON, hoes! When I first heard it, I thought it was Japanese + American + Hindu or something, but it turns out it was just Swedish. It's so addicting. Makes you just wanna jump out of your chair in the middle of math class, take off your shirt and dance in front of the whtieboard in front of everyone (which isn't ... uh, a good example, but still). Caramelldansen is the hit new song for anime freaks and there's even a dance to go with it.

PS There's MILLIONS of videos like this on YouTube, so why don't you go and check them out?

Rock N' Roll - Eric Hutchinson

Song Name: Rock N' Roll
Artist: Eric Hutchinson
Album: That Could've Gone Better

Eric Hutchinson's music sounds very similar to that of Jason Mraz, but with a little more enthusiasm to it. The beat is awesome, and the music video works perfect with the song. This is his debut song, and was not known for a long time.That is until internet blogger Perez Hilton, which caused it to move up to #7 on the iTunes chart back a while ago. It's a happy, cheerful little song, and no one can deny that it's sweet. It's totally cool!

Dead and Gone - T.I. ft. Justin Timberlake

Song Name: Dead and Gone
Artist: T.I. and Justin Timberlake
Album: Paper Trail

Ahh... no music posts for two days... I should really start putting this higher on my priorities list. Anyways, I normally don't like music like this, but the chorus is awesome. And even the rap (kind of). It's hard to explain (plus I don't know how to judge this kind of music), so here's the video: you can see for yourself.

P.S. It was number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for a while. :O

P.P.S. Thanks for showing me this song, Isabel.

Karma - NLT

Song: Karma
Artist: NLT
Album: Not Like Them

First off, I would like to thank Vickie (Victoria) for showing me this song! NLT is a very little known group, but they have a knack for catchy and pop - y ish music. It sounds like Colby O' Donis and Chris Brown mixed together, except slower and... more country - ish? Not country, but it sounds great nonetheless. Yet another song about love, but it's AWESOME! Worth listening to, especially since this group is little known. It's a girl song, by the way.

Moscow State Circus - Eugene McGuinness

Song Name: Moscow State Circus
Artist: Eugene McGuinness
Album: Eugene McGuinness (of the same name)

Moscow State Circus is a really infectious song, which is quick-beated and comes with great unpredictability. The lyrics are completely random (including the random shout of the f-word), but it seems to fit the song. The music video, though obscure, is very wonderful. Dancing people in fencing costumes always makes a video wonderful. Eugene McGuinness and his little band of indie rockers have created a single that delights the senses, and feels like your going into a "rabbit hole". :D

Fridays

Ahhh... Sorry for the lack of a post today...
I got home at 3:30, got sidetracked by manga until 4:30, and was out until Chinese school, after which my dad's addiction to Yogurtland took us there. All that aside, I didn't get home until 10:00. Obviously, I had to shower and everything else, along with a couple more distractions, so I am not able to post a music-related post today.
Without Chinese school, life would be so much easier: I get 7-9 off. But that is not to be. My parents would probably let me quit all my other extracurricular activities (with the exception of tennis, which my dad claims is "good for me"), but make me keep Chinese. I really don't see the use. I can speak it okay, and who needs to know how to write it?
Anyways, It's Saturday now, and I really shouldn't be staying up much longer, lest my mom come here and lecture me about growing taller. Whatever.

P.S. Does anyone read these rants anyways? Or does anyone even read the blog? Do leave a comment or something, or at least check the "Like" or "Dislike" boxes under the musical posts, if only to let us know that we should continue this experiment of a blog.

Ultimate Showdown Complaint of Doom

First rant :D

More of a complaint, and what not.
Just want to clarify.. but I really really really really really really really relaly really really really wanted to do Ultimate Showdown :(
Technically it counts as indie rock.. but oh well.
Lemon Demon is one of my favourite bands..

Short rant anyways.
But no one cares.
Just felt that I wanted to do the song first.

P.S. I'm not mad at you, Christina. Just saying. :D

The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny - Lemon Demon

Song: The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny
Artist: Lemon Demon
Album: Dinosaurchestra

HAHAHA! If you don't know this song, you've been living under a rock for your whole life. Of course, there's not much to say about this song... except if you like Godzilla, Batman, Abraham Lincoln, etc. Speaking of which, it has a catchy intro, halarious lyrics. Yes, I have a weird taste in songs. But hey, who doesn't like weird internet songs? By the way, for all you Asains out there, Jackie Chan's in it too! :D
This is the Ultimate Showdown... of Ultimate Destiny!
Definitely worth watching if you're really bored.

I'm On A Boat - The Lonely Island

Song: I'm On A Boat
Artist: The Lonely Island
Album: Supabad

The Lonely Island is famous for it's odd, quirky, weird, kinky songs (Need an example of kinky? Just search up "Jizz In My Pants" on YouTube.)
This song, well, there's not much to explain - it's on a boat. Bish? The Lonely Island goes on rapping about a motherf--king boat. What else is there to say? Well, I like the song. The lyrics are hilarious, though.
I would also like to congratulate T-Pain on his uber rapping skills on boats.

I'm on a boat, I'm on a boat, take a good hard look at my motherf---ing boat!

PS. I also notice that I do songs with a little a lot of swearing. I'll remember to get cleaner songs next time.

Creeper - Islands

Song Name: Creeper
Artist: Islands
Album: Arm's Way

This is one of Islands' more darker songs. Most are cheerful, such as Rough Gem, but this one is just plain scary. Islands is a Canadian indie band who is barely known in the U.S. The music video suggests something deep and highly psychological, which goes along with the name of the song. It goes retro and comes along with the old-school animation of the early 90's. It is quite eerie, but expresses deep resemblence to underground indie rock.

You can scare your friends with this song. Give it to them, and they'll think you're a stalker. :D

She Says - Howie Day

Song Name: She Says
Artist: Howie Day
Album: Stop All the World Now

Despite being eclipsed by the more popular single "Collide", "She Says" is an amazing song in the under-appreciated album "Stop all the World Now (which did not become popular until approximately a year after its October 2003 release, despite being rated a measly two out of five stars by Rolling Stones). Like "Collide", "She Says" has a sweet, yet slightly sad sound to it, which is well augmented by Howie Day's voice. Having first heard this song in a Hollister at the Great Mall, I took note of it, and am thankful I did: though slow at times, "She Says" is a great song.

Let It Rock - Kevin Rudolf

Song Name: Let It Rock
Artist: Kevin Rudolf ft. Lil Wayne
Album: In the City

This song? It's addicting, it's catchy, and it's on the top songs of the year. Its Genre is rock, though, and that's something you see often on the top. I really like the beginning, it's kind of cold and downbeat. Nonetheless, this is one song that's worth your time to listen to. A perfect song for all those rockers out there (:
Only problem is Lil Wayne's part. It sounds like he's dying. He sounds like the sound a poodle makes before it drowns. At least find a better rapper like Kanye West. He ruins the song.

Float On - Modest Mouse

Song Name: Float On
Artist: Modest Mouse
Album: Good News for People Who Love Bad News

Even the greatest indie rockers remain unknown to the mainstream world. Meet Modest Mouse, one of the most famous indie rock bands in the U.S. Their single, "Float On", is an old hit that is greatly admired. The lyrics are cheerful, and Isaac Brock's voice clearly shows some sympathy. The music video is quite colorful, and is styled like pop-up books. It has been played in several places, such as Rock Band 2, and in the new movie "Hit and Run".

Wednesdays

Ahh... I like Wednesdays. Sleep later the day before, wake up later on the day, and school still lasts only till three o' clock. A much needed reprieve in the middle of a long week indeed. Of course, I'm not suggesting that we have more late start days, otherwise people will stop appreciating them. But the teachers do typically tend to assign quite a bit more homework on Wednesdays than any other day (I have a project due today), so we have to sleep later on Tuesday, but the morning is nice. Some spend it chatting with their friends, some spend it doing homework they may or may not have had to have finished the day before, and some spend it sleeping until the last second, then waking up and rushing to school, bolting down their breakfast (which is also their normal schedule on other weekdays). And then there's people like me, who do nothing productive but surf the web and/or post on their blog about the Wednesday.

Alexithymia - Anberlin

Song Name: Alexithymia
Artist: Anberlin
Album: Cities

Despite having been listed with the predominately Christian rock label Tooth & Nail Records and having several songs with lyrics pertaining to their faith, alternative rock band Anberlin have specifically stated that they are not a Christian rock band. Alexithymia literally means "without words for emotions" in Greek. The word is used to describe a state where one cannot describe or feel emotions. The song relays this by having a depressing feeling, but it is a nice song, with a nice chorus, and nice background music. However, the song does sound a tad repetitive and has what I believe to be a quite annoying guitar solo near the end.

P.S. Thanks to Alex Tsai for showing me this song.

Crank It Up! - Hadouken!

Song Name: Crank It Up!
Artist: Hadouken!
Album: Music for an Accelerated Future

Hadouken! has that hyped-up taste for music. They bring in the combination of techno music and British-crazed indie rock. The quick beats and the snappy rhymes is perfect for any dance party of sorts. It is very popular to Brits. Just makes them want to toss their tea and dance to the music! It's not shown very often in popular media, though. You'll love it if you're into Brit techno-rap. :)

Evil Editor's Note: Jeffrey here forgot to point out the many pop culture references in this song. They refer to iTunes, MSN, as well as CD ripping, mp3 converting, and download sites on the internet.

F**k You - Lily Allens

Song Name: F**k You
Artist: Lily Allen
Album: It's Not Me, It's You

I love Lily Allens. She has a very sweet voice. Kind of sounds like Taylor Swift and Britney Spears' crazy love child that grew up in Britain. With an accent. Sounds like a little angel to most ears, especially in "F**k You".
But if you listen to it, you're in for a big surprise.
Lily Allens has very scary lyrics.
It goes like... "F--- you, f--- you very very much." Ahahaha. An angel singing swear words. Interesting. Lil Wayne and Taylor Swift and Britney Spears all together.
Listen to her songs. They have a very pretty melody... if you don't mind the swear words, that is.

Too much homework. T_T

Yea... If you have any perception skills, you would have perceived that (1.) I'm bored with homework right now and (2.) I should be doing said homework as I type this. Well maybe that's true. I need a break now. Oh well. I got a test tomorrow, a quiz and a project due on Wednesday, at least two test on Thursday (maybe three, plus fitness testing), and part two of one of the tests on Friday, not to mention daily math homework. Oh well. I should try to finish my project today...

Boo Boo Goo Goo - The Caesars

Song Name: Boo Boo Goo Goo
Artist: Caesars
Album: Strawberry Weed

Released 2008, Boo Boo Goo Goo sounds like more "old school" than other songs of its time. With its catchy tune and even more addicting chorus, Boo Boo Goo Goo is now the song in the trailer for Miss March, a soon-to-be-released movie (whose trailer is rated R, so I won't embed it here.)

P.S. Grace says this song makes me high.

Blue String Music

And thus starts Blue String, a group of friends with nothing better to do than blog about their musical tastes. We almost have all the bases covered. Hip-hop (credits to Christina), Pop-punk (me), and even Indie Rock (you're welcome, Jeff.) Anyways, here we'll talk about our differing musical tastes, or just rant about what's going on in our lives.

P.S. Jeff and Christina, do you mind trying to average one post (music related) per day on here? And a few rants a week should do the trick too.