More Christmas Songs

MORE TOP 5 CHRISTMAS SONGS:
1) "12 Days of Christmas" - Relient K
2) "Deck the Halls" - Relient K
3) "Christmas Canon" - Transiberian Orchestra
4) "I Celebrate the Day" - Relient K
5) "All I Want For Christmas is You" - Mariah Carey

And here's a bonus Christmas song, in honor of going green (despite the white Christmas we're having here.)

"I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas" - MC Lars (feat. Jaret Reddick)

Check it out, go get it. It's funny. Though honestly, I was kind of over Christmas music this season. Anyway, I'm taking a break from work and life and everything, so...

Happy Holidays, everyone!
Emily Noel

A Very Notable Day in Music History

Today, MTV declared Lady Gaga to be "Woman of the Year" for her 2 albums, her ingenious fashion sense, and incredible stage performances. And, I couldn't agree more! Congrats, Gaga!

In other news, I haven't yet had a chance to review The Fame Monster, but that will be coming up soon. This month has been crazy with finals and such.

Happy One Week til Christmas!
Emily Noel

An Early Holiday Present from Coheed

As of 5pm (EST) Coheed and Cambria released their big announcement via their fan website, http://www.cobaltandcalcium.com/. The drawback? All of us dedicated Coheed fans crashed the site by all logging on at once, so luckily cobaltandcalcium.com took mercy on us and released the news via their Facebook.com fan page.

The News:
As of now, Coheed & Cambria intend to release their 5th studio album in April 2010, the deluxe version of which will include a full-length (prose--not graphic!) novel written by Claudio Sanchez. For more details, see cobaltandcalcium's Facebook fan page.

I hope everyone is as excited as I am. I already know that, no matter what happens on the release day, I am taking off school/work/any other obligation to get that album and listen to it on repeat for about a week straight!

I LOVE YOU, CLAUDIO SANCHEZ!!!! =D

Have a great week,
Emily Noel

MORE TOP FIVES!

TOP 5 ALBUMS THAT I’M OBSESSED WITH AT THE MOMENT:
Eager to Please – The Leftovers
Ocean Eyes – Owl City
The Fame Monster – Lady Gaga
Traffic and Weather – Fountains of Wayne
Sorry For Partyin’ – Bowling For Soup

BONUS - TOP 5 SONGS BLASTING IN MY CAR TONIGHT:
“Pink Tux To The Prom (In Love With The 80’s) – Relient K
“Alejandro” – Lady Gaga
“Miami” – Taking Back Sunday
“Do You Remember?” – Jay Sean (feat. Sean Paul & Lil Jon)
“Three Small Words” – Pixie Chicks

SO IN LOVE WITH THE LEFTOVERS RIGHT NOW! (They're opening for The Queers tomorrow night at Maxwell's in Hoboken - tickets are $12.) Can't wait to get their album when I have $ again!

Rock out this weekend!
Emily Noel

Another Music-Filled Month

I don't have a lot of time to post real entries right now because it's coming up to exam week and all, but I have been happily stumbling through waves of new music lately. (And it's only December 3rd!!!) I think I mentioned that I follow Jaret Reddick's podcast now (for those who don't know or remember, he is the lead singer of Bowling For Soup) and I picked up a couple of new good bands from the songs he played. One of these bands (my favorite right now) is The Leftovers, who are on Jaret Reddick's own label (Crappy Records.) And actually they are playing in Brooklyn tonight at South Paw--go look them up if you live in the city! Their hit single is called "Telephone Operator," and it is super catchy and lovable! Their latest album (the best from what I've previewed on iTunes; haven't bought any of their albums yet because I'm broke) is called Eager To Please and I think you should check it out!

You can watch the video of "Telephone Operator" on their website, or just listen to the song on Jaret's podcast.

The other bands Jaret introduces from his label are MC Lars and Skyfox. They're pretty good, too. From Skyfox he played this catchy little pop-rock single called "Run Away" from their EP called Twilight.

At the beginning of this year MC Lars released an album called This Gigantic Robot Kills. From what I've previewed of it, it's pretty funny, but the gem in the mix for me is "Twenty-Three," which is the song Jaret played on the podcast. It's one of the saddest songs I've heard in a long time, but I love it. It's about Pat Wood, a friend and former roommate of MC Lars. Wood committed suicide when he was 23, and so "Twenty-Three" is a tribute to him. I've had it on repeat for a good part of this evening; it's melancholy but I love it because even after 3 years it shows how such tragedies affect us. That kind of pain never goes away, but I'm glad MC Lars took the time to put that experience in a form that can help others who have lost someone that way.

Yeah, so, now that everyone is really bummed...

I also got Bowling For Soup's Merry Flippin' Christmas album (available ONLY by digital download from BFS's merch store) and it's pretty funny. Apparently they have 2 more Christmas albums due to be released fairly soon as well, but we'll see.

Hope you all have a good weekend!
Emily Noel

Top 5 Christmas Songs

If you're looking for music to match this holiday season, here's my top five!

All-Time Top 5 Christmas Songs
“Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)” – Transiberian Orchestra
“I Hate Christmas Parties” – Relient K
“Same Old Lang Syne” – Dan Fogelberg
“Believe” – Josh Groban
“Where Are You Christmas?” – Faith Hill

And also, I have to recommend my favorite Christmas albums: Deck the Halls and Bruise Your Hands and Let It Snow Baby, Let It Reindeer, both by Relient K.

Also, note that Bowling For Soup has released a Christmas album a few days ago; it's called Merry Flippin' Christmas, though I have yet to preview it because it's not available on iTunes, only by digital download from their merch store. But you can hear some of their Christmas album, PLUS a lot more, on Jaret Reddick's podcast, either by clicking here or by going to iTunes (for free, on either.)

Enjoy this holiday season! Stay warm! =]
Emily Noel

I Have A Mission For You All

GO BUY THE FAME MONSTER RIGHT NOW. I previewed "Speechless" and it hit me so hard emotionally that I cried (yeah, I cry a lot about music, books, movie, and most forms of art--get over it, because I have!) and then I bought the album on iTunes 0.5 seconds later, and now I have to go to class, but I wish with all my heart I could skip it and just listen to Lady Gaga!

Okay, gotta calm down. I'll post a real review later. GO CHECK IT OUT!

AHHHHHH!
Emily Noel

Just Another Taste of Gaga....

I think Lady Gaga’s music video for the new single “Bad Romance” is a just taste of what is to come in The Fame Monster (to be released this coming Tuesday!) The video is…different. It’s ugly, almost, but in Lady Gaga’s own mesmerizing way. I mean, I’ve heard some guys going, “She’s so hot!” and maybe I’m not qualified to judge that, but for me her beauty is in how easily she can alter her appearance. And when I say the video is “ugly,” I don’t mean that it’s repulsive, necessarily, it’s just that it’s not what you would expect from a Princess of Pop. But she’s already established that she isn’t the typical pop girl. Her goal seems to be to make her songs into works of visual art through music videos.

Most artists attempt to tell a story in their music videos. Some really great ones, or at least some of my favorites, are “All That I’ve Got” by The Used, “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” by My Chemical Romance, and “So What?” by P!nk. You don’t have to like those songs to get what they’re about. Other artists just like to make videos that depict them rocking out in different locations, without any kind of storyline behind them. Most of Lady Gaga’s music videos do not have a storyline, or at least not a very linear one, except for the “Paparazzi” one.

As per her usual, Gaga changes her outfit and make-up at least 3 or 4 times throughout the “Bad Romance” video. And I must be honest: I don’t like the video, but only because it’s just not to my personal aesthetic taste, not because of her performance. And I’m not going to pretend to understand the storyline, if there even is one. I think it’s about her debut into fame and how she got her power, which basically explains the scenes with her struggling in the bathtub and then being encased in that spiky, glittery costume, and then ultimately combusting into flames at the end. My interpretation is that the video depicts her struggle with who she has become and where she’s going from here. The closing shot of the video, with the charred remains of a bed and her laying on it, seems to be (to me) her ultimate conquering of who she is and what she wants—all the power of Lady Gaga, be it the power of fame or sexuality or love.

There’s a quote I’m pulling from Rolling Stone’s June 11, 2009 issue that I really loved because I think it sums Lady Gaga up perfectly and really puts her statement out there point-blank. The article closed with her saying, “I operate from a place of delusion…. I used to walk down the street like I was a f—king star. I want people to walk around delusional about how great they can be – and then to fight so hard for it every day that the lie becomes the truth.”

I love that, because she imagined what she wanted to be, and became it. She wasn’t born Lady Gaga. She didn’t wake up as Lady Gaga. She made herself Lady Gaga, and I know she wants everyone to see that they can make themselves into whatever they want to be, too. I think that is her point in all of these seemingly eccentric music videos and fashion statements, bizarre face masks and dazzling make-up styles. I really don’t think she’s doing it for attention or because she’s insane. She’s called herself crazy and delusional in various interviews, but she says she fights that craziness when she’s working at what she loves—performing.

Give three cheers for Gaga – I can’t wait for The Fame Monster!
Emily Noel

Happy Friday the 13th!

Happy Friday the 13th! Hope it hasn’t been too unlucky for anyone.

I’ve had a lot of Death Cab for Cutie stuck in my head lately, and I have no idea why because I haven’t listened to them in awhile. Incidentally, they wrote a single for the second Twilight saga movie, New Moon, called “Meet Me On the Equinox.” Did I get it? Duhhh! It’s a decent song, and although I am not necessarily a Twilight fan, I do have to admit the first movie had a fairly good soundtrack, what with their little nod to Stephenie Meyer’s love of Muse with the single, “Super-Massive Black Hole” in the vampire baseball scene.

Side-note: Stephenie Meyer directly influenced my interest in Muse, as they are her favorite band and she credited them for their inspiration in all of her Twilight novels. (And yes, I have read them all; I went through quite an intense vampire-romance phase in high school. I am glad to say I have left those days behind. I am no longer really a fan of the novels, though I can’t deny I loved them when I was seventeen.)

About 3 years ago, I was introduced to Death Cab for Cutie quite by chance. Their album Transatlanticism (2003) was given to me by a friend, and it remains my favorite of their albums (though, yes, I have given 3 of their other albums proper listens.) They are clever, I’ll give them that—but not really catchy. You have to pay close attention to their lyrics, and sometimes that’s what I love about their songs, but sometimes Death Cab can be a little too sentimental and intense for my taste. I love Ben Gibbard’s soft, breathy voice, but I have to be in the right mood for it. (Fun Fact: Ben Gibbard is also the lead singer of The Postal Service and—allegedly—married to my beloved, favorite American actress Zooey Deschanel.) In any event, although Death Cab do not make my Top 5, they make it into the perimeter of the Top 10, simply because of my love for Transatlanticism.

Anyway…I’m getting severely off-topic here. I’m not very focused today, sorry. The point is that basically my love of Death Cab = Transatlanticism only. If you like their other albums better, then by all means tell me to go re-listen. But some bands just have that One Good Album, just like some authors just have that One Good Book, and for me it’s Transatlanticism. My three favorites on the album are “Expo ’86,” “Transatlanticism,” and “Passenger Seat.” I love every song on the album, actually, but those are the ones that have remained my unchangeable favorites. Transatlanticism, as with most of Death Cab’s albums, is a compilation of tiny slices of life, which is what makes the songs so beautiful. They tell a story, but subtly, so that you have to interpret the meaning in your own way. My love of “Expo ’86” is a bit personal in that way because it pretty much sums up my love life; it is one of those songs that I would consider partially biographical, which is ironic because I fell in love with the song long before I’d ever fallen in love for real. My favorite bit is:

“Sometimes it seems that I don’t have the skills to recollect
The twists and turns of plot that turned us from lovers to friends;
I’m thinking I should take that volume back up off the shelf
And crack its weary spine and read to help remind myself.”

It’s fantastic, but love really is like a story, and you do have to go over the plot of your love in retrospect to see where it was flawed, because you can’t see what’s wrong when you’re in it. And then there is this bit at the end that always gets me:

“I am waiting for something to go wrong,
I am waiting for familiar resolve
I am waiting for another repeat,
Another diet fed by crippling defeat.
And I am waiting for that sense of relief,
I am waiting for you to flee the scene
As if you held in your hand the smoking gun
And on the floor lay the one you said you loved.”

Love it! That last line always kills me. (Haha.) As for the title track, “Transatlanticism,” there is this kind of lulling background rhythm to it that reminds me of that swaying motion you feel on a train. (In fact, on a recent train trip, I listened to it and it was very peaceful and comforting.) It’s a very beautiful song, very rich in imagery, that to me seems to be about a great flood (or possibly the Great Flood from the Bible or legends) but where people are grateful for this influx of water, for some reason, when it goes, “The people were overjoyed; they took to their boats / I thought it less like a lake and more like a moat.” But the trans-Atlantic part comes in when he sings,

“The rhythm of my footsteps
Crossing flatlands to your door
Have been silenced forevermore.
The distance is quite simply much too far for me to row
It seems farther than ever before
Oh no, I need you so much closer.”

And although I’ve always loved the song, I never really understood that long-distance desperation until last spring when I spent quite a bit of time on the other side of the Atlantic from everyone I love. And I discovered that it really was “quite simply much too far for me to row,” and I needed certain people “so much closer,” at times. In fact I couldn’t even listen to “Transatlanticism” when I was in England; I refused, because it hurt too much. And that’s another reason why the album is so special to me—it was given to me in 2006, but I never understood those songs until 2008 and 2009, when I was older and more mature, so they almost foreshadowed certain events in my future.

And, last but not least, my love for “Passenger Seat” is personal, as well. It’s basically about being driven home on some dark night, which reminds me of all the times I’ve ridden shotgun with one or another of my best friends. (Which has been quite often, because I didn’t get my full license until this past summer.) And “Passenger Seat” gathers up that feeling, but not in a “Woo-it’s-a-fun-night-let’s party” kind of way, but rather with a slow, gentle, sentimental little melody:

“I strain my eyes and try
To tell the difference between
Shooting stars and satellites
From the passenger seat
As you are driving me home.
‘Do they collide?’
I ask and you smile.
With my feet on the dash,
The world doesn’t matter.”

I’ve had moments like that; moments that are perhaps some of the best in my life. For me, it’s not always the destination of a drive that is the most fun, it’s the driving itself. And as much as I love driving, you notice more from the passenger seat because you can pay better attention to the person you’re with and what’s around you.

So, there you have a taste of Death Cab for Cutie (albeit maybe a little too in-depth.) I hope you enjoy their other albums, as well, as I really do wish that I liked them as much as Transatlanticism.

Party it up for Friday the 13th! (’Cause I sure am!)

Have a great weekend,
Emily Noel

Disclaimer: All re-printed lyrics copyright of Death Cab for Cutie.

Going Gaga!

In case you hadn’t had enough of them, Bowling For Soup posted links to their first music video for Sorry For Partyin’ today, and of course it’s “No Hablo Ingles,” which in my opinion is probably the funniest song on the new album. The video is pretty clever; you can check it out here.

In other news, Lady Gaga released her new single a few weeks ago (October 26.) It’s called “Bad Romance,” but I avoided listening to it up until now because I’m not sure how I feel about her re-releasing The Fame. I mean, I feel like if you’re going to do a new album, then just do it. Don’t tack 8 new songs onto your old album and re-release it. But last night my best friend (Lady Gaga’s biggest fan) visited me, and of course he had to play “Bad Romance” for me, and I resisted it on the first 2 listens, but it wasn’t long before we were cruising to it and I was dancing and singing along. (I didn’t say I’m not impressionable!)

It’s big. It’s dramatic. It’s catchy. I LOVE IT. (And according to iTunes, I have played it almost 20 times today, and when I went out driving before, Gaga took major precedence over my stereo.) The chorus goes: “I want your loving and I want your revenge / You and me could write a bad romance/Oh whoa, caught in a bad romance.” My favorite lines are: “I want your love and I want your revenge / I want your love, I don’t wanna be friends!” and then the same lyrics repeated in French. She sounds powerful and intense in this song; in fact, my friend and I compared this single to her others and at some parts it sounds like a completely different singer. Could this be because of voice-changers and synths? Probably. But it’s also a slightly different spin on her old style. It’s definitely stronger, which isn’t surprising for someone with her stage presence.

It’s not my favorite—I still like her softer, more girly songs like “Summerboy” and “Brown Eyes,” while “Bad Romance” is definitely a flashy, heart-stopping dance-beat single like “Just Dance” and “Love Game,” which I am sure is what Lady Gaga was going for. She’s got style; I’ll give her that. Possibly she is certifiably insane, but part of me has to think she’s also a genius. I know those are very conflicting views, but it’s true. She’s not just another pop princess like Brittney or Christina, and she’s not the playful girl-next-door like Katy Perry, and she doesn’t have the sexy but bad-ass presence of P!nk. Lady Gaga is in a league of her own, if you ask me. Can she dance? Not in my opinion. Can she sing? Not live, from what I saw of the VMAs. Does she produce REALLY fun, catchy dance songs to rock out to in your car or when you’re prepping for a night out? Hell f—king YES!

Her music videos are nothing short of inspired—she is the queen of flashy costumes and make-up. I’d kill to have her designers and make-up artists. I mean, as far as beauty goes, I love Katy Perry’s cute retro styles and her subtle but always gorgeous make-up. But Gaga is all about the presentation. For instance, I love her music video for “Poker Face,” not because I love the song, or because of her questionable dance skills, but for her black-painted fingernails with poker card symbols on them, the sleek white-blonde hair, and the silver eye make-up. At times I am actually horrified and disturbed by her music videos. She can make herself beautiful or grotesque, but mesmerizing all the same. She makes her body a work of art when it comes to costumes and make-up; she changes her character based on the song and what the performance requires, and that takes skill. I do not think she is the most talented female pop singer of this age, but she is definitely taking the lead as a performer—that is her real talent.

But back to her music (as this is, after all, a music blog.) I will probably get The Fame: Monster on November 23 when it is released, because as much as I dislike female pop artists (P!nk and Katy Perry remain the only two I can tolerate—besides the Gaga, as one of my suitemates calls her) there is something about her music that I can’t resist. Last night, driving back from Stop N Shop with my friend, “Paparazzi” came on the radio, and let me just say that there is nothing better than singing, “Purple teardrops I’m crying don’t have a price/ Loving you is cherry pie!” to each other at 100-million decibels at midnight while cruising around eating cherry Dum-Dums and chocolate chip cookies. And that’s what is so great about her music—they’re not emotional or meaningful songs; you can just let go and belt it out. It’s just careless fun. At an open mic night a couple of months ago, some guys performed an acoustic version of “Poker Face” and we all sang along. It was great, and I got really into it. But those are her kind of songs, ones that anyone can sing—guys, girls, whoever—just for fun.

So keep an eye out for The Fame: Monster. I’m not saying it’ll all be good. I could very well end up hating it and writing a terrible review of it. But I don’t think people should judge Gaga as another dumb blonde pop-princess—she’s a talented performer underneath the dramatic exterior. And definitely check out the new single, “Bad Romance.”

My All-Time Top-5 Gaga Picks:
1) “Eh Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)”
2) “Brown Eyes”
3) “Paparazzi”
4) “Bad Romance”
5) “Boys Boys Boys”

Have fun going Gaga!
Emily Noel

Disclaimer: All re-printed lyrics copyright of Lady GaGa.