To anyone left randomly checking this, I decided to give tumblr a whirl, since I can never remember to sign into the blog here. So, if you feel so inclined, check out http://candy4ears.tumblr.com/ and I'll try really super hard to post there more frequently than once every 3 months. Cheers!
Day 4. Song that makes you sad Totally lame and such a girl move. But Adele sings the shit out of this song and I have my reasons for identifying with it. Granted there are a lot of other songs that make me sad/shed a tear. But at this moment, this is the one that fits the best. I might pick another, but this could also go for Day 5 (song that reminds you of someone). Sigh.
Day 3: A song that makes you happy. Easy. Anything. And I mean ANYTHING by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros makes me immensely happy. And in honor of the Railroad Revival Tour that I get to go to thanks to an amazing friend of mine who helped me with the financial bit of getting me a seat on a plane, I give you "Janglin."
My least favorite song. How to pick?? I could go with the recent internet sensation "Friday," but that's too easy and too much fun to parody. I could go with an annoying autotuned 3 minutes of crap by T-Pain. But no, not enough hate. The song that fills me with hatred and fury is Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue." You know the one where he talks about lighting up country's sky like the 4th of July? The song of "my patriotism is better than yours because I'm talking about killing people in retaliation." If I ever [...]
This might be incredibly lame, but as an effort to get me to post more frequently I'm going to try to do the 30 day song challenge that's been floating around some of my friends' facebook pages. I'll probably get annoyed with it halfway through, but whatever. Scouring my music collection for songs that fit the day's description will be a welcome break from the last round of finals I'll ever have. Thank god for graduation in 2 1/2 weeks! Anywho, lets get started. Day 1: Favorite Song. God dammit. Who knew I'd get annoyed with [...]
I love music. I go to a lot of concerts. This is my attempt at trying to remember all the great shows I went to in 2010, and the ones I'm looking forward to this spring. Here we go! January 2010 started off with a bang when Kid Cudi came to town. Minus the onslaught of openers which lasted way too long it was a fantastic show. "Daps and Pounds," "Pursuit of Happiness," and "Day N Night" were most definitely the highlights from the show. Now that he's more mainstream, [...]
One of my most favorite times of the year happens at the end of every January: the Ann Arbor Folk Festival put on by The Ark . I start to get super excited about it generally in late October when the line-up starts to be announced starting with the main headliners and slowly filling out the bills with smaller more regional acts. The first night of the festival is generally full of artists who are expanding the traditional folk genre. Past Friday night acts have been Ben Folds, Jackie Greene, Jeff Tweedy, Rufus Wainwright, and Jay Ferrar & Ben [...]
A couple weeks ago, I caught Joe Pug at The Ark here in Ann Arbor. I've seen him a handful of times now, and he just keeps getting better and better live. He's really matured in the last year or so since I've seen him, and I LOVE the band he's playing with. The upright bass and pedal steel really add another layer of depth to his songs. I'm holding out hope that he might record a version of "Hymn 101" with the pedal steel because it was amazing. But this post shockingly isn't about him. [...]
I was able to see Bob Dylan this past Thursday, and it was hands down one of the best shows I've ever seen. He played straight through for almost two hours, the band was tight, and it seemed like he was having an absolute blast on stage. I have a pretty sizeable obsession with Mr. Dylan, and had seen him live three times before, but this concert blew those out of the water. Many people say Dylan should put a stop to his "Never Ending Tour" citing poor vocals and the reworking of his classics. Those people couldn't [...]
Wooo. I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything but just wanted to take a quick study break and post a couple songs that I've recently acquired that I'm loving right now. First up is off of Justin Townes Earle's fantastic new album Harlem River Blues . This album is in my constant rotation, and I was really looking forward to catching him live next month, but it seems that he ran into a sticky situation in Indy and has suspended the rest of his tour (more on this here ). But I wish him [...]
It seems I discovered him about 4 days too late. Influential Namibian musician Jackson Kaujeua passed away from kidney failure on May 27. I literally just discovered his music an hour ago, and it's very hard to find his songs online, so this weekend I plan on picking up an album or two at the music store here in town. Until I can get my hands on full songs, here's one of his songs on Youtube, "Kalahari." For a little more information about him, here's an article in The Namibian : [...]
Oh boy. Do I ever need some good tunes. I'm currently in Namibia on an internship for grad school, and though it is totally awesome here, my ears are certainly paying a price. I am forever being bombarded by Celine Dion, Richard Marx, and Justin Bieber while I'm at the office working. It's usually the same 10 songs just repeated for 6 hours. I usually can't wait until I get home and can open my computer and play something that doesn't make my ears bleed. Glad I was able to snag Josh Ritter's FANTASTIC new album before I left, but [...]
Ok folks, I'm going to be doing an insane amount of traveling this summer. I'm spending most of the summer in Namibia (and possibly some time in Kenya) for my internship, and that equals DAYS spent on planes, trains, cars, and buses. I need your help in compiling the ultimate travel playlist (or playlists). What are your favorite tunes to keep you sane when traveling? Comment here, email me, respond via twitter (@candy4ears), shout on last.fm (kari8306), whatever you choose. You have 2 months....ready GO!
If anyone out there is still reading/following, I apologize for the lack of posts. The past few months have been a gigantic ball of stress and calling them an emotional roller coaster would be an understatement. It was mostly due to school, but now that I've nailed down an internship for the summer (and it's FUNDED!), I'm a much happier person. But enough about me, here's what's been keeping me happy and what I'm looking forward to: The FOLK FESTIVAL . I never officially wrote a response. Well, it was BALLER. Even though Doc Watson couldn't make [...]
It's here! It's here! It's here! Folk Festival weekend is finally here! The Ann Arbor Folk Festival is one of my favorite times of the year. For those who aren't familiar, The A2 Folk Fest is basically a giant fundraiser for The Ark which is this awesome super small and cozy music venue that showcases folk and roots music. The Ark is one of my absolute favorite places to see live music. Not a bad seat in the house, the hallways are lined with photos of artists (both legendary and up and coming) who've played there, and the [...]
I'll be honest. Aside from the epic treadmill video a few years ago, I don't really follow the band OK Go. I had no idea they released a new album recently. And I had no idea they released a new video. And surprise surprise, it's actually really really catchy. Their label won't allow embedding from YouTube (lame) but I was able to track it down on Vimeo. Head on over to their site to get the marching band version of the song for free (and to check out their new album, upcoming shows, etc.). [...]
Kid Cudi took a break from touring with Lady GaGa recently and made a stop in Ann Arbor. I was beside myself when I saw he was coming to town. He didn't disappoint at all. Though the barrage of opening acts almost made me go crazy...minus local rap legend One Be Lo...Kid Cudi was fantastic. The strobe light extravaganza blew my mind. The segue into Day N Night was amazing. I thought he was gonna do the remix version, but he broke it down into the slow burner that I love. The acapella "Daps and Pounds" was fantastic, and [...]
Let me just start out by saying that I love me some folk music. Give me a song with an acoustic guitar and some make you think type lyrics and I'm pretty much in heaven. So imagine my delight when I came across The Tallest Man on Earth (aka Kristian Matsson). He's got Dylan written all over him, which is probably subconsciously why I love him so much. After getting his album, Shallow Grave , and loving it, I came across his Daytrotter session and fell in love some more. His stripped down [...]
Blind Pilot is a great band. I had the opportunity to see them live earlier this month when they played in Ann Arbor. I had their single "Go On, Say It" from a sampler CD, and I really liked it, and since I was volunteering at the venue, I didn't have to buy a ticket so I couldn't possibly lose in this situation...free live music, can't get much better than that. And I can honestly say I was not disappointed at all. Blind Pilot put on a great show. Their music is kinda low key, but apparently they've got [...]
Holy wow. I was completely unprepared for how much damn time grad school was going to take up. To the people who are still awesome and sending me music to check out, thank you!! I really promise I'm not ignoring you, it's just that classes like Principles of Chemical Hazards and Biostats have completely taken over my life....sigh... BUT I've decided in order to keep my sanity I need music breaks. It's amazing how much better I feel after spending an hour or so poking around online for music and/or strumming out some tunes on my guitar. So, [...]
Candy For Your Ears
Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know? (Official Video)
Inside "Magna Carta Holy Grail" with JAY Z + Samsung
Local Natives - You & I (Official Video)
CHVRCHES - Gun
AlunaGeorge - You Know You Like It
Soft Arrows - Figure 8 free MP3
Tom Odell – Long Way Down
Willow Beats: Top 5 experimental tracks
Some wonderful, danceable magic to start your day off courtesy...
