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I Know Ohio, The Back Roads
Ever heard of this man? His name is Sufjan Stevens. If he's not on your musical radar, it seems he soon will be.
Sufjan Stevens first entered my radar when we did Most Spun 2004 at cMusicWeb.com. A couple guest contributors for the feature mentioned Sufjan, and since these people are music industry professionals I respect highly, I knew I needed to check it out.
Then, of course, the folks at Paste Magazine have been hyping Sufjan as one of the best artists out there. So, to check it out, I picked up his Seven Swans album. Stevens is definitely well within the genre of folk, and at first it seemed a bit bland for even folk music. But after a couple listens, it started growing on me.
The biggest thing that Stevens is getting press for is his amazing work on his 50 States projects. A couple years ago he released Michigan, an album entirely about his home state. This year he released Illinois, an ode to the nearby state and Chicago.
I've found that his 50 States albums seem to bring a more diverse musicality and some amazing lyricism to Sufjan Stevens' repetoire. This man obviously does his homework. He incorporates man historical facts and stories of the state of Illinois into his latest project. It's also fun to think about driving through those cities the songs are named for and listening to them. And there's plenty of brief musical interludes where the track titles are longer than the tracks.
50 States are going to take a long time to do. Good thing he's young. Maybe hs can just count Over The Rhine's Ohio in the 50 albums.
Anyways, Sufjan Steven has been blowing up. I haven't seen his discs in Best Buy or Target yet, but he was featured in Relevant Magazine, on tons of websites, and even on MTV, I think. Like I said, if you haven't heard about him yet, you'll probably see him on the next soundtrack album for "The O.C.".
Speaking of TV, it's insane that my siblings and all the other stupid teens watch those trashy prime-time soap operas. I mean, seriously, the only good shows are "Seinfeld", "The Simpsons", "Hogan's Heroes", and "The Red Green Show". Ohh, most of the shows on TechTV in 2001.
He's The Man Of The Hour
Sometimes I wish I had a TV. (Oh wait, there'a TV sitting in this room. - OK, so I don't really want one.) If I had one, the only thing I'd really watch is all those cool commercials. Not that all of them are cool, but some of them are just plain ingenious.
These new ones are for the new Starbucks Doubleshot drinks available in stores. Apparently it energizes you for the workday. So check out the ads of Hank and Glen going to work and getting a jump start to their day. It's hilarious.
Keep Dancin' 'Til the Break of Dawn
So, you want to know what life in the very center of the University of Minnesota campus is like? Check out my roomate TJ's new poem, Funnel Rises. It's a great reflection on the party atmosphere in the area.
My First Live Post
This is the first time I have done "live blogging." I'm at the TCPHP meeting and there's been a couple things that have come up in the last hour of talking about goo programming practices and such.
The big thing I heard about was Allie's mention of Xdebug. The biggest thing it does is replace PHP's basic error handler and include a more informative error system that includes a stack trace. Check out the nice screens. I think I'll have to install this on my development machine.
I Ain't Too Soft To Say It, Even If DJs Don't Play It
So, I was answering the phone at work. I took the person's name and company, and then I forwarded her to someobdy who had all the answers.
Apparently she claimed that I have a "good voice for radio." I think that's cool to know, especially since I'm thinking more and more about podcasting. Of course, the person on the phone only works at an auto glass company, so I dunno how she knows that I have a radio voice.
We Are Peculiar People
Hey look! My posts are all on Google Blog Search!
I wonder if crappy blog technologies like Xanga are on there yet. Probably not. (And no offense to my technologically-inclined friends who are on Xanga.)
So Small
Well, this time I'm spending a couple minutes to introduce you to the iPod nano. And, like the subject of this post says, this thing is tiny. (I was trying to start a trend of all subjects being song lyrics, but I couldn't think of a good one for this post.)
So what's so cool about it? Well, besides being small, it basically has all the features of my more expensive and much bigger iPod. It's only got a lot less space. You can store your photos, listen to podcasts, and play games. Plus, exclusive to the nano (at least for now) is a stopwatch, multiple clocks for different time zones, and a screen lock that keeps others out of your music and settings.
How did it get so small? Well, the iPod nano uses flash-based memory (like on your USB keydrives) instead of a hard drive. This is only now an option for Apple because, a year or two ago, flash memory of the size of 2GB or 4GB was way too expensive it was even feasible to put it on a chip. Plus, they've perfected almost everything about it these days, so they can make it really small.
The fun thing about keeping up with the technology geek community is the things they do with their nanos just seconds after they get them out of the package. First, somebody in Japan took it apart before hardly anyone in America had one. Then Systm took it apart and recorded the process on video. And now, Ars Technica included a stress test with their review of the nano. Let's just say that if you drop it out of a speeding car a couple times then run it over a couple times, you should still be able to hear your music. (Oh, and you probably won't need the Best Buy extended warranty for it with those kind of specs.)
You Can Be Yourself If You're Willin'
Dude, The Boy Vs. The Cynic is amazing! I've been listening to this album a lot recently,and it's brilliant.
Before this album, when people asked me who John Reuben was (I have a T-shirt), I'd say, "A silly Christian rapper." But no more. Mr. Zappin has always had a side of him that, on the surface, seemed to be a cynic. But I think he has a lot more wisdom in these cynical comments than we think. In this album, he challenges the so-called wisdoms on the modern church, today's political system (What? Reuben's not Republican?), and, of course, some of the music industry.
But what does it sound like musically? Sure, there's a bit of rap in there, but there's a whole lot more than that. There's a lot of guitars. There's some songs that could make it on the dancefloor, most notably "So Glad," which reminds me of something from the 80s.
If you haven't heard it yet, check it out. And if it sounds intriguing and you write for cMusicWeb.com, tell me you want it.
Comin' At Ya Like A Whirlwind!
Well,during my lunch break I was taking a walk around The Mall (not to be confused with the mall). While there, I spied the Top 40 albums in Sam Goody and decided that we're taking over.
What do I mean? Well, take a look at my favorites of the Top 40:
Number 10 - Underoath: They're Only Chasing Safety
Number 12 - Relient K: Mmhmm
Number 13 - Emery: The Question
Number 14 - MxPx: Panic
Number 15 - Anberlin: Never Take Friendship Personal
That's not a national Top 40 list, I don't wager, but it's an amazing sign nonetheless. Tooth & Nail Records has managed to almost singlehandedly take over the hard rock/hardcore/metal business despite their sometimes "Christian" label.
Is this poised to be a new trend? Are the Christians going to finally catch up with the musicality of the mainstream? Or is it something else?
On my way out of the mall, I also saw a broken escalator. It was sooooo cool. All of its insides were showing. I wish I had a camera.
Out of Time
So, Third Day's coming out with a new album. Some would be excited, but looking at the signs, I'm not. I think they're losing it.
I remember the good days. In 1997 I got Conspiracy No. 5, an amazing rock album that included such songs as "Alien," "My Hope Is You," "Who Am I," and the epic "Gomer's Theme." My sisters and my parents didn't think their well-produced rock was cool, but I dugg it.
Then I got 1999's Time a day earlier than the rest of the world (thanks to Sean Von Tagen for picking me as a contest winner). It was straight-up rock and roll and included some great worshippy songs as well. The closing one-two punch of "Sky Falls Down" and "Give" were amazing. Although the album is just 40 minutes, it's still the best Third Day album. The album cover was pretty cool, but the photo of the guys pickin' tunes in their living room is still one of my favorite photos.
Not surprisingly, they got into the worship thing in a big way in 2000, but that was before it was totally cliché. Offerings was a solid collection of live recordings and new songs, but nothing to get totally excited about. Unfortunately, Christian radio killed the rock stars.
Since then, the boys in Third Day have been living like rockers but putting out formulaic worship pop junk. Of course, all the people who don't know the band's potential thought Come Together was the coolest thing since sliced bread. Whatever.
The real Third Day fans know that "40 Days" and "Come Together" are possibly the most watered down crap ever to come from a Christian rock band. And sadly, again, the Christian radio ate it up. And now Third Day has the dual markets of worship-pop and rock to deal with.
After the unmentionable fiasco that was Offerings II, Third Day tried to get back on track with last year's Wire. It was unashamed, artful southern rock 'n' roll, but I think it still lacked the full glory of their first three albums.
November 1st will find Wherever You Are hitting the streets, and if you can judge an album by its cover, this one is going to be worse than Come Together. With that pretty album cover, it might as well have a "Made for Inspirational Radio" on it or have Point of Grace's name on the album instead.
Ohh, and don't get me started on history repeating itself with The Newsboys.
This whole rant started because I was listening to my iPod at entirely random. Since I have some crappy music on there, every once in a while it come by a skipper like "Show Me Your Glory." I mentioned that I haven't listened to that album for about 3 years, two of my co-workers commented that Come Together was a solid album. If I didn't like my job so much, that would be the end of the relationship. Of course, I guess I should expect as much from people who like MercyMe and Casting Crowns. Poor radio listeners.
I guess I will have to reveal my true identity at work: Dan da Christian Music Snob. I call it an occupational hazard. If you're gonna run a website, you have to make some enemies. Even if all these bands have a good "ministry," that doesn't mean they're making good music. Ohh, and one of my poor coworkers doesn't like Derek's I See Things Upside Down.