The top 10 songs I have heard from the past 10 years

1. In Exile by Thrice (Beggars, 2009)

Just as my good friend over at 52 Records in 52 Weeks has an Animal Collective bias, I will be showing off my Thrice bias. If I was biased enough however, there would be more than 2 Thrice songs on my list, but in fairness I’ll save the best for #1. On this particular song, it becomes evident that the solo stylings of Dustin Kensrue’s folk-esque tunes have crept over into his work with the rest of the Thrice guys. This will now and over time prove to be their most accessible song for people listening to the band for the first time, and they may not even know that this band was a pioneer of post-hardcore earlier in the decade. Everything about this song is memorable from the opening guitar to the soaring outro. This song is for anyone who is at a crossroads at their life, constantly in transit, people of strong faith, etc. Whoever you are, whatever you do, listen to this song.

2. Pachuca Sunrise by Minus the Bear (Menos el Oso, 2005)

This was a bit of a toss-up for me between this and “…Cock Fights”, but I ultimately went with this one because of the imagery in my head as I listen to this song: Palm trees, sandy beaches, a Corona…basically one of those Corona commercials. It’s also just so damn catchy and tranquil. While this isn’t a slow and sappy ballad, it is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. Lyrically it is different, especially from Highly Refined Pirates. It is more affectionate than their usually foray of suave and debonair lyrics of seduction.

3. I Lost All My Money At The Cock Fights by Minus the Bear (Highly Refined Pirates, 2002)

The ultimate jam for the car. This album featured a lot of high pitch tapping guitar parts. This song also has a great beat that’ll get you moving. My favorite musical journey takes place in this song right around the 3:05 mark. You’ll like the trip until then, but you will rock the fuck out when you get to this song’s climax. I’ll hopefully see this song live next month…

4. Always Love by Nada Surf (The Weight Is a Gift, 2005)

This song has special meaning to me, kind of a song I live by I guess you could say (Always love, hate will get you everytime, Always love, even when you want to fight). Reminds me of solo Tom Petty, which puts this song even higher on my chart. While I don’t have much to say about this song, sometimes the songs that you love best aren’t worth a ton of explanation…it’s better just to listen and enjoy.

5. For Miles by Thrice (Vheissu, 2005)

Off of one of my favorite albums of all time (I’ll save that for another post). This opened up a lot of new sounds for me with the piano driving this song at the beginning to an eruption of epic proportions at the climax. This song is highly spiritual in lyrical content, but still easy for a lot of people to grasp the message and enjoy the song. This song is one of the more drastic changes Thrice made to their sound on this album but the screams are still intact. Powerful, powerful, powerful…

6. Jesus Christ by Brand New (The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me, 2006)

Lyrics. This song has fantastic lyrics. I did a slight analysis of this song on my first post here at The Audiosphere, so feel free to take a look back on it for more explanation on this. This is the Brand New I enjoy as opposed to the Brand New of Your Favorite Weapon. This song has heart, and a lot of the music that I enjoy and listen to has heart.

7.One by One by Foo Fighters (One by One, 2002)

Brings back memories of one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen. A great mosh pit anthem. One of my favorite guitar tones that has been recorded is on this song: heavy, dirty. Love it. I go crazy to this song every time it comes on.

8. Control by Mute Math (Mute Math, 2006)

This song originally was on the band’s debut EP in 2004. First time I heard this song was on my way to Rochester once. Woke up from a nap with my headphones on and this song was playing. I had to hear the song from the beginning, and I listened to this song the entire weekend I was in Rochester. Just beautiful and every part stands out brilliantly. Darren King is my favorite drummer of all time right now. Love what he does on this song. “There is no better loss than to lose myself in you.” Brilliant. A band I must see before I leave this earth (Bamboozle festival!!!)

9. Green Light by John Legend ft. Andre 3000 (Evolver, 2008)

Ah, the song that fueled one of the great inside jokes during college. Another great driving song. I guess I just enjoy music in the car more? One of my favorite vocal melodies out there. Love to sing this song when stuck at a red light…

10. Selkies: The Endless Obsession by Between the Buried and Me (Alaska, 2005)

Progressive metal does indeed make my list! This song for me is all about the instrumentals, and the inner shred-head in me loves the guitar work on this song, particularly as the song comes to an end. Seeing these guys at the end of the month and it should be killer.

What is the legacy of the past decade of music?

Happy New Year everyone. With the dawning of a new year and a new decade, I’ve done some thinking about the last 10 years of music. The year 2000 was really just the beginning of my awareness to what exactly was out there. Of course as everyone has done, I went through my phases of only rap, to only horror-core (ICP, Twizted), to only metal and everything in between.

I remember losing my first cd collection when I was in 7th grade, among those albums were DMX’s “It’s Dark and Hell is Hot” And Jay Z’s “Hard Knock Life.” I had the Marshall Mather’s LP and traded it for Cypress Hill’s “Skull and Bones.” CD players were still relevant, at one point i would have to tilt mine in various directions to get it to work. The headphones that had the metal band going over my head always ended up ripping out some strands of my hair…ow.

What is the legacy though? The 60’s had the British invasion. The 70’s had disco and the beginnings of hard rock and punk. the 80’s had power ballads and rap. The 90’s had alternative rock and teen pop. The biggest evolution in music last decade though was not what genre of music saw a rise in popularity, but how music is listened to.

The 2000’s should be remembered for Napster, MP3 players (mostly the iPod), and user-controlled content (last.fm, Pandora). The excitement and anticipation for new music releases is usually squashed by early leaks. Many people though the latest album by Thrice titled “Beggars” wouldn’t suffer too many loses in sales when it leaked three months early. The leak saw quite a bit of coverage by bloggers and music journalists. It would debut at # 47 on the Billboard charts, their lowest charting since their first installment of “The Alchemy Index” debuted at #24. It seems to me that the coverage probably just got more people to search for torrents of the album online, since it was out there for the taking.

Nothing is safe in the hands of technology. Albums will always get leaked, and cd’s will always be shared and copied. With user controlled content and “tagging”, if you like ____ artist, you will also like _____ artist. With the industry like it is today, bands like Lotus and STS9 can sell a few albums here and there, and then go out on tour and play in front of 800 people every night. Justin Bieber can upload videos of himself singing Chris Brown tunes on YouTube and then get a record deal. Auto-Tune…

What musical things have happened though? Screaming had gotten popular, but that scene has become stagnant and is slowly but surely losing relevance to the mainstream. Hip-hop and rap lyrics have changed drastically, from what hood they’re holding down to every other Billboard hit name dropping Blackberry, Twitter, and every brand of liquor you can think of. If you can’t sing on pitch, that’s okay! Auto-Tune will cure ALL of your vocal deficiencies, and you can even use it live! You won’t fool many people though…

Lets face it. The internet is not going away, and because of the internet, the industry will continue to shift from brick and mortar to digital. Bands will have to tour more, sell more merch, and brand themselves as a commodity if they really want to live comfortably both on and off the road.

The 2000’s- The music didn’t change the game, the game changed the music.

David Corey- Dreamin’

It was 2 AM this morning on my way home and I turned on 105.5 KISS FM as I became tired of having to listen to the same rotation of CDs in my car (no more iPod at the moment). This song came on, and I was blown away. And of course, after the song was over there was no announcement as to who performed this song, so I emailed the station:

“You played a song around 2 AM and all I can remember was the chorus “I’m dreamin, i’m dreamin’…” and this killer synth part in the background…what is the name of that song?! Your answer is much appreciated.”

Here it is for your enjoyment. Look out for this guy in 2010

A7X drummer “The Rev” dead at 28

Drummer James Sullivan, better known as “The Rev” of metal band Avenged Sevenfold, was found dead yesterday afternoon at his residence in Huntington Beach, CA. The Orange County Coroner’s Office will investigate his sudden death, with speculation given to his previous usage of hard drugs.

The band had just recently began work on a follow up to their 2007 self-titled album, which debuted at #4 on the Billboard Top 200 chart selling 90,000 copies in its first week of release.

Sullivan leaves behind a wife, Leanna.

Weezer frontman injured in bus accident

Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo was transported to St. Mary’s Hospital in Amsterdam, NY this morning at 7:30 AM after his bus hit a patch of ice on the New York State Thruway, causing the bus to go over a guardrail and land in a ditch. Rivers experienced rib pain and was transported to St. Mary’s for evaluation. A band assistant was also taken to the hospital while Rivers’ wife, daughter, and a fifth passenger were uninjured.

The bus was en route to Boston for a Monday night performance at Boston University and had been traveling from Toronto. Weezer was recently announced as the co-headlining band along with Paramore for the Bamboozle Festival 2010 at Giants Stadium (April 30-May 2).

Letter from the Editor: Where I’ve Been

Hello everyone.

As I made my latest post, I had noticed that it had been over 2 months since The Audiosphere had been updated, and thought that I would write a personal message to my readers/friends as to why that has been the case. Since that last update I have not had sufficient time to dedicate to writing which is one of my passions, and instead of only being able to update the site MAYBE once a week with my hectic schedule, I figured I would wait for a time where I would be more consistent in my updates, which will be the case about a week from now. In the meantime I have been working one job while interning at a club in Troy (Revolution Hall) anytime I was not working. That internship comes to an end this weekend and with that, I’ll be completed with my undergraduate studies and hold a B.A. in Music Industry. WOOT!!!

In the meantime, check out my blog roll for some other good reading material from good friends of mine. And check out the video below. And read past articles if you’ve been out of the loop the past couple of months. I’m looking forward to continuing this blog and other projects in the very near future, and thank you to those who have been wondering what I’ve been up to. MUCH APPRECIATED!

Good night,

JS

Thrice @ Shockhound Sessions

Thrice absolutely kills it (good) in this performance of “The Weight” off their latest studio release “Beggars.” A release that has garnered great critical reception but an early leak (4 months early) no doubt hurt sales on this album.

 

A “METAL UP YOUR ASS” Montage (video)

This one goes out to my two steppin’-mosh pitting-stage diving-crowd surfing readers out there. I came across this video last year actually and thought I’d share it with those who love getting their faces melted. And even if you don’t, just take a minute and watch some of this ass kicking footage.

For the record: I DID NOT create this video

Featuring: As I Lay Dying…

New Rocket Summer album unlikely in ’09

A recent Twitter update Bryce Avery suggests that his upcoming record “Of Men and Angels” will not be coming out this year, with an early 2010 release the most likely scenario.

Avary tweets: “Before, during and after the recording process there were major regime changes at my label which forced me to wait while things got situated.”

Other tweets have suggested that he has been writing plenty of new material in the meantime since recording of the album finished in April. Avary claims he has two albums worth of material but will only be releasing one, with an EP most likely to be released before the full length album, as well as a number of extra songs that will “find their way out there.” So despite a new full length being delayed, fans should still look forward to new music from Avary’s project before the end of this year.

Akon- Beautiful (Violin cover)

I don’t know what is more impressive- the performance or that shoe collection…