Best of 2011 So Far

Holy moly, it's already July! Where did the time go? The year is already halfway over! It also means that I'm just a few weeks away from turning 21 and I'll be able to taste alcohol for the first time ever!!!!

As I'm sure many other bloggers do, I'm going to take this opportunity to reflect on some of the great music that's been released so far this year by picking a favorite album, song, and live act as well as give some props to some of my favorite new discoveries thus far this year. Obviously these are not final because there's still six months to go which will be including Lollapalooza, a new No Doubt album (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and many other releases and shows. Who knows, by the end of the year these might seem like complete and utter shit... but I doubt that =)

Best Album (So Far)
The first six months have included releases by two of my favorite artists, the Sounds and Lady Gaga. Needless to say I was pretty much giddy for these albums to come out and when they did... I kinda got blue ballsed a bit. They were decent, don't get me wrong, and they both have some great songs on them (From the Sounds Something to Die For album, I recommend "The No-No Song," "Wish You Were Here," and "Better Off Dead." From Gaga's Born This Way, "Americano," "Marry the Night," "Government Hooker," "You and I," "Shei(weird German symbol that looks like a B)e,"and "Edge of Glory" stand out) but as a whole, neither of them was spectacular as far as I'm concerned. Some stronger releases came from Yelle, Cold War Kids, and the Rural Alberta Advantage. In fact, the Rural Alberta Advantage would probably be my favorite album this year if I hadn't spontaneously gone to see a band known as the Head and the Heart at SXSW and become absolutely obsessed.

Seriously, these guys are AMAZING and their self titled debut is one of those rare albums that I like every song on it. They played an acoustic set at the Electric Fetus in Minneapolis last month and it was incredible. I had the chance to talk with them for a minute after and they were incredibly nice and down to earth.

Best Song (So Far)
This one is a bit harder to choose from because there have been a few songs that I've had on repeat. "The Edge of Glory" by Lady Gaga is just... fucking genius. It's like an 80's throwback and, while she gets criticized for that, I personally really enjoy it. Other favorites that didn't quite make the cut include, "The Bay" by Metronomy, "Louder Than Ever" by Cold War Kids, "Cardiac Arrest" by Teddybears feat. Robyn, "Breaking and Entering" by Tonight Alive and "Muscle Relaxants" by the Rural Alberta Advantage but my favorite, which has found a place as one of the few non-Metric songs on my most played list, is "The No-No Song" by the Sounds. It's. So. Damn. Catchy. And best of all it includes my favorite musical element, angry female vocals! Stick it to whoever hurt you, Maja! You can have me. Seriously. I wouldn't say no.

Best Live Act
As I've mentioned in the past, I went to SXSW and that's where I saw my favorite live act so far... twice. Yes, it's the Sounds! They have so much energy and what's there not to love about a group of sexy, sweaty Swedes with a ton of energy? Nothing. I finally got to see Maja's legs up close and in person and THEY ARE EVEN BETTER THAN I IMAGINED. The other thing Maja is semi-known for is her ability to chain smoke through a whole set and, while I normally find cigarettes incredibly disgusting, I was more than a bit turned on. If that's not enough, I randomly ran into them on the street and got this picture with Maja!

Isn't she gorgeous?! She was incredibly nice, too. I always find that makes me like a band that much more because there are some asshole musicians out there.


Some New Favorites
I'm not going to pick just one for this category because there are so many great ones. This list is far from complete but here's a sample:

The Head and the Heart- But I've already talked about them enough.

The Naked and Famous- I discovered them early in the year and I'm just going to attribute it to Merrijoy because she's one of two people I know who understand how AWESOME they are.


Ellie Goulding- HOLY MOTHER OF SHIVA I LOVE HER. How did I not hear about her before?! She might be my favorite Brit. When she sings, she still maintains her British accent but it's not annoying as accents sometimes can be. She does a cover of "Your Song" by Elton John and the video for it on YouTube... Oh man. She's too cute for words.

Dessa- She's another one who I don't know how I missed her before. She's a rapper from Minneapolis and she's just incredible... and that's coming from someone who generally doesn't enjoy rap.


The Book of Mormon- Okay, so this isn't a band, it's a musical. But it's earned a spot as one of the two musicals I actually like (the other being Avenue Q). Hasa Diga Eebowai is... just glorious. Go look it up.

Aaaaand those are my favorites so far. What have been some of yours? Do share! I'm always looking for new music!

Pride 2011

This weekend was the Twin Cities' Pride festival and I felt heavily pressure by, surprisingly, my straight friends to go. So I did. Yay.

For those of you who don't know me well, I've never really felt much of a connection with the gay community. It's generally because I really don't have many things in common with other gay men aside from my love of Lady Gaga and, honestly, I find them pretty annoying. Gay men are everything I dislike about men (which, granted, is pretty much everything) combined with everything I find unattractive/dislike about women.

Lesbians, on the other hand, I love. Seriously, they rule. They're the few things I like about men combined with the very many things I like about women... and, best of all, there's no physical attraction from either direction so things never get weird! Woo hoo!

Anyway, so I went to Pride this weekend and it was kind of fun I guess. I did some volunteering and met some awesome lesbians. However, if I never see glitter or hear music that could easily serve as the soundtrack for a porno, I'd be completely okay with that. There was one story in particular that I wanted to share because I think it teaches an important lesson.

It's no secret that I'm a pretty hardcore agnostic and am not a fan of religion and especially Christianity as it seems to be obsessed with denying gays rights... or at least that's how many of it's followers choose to interpret it. I was pretty much expecting there to be tons of those crazy religious people with their "Stop sinning!" signs. Surprisingly, I saw none all weekend. What I did see, however, was a ton of Christians handing out free water and just generally being accepting and telling everyone there that they accepted and loved them regardless of their sexual orientation and that they just wanted them to be happy. It's been a while since my Catholic school days and I've been using my Bible as a paper weight, but I feel like that's what Jesus would want, as well as a supposedly all-loving God.

The take home lesson is to just accept others and also to act in (positive) ways that break stereotypes. You might have, at the very least, a slightly less negative opinion of that group.

That's all I wanted to share. Now, I'm going to go back to having nothing to do with the gay community for the rest of the year.

Grammy Picks 2011!

The Grammy nominations were announced for the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards last and, like always, I largely don't care about most of them. However, I do make a point to try to pick for most of the major categories even if I'm not all that into whoever it is. Here are my initial picks for the upcoming award show:

Record of the Year
Empire State of Mind- Jay-Z is one of the few rappers I like and I love Alicia Keys. My second pick would probably be the Bruno Mars song... or Fuck You haha.

Album of the Year
The Fame Monster- I... love Lady Gaga. And I love this album, more than The Fame in fact. I'd REALLY like to see Arcade Fire take it but I honestly don't see that happening... but how awesome would that be?

Song of the Year
Fuck You- This song makes me giggle. I also like Need You Now and think it's extremely well written and pleasant, especially for a country song.

Best New Artist
Justi... No, totally kidding. =) Florence and the Machine. I haven't listened to her much BUT what I have listened to I have enjoyed AND, unlike Beaver, she actually sings live. I'd be okay with Drake too. Mainly, I don't want J. Beaver winning. Not singing live is an unforgivable musical sin as far as I'm concerned.

Best Female Pop Vocal
One category that got everything right as far as I'm concerned. I actually really like all of these songs/artists. My pick would be Gaga and I def think her or Beyonce are the best vocalists but I'll be happy for whoever gets it.

Best Male Pop Vocal
Ehhhh... Haven't really listened to any of these so I don't care.

Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group
The Only Exception. Loves me some Paramore!


Best Pop Collaboration
This one is a tough one for me. I really like Telephone and Airplanes like a LOT. I guess I prefer Telephone (and it didn't get overplayed like Airplanes did).


Best Pop Vocal Album
The Fame Monster. Susan Boyle or Katy Perry are okay with me. Beaver, on the other hand, is not. Not at all.


Best Dance Recording
Dance In the Dark. I also like Rocket and In For the Kill. Rhianna... not so much.

Best Soundtrack for Movie, TV, etc.
Twilight... ONLY because Metric is part of this nom and they totally deserve a trillion Grammy's haha.

Day 30: Your favorite song at this time last year

Last year, I was at Purdue and my favorite song was "Going Away" by Meg & Dia because it basically described how I felt at the time... I was in a new place and didn't know how I'd handle it or how things would be. It was a new experience in a place where I knew NO ONE.

But I'm not gonna lie... I'm mainly glad that this blog challenge is over. I'm sick of writing a blog every day. I need some time to recharge. Also, I'm still exhausted/mind fucked from Lady Gaga last night... Who, by the way, is GLORIOUS.

I think I'm going to start reviewing all the concerts I go to starting with my next one so look for that starting mid-September.  Otherwise, I'm taking a few days off.

Day 27: A song that you wish you could play

Can I just say ANY song for today's blog? I mean, I can't play any instruments... No? Fuck, I need to come up with a specific song then.

Okay, well... One of the things I value in a musician is talent. This seems to be a foreign concept these days but I think singing, being able to play an instrument or two well, writing your own songs, etc. are crucial duties of someone who is a musician in the same way that a doctor needs to be able to recognize symptoms of diseases, prescribe medicines, etc. (except obviously doctors need to know a *little* more than musicians haha). It seems that very few pop stars these actually hold up to that standard... which is sad because I don't think that's that high of a standard. The one shining, glimmering, leather studded hope happens to be the lovely Lady Gaga. I know, a lot of people think she's just some weirdo space alien singer with no talent (I myself used to be a hater until I woke up) but really, she isn't at all. Take for, example, her song "Speechless."

"Speechless" isn't at all like what people think of when they think of usual Lady Gaga music. The woman shows off her voice and trust me, SHE HAS A VOICE. It's so powerful and she definitely lives up to all the hype she's getting. I also recommend looking up some of her acoustic stuff too. It's... incredible.

Beyond her amazing voice, Gaga is also fucking smart, too. She realizes that even though she's an amazing singer, that's not what sells so she makes music that's more poppy but still has a chance to show off her real music on the occasional track or at live shows. And she knows how to sell herself too while still being true to herself. Gaga is a fucking genius. There's no other way to describe her. If you don't like her, or at least acknowledge that the woman is talented as all fuck, there's something wrong with you.

Day 6: A song that reminds you of somewhere

"No One Sleeps When I'm Awake" by the Sounds reminds me a lot of my time at Purdue largely because that's when I really got into the Sounds. Actually, I really got into a lot of music there, come to think of. I really wasn't enjoying myself as much as I could've been so I guess music was my escape like it always has been. The Sounds, Lights, Paramore, and, of course, No Doubt and Metric... They made things seem alright. I also started realizing something about myself there. Something that I never thought would happen to me but these feelings and urges just kept building inside of me and I couldn't deny it any longer.

I realized that I...

FUCKING LOVE LADY GAGA.
She is glorious. Fucking glorious.